Steven’s Cuba Blog

Turning the page.

Not having posted anything here in over a month - and not having posted anything of substance in longer than that - I’ve been feeling ambivalent as to how to continue writing about Cuba, which is ironic because I’ve never been short of words in the past.

I’ve already said that I love Cuba, and nearly everything about it and its people. It’s the closest place on Earth to home that I can find, yet it’s also maddening that there is so much that seems to be left undone. But I am not Cuban. I don’t live in Cuba, with all its beauty, its problems, its dreams, its hopes, and most of all, its people. Some of the most sincere, no-bullshit, and fun people I’ve ever met are in Cuba. I, however, won’t ever know what it’s like to wake up in the morning knowing that the Playas del Este are only a short bike ride from my house. I won’t know the frustrations of being a working professional, trying to improve the lot of my society… yet struggling to make ends meet, while the bartender who serves me drinks is dressed in the latest fashions. I’ll never understand the joys of being a student in a Cuban grade school, or the indignity of being stopped and having my ID checked when I’m taking my girlfriend out for the night. I won’t know how difficult it is to try to acquire a car in Santiago de Cuba, or how easy it is to just live off the land and be at peace with oneself off the coast of la Isla de la Juventud.

When I started this blog, I took an oath with myself to try and stay as non-partisan as I could. I talked about my trips, the things I’d seen and how they affected me, personally. I talked about current events, trying to keep my own feelings and opinions, and the way things appeared as filtered through the prism of my own eyes. Most of all, I wasn’t ever trying to tell Cuba’s story, but only my own, as I passed through the valleys and towns that dot the island’s landscape. Despite all this, I was treated as someone with a political agenda, on both - as if there were only two - sides of the political arena. Those on the left called me a selfish liar, a sellout and a profiteer when I’d mention things like how I had to wait in lines longer when I was mistaken for a local Cuban. I received my very first death threats - two, to be exact - shortly after returning from my first Cuban trip, a two-month bicycle odyssey that changed my life and was the reason for this blog’s existence. Both of those threats were via emails that can be tracerouted back to Miami, Florida; seems I’m not very popular on Calle Ocho.

Now, it’s been almost exactly one year to the day that I haven’t returned to Cuba. I’ve lost touch with many of the friends and colleagues I’d met - though not all - and haven’t followed Cuban developments as well as I had in the past. I do, however, have a will to continue writing and refocus my attention on Cuba and Cuban affairs. I avoided doing this over the past few months because I had something of an apprehension to writing something that seem too partisan or biased, on either side of the fence. Now that I’ve distanced myself a little from the subject matter, though, that fear has dissolved into a drive to say what I feel is right, as seen from my own eyes. Rightists will call me a communist and Leftists will call me a fascist, and you know what?

That’s just fine with me.

I think it’s amazing that a well-known writer in the Cuban exile community can make a thinly veiled suggestion that Havana should be hit with Nuclear Weapons, and not have anyone else in the media even make a mention of it. It’s also ridiculous that I cannot even invite friends in Cuba to visit me without going through a wholly unreasonable ’screening process’.

A bunch of cranky, greedy old men with bad memories and their suburb SoBe grandkids who have never even been to Cuba basically control a huge swath of the political spectrum in the most powerful country in the world. If you are are a presidential candidate in the US, you pretty much cannot win without Florida, and that means that you cannot win on an agenda that doesn’t include the continued aggression and punishment against Cuba and its people, at the behest of the aforementioned bloodthirsty villagers with torches and pitchforks. In a very real sense, as someone of Iraqi descent, I feel that Cuban-Americans share a huge deal of the responsibility for the invasion of Iraq, and the slaughter of countless innocents.

On the other hand, things inside Cuba aren’t that much better. When I was in Eastern Europe a few days ago, I felt an eerie deja vu of 80s communist or ex-communist party members dining at fine restaurants with a beautiful girl 1/3 of their age hanging off their shoulders (actually, Budapest still felt like that a little) while the real ‘proletariat’ didn’t see very much improvement in their lives during a revolution which was supposedly intended to make everybody equal. Cuba is in a very real danger of being overrun by corruption, and even if it wins that fight, the sheer amount of bureaucracy required to get the simplest permit or license is enough to put most people off from ever achieving what they set out to do in the first place.

So, we are where we are. Now what? No one knows, least of all me, but the least I can do is to continue speaking my mind and writing about Cuba - a topic that everyone seems to be an expert on and no one wants to compromise on.

Arabs in Cuba

Being of Iraqi-Assyrian descent, it’s understandable that I was caught by surprise walking down the Prado in Havana and seeing arabic script on some signs, or noticing the moorish influences on so many of the buildings.

But the arab influence in Cuba goes beyond merely architecture; indeed, Arabs had a part to play in many chapters of Cuba’s history.

While Havana’s Arab community is not large by any standard, they have their own “union” and community centers, museum, mosque for those who practice Islam, and even an Arabic restaurant (which I haven’t tried yet). You can even easily take Arabic lessons - for free, something that I can’t do almost anywhere else.

Violence drives Palestinians from homes - to Cuba
Arabs in Cuba - from the earliest times
The Arabs of Havana

technorati tags:cuba, havana, arabs

Do Cubans sweat?

This title is a bit of a joke - but there’s some truth to it.

