Tag: Fidel

The confusing US policy on Cuba

Traveling in Cuba & especially w Fidel’s passing, I’ve spent quite a bit of time considering the US’ embargo. I must say I’m not quite sure I understand the varying US stance when it comes to dictator-ruled communist / socialist countries around the world. For example, we still give a hundred million dollars each year in aid to Cambodia whose Hun Sen, still in power today & still ruling ruthlessly, is corrupt beyond belief, runs bogus elections & operates a hit squad to take out political opponents, dissenters & members of the press who dare challenge him. We do that bc the people need it & we overlook the significant human rights issues but for a semi-terse talking to every year. We are close allies with Saudi Arabia whose human rights record is atrocious & has never held elections. There are several other examples. I fail to understand how Fidel in Cuba is any different. I in fact think he’s more tame. 
The difference is US got its feelings hurt. You see, they scammed Cuba in 1900 during the Spanish-Cuban-American War when Americans came in to save the day & free Cuba from its Spanish conquerors. Just from the goodness of our heart. I’m sure nothing at all to do w the fact that we wanted a naval base in Cuba to protect our interests in the Panama Canal, a naval base that was written into the Paris Peace Agreements to discuss the now “liberated Cuba”, a meeting to which the US didn’t invite a single Cuban representative. Imagine the US anger then when the horribly oppressive dictator they backed, Bautista, was overthrown by Fidel & Fidel had the gall to oppose their imperialistic policies, nationalized US interests in Cuba (which was a lot as US owned 75% of sugar industry & much of the utilities) & partnered w the Russians. I mean it was the Cold War & having a communist propped government 90 miles off the coast of Florida was clearly unsettling. But 1991 happened & USSR fell & Cuba’s sugar daddy went away & without that money, it drove Cuba into a massive economic depression. Cubans really struggled but yet Fidel still wouldn’t bow down to the US. How infuriating. 

Despite the suffering, there’s still the embargo. It seems like Fidel & his cronies were a thorn in the US’ side. They vehemently opposed imperialistic US policy & looked to spread their beliefs as they sent Cuban troops to help overthrow dictators in Latin & South America as well as Africa. The US knew he inspired people & was afraid of those thoughts spreading like wildfire & undermining their control & influence. And I bet it drove them nuts that he foiled over 600 known assassination attempts. But what I’m really curious about is who in the US held those interests that were nationalized in 1962? My guess is they are prominent wealthy American businesses who are very much still active, yielding massive power & who are still, & will forever be, royally pissed off at Fidel. At the end of the day, our country’s decisions are ruled by money so why would this be any different?
So maybe just maybe the US’ message on Cuba is different from reality – much like it is for Palestine – bc that’s what they want everyone to believe. “Fidel is a ruthless dictator guilty of many atrocities”. If that’s wholly true, then how do they explain the millions of Cubans out celebrating the life of, & paying respect to, Fidel at the various ceremonies this week & lining the caravan route? It’s difficult to imagine they’re all brainwashed or forced to attend for fear of arrest. I bet the US is having a hard time with it, if they’ve even bothered to step away from their own politics to report upon world events. It’s hard to ignore. 

