Changing Cuba

“In Cuba and specifically in Havana there’s a sort of energy that turns every situation into something unexpected.”
Fernando Perez

I have been to Cuba three times and plan on going again. I fell in love with Cuba when I first went with my son in 2012. It was like stepping back in time with the old cars, waiters that dressed up and very little technology. The people were lovely, the beaches, scenery and architecture spectacular and the music and arts scene thriving. I am also interested in the country from a cultural anthropology angle.

While taking a Writing for Magazines course at Douglas College with Roberta Staley in 2016, we had to pitch a travel story. The following is what I wrote.

THE PITCH

Before Castro took over in 1959, Havana was likened to Las Vegas with glitzy casinos, prostitution, live sex shows and plenty of wealthy American visitors. I believe with the influx of technology and once the Americans arrive en masse again, the charm of Cuba will swing away.

BETWEEN THE SEXES

Cuba is one of the few countries with economic parity between the sexes. Presently [2015], pornography is forbidden. Internet access will change that. There are no glossy magazines displayed at check-out stands with sexy women trying to sell something. There are naturally sexy women right in front of you! Because of the economics, men have to rely on something other than money to entice a women to want to be with him. Sexuality between Cubans is not bought and sold, it just is. Will exposure to American values and the internet change that? When we left the island in 2012, the taxi had a driver and a guide. I asked the guide about rape in Cuba, she thought the rates were low but did say that there was wife abuse.

CHANGING CUBA

Nurses sitting on a bench in Vinales, Cuba in 2012. Photography by Rhonda Jesckey. — 2012 – Vinales Nurses

Women street cleaners taking a break in Havana, Cuba 2012. Photography by Rhonda Jesckey — 2012 – Havana Street Cleaners

Three booksellers sitting in chairs and chatting in front of book racks where 5 people in the distance browse. Photography by Rhonda Jesckey — 2012 – Havana Booksellers

Four older musicians sit and play music on the street in Havana - 2 guitars and a bongo player and one without an instrument. Photography by Rhonda Jesckey — 2012 – Havana Street Musicians

The most glaring change I saw (besides many more tattooed individuals) between 2012 and 2015 was the use of technology. Castro allowed limited internet access. In 2012, our tour guide had a cell phone but she was an anomaly. In 2015, the illuminated faces mesmerized by laptops was disconcertingly apparent.

What did not appear to change from 2012 to 2015 were family dynamics. Men appeared to be just as involved with their children as women. Poolside at the Hotel Kohly (one of the less touristy hotels in the Playa district) to watch the water ballet, the performers were scantily clad but entire families from children to grand parents enjoyed the show. After, they all danced to musicians (all female) playing in the bar area.

Female Cuban musicians on bongoes, 2 guitars and a flute. Photography by Rhonda Jesckey — 2015 – Havana – Hotel Kohly entertainment which included a water ballet

CASTRO’S PLAN

Castro’s original vision of not Marxism or Communism but “a representative democracy and social justice in a well-planned economy” didn’t work out but Cubans are highly educated with one of the best health care systems in the world. Family values are front and centre and there is little in the way of crime.

DOUBLE STANDARDS

One thing that began to bother me, however, was the double standard for locals and tourists. I don’t know the oppression of not being able to leave my country or feel my stomach rumbling while having to queue for food. Will Cubans be able to hang onto their socialist culture without being disgruntled when they see how Americans live? Will the flash and dazzle of Western-style decadence become an irresistible come-hitherness? Will dynamics change between Cuban men and women?

PERSONAL OPINION

Through my rose-tinted tourist glasses, I found the island idyllic. A personal philosophy that includes thinking many of the world’s woes are because of capitalist concepts makes me grateful I got to see Cuba before what I perceive will be its downfall. Where in the entire world at this point in time can you find a place without golden arches that has existed quietly, embargoed, forced to be entirely independent and thrives and thrums to the beat of its own drums?

POST SCRIPT

I haven’t been back to Cuba since 2017 and I’m sure it will have drastically changed. When I go again, I will be able to experience the nightlife I wasn’t able to because my son was with me on all my previous trips. As I understand it, the Cubans are suffering at the current time – power outages, food shortages and rising prices in a country that already faces hardships. Under Obama there seemed to be some hope of lifting the embargoes and Americans had a somewhat easier time visiting the island. Now with Trump in charge…