Cuba, The Next Generation

Over my next few posts I am going to share some of my impressions from a recent trip to Cuba. I will talk about the art, music, neighborhoods and people. Even with photos and notes, my memories are imperfect, but I hope you will be inspired to learn along with me, and, if the opportunity arises, lobby for a more sensible and humane foreign policy. Cuba is not our enemy.

Change is everywhere in Cuba. Entrepreneurship is growing.  The architecture of Old Havana is being restored while skyscrapers rise along the Malecon (seawall). It made me wonder about the future of a country more and more removed from the actual revolution whose younger generation is underemployed and wants Nike sneakers and iPhones.

The picture below is from the Museum of the Revolution.  Our guide, Jesus, was an ardent supporter of the revolution. He told us that Fidel gave his father his first job. He believes in the ideals of socialism and is proud of the free, universal education and health care. However, he readily admitted that his nephews do not share his enthusiasm. “Their heroes are football (soccer) players, not revolutionaries,” he told us.  

 These two pictures were taken in Vanales, a valley about two hours from Havana which is made up of small farms, but which increasingly caters to tourism.

Juan Carlos

We visited Juan Carlos, who grows tobacco, coffee, bananas and other produce. When questioned about processing the coffee, he said he had an “electronic” machine, using air quotes for electronic. Later, he showed us the actual machine, the old wooden mortar and pestle in the picture. I asked Juan Carlos if his children were going to take over the farm. He said he had one son who wanted to become a doctor. Unfortunately, I not find out what would happen to the farm that had been in his family for generations.

The second picture was taken walking from the farm toward the center of town. Aaron, one of the faculty who organized the trip, joked that he had arranged the picturesque view especially for us. There is no mechanized farming in the region. The government recognized that the large, Soviet style collective farms did not work. And now tourism is supplanting agriculture. But I couldn’t help wondering if Juan Carlos wouldn’t prefer a tractor and an electric coffee grinder to make his life a little easier.