This was my first time visiting a socialist nation, and I went with many questions, hopes and dreams of what it would be like. I found a few things in Cuba I didn't like (pollution controls on vehicles are non-existent, some difficulty with travel to other countries and the fact that they haven't been promoting a plant-based diet--which would be much better for them given their limited resources), but almost everything else surpassed my expectations.
The most indelible image of Cuba I have is the warmth of the people. It's traditional to be greeted with a kiss on the cheek by friends (of the opposite sex, i.e.), and even by people you've just met. Having been to the Caribbean before (Jamaica twice and the Bahamas once), I can see some stark difference. First off, with full employment in Cuba, you aren't inundated with people begging or trying to coerce you to look at their wares they are selling. This was the major reason I got tired of going to Jamaica--the people are very friendly, but underneath it, they are just so desperate to get your money. It is really sad to see.
In Cuba, it's just the opposite; as a guest, we were treated like royalty. Never did my family ask me to do anything for them, buy them anything or give them money. Nor in the streets--save for a young boy asking for a piece of gum from me. The people in both countries are poor by US standards, but the difference is in Cuba, they have all they need: housing, health care, education, jobs. It's quite a juxtaposition to Jamaica--or even the US.
Now that I'm back home in the US, my task is to let as many people as I can know about the ridiculous continuation of the Cold War against Cuba-- with the Helms-Burton law and the longest embargo in the history of the world. I hope that everyone who reads this will take the time to find out more about Cuba for themselves, and contact your elected officials to help end the injustices done to a beautiful country full of beautiful people who only want the right to independence and autonomy.
Before I left for Cuba, I was asked about certain topics on one of the newsgroups I frequent. Below are my responses.
The family I stayed with had a three bedroom apartment for a family of three. Their 26-year-old daughter had been living in the apartment I stayed in, but she had moved away a number of years ago when she got married. Their rent is 200 pesos a month, or--which with the exchange rate of $1.00 = 22 pesos-- around $10/month. The father's salary is about 800 pesos/month (he's a teacher at a technical college), plus his wife has a job as an elementary school teacher (though I didn't find out what her salary is). They had access to lots of inexpensive food at a local farmer's market. Being a vegetarian, I didn't eat the meat there, but in my conversations with the family and neighbors, this is a rare thing--in other words, most Cubans eat plenty of meat, which (unfortunately, in my opinion) is considered a sign of a prosperous society. Other necessities, such as health care, electricity and water are available to all. As a matter of fact, a doctor and nurse came by to see me one day (a HOUSE CALL! can you imagine that happening in the US?) to find out if I was alright living with the family, since their 18-year-old had just come down with Chicken Pox. Other delegates told me that health care staff had visited them as well. Occasionally, the electricity and water is off for short periods, but I was told it is never more than a few hours, and the only time the electricity was out while I was there was after a storm had blew a tree over on powerlines. The water was out twice while I was there.
We arrived in Havana during the opening rally of the festival, and there were thousands--if not millions--of people in the streets. If you watch after Seafair events how messy things get, you'll know what it looked like in Havana. Every morning, however, there were hundreds of workers cleaning up litter and waste that had accrued from the previous day. This wasn't just happening for the benefit of the delegates, either--it happens every day. General condition of buildings seemed fair to good. Many could have used a good coat of paint, but structurally they seemed sound to me. In the neighborhood were I was living, a new apartment complex was being built. The interesting fact about this was the workers making it were the ones who would be living in it upon its completion. This, I was told, was happening all over Cuba--including giving tracts of land and the materials to build upon it to start their own farms in the country.
I didn't get to a news stand while I was there, due to the numerous activities to take part in. However, while at the airport, I did catch a glimpse of the Spanish-language version of _Popular Mechanics_. Also, delegates from other countries brought their own newspapers and magazines to give to other delegates. The issue of "freedom of speech" was quickly proven to me to be in existence on my first day there. Two of us visited a fancy hotel on the beach owned jointly by Cuban and Spanish companies. The bartender spoke fluent English, and didn't hesitate to cite his complaints about Cuba: his inability to travel to another country without being hosted by someone in that country, how much he had to work (since he was working for a capitalist hotel, he worked 7 days in a row, then one day off, then seven days in a row again; also, when his vacation time came up, he was told to come into work. But those who do NOT work for capitalist ventures have 5 day workweeks with a month or more of vacation a year). Thus, Ted's paranoia about thought police and needed a tour guide to travel with us every step of the way were totally incorrect.
Two things I didn't find in Cuba: ugly people or unfriendly people. I was quite amazed at how open and friendly everyone was. There were neighborhood parties every night, with music and dancing until late in the night. Never did I hear someone complaining that the music was too loud or on too late. When I was younger, my room-mates and I had the police called on us many times for playing music late at night--even on weekends. In Cuba, people are a lot more accepting, it would appear.
It's hard to say whether there was a "strong" military presence, because many people who worked for the government--be they in the department of transportation or the department of agriculture--wore what looked like military uniforms. Police presence was high. There were cops on the beat along every street in the neighborhoods the delegates were living in. I was told the government brought in many police from other cities for the festival. I asked a number of people, "is having many police around a good thing or a bad thing?" Everyone replied, "it's a good thing." I told them how that contrasted with police presence in the US--beatings, corruption and outright murders of civilians. They told me that if a cop in Cuba did such a thing, he or she would lose his or her job and go to jail.
One other thing I found extraordinary about Cuba--sex education and how it kept the teen-pregnancy rate to nearly zero. Children are taught about condoms, AIDS and pregnancy from the age of 8 or 9. I talked to a doctor (my neighbor's sister) who worked in the field of communicable diseases, and she told me that there were very few new cases of AIDS in the last two years. Many delegates visited (some with groups, others on their own) AIDS sanitoriums to see the conditions. All were impressed. The patients are their voluntarily.
If anyone doubts these things I've seen, I hope you take the opportunity
to travel to Cuba and find out for yourself the fact that our government
is afraid of--Socialism IS working there.
