Cuba: A First World Society Living in a Third World Country
By Hannah Shami
Colorful doors and exterior walls line the streets as classic cars drive past. The light tread of pedestrians on the pavement and occasional horse-drawn carriage drowned out the already faint sound of dominos hitting a table. Standing in front of a bright pink house I snap a picture, briefly stopping time to capture three young girls sitting on the porch, enjoying what they consider a normal Sunday afternoon. For a moment, I feel as if I’m being transported back in time, carried to a simpler moment in history, brought back to reality by the camera in my hands.
I spent nearly 9 months in preparation for my week in Cuba—watching documentaries and reading books and articles about Cuban history and life in the country today. I was learning about a side of Cuba that I had never seen before, trying to understand what they have been going through decade after decade. The documentary series Cuba Libre dove deep into Cuban history and brought to light things I never knew to be true.
In the early 1950s, Fulgencio Batista regained power with a brutal and controlling dictatorship, prompting the series of sporadic revolutions lead by Fidel Castro. In 1958, Castro was successful in ousting Batista, in which he replaced the once authoritarian government with a revolutionary socialist state. Not long after, the United States imposed an embargo on Cuba in 1960 and broke diplomatic relations in 1961. This disconnection from the U.S. is just the beginning of a long history of war and struggles between the two countries. Cuba’s alliance with the Soviets provided the protection Castro needed to drive himself into the international scene. However, with the collapse of communism, the end of Soviet economic support, and the continued hostility between the U.S. and Cuba, Cuba was immersed deep into economic crisis. Cubans struggled with attaining steady incomes and basic human freedoms as illegal emigration became an increasing problem. (BBC News)
During that time, Cuba was under the control of Fidel Castro. Reduced wages, limits on land-ownership, and stricter police force created a hostile and unstable living environment for Cubans. Thousands of professionals—from doctors to engineers—emigrated to the U.S., causing an economic “brain drain”. Cuba’s economy prior to the revolution was dependent on sugar exports, and the U.S. trade embargo cut their economy immeasurably. Fidel’s 49-year reign is said to be characterized by a ruthless suppression of freedom of expression—anyone speaking out against the government would face arrest and harassment. Even as technology was developing all over the world, the Cuban government limited access to the internet, outside news sources, and the development of the Cuban people. (BBC News)
In 2006, Fidel Castro announced he had an intestinal illness, causing him to resign as President and head of the party. His brother Raúl became the temporary president of the Council of State. Raúl was officially made president by the National Assembly in 2008, after Fidel announced that he wouldn’t stand for president due to his continued medical condition. After his re-election in 2013, Raúl Castro announced that he would not be seeking re-election in 2018, making his second term his last. Within his short term as president, Raúl lifted the restrictions against the purchase of numerous products not available under his brothers administration. From DVD players, to computers, to microwaves and rice cookers, Cubans were already seeing new technology after decades of oppression. New economic reforms were introduced, including the increase in wages for hardworking employees and allowing private farmers to lease idle state-owned land in an effort to boost food production. Following Castro’s resignation, Miguel Díaz-Canel was voted in as president and the Castro reign officially came to an end in 2018. (Nations Online)
Before leaving for Cuba, I was told numerous things to help prepare me for the week I’d spend there. From the restrictions placed on Cuban tourism, to being told I was going to have rice and beans for every meal, I was expecting to have a difficult time adjusting. I’ve traveled abroad before, but never to an under developed nation, and because of everything that I was told, I was expecting to be completely out of my element. Once I arrived I realized how wrong everyone—including myself—had been. Everywhere I went there was yet another sight to be seen, whether its walls covered in art or little pockets of culture and history sprinkled around the city. Simply walking down the street allowed me to immerse myself even more into the simplicity of their life. Fruit stands stopped on the sidewalk and balconies with clothes pinned up on the line, made time slow down in a way. I found myself walking the streets and taking it all in, absorbing my surroundings with voices and music on the street filling my ears.
What made my experience in Cuba different from someone else’s who would travel as a tourist, is that I didn’t see a lot of the main tourist attractions. However, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. I got to fully immerse myself into the Cuban culture and truly experience it for what it is—innovative and inspiring. Permaculture in Cuba is growing and being adapted to farms within the city. I was able to tour a couple of smaller farms and one larger one. With developments such as a dry toilet, separating wet and dry human waste to generate into fertilizer for the farm, reinvents farming and agriculture within the city. I toured a larger farm called Finca Marta outside of Havana, where they have a process similar to the smaller farms, however it’s produced on a much larger scale. Using animal waste to fertilize the crops growing all over the farm, they’re able to sell the fresh produce at farmers’ markets and use that as another source of income. Fernando Fuñes, the owner of Finca Marta, told us the story of how he dug the well on the property. He spent half a year digging a hole into the ground, never knowing if he was ever going to find water. He told me about the number of times he wanted to give up, but the possibility of finding water is what kept him going. Eventually, he dug deep enough to reach water, but it was the journey getting to the bottom of the well that was the most rewarding. I remember sitting there on his patio, listening to him tell this story, in awe of how much he has accomplished. The amount of hard work and dedication he put into everything he did is what created his beautiful farm from what was once practically nothing. That same perseverance and optimism was apparent to me every second I was in Cuba. Regardless of how difficult their lives seem, they still find the positivity and always make something good out of what seems to be only bad.
That mentality is something that I now carry with me. Since my return, I’ve had time to think and reflect on my time in Cuba, and it made me realize how fortunate I am to have the life that I do, but that I also take so much for granted. We spent our last full day with a Cuban family, eating the most delicious pork and plantain chips, socializing, and just having a good time. Their misfortune or oppression wasn’t a concern that day. The only thing that was of any importance was family, friends, and winning the game of Dominos. Life in that moment was the simplest thing I have ever experienced and it’s something that I never realized how much I longed for. As a Communication student, I’ve spent the last three and a half years learning about and utilizing modern technology, preparing me for life in a digital world. Everything I’ve created has been digital and dependent on the development of this high-tech age I’ve been growing into for the last few decades. To be in a country where the most important things in my life mean so little, was a culture shock I wasn’t prepared for. In Cuba, a card with an access code holds so much power, just in an effort to access 1 hour of internet. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before—yet, it took no time to get used to the simplified life of the Cuban people. I was surrounded by a group of life-loving people, meeting more life-loving people every day. Being completely disconnected from the outside world forces you to experience life with the people who surround you, and that’s exactly what I did.
The entire time I was in Cuba, I kept thinking about how beautifully heartbreaking the entire experience was. In the midst of all of the beauty within the city, there was poverty and struggle. Regardless of how difficult their lives seemed to be, Cubans remain hopeful and optimistic. With street art and performers on every corner, Cuban culture is vibrant and imaginative, taking life one step at a time. With history around every corner, to an outsider, it feels like traveling back in time. Despite a scarcity of resources, or perhaps because of it, Cubans are constantly innovating—creating imaginative solutions to solve problems while sparking new ideas and inventions. Without what many consider necessities, today’s Cubans embody the practice of self-sustainability and continue to be an inspiration with their advances despite their lack of technological development.
