Stories about Caribbean from November, 2011
Cuba: No Respect for Parents
“The love of the mother for her child is unconditional — according to Cubans — as are the child’s feeling toward its mother”, says Regina Cano, but notes that “in more than an insignificant percentage of instances nowadays, this image is broken and the pieces of the picture go flying.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Government & Gangs
aka_lol says of the government's Colour Me Orange crime and poverty reduction project: “[It] seems like throwing gasoline in the fire where crime is concerned…I suppose Government’s policy is to manage gangs rather than eliminate the need for them.”
Cuba: Censorship in Film Festival
Generation Y says that the International Festival of the New Latin American Cinema, which takes place in Cuba next month, “has been losing ground in the cultural life of Havana”, partly because of censorship.
Barbados, St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Domestic Violence
Barbados Underground links to an article about the high rate of domestic violence in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and suggests that “often times we discuss the issue of domestic abuse through a myopic lens.”
Cuba: The Freedom of Twitter
“Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban dictator Raul Castro, opened a Twitter account recently to freely share her thoughts 140 characters at a time”: babalu says that the micro-blogging service has made “Mariela [get] a taste of freedom — not her own freedom, but the freedom of other Cubans to...
Barbados: Thoughts on “Un-Hating”
Skip to Malou* is taken with the new Benetton ad campaign, saying: “Love it or hate it, I'm blogging about this…because I see it as a creative way to bring across some strong, thought provoking messages…poking at very sensitive, serious issues in a light hearted way.”
Cuba: Filmic Propaganda
babalu notes that “ScreenJunkies.com has chosen the Castro propaganda classic ‘I am Cuba’ as one of the top five blatantly lying propaganda films of all time.”
Cuba: Walking the Streets
Generation Y blogs about Tony, a street vendor who “has passed through all the stages of the emerging private sector in Cuba” and wonders, even in this period of entrepreneurial “revival”, “why [it] has to be plagued with so many absurdities, so many limitations.”
Jamaica: Lessons from “Occupy” Protests
Pray, laugh, love! says that there are valuable business lessons to be learned from the the Occupy Wall Street protests: “Ultimately…the protestors would’ve been able to call public attention to their plight and send a very strong message to corporations that enough is enough. Importantly, it shows what can happen...
Cuba: The Church, The Government & The Dissidents
Bloggers question the approach of the Catholic Church in Cuba here and here, while Pedazos de La Isla reports on recent crackdowns on dissidents, here and here.
Trinidad & Tobago: Bull S**t Artists
Plain Talk explains why he thinks that Trinidad and Tobago needs a National Bullshit Council.
Bermuda: “Occupy” Movement at its End
Respice Finem comments on the de-occupation of Wall Street, here.
Haiti: Cholera Compensation or Opportunism?
Stanley Lucas has a few questions about a court case that is seeking to compensate Haitian cholera victims, saying: “At worst, it seems an opportunistic attempt to capitalize on a tragic situation for fund raising purposes. What is equally concerning is [the] approach to this challenge. Rather than offer the...
Trinidad & Tobago: Fight at Project Launch
B.C. Pires comments on a fracas that broke out, allegedly among rival gang members, at the launch of a government project: “It would be shocking if it wasn’t par for the course. The shameless use of the UNC-yellow-like orange in the attempt to, um, curry the favour of the semi-literate/fully...
Cuba: Honouring the Island's Patron Saint
Havana Times reports on the celebration of an outdoor mass this past weekend “in honor of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, considered by Catholics to be the ‘Patron Saint of Cuba'”, explaining: “Next year will mark the 400th year since the discovery of the image; it seems that...
Cuba: “Antunez'” Wife Tries To Reach Hospital
Pedazos de La Isla reports that “Yris Tamara Aguilera [wife of the dissident ‘Antunez’] was victim of a brutal beat down at the hands of the Cuban political police” and is in need of medical attention which may prove impossible thanks to the fact that “the dissident couple has their...
Trinidad & Tobago: You're No Batman
Outlish says that Ian Alleyne (the TV host suspended for airing footage of a child being sexually assaulted) “thinks he's Batman” but that “his story has more parallels with Booster Gold’s”, explaining: “Any champion for the people, super hero or non-super hero, can never let his cause be about him....
Cuba: Illegal Internet Access
Two diaspora bloggers address Cuba's accusations that the United States helped finance “the creation of illegal television and Internet networks that have allowed some Cubans to bypass state-run services” – Uncommon Sense says: “Let's hope so…because limiting access is just another way the dictatorship exercises its control of the population”,...
Puerto Rico: Homicide Rate
“Unfortunately, this year Puerto Rico is going to establish a new record for the number of murders”: Dondequiera says that “it will take decades to reverse these trends, and any political candidate that says any different is lying.”
Barbados: Contemporary Caribbean Art
Regional bloggers are excited about Barbadian artist Sheena Rose's latest work, here, here and here, with A Girl Named Natalie saying: “The clean, monochromatic lines, sparing use of colour, and subject matter that encompass Sheena’s current style in this exhibition is the epitome of what contemporary Caribbean art is about.”
Cuba: Reports from Diaspora Bloggers
Pedazos de La Isla reports that “Antunez” has been released, babalu has what he laments is a “regular” report on “on Ladies in White being arrested by the Castro dictatorship for attempting to attend Sunday church services” and Uncommon Sense suggests that an independent journalist may have been arrested “because...
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