Fidel’s caravan

I arrived in Ciego de Avila at 10am to take my longest at 5.5hrs but last bus ride of the trip at 11am after a 2hr taxi ride from Guillermo to find the streets lined w people. Police had the roads closed & but granted us permission to continue to the bus station. This had to mean only one thing… looks like I ran smack dab into the Fidel caravan. I had been trying to figure out the exact route & timing. The news never seemed to announce it. I asked a bunch of locals & those that claimed to know all had different answers. Even a group of hotel workers last night who have today off & live in Ciego were taking a 5am bus East to see the caravan elsewhere. Why would they leave their hometown if it was happening there? I had asked them about the route & told them my bus time & they thought I’d miss it. And now it’s right outside my bus station. I definitely have impeccable timing. 
Of course this all means there’s zero chance my bus leaves on time, at least I was hoping so bc that would mean I’d see history unfold in front of me. After checking in, I wandered the street near the station until 11, all while carrying my backpack, & then headed back for an update. The bus going west from Santiago to Havana had arrived & was staying put until after the caravan has passed as the government has shut down all the roads – including the carretera the bus would take. At least their bus agreed to hold their luggage. As I’m going East, my bus is stuck behind the caravan so I’m still stuck w my bag – but so happy it’s a light backpack. It was a real hot day – hottest to-date during my trip – so I sat in the station til 12:30 watching the tv coverage of the procession. I could see & hear outside & the crowds had grown to enormous proportions so I ventured out, walked a bit, found a decent spot behind the initial 3-4 deep crowds lining the street, dropped my pack & promptly took a seat on it to sweat it out. People waiting seemed envious of my seat but they were the smart ones w umbrellas bc it was a scorcher. The spot I picked happened to be right behind a bunch of kids aged 5-10 in their school uniforms marching around in a large circle singing various Fidel chants & carrying signs. Their fave chant was of course “Yo soy Fidel”. Adults of all ages were more quiet & somber but the kids brought a lot of energy. Even some of the adults were taking videos of the kids who seemed to bring big smiles to many of their faces – perhaps a reminder of the excitement they had in their youth. 
Watching the crowd was pretty unreal. No one seemed to have any idea of when this was happening & they were lined up for hours waiting. At the slightest sound of a vehicle, people who weren’t already standing along the street rushed from their spots in the shade & sprinted to the street. It didn’t matter what direction the car was coming from. I mean I knew I had no idea from where the procession was coming but I had assumed the locals would. That’s how little info has been put out in advance of this thing. 
Fidel’s procession passed by at 2pm. I found a slight incline from which I took a pretty cool video as you can clearly see the mini-casket bearing his name carrying his ashes & covered by a mini-Cuban flag, enclosed in glass, surrounded by white flowers, held by an military trailer & towed by a green military 4×4 holding 5 officers. There was massive cheering & chants & flag waving as he passed & once he passed & the cheering subsided, only then could I hear the sobs. People were very upset & almost didn’t know what to do with themselves after they waited so long & then it was over in 3 minutes. Some stood & cried. Most just wandered off silently. It’s so cool I got to see this. I had given up getting close to any festivities & then whaddya know, chance intervened on my behalf. 
Many would consider this a real shitty travel day (and believe me, there were those tourists who sat right where they were, not leaving the bus station & missed history happening right outside) w the bus leaving 4.5hrs late & further 1.5hr & 1hr delays on the way due to road shutdowns as we were following the caravan East. I arrived in Holguin 8hrs+ behind schedule & still had to catch a 1hr taxi to Playa Pesquero… but I saw freakin Fidel so it was all worth it. 





Videos

Kids chanting before https://youtu.be/fs6Xzekr4kE

Crowd just before he passed https://youtu.be/G6quYw5V90Y

Fidel https://youtu.be/OAL0XflcOaQ

Hold on… no musica or fiesta in Cuba for 9 days?!?! I’m not loving this period of mourning

