Yoani Sanchez -- who started the first independent blog in Cuba -- likes to compare the current situation in her country to a house in the old town of Havana:
"You stand in front of this house and you're wondering how it still can stand upright. Balconies threaten to fall off, the roof beams are rusted. The facade is stained by long crack from top to bottom. Then comes a hurricane. There are wind, sun and rain, but the house i still standing. Then one day,the owner decides to repair the door. When he presses down the door handle, the whole house collapses."
The recent reforms in Cuba were classified by Sanchez as a strategy of the Castro brothers to maintain their power as long as possible: ...