Cuba in memory II

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Cave of the Indian. Viñales

Not having an established route (we were on our own), we engaged in conversations with many and varied people, both in the capital and outside of it. Those who were close to the established order looked much better, worked and had some money. One day in front of Parliament we talked to someone who was apparently a printer, like my friend. He ushered us into the company premises; that was abandoned and full of dust, I don’t know what I was doing there.

We decided one day to go on an excursion to the west; We wanted to visit Pinar del Río and Viñales, where there was a cigar factory. We also visited a cave where a boat was navigated and we were at the Mural of Prehistory. Precious. Coming back we saw some small farmers’ huts and also the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. It was an unforgettable excursion.

Mural of Prehistory

On a walk through Havana we were (of course) at La Bodeguita del Medio where we had a Cuban mojito, we also ate at El Floridita, and also in a paladar, a small place on one floor, with a small terrace that only fit three tables . The owners went out of their way to serve us, I remember we had lobster. After a walk along the boardwalk at sunset with the girls, that was unforgettable. We saw a lot of Regime propaganda: military museums, obsolete war material, tanks, planes, a wagon in which Fidel traveled… There are some people (they don’t say it, they keep quiet) who want to go back to being slaves of the previous regime, I’m sure they’ve seen business opportunities. They were the projects of business entrepreneurs, those who only look at their navel, the selfish ones.

In spite of everything, I would love UNESCO to declare the Cuban people a World Heritage Site, due to their mixture of races and their coexistence. I would like to highlight two things: the embargo on the Cuban economy and the defects of its System. Errors that we see in that town, but also in other countries like Venezuela, Nicaragua… today. I know that it is difficult for everyone to govern, but it is unfortunate to realize how the population should have a little more awareness. I don’t know why this happens, for me the hustlers of any Regime try to take advantage of it without caring too much about others, although I still saw a lot of solidarity.

The boardwalk. Havana

At that time, the Regime was trying to recover the five prisoners from the north, at some point the propaganda was overwhelming. And it was in 2001 when the Cuban government recognized that the five were intelligence agents. They were the ‘political prisoners’ that the northerners had taken. In the end, little by little they were released after our trip and that marked the beginning of the relaxation of political relations.

What kind of people make those people suffer? What kind of people have brought this town here? How do you think those from the north will talk about the Cuban revolution? The human experiment that didn’t work because the US never wanted it to work, that was its power. After the missile crisis, what prevented lifting the embargo on that town?

And many, many memories of the trip. But we went to see that town, not the aforementioned misery or tourism.

Continue on ‘Cuba in memory I’ https://sincristal.wordpress.com/2023/02/15/cuba-in-memory-i/

Until the next reflection.

Joan-Llorenç sincristal@hotmail.com

Cuba in memory I

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Rafters (wet backs)

It was the year 2005, and with all the enthusiasm in the world we prepared to go to the island… and speak with Fidel Castro :-), he was still the head of the government. We knew about the shortcomings of Cubans and I took care of the medicines, while my friend took care of the school supplies. I remember the satisfied face of the doctors who welcomed us and also that of the teachers who made us go to a children’s class. Although we had decided that no beach (nothing from Varadero and other tourist places); we had the diving equipment, the Caribbean was waiting for us.

Clique of the Cuban Revolution

Arriving on September 5, it had been 12 days since Hurricane Katrina had visited them, it was destructive. We went over the Bahamas down to Cuba. The same arrival was sounded. Once on the ground, the airport lights were off for more than an hour. There we were inside the plane waiting for ‘orders’. When I went down it turned out that my suitcase did not appear, the employees tried to reassure me, they were surely registering it at customs, they saw something suspicious. After waiting a long time, the last suitcase on the plane arrived in my hands. It was your welcome. Two middle-aged women friends of a friend from Spain were waiting for us and we stayed for another day.

The hotel in Old Havana ‘Armadores de Santander’ was waiting for us, and also two native girls. We were very tired, we had a soda, we got rid of them and we went to sleep. It was already very late; We turned on the air conditioning in the room, the heat was stifling, the typical smell of Havana was with us.

With the two oldest we were hanging around Havana. We visited the Botanical and ended up in a restaurant on the outskirts, it was a Paladar, as the people of Havana call it. I remember that the youngest, my friend’s, put her ice cream in a lunch box for her son, surely it arrived totally undone. It is only for you to see the sacrifice of a mother in the face of misery. We were at the house of one of them, a single-family house on the ground floor, on a large avenue. We talked to someone who was leaving for the US the next day; that was secret. Later we learned that the wetbacks had arrived safely; In Tampa (Florida) relatives were waiting for them. And they were the ones who laughed when we told them we wanted to see Fidel. They told us that it was impossible, since for security reasons he could be in any of his three residences. I think they understood right away that we didn’t mean it.

Guantánamo Bay Naval Base

My friends (those who touched me), the eldest was called Asun, the young Liubis. I would like to know what happened to them. My friend was 48, I was 58. He already died.

Fidel’s revolution took place in 1959, while the island’s neighbor to the north subjected the island to a ruthless embargo (1960). That was terrible for the population. They kept their military base in the east, the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, which was granted to them by the previous leader Fulgencio Batista, without being paid a dollar; the economic siege still lasts today, although somewhat less strong than in the past. Too close to your neighbors. In 1961 it was the ‘invasion’ of the reactionaries of Florida (Bay of Pigs) supported by those from the north, and which was rejected by the Cuban militias. While in 1962 the famous missile crisis took place that was about to trigger a nuclear war between the US and the USSR.

Continue in ‘Cuba in memory II’ https://sincristal.wordpress.com/2023/02/15/cuba-in-memory-ii/

Until the next reflection.

Joan-Llorenç sincristal@hotmail.com