The balustrades are shaped like naked women and the wrought iron gate is topped with stone slabs. The garden barely has room for a couple of feet of grass from which a diminutive Pekingese barks all day. From the front door you can see the line of the bar that divides the living room from the kitchen, with bottles filled with colored liquids. A plastic tank overlooks the roof, storing enough water for days of scarcity. The iron and glass windows reveal the figures moving within the house and at night also reflect the brightness of the TV. The entire lowercase "mansion" has been painted the vermillion color that today is a sign of prosperity. With this tone preferred by those who make their way economically despite privations and bureaucratic absurdities.
Even on unpaved streets, these homes stand out, retouched by their own efforts and convertible pesos. Minuscule palaces with pretensions of grandeur suddenly popping into view. They leave us caught between surprise and optimism, on encountering them amid the twists and turns of La Platanito, La Timbre, Zamora, el Romerillo, and other rundown neighborhoods. Hard up against overflowing dumpsters or sewer ditches that ooze down the road, but within themselves these "doll houses" are like bubbles of well-being. They have these pretensions expressed in fanciful details such as columns shaped like tree branches, or plaster dwarfs guarding the gates. Extravagantly decorated tons of times, architecturally ridiculous many others, these imitation castles speak of a strong desire to live in a beautiful, personalized space. They are like the baroque walls of some mausoleum in a Havana cemetery, but this time for the enjoyment of life.
I love to stumble across these facades and see their occupants looking out from the small balconies. There is something in them, in the paint chosen to cover the walls and in the bell hanging over the door that gives me hope. I am comforted to know that the desire to progress materially was not erased by so many years of false egalitarianism and faked modesty. Some eagerness for prosperity remains within us and now this greed has a color, vermillion, that is impossible to hide.
Yoani's blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.
Translating Cuba is a compilation blog with Yoani and other Cuban bloggers in English.
Yoani's new book in English, Havana Real, can be ordered here.
Follow Yoani Sanchez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/yoanifromcuba
A portrait of the inhabited ruins of Havana and their strange blend of magic and demolition. This German documentary by filmmakers Florian Borchmeyer and Matthias Hentschler captures the final moments of these buildings before they simply collapse altogether. Houses frequently collapse causing fatalities. The decay of this city and its living quarters is a continual source of danger for its inhabitants.
Part I of 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjy2SFl9NJI
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION: BROTHERS ARRESTED AFTER LISTENING TO HIP-HOP
Two brothers are currently serving prison sentences in Cuba for politically motivated offences. They are prisoners of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression. Brothers Antonio Michel Lima Cruz and Marcos Maiquel Lima Cruz have been imprisoned since Christmas Day 2010. They are members of the Cuban Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs (Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba) and both are independent journalists. They were arrested as they were holding a Christmas celebration with a group of family and friends at their home in Holguin, eastern Cuba. During the celebration, they played
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE REPORT
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/011/2012/en/67bace9a-7e3a-42c3-a5ac-13de206bc55c/amr250112012en.pdf
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: DOCUMENT - CUBA: ROUTINE REPRESSION: POLITICAL SHORT-TERM DETENTIONS AND HARASSMENT IN CUBA- 2012
Clara and also an independent journalist. Yusmani is a member of the Las Villas Democratic Youth League.
The Cuban government wages a permanent campaign of harassment and short-term detentions of political opponents to stop them from demanding respect for civil and political rights. Since Amnesty International’s last report on the respect for the freedom of expression in Cuba, published in June 2010, the situation has further deteriorated with a steady increase in the number of arbitrary detentions. Criticism of the government is not tolerated in Cuba and it is routinely punished with arbitrary and short-term detentions, “acts of repudiation” (demonstrations led by government supporters with the alleged participation of state security officials aimed at harassing and intimidating government critics), intimidation, harassment and politically motivated criminal prosecutions.
The authorities continue to deny those wanting political change in Cuba their right to express and share their ideas freely and without reprisal or retaliation. Repression is routine. Peaceful demonstrators, independent journalists and human rights activists are routinely detained for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly and movement. CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE REPORT!
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/007/2012/en/ccc6aeba-e892-4079-9e4a-63eebecd8a76/amr250072012en.html
It might seem to some that the requirements imposed on Sánchez are beginning to take their toll as she descends ever further into disordered banality.
I love to stumble across these facades and see their occupants looking out from the small balconies. There is something in them, in the paint chosen to cover the walls and in the bell hanging over the door that gives me hope. I am comforted to know that the desire to progress materially was not erased by so many years of false egalitarianism and faked modesty.
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So, I don't see complanis about "prosperity" you see and banality zenos (good nick!!!) see........... but I understand people have to do their work........