When Raul Castro came on state tv just after 10:30pm to announce Fidel’s passing, I was fast asleep. I’m not usually that lame but I was first put in a room in the casa directly facing the street & night 1, it’s almost as if the sound of the cars, motorcycles, trucks, horse carriages & people passing by my window was amplified by the beautiful 20ft ceilings in my room as the noise seemed louder than it does even on the street. So no sleep on night 1 meant an early bed time on night 2 & decent sleep thanks to a room switch. 
I didn’t hear the news until the following morning. As soon as I woke, I walked out & 4 different family members told me in a matter of 5 mins. The casa owner told me first, 30 secs after I walked out of my room. He looked crushed, like his favorite uncle died. I said I was sorry for your loss. He thanked me & grabbed & held my hand. He seemed upset. 
I got dressed & re-watched the Raul announcement on local Cuban state tv over breakfast & couldn’t get out of the casa fast enough, heading directly to Parque Vidal. First off, FAR more people at 10am than the prior day. But I got a sense of general uncertainty. No real emotions. Two hours later (bc I couldn’t leave… this is the gathering spot of the city & I had a front row view), people seemed to loosen up a bit. I saw a couple people crying (& overheard “it’s like my father died”) & a few handshakes amongst older men w perhaps a hint of a smile but maybe that was my imagination. Most were still very somber & reserved. I’m sure Cuban-Americans were celebrating but there were absolutely no celebrations here. I hesitantly asked my casa owner’s 2 daughters & son-in-law what they thought his death would mean for Cuba. Cubans consider Fidel part of the family, he loves Cuba, fights for them against the big US (which many don’t seem to like so he had very effective messaging) & everyone feels connected to him in some way or another so the whole country will grieve his loss. One daughter replied that she doesn’t expect anything to change as he hasn’t been in charge for 10 years. These were very similar sentiments I heard as the week progressed from all Cubans regardless of age, sex, job, etc. Cubans young & old were very sad, I’m guessing a very different message vs the US media machine. Have people been jailed here for talking shit about the government? Sure, just like many other countries currently ruled by dictators. But it’s clear this feeling of loss is not the result of fear.
I felt so blessed to actually be in Cuba seeing the reaction first-hand in a city that really fucking matters. Did I say I was in Santa Clara? Two different Cuban casa owners groaned when I said I was going to Santa Clara, saying “there’s nothing to do but the Che mausoleum & the train thing”. From everything I’ve read about Cuba over the years, SC was prominent in its revolutionary history. Che orchestrated maybe the coolest & certainly the most decisive take down of Bautista, when he & 18 teenagers took down Bautista’s army of hundreds on train tracks using a borrowed bulldozer, forcing the surrender immediately thereafter thus giving Fidel’s revolutionaries the victory. Fidel gave his victory speech in Santiago de Cuba the next day & then made a victory run to Havana, swinging through all of the crucial cities over the route.
Therefore SC is Che’s city – it’s devoted to him – multiple statues, museums, monuments & since his death & recovery of his remains from Bolivia, his mausoleum. The locals be damned, I was going. Thankfully I listened to my gut bc there was no better place to be when THE news came down. Now it seemed very fitting that the day of Fidel’s death, I walked 3km out to Che’s official memorial, museum & mausoleum where Fidel gave a speech in ’97 lighting his eternal flame when his remains were interred after being found in a secret Bolivian mass grave w the 37 others captured & then immediately executed courtesy of the CIA. Spooky almost. I think I tend to have pretty good timing, but this was impeccable. 
My casa owner shared w me the state newspaper, the Granma (named after the boat that brought Fidel, Che & Raul to Cuba to start the revolution – 3 of the 12 out of 80+ that survived the initial landing), which was wholly focused on Fidel & despite only being 8 pages, it took me 2 hours to read. Thanks shitty Spanish. The owner was laughing at me. But I think I eventually understood most of it. It just took me awhile bc there were a lot of words I didn’t know (he was no help… his accent is brutal & speaks zero English) so I re-read many sentences to try to glean context. So I know what’s going on. For the most part. I was going to ask if I could perhaps keep it but he seemed to be keeping a close eye on it. I learned there’s a period of mourning over the next 9 days during which state radio and television will broadcast patriotic and historical programming before his funeral in Santiago de Cuba on Sun Dec 4. There’s a big ceremony in Havana on Tues in revolution park where I visited. Then his ashes will caravan from Havana to Santiago, taking the same reverse route he took after his victory speech in 1959, before a similar ceremony on Dec 3 in Santiago & his burial on the 4th. I’m going to do my best to be there. 
More importantly, as far as I’m concerned, is this period of mourning which apparently means no music, no party, no alcohol for 9 days. I heard rumors all restaurants & bars would be closed. Given I have nearly 1.5 weeks left in Cuba, I really hoped that would not be the case bc I may starve & be bored to death. A bit worried, I asked my casa owner but he said while they did that in the past for other revolutionary deaths, that was when everything was state owned & now there are many privately own businesses that can make their own decision. For a late lunch, I was not allowed to order a beer but they inexplicably allowed me to order a mojito instead so perhaps people are still feeling things out. My dinner that night was status quo – good food & any drink on the menu. But that was night one. In the days since, I’ve sorted out that state run places have closed (fine, as I tried to stick to privately owned joints), private run restaurants have chosen to remain open but not serve alcohol (although some will serve beer or wine but no mixed drinks) & private run bars have closed. 
But there’s one thing that’s clear. There is no music. None. Anywhere. Passing people’s homes yesterday, opened doors revealed music & laughter. Today, each house seems to be tuned to state-run tv & radio that is perpetually replaying Raul Castro’s speech last night as well as reporting on global reactions (or at least those Granma wishes to report upon). My plan for the first night of mourning had been to attend Cuba’s only official drag show & potentially become a groupie of this really cool band. Of course neither happened. Just to be sure, I swung by Club Menjune & even that liberal hotbed teeming w hippies the day prior was lights out, doors locked. Just the city itself had changed so much, especially at night. The night prior, the square was packed w people socializing & now the streets were eerily quiet, everyone was home & really mourning. 
The music I’m going to miss. A lot. I can’t imagine having visited Havana, Cienfuegos or Trinidad without music as it’s such a massive part of the everyday lifestyle. So again, I felt lucky to be in Cuba to experience this historic event & luckier that his passing happened at this point in my trip. 

