Unseemly proposals: medicines “a la izquierda”
GRANMA looks at the practice of buying and selling medicines in the informal sector (Cubans call it, the black market)
Tinkering or integral re-design?
PROGRESO WEEKLY: Domingo Amuchastegui critically looks at the incremental economic changes Cuba has implemented since the July 11, 2021
The Hard Core of the Cuban Economy
Esteban Morales looks at the economic challenges of Cuba in 2020 in light of the recently-held 8th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC)
Díaz-Canel at Mexican Independence Day
GRANMA presents the transcript of Cuban President Díaz-Canel’s speech at Mexican Independence Day celebration in Mexico City, September 16, 2021
I live in Los Angeles and visit Cuba often. This site is an expression of my passion for Cuba, it’s people, politics and culture. You’ll find thousands of current and historic translations from Spanish publications, blogs, books and movies.
- Why Cuba? Why Me?
- Cuban Chronicles
- More From Walter
My interest in Cuba has deep family roots. My father and his parents lived there from 1939 to 1942. As Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, they were unable to enter either Great Britain or the United States, despite having close relatives in each. The Roosevelt administration strictly enforced a restrictive quota on Jewish immigration. My father and his parents had to wait in Cuba until 1943 before obtaining permission to enter the US. I was born in New York City in 1944. (A good history of the Jewish experience in Cuba is Robert M. Levine’s 1993 Tropical Diaspora (ISBN:0-8130-1218-X). There’s also a novel which eloquently evokes the time when my father lived in Cuba, Passing Through Havana, by Felicia Rosshandler (ISBN: 0-312-59779-7). My father took me to Cuba in August, 1956. We visited his old residence and met some of his old friends. I don’t remember much about it except that Cuba was a very hot and sticky place. (I was only 12 at the time.) We stayed briefly at the Hotel Nacional, and after that we moved to a smaller hotel. We traveled to Pinar del Rio with one old friend, John Gundrum, also a German immigrant, but one who’d never left Cuba. In November, 2000 I made my second visit to Cuba as an adult. I’d spent three weeks there in late 1999, on a delegation of yoga teachers and students meeting and practicing with our Cuban counterparts. I knew more than most in the US about this Caribbean nation. I’ve read a lot of Cuban history, and followed Cuban affairs closely. Now I wanted to take a much closer look. How do Cubans actually live, day-to-day? I wanted to get a sense of how they work, their likes, dislikes and so on. It’s one thing to hear and read about a place, in the media (Cuba is terrible place! People are dying to leave!) or, on the other hand, uncritically favorable accounts among the few left media sympathetic to Cuba.
To Subscribers to Walter Lippmann’s Blog
CUBAN CHRONICLES by Walter Lippmann March 13, 2019 FOR SUBSCRIBERS TO WALTERLIPPMANN.COM’s blog only. I’m about to post some older materials from the CubaNews Yahoo News Group, and some other materials which were first posted to Facebook, just collecting previous postings in one convenient location: my website. If you’ve not seen them before, I hope […]
Cuban cigarettes
CUBAN CHRONICLES by Walter Lippmann February 15, 2019 These are Cuban cigarettes, not at the duty-free, and you’ll notice the price is 6 cuc for a carton, that is 10 packs and other words 200 coffin nails. Originallly posted to facebook February 15, 2019 at 9:06am Feb 15, 2019Walter Lippmann
The plane has been called for boarding
CUBAN CHRONICLES by Walter Lippmann February 15, 2019 The plane has been called for boarding so I’m going to go now I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do any more posting from inside the plane. On the way to the airport, I had to make a quick stop at the office of the […]
With Suitcases at The Airport
CUBAN CHRONICLES With Suitcases at The Airport by Walter Lippmann February 15, 2019 Here I am at the airport. Over a two months nap over a two-month span, I accumulate a massive quantity of books. If there’s any space left beyond the books, and the Cuban coffee that I purchase, I sometimes by a few […]
Walter Lippmann, gives his opinion on Sexo Sentido
JUVENTUD REBELDE’s Sexo Sentido column asks Walter Lippmann why he translates their columns into English.
