Returning from my second trip to Cuba in three years, I have it firmly implanted in my brain, “U.S. bad, Cuba good.” After two days, the continual flow of venomous remarks makes you bristle noticeably. After five, your head pounds. After seven I was ready to come across a table and pound some bureaucrat.
But to what end?
Aside from the “blockade,” Cubans overwhelmingly are sure the five spies the United States tried and incarcerated in our federal penitentiaries are suffering the same fate as political prisoners in Cuba. There you can be locked up without a trial for associating with the wrong people or speaking out against the government. About 200 people suffer that fate right now.
From an American government web site: The so-called “Cuban Five” are agents and officers of Cuba’s foreign intelligence service convicted in 2001 of having committed crimes in the United States as part of a spy group that Cuban intelligence called the “Wasp Network.”
Over 1,200 pages of evidence was presented at their trials regarding their involvement in infiltrating military installations, efforts to sabotage elections and two were convicted for their parts in the shoot-down of two civilian aircraft Feb. 24, 1996 by Cuban fighter jets.
Cubans do not understand the difference. And it is amplified in the continual rhetoric circling the American “blockade.” Continually you hear the U.S. is strangling Cuba, ruining their lives, forcing them to work around our unfair trade practices.
None will acknowledge that perhaps their authoritarian brand of communism is what is keeping the economy stagnant, with no opportunities for their Joe Six Pack. Until Cubans acknowledge the shortcomings in their system and we acknowledge our unfair treatment of Cuba, there will be no compromise.
Cubans have a point when they argue we’ll trade with China, or Iran and Iraq, but not Cuba. There are atrocities committed globally we’re willing to turn a blind eye to in the name of oil or cheap labor. But when it comes to Cuba, both countries’ leaders dig their heels in and won’t budge.
Twelve journalists from the U.S. comprised the visiting Inland Press group searching for a taste of government, culture, politics and sun. We weren’t disappointed.
We met with ministers of economics, communication, journalism department, the head of the largest import company in the country and a host of docents, historians and cultural ambassadors.
A meeting with the Associated Press bureau chief revealed a burnt out, worn down woman who answered good journalistic questions with, “I don’t know. Beats me. Good question.”
When asked what was going on in Havana she came up with a story about taxi cab drivers being allowed to apply for licenses. Two days later a story appeared in the Albuquerque Journal that Fidel Castro had met with the president of Argentina. Maybe a little more news worthy than Havana cabbies.
Our ambassador at the U.S. Interests Section (we’re not allowed an embassy) was likewise a disappointment. He tried to mumble over a dilapidated air conditioner that drowned out the few facts he would divulge.
The newspaper we visited in Santiago de Cuba was interesting. They don’t really write news. The big task is rewriting press releases from different ministers, then sending them back for approval before printing. They were eager to talk about American journalism and the way we report on issues and events. Oh, and free the Cuban five.
The general manager handed out old issues of the paper. Each had a story about the Cuban five on the front page. That’s a strong propaganda machine.
The other highlight of the trip was meeting one evening in the street with a CDR, or Committee for the Defense of the Revolution. Every two or three blocks in every city in Cuba a Committee is formed to meet the needs of locals and pass information from them to leaders and from leaders down to the people. Of course the big task falls to the president of surveillance. They have a committee to watch malcontents and report those who voice their opinion just a little too much.
The group told us about social issues, health issues, entertained us with some singing and dancing, recited some communist poems and then we ate cake.
It’s a beautiful country with wonderful people. Some are confused and misled but we have that same problem in this country. People in Cuba live simply and appear to be happy. It was good to get there again before things possible change in the next few years.
Many things have happened in the last 12 months that make some form of relations with Cuba possible. Fidel Castro’s poor health and imminent death have brought brother Raul rise to power. He’s a little more reasonable and has made some small changes in Cuba already. George Bush’s draconian measures will be loosened by his replacement, Barack Obama. Americans largely would like our government to talk with other countries instead of bombing or punishing them.
The future will clearly bring changes between the U.S. and Cuba. What those changes are depend largely on the two countries’ ability to sit and compromise, putting aside rhetoric and past judgments.