The day after Fidel died, note all the flags at half mast




Play-by-play of Fidel’s Havana tribute ceremony

His Havana ceremony started at 7pm Tues night. I watched it on Cuban national tv in my room. I had visited Revolution Plaza when in Havana & now it looked a bit different as 100k plus packed the main park. It was supposedly real difficult for any regular locals to get in the massive square bc of reserved sections for people (family, friends, government, military, VIPs, etc). One side was entirely blocked off for security, police & transport for dignitaries & VIPs. The 4 other main thoroughfares that lead into the park were open to the public. They showed the main boulevard on tv & that was jammed too as far as the lights shined.
The ceremony proceeded w the following speakers:

– Great moving female poet started the ceremony – giving one of her clearly famous poems about Cuba & Fidel bc the crowd knew it – & it was lengthy.

– President of Ecuador

– President of South Africa

– Prime minister of Dominica

– President of El Salvador

– Prime minster of Greece

– President of Argella. Of what?!?! OK, THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR 1.5 HRS & I’m starving. Time for a break & some food.

– ??? (After an hour away filling my belly & having some wine…)

– Qatar rep

– Belarus rep

– Now I’m just so interested to see who is coming next bc this is just absurd. I know for a fact the Mexican president is there as I watched him deplane at Havana airport on the news before the ceremony started. So that’s probably the biggest name I’m aware of that hasn’t yet spoken. Then Raul I’m assuming.

– It’s real interesting bc after every speech ends, the orator approaches Raul w a hug &/or handshake and Raul, to every single one, graciously responds & then turns to introduce him/her to the dude sitting right next to him. Younger guy. Mustache. I have no idea who it is but I do know Raul has said (before Fidel’s passing) that he intended to step down in 2018. They haven’t announced succession plans which isn’t really a shock but this makes me think they’re grooming someone as he’s being introduced to all heads of state.

– President of Bolivia (to biggest cheers I’ve seen & he’s eating it up; he knows how to rile them up; crowd favorite)

– President of Venezuela

– … (I left again. Too antsy. Had to get out.)

– Returned 3.5 hrs into the ceremony just as the closer Raul Castro was being introduced.
I got an email the next day from my Havana casa owner letting me know just how crazy it was (so he heard from folks who attended or tried to attend the ceremony bc he watched from the comfort of his home). Few common folk made the main square. Those that did were lined up at midnight the night before & were there for 24 hours. The crowds supposedly extended far beyond the lights. People couldn’t get close. Took hours to get home. Of course it was worth it to them but my casa owner was issuing me a warning for the Santiago evening ceremony & early morning funeral. He didn’t think I’d be able to get remotely close & suggested it wouldn’t be a good use of time & questioned whether I’d enjoy it. While watching the Havana ceremony, I came to that very same conclusion. Which allows me to avoid one issue… while I was able to secure bus tix the day after his death, I was not so lucky to secure lodging. Not a single hotel room in the city available. I booked a room in a casa via Airbnb which was subsequently canceled by the owner the following day. While over 100 casas were available on Airbnb the day prior, less than 10 on Monday & online reservations were now not working. I used multiple Cuba casa websites to inquire about availability. Nothing. My Havana casa owner has 3 friends w casas. Nothing. His friends decided to block out the rooms & not take clients as they figured the city would be too crazy to host, it frees them up to leave the house & they were also hosting friends & family from other parts of Cuba. Hotels were blocked by govt for VIPs. After giving up Tuesday & not thinking it wise to show up wo accommodations, I have resigned myself to the fact I would probably have to miss it and I’ve accepted it. I feel lucky that I’ve been here & able to talk to locals about it to get their viewpoint. That’s enough for me. And now that I’ve accepted it, I do have to laugh at myself. I was really trying to make it happen. I thought I just had to be there. I never stopped to consider how impossible it’d be to attend a former US President’s funeral & this puts that to shame given the length of his rule, his revolutionary history & his enormous personality.
Add to that the fact that I couldn’t even make it through a ceremony on tv without taking food, drink & bio breaks. There’s no way I could make it through an actual live ceremony. My fave speakers (sarcasm) were those that were non-English speaking foreigners so not only did I have to listen to their original Arabic, Greek, etc but then try to decipher the Spanish translation – so I don’t understand much of what they say even after hearing it twice.
As an aside, while watching the ceremony, I flipped to CNN to see if US media had any access at all or were reporting on it. Nothing. The CNN lead was “Trump wants flag burners to lose citizenship or go to jail.” Seems like nothing’s changed. That moron seriously wants to take away constitutionally protected freedom of speech rights under the first amendment? I thought he was a staunch defender of the constitution? Oh wait. That must only be the 2nd amendment. Some could interpret that as pretty dictatorial. Or he’s just trying to distract from yesterday’s hot topic. I’m not really sure how I’m going to get through the next 4 years.