Take Back the Workplace 11/12/2017
#MeToo Survivors March – Take Back the Workplace March and Rally, Hollywood, California November 12, 2017 Text and dozens of photos by Walter Lippmann. Hundreds of women and men came out on short notice today to protest sexual abuse and rape. Called by local organizations and a group of female farmworkers, an estimated 500 people assembled […]
Letter to Walter Lippmann
LETTER FROM JACK SHEPHERD TO WALTER LIPPMANN July 12, 1997 Dear Walter: American medicine is dominated by the drug companies in alliance with the FDA and the majority of the doctors. It results in high costs and inferior medical treatment. Drug companies cannot patent substances that occur naturally in the human body such as […]
Jack Shepherd
Jack Shepherd (1919-1998) Jack Shepherd, a steelworker who headed a committee of a coalition of 25 locals in Southern California that tried to get workers involved in antiwar demonstrations last April and November, said that the attitude of the average worker was that “Nixon will bring the war to an end.” http://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/06/archives/antiwar-groups-to-protest-here-activists-reject-new-tactic-at.html Photos by Walter […]
Translations from Spanish
About that “other” Walter Lippmann
If you don’t know me personally, you might be wondering, ” Walter Lippmann”, haven’t I heard that name before? Well, you very well may have. The “other” Walter Lippmann was more or less the George Will of his time, though he had been mildly socialistic as a young man. We shared little beyond our name, and our secular, German Jewish background. But, because my name is spelled exactly as his was, people sometimes ask if we are related. There’s no family or other connection. Read More from some scholars whose work I appreciate who’ve written about his ideas and politics.
Movies
Leni Riefenstahl and a final adjustment
GRANMA’s principal film critic shares unsavory facts about the famous German director from the research by a German filmmaker Nina Gladitz
Restored “Last Supper” at Venice
JUVENTUD REBELDE on the restauration of LA ULTIMA CENA and VENECIA at upcoming film festivals.
I’m Not Who You Think
GRANMA’s film critic comments on Juliette Binoche’s performance the romantic comedy IM NOT WHO YOU THINK (2019)
Read more about movies
MUST READS
- Manuel E Yepe
- Dr. Néstor García Iturbe
On the desertion of César Prieto
Cuban blogger Roberto M. Yepe comments on the desertion of Cuban baseball player César Prieto in May 2021 in Florida.
It’s Not the Economy, It’s the Virus
Manuel E. Yepe looks at Donald Trumps indifference to the galloping Covid-19 virus in his country.
REVIEW: Vicki Huddleston’s Cuba memoir
Retired Cuban diplomat Nestor Garcia Iturbe takes a critical look at Vicki Huddleston’s OUR WOMAN IN HAVANA.
We Keep Being Put on New Lists
We Keep Being Put on New Lists By: Dr. Néstor García Iturbe Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews. The Trump administration, at the head of the United States government, has just included Cuba on three new lists. That is part of the policy change, which Trump announced when he met in the city […]
- Fidel Castro
- In His Own Words
- Speeches
Photo by Walter Lippmann
Fidel Castro, speaking in Bayamo, Cuba, July 26, 2006. I took this picture, surrounded by tens of thousands of Cubans. It is my favorite picture of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution.
Fidel almost always spoke in Spanish. In this section you will find a selection of Fidel Castro’s speeches and writing, translated to English.
Fidel Castro on his mother Lina
GRANMA: Fidel Castro answers Ignacio Ramonet’s request that he speak about his mother.
Jesus Christ, Revolutionary
Fidel Castro saw Jesus Christ as a revolutionary: “I believe that many of the passages of the preachings of Christ, such as the Sermon on the Mount, cannot be given any interpretation other than what you call the option for the poor.” (Excerpt from FIDEL AND RELIGION.)
The Novel of His Memories
Gabo and I were in the city of Bogotá on the sad day of April 9, 1948 when [Colombian Liberal leader and presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer] Gaitán was killed.
Fidel Castro Speech October 3, 1965
Speech given Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and Prime Minister of the Revolutionary Government, in the presentation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, at the “Chaplin” theater October 3, 1965. Havana Domestic Radio and Television Services in Spanish 0150 GMT 4 October 1965–F (October […]
Fidel Castro on 1983 Coup in Grenada
Speech by Fidel Castro at the eulogy for the heroes killed in unequal combat against U.S. Imperialism in Grenada. Held in Havana on November 14, 1983.. SOURCE: The African Communist, No. 97, 1984, pp. 75-91. Scanned from pdf at The African Communist #97, 1984, by Walter Lippmann, November 2017, pp. 75-91
Fidel Castro Welcomes Pope John Paul in 1998
Mar 14, 2016Walter Lippmann Source : Fidel Castro: Bienvenida A Su Santidad Juan Pablo Il
Second Declaration of Havana: Validity of a Demand for Justice
The Second Declaration of Havana, approved on February 4, 1962 in the middle of a process of shaping up the people’s political power, far-reaching revolutionary changes, serious class struggle, and growing interventionism by the United States against Cuba.
Fidel Castro Speech October 3, 1965
Speech given Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and Prime Minister of the Revolutionary Government, in the presentation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, at the “Chaplin” theater October 3, 1965. Havana Domestic Radio and Television Services in Spanish 0150 GMT 4 October 1965–F (October […]
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