The Cuban Revolution

What went wrong? I'm not going to rehash the whole history; tons of ink have already been spilt on this and you can spend years studying the history.


Firstly I believe that the Cuban Revolution of 1958/9 was necessary to get rid of the dictator Batista, who was turning Cuba into the gambling den and whorehouse of the US. After that, the actions of the US pushed Cuba into the arms of the Russians, where they stayed until the fall of the Soviet Union. The US maintains a trade embargo with Cuba and also imposes secondary sanctions on third parties who trade with Cuba. For example, there are no direct flights to Cuba from the US for people unconnected with Cuba, e.g. relatives of Cubans, tourists have to transit places like Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, or European countries. In the US the embargo is supported by the Cuban exiles who lost their homeland and properties in the revolution or are otherwise opposed to Castro. Like the fable of the wind, the sun and the man with a hat, this embargo has simply made the Cubans more intransigent and strengthened Castro's hand.


The wretchedness of the Cuban economy cannot be blamed solely on the embargo. The system is inefficient and during the Cold War years, was propped up by the Soviet Union, who traded oil and consumer goods for sugar. Cuba was far too dependent on too few products. And incentives to advance are non-existent. I remember an anecdote where an Eastern European goes to work in Cuba. One day he was taken aside and told that he's working too hard and making his comrades look bad. So he slacked off and life was good again. Until the fall of the Wall. Without their major sponsor, the Cuban economy plunged into a Special Period.


The Revolution did bring benefits such as improvements in living standards, literacy and health to Cubans. But along the way it turned into another kind of dictatorship, rule by central planning. Perhaps the system could have changed and adapted, perhaps it was doomed to fail because of one stubborn man; I'll leave that for others to argue.


What would become of Cuba when Fidel Castro dies, everyone asks? Some say another revolution, some say anarchy, some say Raul Castro would take over. Fidel's certainly a colourful figure, a great survivor of many assassination attempts by the CIA. The party officials who sleep through his hours long monologues on speech days are also survivors. Remember, Fidel's the man who delivered a four hour long speech prior to sentencing for leading an attack on Moncada Barracks in 1953, which concludes with the famous line La historia me absolverá (History will absolve me). It's sold as a small paperback in Cuba, and actually a reconstruction by Fidel later, since no record was kept of his speech. On a humourous note, I think that he should give a speech to the US Congress. After a couple of hours the members would say enough enough, end the embargo, anything to shut this man up.


It's interesting that Che Guevara figures more prominently on billboards than Castro. Che is safely martyred and beatified by Cuba; schoolchildren sing of their desire to be like Che. His legend lends authority to Fidel. But apparently when he was a minister for industry he wasn't so hot. He was the type looking for action.

Havana and Cienfuegos

Time to hit the road. I had decided in advance to omit the Pinar del Rio province from my Cuban itinerary, essentially all of Cuba to the west of Havana, about 100 km of the 1250 km long island. Geographically, Cuba is like an east-west crocodile, long and stretched, only about 100 km north-south. It was regrettable, but I couldn't visit every place and had to leave something out. In fact I would even skip one province between Havana and Cienfuegos in its eponymous province, Matanzas province, containing Varadero, the package tourist enclave on a long spit of sand.

But in the story I have to first arrive. After breakfast, I gave the landlady some of the medicines I was planning to distribute in Cuba, mostly analgesics. Then I walked to the bus station. The woman at the counter seemed displeased that I had chosen to travel on the Astro line rather than the Viazul line. Both bus lines require hard currency, but Viazul is exclusively for tourists while Astro buses are not air-conditioned and tickets are cheaper,. Perhaps by travelling on Astro I was taking up a seat that some Cuban might have been able to buy. While I was there in mid-morning the electricity went out for a few minutes. As planned, I asked the counter if I could leave my bag there while I did a quick tour of Plaza de la Revolución just around the corner. Por supuesto, they said.


This is the José Martí Memorial. It is possible to get an aerial view from the top, but it cost money and I was in budget mode.

And this is a wire-frame outline of Che Guevara on the front of the Ministry of Interior Defense. This iconic image has been reproduced on uncountable T-shirts. The original photo was taken in 1960 by Alberto Korda at a march. In 1967 Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, the Italian publisher of Guevara's captured Bolivian Diary, obtained a copy from Korda to accompany the diary to draw attention to Guevara's plight as CIA backed Bolivian forces closed in on the guerrillas. After Guevara's capture and summary execution, there was no stopping the image from spreading to worldwide recognition. Korda got nothing out of it but forgave Feltrinelli because he had drawn attention to Guevara.

Here is a view of the parade ground, seen from the base of the José Martí Memorial. I had to snap the photo and leave quickly before the guardians of the memorial might declare that I was inside the memorial grounds and would need to pay an entrance fee.


At departure time, I was taken, along with a couple of other tourists, to the bus via a different entrance, bypassing the Cuban crowds. It was warm in the bus, but the breeze from the open windows helped. I had to fasten a flapping curtain by wedging it against the window pane.


As the bus headed out of Havana, I saw people gathered at stops and junctions hoping for a seat on the bus. Some of them waved clutched dollar bills to highlight their willingness to pay in hard cash. But to no avail, because the bus was full. Once in a while, a passenger would alight, and a lucky Cuban would get the freed up place.


The Autopista Nacional (National Highway) was actually in good condition. Built before the economic crisis, it got little use and thus little wear.The constant onshore winds were evinced by the tilt of coconut palms. Agricultural land in Cuba looked dismal. Because of shortages of transport fuel, horseback riders could be seen. A large bush blaze generated smoke visible for kilometres around, but nobody did anything about it, probably due to lack of fire engines and water. It would have to burn out by itself.


Reception on my FM radio faded out as we distanced ourselves from Havana. Progress was slow. It took 5 hours to cover 184 km. At Cienfuegos, I walked a couple of blocks to a casa that I had picked out of the guide book. The house was shared between two sisters and a brother, all retired. I was a lodger out of the blue as opposed to coming from a recommendation, and my welcome was probably warmer for that. Miriam was the outgoing sister. She had been a schoolteacher and true to her training, she could not resist correcting my conjugation of the irregular verb poner (to put). Then there was calmer Gladys who was also a former teacher. The brother's name I had forgotten to note. They made a point of telling me: no chicas. The idea hadn't even crossed my mind.


The room was spacious and comfy, with two beds and a noisy but working air-conditioner. As I knew ahead of time, there was no reduction for being a single lodger. Casas pay the same amount of tax whether one or two people stay.


Before dinner I showed Australian postcards to an enthusiastic Miriam. As with each place I stayed at, I left one or two postcards behind. The ones of Australian fauna were the most popular. The dinner portion was large and I felt guilty not being able to eat everything; I left some salad on my plate. I got to taste mangos from the tree in their courtyard for desert.


After dinner I walked down to the Parque José Martí. It was more like a town square than a park. Perhaps in Cuba a plaza is something larger, like the one in Havana. There were people looking out doorways, savouring the evening breeze. Streets were clean and not so worn, a marked contrast to Havana. I saw a shop with sound equipment and whitegoods. Prices were about twice what they would be in Europe. The brands appeared to be mostly Korean, probably evading the US secondary sanctions through some complicated selling chain.


Earlier that day, an old lady had chatted me up while I was waiting in Havana bus station. I think she just wanted to talk to a foreigner. Nothing political I should add, but mostly about religion. When I had to go she had scribbled her postal address on a slip of paper asking me to write. But I didn't expect to use it. What could I write that would not remind Cubans that they were not free to visit the outside world?