I was standing in line outside a Cadeca (Casa de Cambio - Currency Exchange) in Santa Clara the other day, with about 100 Cubans waiting to get inside to change some money. It was about 10am, and the heat was already starting to get to everyone.

I fit in perfectly with everyone else - jeans, clean running shoes, white “New Balance” tee. At first we were in the sun, but then the line snaked around under part of the building so after about 20 minutes I was in the shade.

But one thing gave me away: as we were just standing in line, not doing anything, all the Cubans looked perfectly normal, and dry as a desert, as if playing a part in some anti-perspirant TV ad. I, however, was literally dripping sweat. My shirt was drenched, and my forehead and cheeks had little streaks going down them. I didn’t have a towel handy, so every now and then I’d wipe my face with my shirt - not the best way to impress the beautiful girls standing in line with me.

After I got in and changed my money, I walked back home, took my 2nd shower in as many hours, and changed my clothes - then headed out the door again.

U.S. Treasury - Major League Morons

I learned via just a minute man that the U.S. treasury has finally decided that Cuba can’t play in the inaugural World Baseball Classic. It blows my mind that they would make such a stupid call; actually, no, it doesn’t. Could you just imagine how awesome it would be if the Cuban team played and beat the Americans, on their home turf no less?

Seriously… what could possibly be the justification for disallowing Cuba to play? Citing the completely idiotic embargo doesn’t do much to add credibility to the Treasury Department’s case; there isn’t a great financial interest for Cuba or for Cuban nationals to participate. It’s a sport, but once again the U.S. government seems intent on infecting the rest of the world with its misguided, malevolent politicking. It would be in the interest of both countries if Cuba participated in the tournament, as the U.S. would be applauded for its diplomatic gesture, and Cuba would have added exposure and credibility on the world stage (something which, obviously, the U.S. won’t stand for).

It’s not America’s blind hatred of Cuba and all things Castro that leads to idiotic outcomes like this; every U.S. government in recent memory has had to cater to the immensely powerful Miami Cuban exile community, or severely cripple their chances of winning an election. The way the districts are divided in the U.S., it’s nearly impossible to win an election without their support.

Funny to think that if the electoral system was shaped just a little differently in the United States, Cuba would be allowed to be play baseball in a supposedly international tournament.

Hmmm… this post was supposed to be about baseball, wasn’t it? I guess the Cubans I’ve met are right when they say that “every conversation eventually degenerates into politics”, and my blog is obviously no exception…
Let them play!

Update:

Canadian International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound said yesterday that U.S. bids to play host to future Olympic Games will be damaged by the Bush administration’s decision to prevent Cuba from playing in next year’s inaugural World Baseball Classic.

[…]

“Certainly it’s important for any country that’s bidding for the Games to be able to represent with confidence that athletes and coaches from around the world will be able to come to their country.”

[…]

“Sports should be separated from politics,” U.S. Soccer Federation president Bob Contiguglia said. “That’s been a FIFA and an IOC philosophy, and we concur with that philosophy. In soccer, we’ve played Cuba in sport on many occasions and it’s never been a problem. We’ve had teams go to Cuba and they’ve come here. So it seems kind of short-sighted that the administration would do that.”

Havana Rhythms

When most people think of Cuban music, they automatically think of Salsa, Son and other typically Cuban beats. Indeed, as a foreigner, these are the most common sounds I hear on the Island. However, Cuba - and especially Havana - has a burgeoning underground music scene. Alternative, Hip Hop, Experimental, and all sorts of fusions and fringe-mixes are cropping up in some of the small bars and clubs around town.

Searching for more on “independent” (not sure how independent it can be…) music in Cuba, I came across “The H Music“, a website featuring free downloadable tracks and bios - and not much else, at the moment - of new and unique Cuban artists, such as Telmary (who I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never heard of before):

Sin tener un disco personal, Telmary muestra, a modo de impresionante carta de presentación, sus colaboraciones con artistas como Gema & Pável, Pío Leyva, Yusa, Issac Delgado, Gerardo Alfonso, Aceituna Sin Hueso, Giraldo Piloto, Lucía Huergo, X Alfonso, Kelvis Ochoa y Francis, además de enrolarse en conceptos grupales de carácter intermitente como el proyecto Rotilla, Cool Cool Filin, Los Otros (con William Vivanco y Kumar) y, por supuesto, Interactivo. Xis y DJ Dalua, de Brasil, y Guillaume Fageon, de Francia, también han contado con sus servicios, y hasta en alguna ocasión alternó con el mismísimo Afrika Bambaataa. Todas estas experiencias le han permitido redondear su propuesta, nutrirse de vibraciones antes de lanzarse en protagónico. Por ahí circula una maqueta que nos enfrenta al resumen de esas sesiones, con verdaderos éxitos potenciales si la difusión funcionara según presupuestos distintos. Además, tiene de todo: canciones para cautivar al público que pide una simple desconexión y temas donde lo actual, con su carga de contradicciones, está bien presente. Pone la misma convicción cuando canta “Pa´ que enamore” (con su antológica oferta de “pescado fresco” y ese pegadizo pregón de “azucenas, girasoles”) como cuando interpreta “Los revolucionarios” y se cuestiona la doble moral de postulados extremistas con una pregunta sencilla, de todos y para todos: “¿hasta cuándo?”.

“Libre” and “Montuno” (both mixes) are extremely good tracks.