Going personally to Havana taught me a great deal, but two brief visits couldn’t supply
all the information I needed. Here are some of the sources that I relied on.

Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro’s Gulag, Armando Valladares, Encounter Books 2001.
Author was a prisoner of conscience for 22 years.

Ay, Cuba!, Andrei Codrescu, Picador 1999. NPR commentator’s wryly humorous take on
conditions in Cuba.

Before Night Falls, Reinaldo Arenas, Viking/Penguin Books 1993. Autobiography of a Cuban
writer whose homosexuality made him a target of harassment.

Conversations with Cuba, C. Peter Ripley, University of Georgia Press 2001. Author fears that
the spirit of the Revolution has been lost.

Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana, Ann Louise Bardach, Random
House 2002. Insight into the emotions and politics of a divided people.

Cuba Libre: Breaking the Chains, Peter Marshall, Victor Gollancz Ltd. (London), 1987. The
author finds much to like about Cuba’s break from U.S. domination.

Cuba Diaries: An American Housewife in Havana, Isadora Tattlin, Algonquin Books 2002.
Describes in sometimes funny, often agonizing detail what a family has to do to get by in
Havana.

Cubans: Voices of Change, Lynn Geldoff, St. Martin’s Press 1992. Interviews with ordinary
people who have benefitted from the Revolution.

Enduring Cuba, Zoë Bran, Lonely Planet 2002. Author is astonished how Cubans survive in
a country where nothing works.

La cultura y la revolución cubana, Leonard Padura Fuentes and John M. Kirk, Plaza Mayor
(Puerto Rico) 2002. Essays on how the Revolution has changed Cuba for the better.

Mea Cuba, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Noonday 1994. Slashing humor shows Castro no pity.

Mi Moto Fidel, Christopher Baker, National Geographic Press 2001. Noted author of Lonely
Planet travel books gets up close and personal.

Otra Grieta en la Pared: Informe y Testimonios de la Nueva Prensa Cubana, Fernando J. Ruiz,
Cadal (Buenos Aires) 1999. In Spanish. Stories of harassment and imprisonment of independent
journalists in Cuba.

Preubas de Contacto, Raúl Rivero, Nueva Prensa Cubana (Miami) 2003. Essays critical of the
regime, in Spanish. Sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2003 for “collaborating with the enemy,”
Rivero was released in late 2004 because of poor health.

This Is Cuba: An Outlaw Culture Survives, Ben Corbett, Westview 2002. Cuban economic
policies have backfired, creating a black market and turning ordinary citizens into thieves
and prostitutes.

Vivir y pensar en Cuba, edited by Enrique Ubieta Gómez, Centro de Estudios Martianos
(La Habana) 2002. In Spanish. Essays by Cubans who believe in the Revolution.

Waiting for Fidel, Christopher Hunt, Mariner Books 1998. Author tours Cuba, finds fading slogans
and a people resigned to waiting until Fidel is gone.

ON THE WEB:
If you search the word “Cuba,” Google will give you 34,700,000 references. Start here:

OFFICIAL CUBAN GOVERNMENT SITES:

www.cubagob.cu — Contains information on the structure of the government, its ministries,
education, medicine, sports, economic and social development, etc.

www.cuba.cu and www.cubaweb.cu — Other official sites, but less formal.

TOURISM

www.cuba.com — Tourist-oriented site with news, events, travel information.

www.cubalinda.com — Based in Cuba, has info on hotels, restaurants, events, etc.

www.ways2cuba.com — How to get there.

www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/caribbean/havana/ — Guide to Havana, from Lonely Planet.

www.gocuba.ca — Tourist site based in Canada.

CUBAN MEDIA

www.granma.cubaweb.cu — Online version of the only official newspaper in Cuba, the “Organ
of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.”

www.cubarte.cult.cu — News of cultural events, brought to you by the Ministry of Culture.

www.radiorebelde.com.cu — First radio station of the rebels, still on the air.

www.radioreloj.cu — Radio Reloj: news and views from Havana.

www.radiohc.org — Your best choice for music.

www.vitral.org — Online magazine of the Catholic church in Pinar del Rio, whose purpose is
“to strengthen Cuban civil society.

www.lajiribilla.cu — La Jiribilla, “Digital Magazine of Cuban Culture” (Spanish only).

SITES OUTSIDE CUBA

http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu — Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of
Miami. Extensive database on all things Cuban.

www.bibliocuba.org — Site of the Bibliotecas Independientes (Independent Libraries of Cuba),
devoted to supporting independent librarians in Cuba and the right to read without censorship.
Based in Miami.

www.havanajournal.com — From Massachusetts, site devoted to business and investment
opportunities in Cuba.

www.adcuba.org — Acción Democratica Cubana, based in Miami, strongly critical of regime.
Site contains news on political prisoners, some interesting photos from Havana.

www.cuban-exile.com — Stated mission is to provide information about “Cuban Exile activities
as they pertain to their struggle to wrestle Cuba from Fidel Castro.” (From Miami?)

www.cubamania.com — Chat board, youth-oriented, basically nonpolitical. (Unknown origin.)

www.miami.com/mld/elnuevo/ — El Nuevo Herald, Spanish language version of The Miami Herald,
good source for Latin-American news.

www.amnesty.org — Reports on human rights in Cuba.

http://usembassy.state.gov/posts/cu1/ — Website for the United States Interests Section in
Havana.