Bailar en Cuba (Dancing in Cuba)

Like every November, Havana turns into a huge dance floor. This year, the seventeenth edition of “ Bailar in Cuba » took place from Monday November 20 to Friday November 24. Hundreds of dancers from around forty countries came to take “a lo cubano” salsa lessons — for beginners, intermediate or advanced — for around fifteen hours, given by seasoned teachers trained in major salsa schools. art of the country, or simply for the pleasure of dancing in an enchanting setting, in different hotels in the capital, such as the chic Melia Habana hotel. In addition to salsa classes, participants were able to learn about other dance styles such as Yoruba, casino, mambo, son, tímba and chachacha.

Every evening, for three hours, participants were treated to concerts given by internationally renowned orchestras such as Aragon, Havana D’Primera, Los Van Van or Manolito Simonet y su Trabuco, etc., at the El Sauce cultural center, in the Miramar district, where all “students” are invited to put into practice what they learned during the day. Six days in a 4 or 5 star hotel, dancing salsa and vibrating to the rhythms of catchy Caribbean music for less than a thousand (American) dollars, might be tempting for next year.

This year, the event is dedicated to the memory of the creator of chachacha, this very popular dance in the 1950s that the youngest among you did not know but which, for the older ones, signified our entry into the world of dance for two, to exotic music.

Argentina has just turned around

“Move backwards,” bus drivers shouted at the time. Argentina has just fallen behind the mirror, into the great void, by electing, last Sunday, during the runoff vote, a far-right president, Javier Milei, the man with the chainsaw. We nickname him that because he was not afraid to appear in the media with a chainsaw in his hand to signify that if we elected him, he would slash all the ministries, privatize everything that had been nationalized, including the the oil industry, would lay off thousands of civil servants, close the central bank and establish the dollar as the national currency. In short, all the progress that Argentina has made in recent years will quickly be erased by shouting “Milei”.

The military torturers, who shamelessly murdered opponents during the military dictatorship, will be pardoned and all traces of these dark years will be erased, like erasing the memory of a hard drive. Moreover, Milei hastened to appoint a Minister of Defense and Public Security who has always expressed her sympathies towards the former dictator Jorge Videla. It’s promising. Relations with Lula’s Brazil and Maduro’s Venezuela will undoubtedly suffer. And alignment with the United States is assured.

With her well-orchestrated outbursts, Milei was able to attract the attention of the media, as was to be expected. Everything was carefully calculated. His high visibility worked in his favor, regardless of the message he conveyed. Of course, there were objective conditions for people to express their fed-up in such a bewildering way. The economic crisis hit the population hard and the one who ran for president at the head of the progressive forces was precisely the outgoing finance minister responsible for this inflation. Populism has triumphed.

If I talk to you about Argentina, it is because there is a real danger that such a demagogue will appear in Quebec and Canada, at the head of a far-right party, who promises the world. by slashing spending and social programs. The example of Argentina can spread, just like that of Trump, among our neighbors to the South.