Now that her posts are being translated into English on a more frequent basis, Yoani Sanchez's Generation Y is ever more a daily must-read. Here is her most-recent post, in which she in her inimitable style dissects the sad reality of life in Cuba today:
The Havana Malecón is getting ready for Carnival. On the Piragua, tents have been set up for restaurants serving international food and colorful kiosks rise throughout the area. One can already see, on the pavements and in the portals, the metal structures used for reviewing stands, while groups practice the choreography they will show off beginning on Friday. Because of the successive changes in dates that our popular celebrations have been subject to, we are a people who are never sure when carnivals start. The announcements that they are about to begin surprise us, and we aren’t even all that frustrated when we hear they have been suspended. I remember the summer of 2006, when we were left with the painted floats, having been told that Havana’s conga drums didn’t fit with the somber conditions surrounding the illness of Fidel Castro. Luckily, this year the bands might play. We continue living in a schizophrenic carnival: most of the products are sold for convertible pesos, with a small portion of the pleasures set aside for those who only have Cuban pesos. Due to violence and poverty, our revelries have ceased to be a place for the whole family. But even so, it is a time to shrug off the slogans, the shortages and the frustrated expectations. Dancing is a magnificent way of forgetting. And so we will have a festival along the same perimeter where, fourteen years ago, Havanans demonstrated their discontent in a social explosion. We will drink, all along the wall that has felt the weight of makeshift rafts heading north. We will enjoy salsa and reggaeton, on the same ocean front avenue that hasn’t seen ‘official’ demonstrators chanting slogans and waving flags in months. To this Malecón, that has witnessed our shouts, our departures and our feigned sentiments, we will go, for a few days, to amuse ourselves.
Considering the importance of her work, and the uncertainty of how long the Castro dictatorship will allow her to continue, I will reproduce Yoani's postings here as often as possible.
Recent Comments