Cuba: Looking back and ahead
By Saul Landau and Nelson P. Valdés
(First of two parts.)
In 2012, the White House will focus on the most important of international and national issues: the re-election of the President. U.S.-Cuba policy will fall into “Next Year’s” box – or the year after that. The National Security staff reverts to its familiar positions on relations with that troublesome island: ignorance and arrogance.
Few Americans even in the Foreign Service know the Cuban revolution began in the 1860s as a war of independence against Spain.
The uncertain future of baseball in Cuba
By Osmany Sánchez
MATANZAS - Since late November, Matanzas has lived and breathed baseball. For the first time in almost 20 years, Victoria de Girón Stadium is filled at every game played by the local team. The children imitate the province’s ballplayers and we see a greater presence of young boys in the “mini-baseball” area, where new generations of Matanzas ballplayers are nurtured.
In Cuba, baseball – “la pelota” – is a passion. The performances of the Matanzas team are reflected in the province’s socioeconomic life.
American democracy is broken
By Max J. Castro
"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried"
These words from the late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill have been quoted so many times that the expression has become the world’s leading political cliché. As the United States, often described as the leading modern democracy...
The price of democracy
By David Brooks
Welcome to the land of "one dollar, one vote," as described by one of the banners of those who protest against the "purchase of democracy" by businesses and the wealthy. As the election year begins in the United States, a very special green smell can be detected: here, the "democratic" process reeks of money.
Hugo’s match?
Venezuela’s Miranda state Governor Henrique Capriles Radonski, a 39-year-old former tax attorney with a surprisingly common touch, may well be the first viable challenger to Hugo Chavez’s controversial rule, which has reduced poverty and given the poor more empowerment. … Capriles has pledged to retain Chavez’s popular social programs but revive capitalist productivity. “Chavez did well to identify poverty as a priority in Venezuela, and if we as the opposition don’t engage that social reality here, then it’s game over for us… But to do that more effectively you also have to develop the country’s economic capacity,” Capriles tells Time Magazine’s Tim Padgett.
Follow our progress by clicking here where we will show you the number of hits received on a monthly basis. Or, at the top, click on each of our sections and there you'll find a week by week account of how each article was received by the number of hits it received.
Miami is ‘Worst Run’ city in America
By Brian Hamacher
Violent crime, poverty, low education rate and a crippled housing industry helped Miami reach the top spot in 24/7 Wall Street's first-annual list of the worst-run cities in America.
The Magic City beat out Detroit (No. 2) and Newark (No. 3) for the dubious honor in the rankings, released last week. Nearby Hialeah came in at No. 10 on the list.
Blame the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce
By Alan Farago (aka Gimletye)
The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce endorsed big-time casinos downtown recently. What else would you expect from an organization whose mission disappeared long ago in the urban and suburban mess it substantially helped create.
This week data cruncher, Sperling's Best Places...
Click to continue reading...The political changes in Cuba
By Jesús Arboleya Cervera
A widely expressed opinion is that the current economic reforms in Cuba do not imply any relevant political changes. That’s what the U.S. government contends, to deny the reforms’ significance.
The official Cuban discourse feeds...
Al’s Loupe
Important charter amendments on Tuesday’s Miami-Dade ballot
By Alvaro F. Fernandez
Next Tuesday is a big day in Florida. On the 31st, the Republican primaries continue on the road to the November presidential election.
Poor Republicans… they’re limited to Newt Gingrich, who criticized Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac for the nation’s banking debacle while accepting more than a million dollars from them during the height of the collapse. This for his work as (you pick): consultant, historian, or lobbyist… Duplicitous Newt should not surprise anyone who remembers that the former Speaker of the House blasted Bill Clinton for his tawdry White House affairs while he himself was carrying on with another woman other than his wife while congress impeached the former president. And if it’s duplicity you seek, there is always the robotically handsome and way too rich Mitt Romney who has managed to stand on all sides of any one issue – depending on who he’s addressing. And of course there’s Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, both laughable if it wasn’t that they do sound very scary at times.
But as a Miamian who’s not a Republican (thank goodness!), I will be heading to the polls on Tuesday to cast my ballot on two charter amendments. Some have complained that they may not be exactly what many of us want. But folks, it’s a start in the right direction. And we can’t keep waiting for perfection.
The first amendment increases from 60 to 120 days the time allowed to circulate initiatory petitions.
Click to continue reading...How to run a Republican primary
By Bill Press
You have to see it on the ground to believe what a mess Republicans have made of this election. It's the worst way to run a primary campaign – unless your goal was to lose the election, in the first place.
The Republican Party started out with one big advantage: Despite getting off to a gangbuster start in 2009, just one year later President Obama looked like he'd run out of gas. His popularity plummeted. Democrats got shellacked in the mid-term elections. Obama's legislative agenda never got off the ground.Even liberals – no, especially 
liberals – were disappointed with his failure to fight for or deliver on...
Galleries
