Letters to the Editor
ozgirl
Published Letters: 1
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Cuba Times
[Read the article: From inside Cuba, a young Cuban blogs Castro's exit]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Dear Editor
When we were in Cuba late last year we walked along the Malecon towards a 1950's brutalist looking building. It was Hitchcock like. We were in culture shock at the dilapidated bomb site looking buildings that people were living in, at the 100's of people riding of old semi- trailers that served as buses and the lack of fresh food and electricity. Being Aussies we headed for the beach, where things seemed a little more familiar.
We were drawn to the building at the other end of the Malecon. It was so looming, modern looking and grand, 20 stories high, so high that very large birds were nesting on it, they were circling around with big lazy swoops.
They were vultures. The building, once the headquarters of a US bank was the hospital.
Life in Cuba seems so simple because it is, it's an everyday battle to survive. That sounds cliched but the weariness that must accompany the lack of true basics must be a battle.
Everyone it seems believes that once Fidel goes then Cuba will change. But it's just that as Yoani expresses - it's impossible to believe he'll ever really go, it's impossible to imagine life without him
At the moment on the positive side there are street side markets, people trading fresh food and a small number of state licensed home run restaurants, where the food quality was fresher and more varied than the 5 star tourist hotels.
The cool factor is high; the cars, architecture, music and rum just ripe for a massive influx of curious travelers and cash. But the electricity is highly erratic, the food rationed and the only way to buy fuel is with the convertible currency. Cuban pesos are not accepted. There were no internet cafes, ATM machines or supermarket malls ( or fast food chains either), but there was US television and sport playing in the bars
People talked about Fidel and the US embargo on trade in the same sentence. It was the embargo that made life so hard. No ship that trades with the US can berth in Habana, no company ( we were told) that trades with the US is allowed to trade with Cuba.
The embargo prevents medicines, machinery and everyday items from ever landing.
When we returned to the US and told people that the food was still rationed in Cuba they were shocked and amazed - yet it's less than 200 miles away.
If the embargo had loosened even a decade ago, trade started and US citizens allowed in, things would be much different. The Cubans would have some hard currency, the country would have some infrastructure; and the city hospital wouldn't be circled by vultures.