Santa Clara BEFORE the world changed

After a day of touring Santa Clara, I found myself on Friday Nov 25 in the early evening sitting in the town’s massive square, Parque Vidal, writing down my thoughts on the city & its people in my stream of consciousness methodology. As I was rereading them for purposes of writing a blog post describing my observances since Fidel’s passing, I noted that while I’m sure they may seem unimportant at face value, they seemed very relevant & poignant to me given the changes that happened overnight. For purposes of remembering this historic time in years to come, I think I’ll present it here as things unfolded for me in Cuba.

 
A 9pm arrival in Santa Clara could’ve been much later due to a broken down bus were in not for a handy group of 4-5 Cubans huddled at the back of the bus fixing this smoking engine in just under an hour. If anyone can fix vehicles, it’s the Cubans right? After foiling a plan by a couple jineteros to scam me on the way to my casa, my casa owner directed me to a great restaurant. Well the food was good but the best thing about this place was the hired band they had playing. After sitting down w only 2 other tables filled, they played almost-acoustic versions of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah followed by Michael Jackson’s What About Us!!?!!!? Then they played a medley that featured about 10 songs from Stand By Me & Hey Jude to finally some fun Cuban music. They put their own twist on everything. It may sound silly, but I’ve been hearing the same traditional 3 Latin songs from every band I come across in restaurants & outside in tourist locales which is several times throughout the day bc music is so central to the way of life down here. They play them the same way & it’s just become less & less interesting. These guys have a fresh unique take on everything & just given the song choices, they had me so they wrote down where they play for the next 3 days bc depending on what else is going on, I may become a stalker. In Havana & Cienfuegos, I had a lot of success finding good music but it was generally late night spots known for music & frequented by a mix of locals & tourists. The music here has been maybe my favorite part of the trip so I really look forward to seeing this band again. 
Returning after dinner, the city center was empty but for pockets of young people looking to be heading out for the night. While it was dark, I could tell these young people looked different. They seemed to be hipsters. I hadn’t yet seen that pocket of people in Cuba. This morning while re-reading my travel guide on Santa Clara, I was reminded per LP that this is the “edgiest city in Cuba”. Roaming about town today confirmed it. Near my casa is the central Parque Vidal, the city’s massive city plaza, & it is hipster central. My oddly colored hair that captivates everyone else is no big deal here. Half of the park seems reserved for “normal” folk lazing about & gossiping. The other half features various pockets of different types of hipsters congregating in certain corners. The goths wearing black Megadeth & Iron Maiden vintage tees w dark eye liner, tattoos & crazy piercings huddle on one side drinking the local Bucanero beers at all hours (I must not be cool as I’ve been drinking Cristal). They must bond solely on a love of rock & black tees as I also saw Nirvana, Beatles & AC/DC tees mingling. The punk rock spiked mohawks, colored Ramones tees, studded jean vests & bandana wearing crowd gathers in another area. The guitar playing traditional hippies seem to have teamed up with the beanie wearing dreaded reggae fans. At any point in time, I almost expect a musical street battle a la West Side Story to break out. Yes, I watched for hours while reading & jotting down notes. I would’ve loved to get pics but they would never have captured my intrigue & would only serve to make me look like a narc. 
A couple hours later, I ended up w a few of these hipsters at Club Menjune, this hippy joint I walked past earlier & this dude grabbed me & invited me to this poetry reading. Why not? I hadn’t yet been to a poetry reading in Cuba. I found out the next night they were hosting “Cuba’s only official drag show”. Umm why wouldn’t I go?!?! Actually, the friend of my Havana casa owner, whom himself owns several Havana casas & does quite well, said as recently as 5 years ago, being LG was very frowned upon in Cuba, as of today it is generally accepted, & he joked that in 5 years, it would be compulsory. Trans, less so. Which is why I wasn’t at all surprised to find out the edgy, welcoming, liberal & open Santa Clara featured THE show in Cuba.
Overall thoughts on first 1.5 days in Santa Clara – I walked a lot today. Covered the main Che memorial, museum & mausoleum – biggest thing to see in SC. It dawned on me that while I’ve taken photos of tourist monuments, I haven’t really taken many photos of the city itself. Maybe bc it’s just not very picturesque. But I really wanted to come here to visit. My Havana & Trinidad casa owners told me to skip it or limit the visit to 1 night max. I refused to listen. While it may not be a picturesque city, there’s so much revolutionary history here, including the key battle in Fidel’s revolution, & I can be a big history nerd. I’m pleased & not that surprised to see the same city w such a massive revolutionary history feature citizens of such a diverse nature. I like the feel of this city.