AltWeeklies Wire
The Cuban Revolution at 50new
I have learned one thing from my various visits to Cuba over the years, and that is not to predict the demise of the regime. Nevertheless, change may be lurking around the corner at last, for Barack Obama represents the greatest danger that the regime has faced since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of its subsidies seventeen years ago.
NOW Magazine |
Gwynne Dyer |
01-09-2009 |
International
Soderbergh Brings 'Che' to Miami; Angry Hysteria Ensuesnew
Just before his new epic about Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara cued up, Soderbergh pronounced, nodding toward the street, "Obviously not everyone is glad we're here. But I'm glad we're all here tonight."
Miami New Times |
Tim Elfrink |
12-15-2008 |
Movies
Steven Soderbergh's Che Opus is Indulgentnew
Out-perversing Gus Van Sant's Milk, Soderbergh makes a four-hour-plus biopic about a historical figure without providing a glimmer of charm or narrative coherence.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-11-2008 |
Reviews
The Quixotic Campaign to Let Terrorist Eduardo Arocena Out of Jailnew
Dozens in South Florida and beyond have thrown themselves into the most quixotic of campaigns: trying to persuade President Bush to parole a terrorist named Eduardo Arocena, who was convicted of two murders as well as 32 bombings from Manhattan to Little Havana. They just might succeed.
Miami New Times |
Tim Elfrink |
09-29-2008 |
Crime & Justice
'Havana Nocturne' Looks at Gambling, Guns and Sex in Pre-Castro Cubanew
The pre-Castro days of the late 1940s and the 1950s were the era when the Mafia ran the most successful string of big-buck casinos, posh hotels and spectacular nightclubs ever seen in this hemisphere -- and paid Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista nearly $10 million (in today's money) per week to ensure that their good thing was "protected."
Creative Loafing (Charlotte) |
John Grooms |
08-27-2008 |
Nonfiction
Eight Days in Gitmo: Observations on the Trial of Salim Hamdannew
I now understand that no matter what aspect of Guantanamo Bay is under examination, a person can't fully understand this off-shore prison project without going, seeing, and experiencing the now iconic legal black hole that the detention center and military commissions represent.
Artvoice |
Julia Hall |
08-18-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Clueless Cheney Tries to Scare Us into Drilling Everythingnew
With gas prices hovering over $4 a gallon across the U.S., the doyens of petrophilia are pulling out all the stops in an effort to get the U.S. to lift all environmental restrictions on drilling for oil. The latest salvo came when Dick Cheney repeated a claim by columnist George Will that the Chinese are drilling for crude in conjunction with Cuba off the coast of Florida.
Philadelphia City Paper |
David Faris |
07-01-2008 |
Commentary
Tags: China, Cuba, oil, Dick Cheney, gas prices, George Will, offshore drilling, ANWR, energy indepedence
Cuba Pushes Gay Rights, but Rum-Soaked Despair Lingersnew
Four decades after gays were sent to forced labor camps, and two decades after people with AIDS were forcibly hospitalized, the country recently celebrated its second international day against homophobia. But if the new political page is meant to salvage the standing of the revolution, it's not going down well among the people I meet. Cubans are more overtly cranky than on my last trip a few years back, none more so than the young gay guys on the Malecon.
NOW Magazine |
Glenn Wheeler |
06-30-2008 |
LGBT
Tim Pawlenty Flip-Flops on Cuba Just in Time to Cozy Up to McCainnew
In late April, the fiscally conservative, free-trade Republican Governor from Minnesota, vetoed a non-binding resolution urging the president and Congress to end the embargo, which surprised some local Cuban-Americans. Of course, the elephant in the room is Pawlenty's Pennsylvania Avenue ambitions.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Matt Snyders |
06-11-2008 |
Politics
Achy Obejas Uses the Noir Form to Explore Her Cuban Rootsnew
The 18 stories collected in the anthology Havana Noir are nothing if not messy. The Havana reflected in its pages is coldly violent and explosively loving. It's vibrant, brutal, amoral, sordid, romantic, idealistic, pragmatic, and gleefully ambiguous.
Chicago Reader |
Martha Bayne |
06-02-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Che Won't Go Awaynew
In the 40 years since his murder by the CIA and elite Bolivian Rangers, Guevara has been fashioned into a unique bridge between radical politics and popular culture. In a paradox that would baffle Leon Trotsky, Che is simultaneously a universal symbol of resistance and an object of commercial merchandise.
Los Angeles CityBeat |
Mick Farren |
05-16-2008 |
Commentary
A Decade After Newsweek Named Him Tops, Bill Teck is Backnew
Welcome to ñ redux. Teck's back, a graying beard contrasting the youthful glint in his eyes, and he hopes to capitalize on the term he coined to describe millions of young, bilingual Americans influenced by their heritage.
Miami New Times |
Janine Zeitlin |
04-21-2008 |
Culture
Cuban Ballet in Exilenew
Some of the world's best dancers hang out at Costco, then perform Swan Lake.
Miami New Times |
Janine Zeitlin |
04-14-2008 |
Performance
'Crossing the Waters' Offers a Peek into the Afro-Cuban Religionnew
The book's charismatic protagonist is Santiago Castaneda Vera, a spiritual practitioner who "works" the spirits of the dead and whose sacred oricha is Yemaya, the mother of the waters.
INDY Week |
Sylvia Pfeiffenberger |
04-10-2008 |
Nonfiction
Vermonters Sue U.S. Over Travel to Cubanew
"No other country gets this sort of treatment," said Jared Carter, a second-year student at Vermont Law School. "Prisoners in jail who committed mass murder have more access to their family members than we do."
Seven Days |
Ken Picard |
03-07-2008 |
International
Tags: Cuba, international
