Seeing the Light in Havana

November 25, 2008

Before I moved into my new apartment in the Vedado neighborhood, the word among residents was that the power hardly ever went out along the four-block stretch from Linea to the seaside Malecon.

Recent columns

• Cuba Hits Landmark: 2 Millionth Tourist

  November 20, 2008

  The tourists keep coming despite the American trade embargo, the high prices, the vicious storms.

• Castros Have Different Styles In Disasters

  November 13, 2008

  The remnants of Hurricane Paloma were already headed away from Cuba when Raul Castro visited disaster victims in Las Tunas and Camaguey provinces.

• Scenes of despair, devastation and hope after Hurricane Paloma slams Cuba

  November 11, 2008

  During every major story, there are things a reporter sees that don't make it into the daily updates. Ray Sanchez, the Sun Sentinel's Havana bureau chief, was among the first foreign journalists to reach the town where Hurricane Paloma made landfall.

• Cubans Hang Up on High Cell Phone Rates

  November 4, 2008

  Alexander Blanco signed up for cell phone service to know when his wife Miriam went into labor.

• Embargo Doesn't Keep U.S. Brands Off Cuban Shelves

  October 31, 2008

  What embargo?

• A Moving Lesson in Havana

  October 29, 2008

  There wasn't an empty cardboard box to be found in Havana.

• Cuba's Mardi Gras is all about letting go

  August 9, 2008

  "What are we celebrating?" Sergio Montes asked during Carnaval, the Cuban Mardi Gras. "Getting through life."

• Despite Cuba's Teacher Shortage, Fidel Castro Doubts that "we're so bad."

  July 21, 2008

  Former President Fidel Castro has long listed his country's accomplishments in education and healthcare as pillars of the revolution.

• Like Umpires and Managers, Cubans Are Nose to Nose over Their Olympic Baseball Team

  July 18, 2008

  The sweat dripping from Tercio Aragon's beefy face fell on the nose of the smaller man in front him. A larger-than-normal crowd gathered. Tourists snapped pictures and shot video. A policeman walked over.

• US Officials Deny Role in Protests

  July 3, 2008

  American diplomats denied instigating opposition demonstrations to coincide with the July 4th holiday, a spokesman for the U.S. mission here said Thursday.

• Cuba Hopes Its Baseball Team Will Catch Olympic Gold

  July 2, 2008

  In Beijing next month, Cuba's powerful national baseball team will be among the gold-medal favorites in what could be the sport's Olympic farewell.

• Telephone Service in Cuba: About 1 in 10 People Are Connected

  July 1, 2008

  Hortencia Zayas took an informal telephone-line survey of the crowded Old Havana tenement where she has lived for decades.

• Cuban researchers claim development of lung cancer vaccine

  June 30, 2008

  Cuba has approved what is believed to be the world's first registered lung cancer vaccine.

• Cubans continue to cross Straits despite many dangers

  June 29, 2008

  Marta and 14-year-old son Anselmo packed a navy-blue knapsack with bottled water, cheese, crackers, hand towels, sugar, sunscreen and a miniature ceramic Our Lady of Charity, Cuba's patron saint.

• Fidel Castro, Man of Letters

  June 25, 2008

  Fidel Castro spends his convalescense collecting news and analyzing world affairs, the former president said in a statement Tuesday night.

• Alcohol distillery has record production off Cuba's electrical grid

  June 23, 2008

  A distillery in Aguada de Pasajeros in Cienfuegos Province has produced 2.34 million gallons of alcohol without consuming a single kilowatt of island nation's power.

• Cuba: A Mother Mourns the Death of Her Son in Smuggling Tragedy

  June 19, 2008

  Cuba blames American immigration laws for the deaths of an 11-year-old boy and a teenager during a botched smuggling operation off the island's northern coast.

• Cubans Glimpse a Frail Fidel Castro for the First Time in Six Months

  June 18, 2008

  Ordinary Cubans last night got their first glimpse of ailing leader Fidel Castro in nearly six months, when the 81-year-old revolutionary appeared in a new video on state television, looking thinner, his beard and hair whiter and shorter.

• Venezuela's Chavez visits Fidel, consults with Raul

  June 17, 2008

  Cuban television Tuesday night showed the first images of the ailing Fidel Castro in six months, meeting in a garden setting with his brother President Raul Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

• The Tale of Two Champions: One Boxer Stays in Cuba, the Other Leaves for Germany

  June 13, 2008

  The latest boxing defection caught two-time Olympic bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux like a solid uppercut to the chin.

• After a two week absence, Fidel Castro, the editorial writer, resurfaces

  June 12, 2008

  Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro reappeared in the state press Thursday after a short hiatus.

• For Aiding China's Earthquake Victims, Doctors Receive Certificates Signed by Fidel Castro

  June 11, 2008

  Members of a Cuban medical brigade just back from aiding earthquake victims in China have been given certificates signed by ailing former President Fidel Castro, the state press reported Wednesday.

• Cubans hope economic reforms will soon allow private businesses

  June 10, 2008

  When Eddy is not shuttling workers around in his state-owned bus, the 34-year-old driver is picking up tourists at restaurants and nightclubs and delivering them to their hotels.

• More belt-tightening in store for Cuba

  June 9, 2008

  Despite rising expectations about improvements in their daily lives, Cubans should prepare for more austerity, according to Cuban vice president Carlos Lage.

• Che's Children Want Respect for Their Father's Image

  June 6, 2008

  To the children of revolutionary icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the commercial exploitation of their father's name and image is a cause of embarrassment, according to Che's daughter Aleida Guevara.

• A US Court Vacates Sentences of Three Convicted in Cuba Spy Case

  June 5, 2008

  The possibility of reduced sentences for three Cuban agents convicted of spying in the United States offered little solace to relatives and supporters on the island.

• Cuba's president, Raul Castro, turns 77

  June 4, 2008

  Cuban President Raul Castro quietly turned 77 on Tuesday.

• Cuba's VP heads to Rome to discuss soaring food prices

  June 3, 2008

  Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura leads Cuba's delegation Tuesday at the opening of conference in Rome on the global food crisis.

• For his 80th birthday, Che gets a website

  May 30, 2008

  Love him or hate him, revolutionary icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara is making a comeback as the 80th anniversary of his birth approaches.