Las Parrandas de Remedios: Cuba’s Fiery Fireworks Festival

Bienvenidos a Remedios, La Cuna de las Parrandas.

I found out about the Las Parrandas Festival a few years ago when I had my first glimpse of Cayo Santa Maria in Villa Clara province. Despite wanting to see the festivities for the longest time, I could never find the time to visit as I usually spend my Christmas vacation outside of Cuba. Sensing that this might be my last opportunity to see the famed festival in person, I decided to check out the festivities this year. Read More ...

"Lola" joins Havana Filmfest

Lola, Brillante Mendoza's latest indie creation.

Sunday,10 p.m., 11 December 2011, Cubans begin lining up at the Riviera Theater to attend the first recorded participation by a Filipino film in the Havana International Film Festival (which by the way is headed by Che Guevara’s son Camilo). The film they were lining up to watch is an indie flick entitled “Abuela” or Lola in Filipino language. Directed by the up-and-coming Filipino auteur Brillante Mendoza, the film comes with a good reputation, having won the Best Film award in the Teheran International Film Festival in 2010. Read More ...

Cyber Chatter, Cuba-style

Internet usage in Cuba is among the lowest in the world.

Cyberspace was recently treated to a heated debate (if you can call it that way) between dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez and President Raul Castro'’s daughter, Mariela Castro Espin. Mariela has just recently joined Twitter to defend herself from unflattering comments quoted to her about her trip to Amsterdam's infamous red light district. Read More ...

What’s in a word: Embargo o Bloqueo?

Hitting Uncle Sam in the face with an iron fist.

For the 20^th time, the United Nations General Assembly voted again today, 25 October, in favor of Cuba, condemning the unilateral trade, financial and economic sanctions being imposed by the United States on Cuba by a vote of 186-2-2. This is an emotional issue which, rightly, majority of the UN member states including the Philippines have condemned. As history has shown, embargos, blockades or sanctions, however one calls it, never work. In the entire history of its utilization, not a single state which had been subjected to it had succumbed under its pressure. Read More ...

Unwinding in Havana's Necropolis

The peaceful and serene Necropolis de Colon, Havana's City of the Dead.

Once in a while, I visit the Necropolis de Cristobal Colón (Christopher Columbus) just to get away from the daily grind. Named after the famed Genoese explorer who discovered Cuba in 1492, this ageing Havana cemetery reflects the Cuban society at large – traces of a bygone splendor stoically presenting a regal front amid the decay and disrepair around it. Read More ...

Summer Sojourn al Norte

Boston Financial District skyline

Visiting the United States post-9/11 has been a taxing experience. However, being only 90 miles away from  Cuba, it still is the most convenient location to chill out despite the blood-sucking prices those Charter flights are charging for a mere 45-minute flight. Never mind those cranky Homeland security personnel and those over-the-top security searches. Vale la pena! Still, this must be the most expensive route per nautical mile on earth. It’s actually cheaper to go to Caracas than to fly to Miami. Read More ...

Visiting historic Santa Clara

Che Guevara Mausoleum, Santa Clara

For Che Guevara enthusiasts or dedicated Marxists who believe in his dream of a revolutionary Pan-America, Santa Clara in Cuba's Villa Clara province is a place of pilgrimage. In the same way that La Higuera in Bolivia is now a shrine to the Latin American revolutionary icon, Santa Clara is an important way-station for those following Che's footsteps because it is where his remains are now enshrined in a mausoleum dedicated to him and his ill-fated band of rebels who fell in Bolivia. Read More ...

Havana Carnaval: A Hiatus of Surreal Merriment

For seven days in August, Habaneros found an excuse to forget about the rigors of daily life and spent the humid nights partying, getting drunk, and dancing as the city marked its traditional Carnaval. Read More ...

Remembering 65 years of Philippines-Cuba Diplomatic Relations

Commemorative stamp issued by the Cuban Ministry of Communications.

Primero de julio started like any other day. I went off to work at 8 a.m. I did my early morning habit at the office – opening my emails, the office’s Facebook page and looking at incoming correspondence before the Boss arrives at around 9 a.m. Read More ...