Belmont University official: ‘Cuba is reawakening’
- First impressions: grinding poverty, gorgeous Spanish architecture, vintage American cars.
- Cuba’s isolation has crippled its economy, but its people have an amazing resiliency.
- Third largest source of income in Cuba is Florida, sending $2 billion a year to help relatives.
I had the opportunity to visit Cuba recently with the Fulbright Alumni Association.
No visas for Americans yet; we were on a special people-to-people exchange approved by the U. S. State Department.
I was interested in Cuba’s history, lifestyle and economy and Cubans’ feelings toward the United States. I wanted to see the life and shadows of Cuba.
My first impressions of Cuba were of grinding poverty (the average salary is $30/month), gorgeous European-style architecture from the Spanish era and vintage American cars from the 1950s (some with washing machine motors for engines).
Jorge Mario Sanchez, a Cuban economist, explained that Cuba’s economy is complex and that technical aspects, timetables, building plans and the use of credit cards are all being discussed.
He also mentioned that the third largest source of income in Cuba is Florida — Cuban-Americans send approximately $2 billion a year to Cuba to help their relatives.
We visited the Consul General of the American Interest Section (USINT) in Havana.
The U.S. has no embassy in Cuba; instead it shares with Switzerland a grim-looking six-story building overlooking the Bay of Havana.
The USINT is guarded by machine gun-toting Cuban guards and staffed by 50 Americans and 350 Cubans.
The USINT can process student and exchange visitor visas for Cubans wishing to study abroad; tourist visas for Cubans are summarily denied.
The Consul General mentioned that no protest signs are allowed by the Cuban government outside the building. The objectives of the American presence in Cuba are: rule of law, individual human rights, and open economic and communication systems. They have a formidable job.
A Cuban man I spoke with said, “No one with any name but Castro has ever ruled Cuba.”
A slight exaggeration, but the 1960 Cuban embargo, the United Nations and the past 11 U.S. presidents have kept Cuba isolated from the world.
Ration books are still in use for food, a part of daily life.
Cuba’s isolation has crippled its economy, but the people have an amazing resiliency and a forward-looking attitude.
Our group was not allowed to give money to Cubans; however, we were allowed to bring in school supplies, guitar strings, children’s vitamins, toothpaste and soap, which we gave to a community center.
An elderly woman touched my arm on the street one day and with pleading eyes begged, “Jabon, jabon.” She wanted soap.
“We think an increasing presence of the U.S. in Cuba can help us implement policies to stop drugs and prostitution. We want a comfortable life. Not like your life, but something better than this. We need a sustainable economy, and no, we don’t all want to go to the U.S. Some yes, but not all,” our guide explained.
What could harm Cuba? A rush to sell and a rush to buy.
Cuba trusting the U.S. too quickly without first knowing our motives. A leap to tourism that creates a huge need for Cubans to serve tourists — taking scientists, doctors and teachers from their underpaid jobs, and a junk dump of Chinese goods to Cuba. This has already occurred, and Cubans are selling them.
As Winston Churchill wrote in “The Early Years” (1930), on his first trip to Cuba, “When I first saw the shores of Cuba, I felt as if I ... first gazed on Treasure Island.
“Here was a place where real things were going on. Here was a scene of vital action. Here was a place where anything might happen.
“Here was a place where something would certainly happen.” It is happening — Cuba is reawakening.
Kathryn Gray Skinner is director of international student services at Belmont University.