14 May 2010

¡Hola from Cuba!!

11 May 2010 Jose Marti Airport, Havana Cuba

Cuba, caged bird or liberated flock? An idyllic tropical paradise nestled in the Caribbean islands trapped in a time warp between the 1930's and the 1950's with the 21st Century desperately trying to break in, nipping at the heels of the old socialist revolutionaries who are still in charge of the government and all civil controls. The paradoxes and contradictions are marked, on the one hand it is philosophically liberated, carefree and friendly whilst being constantly reminded and informed of the strict rules that control people's lives, choices, movements and aspirations. The daily rules are beyond our comprehension, for example you can't own a house or a car without special government permission. If you are Cuban you can't move between provinces without going through security checkpoints. Tourists can move between certain areas without any real scrutiny. Young adult Cubans can't move out of home and must therefore remain living with their extended family or in-laws. There is a significant housing shortage so multiple generations of extended families often share one house or apartment. Very few cars are privately owned. The only vehicles that can be privately owned are the 1950's American cars. (don't know why though). These cars cost in the range of $15,000 pesos (equivalent to $USD) When you think that the minimum monthly wage is $9 pesos, the cost of a car is prohibitive. If you do own a car you can't sell it privately. Fuel costs $1 peso per litre which is = to $1.50 AUD per litre. There is also a fuel shortage, so out of Havana, it is understandable that there are more horse and carts than any other mode of transport. (the carts look like they date back before the 1920's). The local towns and villages with horse and carts look like a scene from an early 20th Century movie set.

Tobacco is a major commodity for Cuba as it grows so well in the western provinces. Tobacco growing and smoking dates back to pre Colonial times (pre 15th Century). Indigenous Cubans were known to smoke and chew tobacco. The agricultural practices that have been slightly refined over centuries produce the finest cigars in the world. The working conditions and the slave labor used to make cigars in the 17th & 18th Centuries haven't changed greatly. The entire manufacturing process is manually completed from the planting, picking and drying of the leaves, the hand rolling of the cigars and hand labeling and packaging. The hand rolling of the cigars has to be seen to be believed, but no photos were allowed to be taken, so we'll describe as best we can. Thirty men and women, of varying ages, mostly Afro-Cuban's, were cramped into a small airless room on hard old rickety wooden seats at wooden desks as they hand roll up to 100 cigars a day.(average daily temp is 32 C with > 90% humidity) All the cigar brands are produced from the same factories and just the labels are different. The cigar rollers don't know which brands they are rolling, they are given a wooden mould and selected leaves. The labels are applied after the quality control process is completed.The cigar rollers are allowed to smoke as many cigars as they like at work and are given 2 cigars per day which usually end up on the black market. No tobacco is wasted; it is all carefully prechosen, sorted, rolled and trimmed. The scraps of tobacco that are left from the process are used to make Cuban cigarettes. Cuban cigars are so valuable on the world market that generally Cuban's can't afford to buy and smoke them. Cigarettes on the other hand are very cheap ranging from 0.35 CUC to 3.00 CUC, & are very poor quality due to being the cigar off cuts). In the cigar rolling area, a person is designated as a "reader" or "entertainer". In the morning they read the morning news papers and during the day novels and magazines are read. Supposedly this is how the names of the most famous cigars evolved :"Montecristo" & "Romeo Y Julieta".

The next most famous commodity is Cuban Rum (El Ron de Cuba). It is made from processing sugar cane into molasses, then fermenting in wooden barrels for 2-15 years and filtered in charcoal. It is a jewel to the Cubans! The result is that rum is cheaper than bottled water and served at all times of the day and night as an optional extra in all drinks! Drunk straight, it is like rocket fuel!! Needless to say, a mojito was the drink of choice on arrival at Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Havana. It is made with fresh mint leaves, lime, sugar, water, and, of course, Havana rum - delicious, refreshing and moreish - until you try to stand up!! This drink is only equaled to a freshly made pina colada for morning tea at a roadside stop - fresh coconut juice, pineapple, sugar, cinnamon and optional rum.

The local cerveza (beer) is very good - especially Bucanero (fuerte) and Cristal (light) - beers are best enjoyed in this humid, sunny environment.

It is fantastic to see all the children going to school. Although Cuba is an income poor country, we did not see children working, laboring or begging. Education is free and available to everyone. Children receive a ration of milk and food everyday - because of this, milk is very valuable and cows are somewhat sacred. It is illegal to slaughter a cow without permission, if you get caught then you will face a ten-year prison sentence! The cows are predominantly Brahmin and so have a low milk yield.

The political leadership of Cuba is very interesting - elections were held on the weekend before we arrived and the current government was reelected, unopposed - nothing like the instability shown in the UK!! When we asked the Cubans about how Fidel Castro was, we were told that they did not know as he has not made a public appearance in 2 years and no one is allowed to know where he is.Political posters and billboards are still everywhere, stating the importance of unity, orderliness, courtesy, solidarity, equality, the injustices of the USA, the Volveran (5 Cuban 'political prisoners' in the USA) and 'socialism or death'.

In a week we had a short insight into the lives of everyday Cubans thanks to our tour guide - a young woman, Junie, who candidly shared her views and factual history.She spoke fluent Spanish, French, English and Portuguese - all learnt at the University of Havana.She has never left Cuba and like most Cubans, overseas travel is a rare right reserved for a small minority. Junee and her people remind me of caged birds, stunningly beautiful in an idyllic setting of coconut palms, banana plantations, tobacco fields and sugar cane fields. The rich culture is largely influenced by the Spanish colonizers from the 1500's and the African slaves who were shipped in the millions to Cuba from 1600 - 1800 to harvest sugar cane - it feels somewhat trapped in time.

Junie often spoke of a time before 1959 and a time after 1959 - the time of the Revolution led by Castro and Guevara. Government propaganda successfully promotes a national pride and the revolutionary leaders, who dispatched the US, the multinationals and the American gangsters in the 20s and 30s are revered and celebrated across Cuba.Billboards, sculptures, paintings, t-shirts, post cards, caps, murals celebrate Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and others in a constant landscape of struggle and liberation.

Media censorship, the limited access to the Internet, restrictions on people's movements within Cuba are signs of the government control over the people.Along the main roads, there are roadside checkpoints every 10 to 20km which are supposed to help and assist people to be transported, but the reality that any Cuban can and is stopped by police and government officials regularly for all kinds of reasons.

Overseas travel is generally not permitted for Cubans. Local neighbourhood 'committees' monitor behaviours and ensure government policy and rules (of which there are rules for just about everything) are adhered to. While Cuba is peaceful and has relatively low crime, there is significant security and police presence in all areas we visited.Even the hotel we stayed in at Varadero had a system and staff for 'towel control'!! We found many of these situations most amusing, but to locals, the lack of liberty and freedom must surely be a burden.

Like the pelican we saw each day at the beach in Varadero, the pelican that enjoyed more freedom and liberty than most Cubans, the pelican that was amused with our presence and ambivalent at the same time, the pelican that was naturally beautiful and wild, content for now but perhaps showing signs of restlessness and a bit too much interest in visitors.Perhaps the pelican, free and on the outside of the cage, is a metaphor for what the future holds for Cuba, at least in the heart of its strong, intelligent, sensitive, worldy on the inside looking out, young men and women buoyed and proud of their history but eager to move on and modernize a country to meet the changing needs of its people.

Adios Cuba……until we meet again…………………