Beyond the Frame, an exhibition of Cuban paintings and photographs in aid of the campaign to release the Miami Five, is at the Lighthouse in Glasgow until Sunday (it was at Gallery 27 in London last month). Many of the works are apolitical but some are inspired by the various attempts by US governments to destabilise…
Alan Gross, a 62-year-old US citizen, has been imprisoned in Cuba since December 2009. He fell foul of the authorities while working for USAID, liaising with Cuba’s small Jewish community. The Washington Post earlier this month demanded his release, saying that ‘Cuba’s accusations stem from Mr Gross’s humanitarian work’. When he was convicted for ‘acts…
Known as one of the originators of eco-tourism, and appearing a very creditable third in a world index of sustainability, Costa Rica has a reputation to maintain. Its tourism industry, based around the country’s slogan ‘No artificial ingredients’, is worth over £2bn annually, more than its coffee and banana exports combined. Though the smallest country…
Britain may have invented the soap opera but nowhere has the format been promoted more vigorously than in Latin America. For decades, telenovelas have been produced in Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina and elsewhere, and viewed by hundreds of millions daily from Mexico City to Buenos Aires. Their reach extends to the US and (on a more…
Dear Mr. Brooks, In your January 15, 2010, opinion piece in The New York Times, The Underlying Tragedy, you present what you seem to believe is a bold assessment of the situation in Haiti and what you certainly know is a provocative recommendation for Haiti’s future. You also offer some advice to President Obama. In…
The old car was typical of Cuba. This time it wasn’t a half-century old Chevrolet, but a slightly younger and less glamorous Lada. Broken door handles and window-winders had been replaced by locally-made spares; the road was visible through a hole below the driver’s legs, ventilation came from a desk-top fan clamped to the dashboard. …