Latest posts by Janine Mendes-Franco from November, 2011
Cuba: Papal Visit Challenges
Crossing the Barbed Wire suggests that the proposed Papal visit to Cuba next year “presents challenges for three essential actors of the current Cuba”; El Cafe Cubano, meanwhile, says: “I don't believe the Pope's visit will do anything to ‘CHANGE’ things in Cuba.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Post-Curfew Questions
“Between the celebratory reflex actions and simultaneous grumblings”, Outlish “got to thinking about all the things that some of us have been too quick to do [since the lifting of the curfew in Trinidad and Tobago].”
Bermuda, St. Lucia: Slavery Footprint & Slave Trade Memorial
Breezeblog links to “a website that tracks the forced and unpaid labour that goes into producing the things we take for granted” and makes the point that “being aware of the impression left by your slavery footprint may be the most important of all”, while Caribbean Book Blog notes that...
Jamaica: Loving the Language
“The governor general of St Lucia, Dame Pearlette Louisy, gives part of her throne speech in Patois each year”: Jamaica Woman Tongue longs for the day that will happen in Jamaica, saying: “Patwa, Patois, dialect, Jamaican Creole or just plain Jamaican, whatever you call our local language, it has low...
Trinidad & Tobago: Parental Disconnect?
West Indian Mother wonders if “by being so connected – so technologically available – [parents are] potentially losing touch with the little people who should be their priority.”
Cuba: The Democracy of Twitter
Generation Y is shocked at the “arrogance” with which Mariela Castro responded to a question she posed on Twitter, but still believes that “verbal attack is a habit that can be cured. The voice can be trained, tolerance acquired, the ear opened to listening to others. Twitter is a magnificent...
Cuba: Athlete Forgotten
“The [glorification of] the standing of our athletes in the medal count and categoris[ing] this ‘as an achievement of the revolution’” gets Ricardo Medina thinking about “Rauler Castellanos Moreno, a black youth from Pinar del Rio who, despite his victory [in the 2007 Special Olympics] now lives in inhuman conditions.”
Haiti: “Abandoned Population”
Dying in Haiti republishes the desperate pleas of a Catholic priest in Robillard, who says that “several of the family members of the cholera inpatients of [the area] have TB symptoms. The situation of Robilllard is definitely becoming chaotic. We cannot expose an entire population to some TB people.”
Cuba: “Antunez” Reportedly Critical
Pedazos de La Isla reports that “Yris Tamara Aguilera, wife of Jorge Luis Garcia ‘Antunez’ and active resistance member herself, has made declarations in regards to the health of her husband who was jailed two days ago during a non-violent sit-in.”
Caribbean: Remembering the Veterans
Several diaspora bloggers write posts about Veterans Day.
Trinidad & Tobago: Mauby Drink
Interested in making mauby? TriniGourmet.com posts her recipe, along with a few facts about mauby bark that you may not have known.
Cuba: “Antunez” Under Investigation
Cuban bloggers report on the re-arrest of the dissident “Antunez”, here and here.
Cuba: On the Pope's Potential Visit
On hearing news that the Pope may visit Cuba next year, diaspora blogger babalu says: “If the Pope does indeed visit Cuba and the Castro regime is still in power, there can only be two possible outcomes: either the visit will be ‘apolitical,'…or the Pope will stand up and vehemently...
U.S.Virgin Islands: High Electricity Rates
News of St. John reports that “the high cost of electricity on [the island] generated a protest demonstration in Cruz Bay.”
Cuba: Frustrating Pay Day
“Yesterday was payday for retired people and active workers who collect their pay by debit card”: Rebeca Monzo blogs about the “craziness” that ensued.
Cuba: Segregation Sail
Reinaldo Escobar and his wife Yoani Sanchez get kicked off a yacht tour reserved for tourists; he recounts the experience here.
Haiti: Cholera Vaccine?
Dying in Haiti links to an article which suggests that it would cost 40 million dollars to vaccinate everyone in Haiti against cholera and says: “That seems like a good deal. We need to remember that the UN costs 60 million dollars per MONTH to keep them in Haiti. Which...
Grenada: On Self-Publishing
Tobias Buckell is “seriously getting tired of prominent self publishers” and explains why, here.
Trinidad & Tobago: Final Bailout Formula
Afra Raymond comments on the new bailout formula which was recently approved by Parliament: “Whatever one thinks of the actual [CL Financial] bailout, which I maintain is a perversion of our Treasury, there are valuable lessons to be learned from all this. The main lesson for me is the Power...
Cuba: Encounter with a Fumigator
“Many people in Cuba fail to understand the gap between social and private space,” writes Daisy Valera, whose run-in with an official fumigator left her with “the feeling of being overwhelmed and without rights, even within the four walls of where I live.”
Haiti: Where's the Running Water?
A multi-million dollar project to supply water to several marginal neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince was approved in 2006; 5 years later, there is still no running water. Haiti Grassroots Watch looked into it and this is what they found.
