Margarita Alarcon

Changing tides in Cuba is now a major news item all over the place. During the closing session of the Cuban National Assembly (Cuban Parliament) President Raul Castro spoke of numerous issues and referred to others that will soon be implemented. One of these, which I like to refer to...

A number of years ago I was having lunch in Havana with a group of friends one of whom is Puerto Rican and one could say a quasi member of my family. During the meal the Puerto Rican asked with certain stupefaction: "Is it really true that Florida controls US...

Now there is alliteration I never imagined I would use.

I was on my way to the beach on Monday afternoon when I heard the news this week. I have no internet at home and had managed to skip watching the news during the four day holiday weekend (May Day...

Mother's Day is a few weeks away and Havana is all geared up for the merchandizing aspect of the day.

In the past, due to scarcities, the embargo and the obvious lack of private incentive, the second Sunday in May was celebrated in a very simple and homey fashion: mothers...

A diplomat's daughter growing up in NYC is something that I never thought twice about until way after the fact. It was full of "ups" and "downs". Some of the "downs" I have mentioned in previous posts. Today I want to mention one of the marvelous "ups" which reached a...

In 1992, a little over nineteen years ago, during one typical hot summer season in New York City as the calm was smothering midtown and Murray Hill and the lethargic heat made it almost impossible to lift even an Italian Ice, four guys jokingly referred to as the Four Riders...

For the last year, or better said, ever since then Senator Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States, there has been a lot of buzz around the Cuba issue, especially among Cubans along both sides of the straights.

In Cuba, most have been waiting with baited breath...

In the past few weeks a new letter-writing controversy has arisen between Cubans on either side of the straights.

A little over ten days ago a letter signed by 74 Cuban dissidents was sent off to the United States Congress. Said letter appeared here on Huffington Post on...

Stephen Rivers passed from this world on Monday June 7th. He will be greatly missed.

For the most part, because he gave so much and left so much still to be done. Stephen began his political activism during the original Yes We Can movement /Si se puede!/ of Cesar...

People, in general, have to be entitled to protest, disagree, and feel at liberty to complain. Whether these individuals, with something to complain about, wear one particular form of garb or another, and whether they carry daisies, signs, or gladiolas is of no difference. This said, it is my humble...

Havana is under fire. This week alone the city is hosting two very significant cultural events: the schooner Amistad docking in Matanzas on Monday and later on by the end of the week in the capitol and the arrival of one of the most influential Latin music groups of the...

Under the heading "A symbol of the slave trade joins US and Cuba," the news is out this morning: the schooner Amistad is on its way. The organizers have said that it will first dock in the province of Matanzas, a city known as the Athens of Cuba because of...

When early last summer singer songwriter Juan Esteban Aristizabal aka Juanes put forth his intentions to perform the third of his famous Peace Concerts in Havana, Cuba he was very clear and straightforward that the concert was only to happen if it served the same purpose as his previous endeavors:...

Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch are names that probably don't mean much to the majority of the Huffington Post readers, at least not unless they reside in Miami or Cuba. Alfa 66, Omega 7 and Brothers to the Rescue also may not seem like anything other than a strange...

A little over three months ago, before Juanes the Colombian musician singer-song writer came down to Cuba with the intent of proposing the idea of the second Peace Concert in Havana to the Cuban government, the first thing he did was to pay a visit to Secretary of State Hillary...

If there is one thing Americans have to be very proud of is their wit. The fact that the American sense of humor knows no bounds is indisputably an absolute. And when it comes to politics and irony well there you see marvellous things that simply make you crack up....

Fear not, for this will probably be the final entry on the subject, but I just couldn't resist one last time.

Yesterday at 2:00pm on the button, Olga Tañon of Puerto Rico, Miguel Bosé of Spain, and the Colombian Juanes walked arm in arm to the front of the...

If anyone has checked my bio, I was born in Havana but was raised in Manhattan. This all happened in the mid sixties. During that time, the situation for Cubans in favor of the Cuban Revolution of 1959 was to say the least, testy, and more so for anyone who...

On the afternoon of September 3, 2009, OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) finally published the final rule amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, which allows for the implementation of the Presidents; initiative of April 13th to "reach out to the Cuban people." Basically what this means is that the...

One of my favorite plays has to be Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. The monologues are many but there is one in particular that has been on my mind for the better part of this entire week. Like most of the monologues in the play they have no title...