dreaming in cuban

1959, shortly after the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro traveled to the United States. President Eisenhower refused to meet with him and sent then vice president Nixon. Nixon talked with Fidel for about forty-five minutes and then reported to Eisenhower that "Castro was a very dangerous man, and the revolution was also a very dangerous process".

One of the first acts of the new Cuban revolutionary government was to pass an Agrarian Reform Law. The U.S. was opposed to the law because it included the nationalization of the largest landowners of Cuba, including the U.S. owned United Fruit Company.

"…it was not intended to be a nationalization without compensation. Nevertheless the idea of taking away land from a U.S. company was enough to make the United States furious...the Agrarian Reform Law was signed on May 17, 1959, and just two days later president Eisenhower signed the Pluto Plan, which aimed to destabilize Cuba. Pluto was the code name for the comprehensive program of subversion that culminated in the Bay of Pigs invasion."

Over forty years later Cuba seems to have done okay for itself; despite the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ongoing U.S. blockade against the island, it has survived. The country is blissfully free of McDonald's, Starbucks and other corporate chain-store crap. Cuba has the highest literacy rate and the lowest infant mortality rate in all of Latin America; Education and health care are free, Cuba has a thriving biotech industry and has recently developed a meningitis vaccine. Universities in Cuba will train United States citizens to be medical doctors if they agree to go back home and work in inner city neighborhoods; and Cuba sends more doctors to work in third world nations than nearly all of the countries in the United Nations combined.

Walking the streets of Havana, however, one can clearly see that Cuba has its problems. Thousands of buildings are crumbling, in desperate need of repair, cement and building supplies are often scarce. Dozens of streets are perpetually torn up, sewage pipes broken and askew, and the wait for a local bus that isn't packed to capacity can sometimes take hours. The collapse of the Soviet Union, and the subsequent loss of millions in aid, has plunged Cuba's economy into the toilet. Food shortages are common, wages are low-a college professor makes less than thirty dollars a month. Though, despite all this, every Cuban whom I spoke with said that they did not want to leave.

In an attempt to recapture the ideals held by Martí-- Fidel Castro and Che Guevara led the disgruntled Cuban populace to overthrow their corrupt dictator, Batista, in 1959. Castro and Guevara were attempting something radical, to create "a nation with all and for the good of all", an egalitarian society based on social justice and the equal distribution of resources.

"What Che called for was a new culture that was based on new types of ethics and values-values different from a capitalist society based on exploitation, racism and greed. You cannot build a society based on ethics and love if the culture is rooted in selfishness and egotism."

Now I am back home in San Francisco; my Spanish is measurably improved and my heat rash has subsided. The pervasive summer fog is a welcome relief to Cuba's tropical heat and humidity. I look out my window at the flashing lights of Mission Street and the shiny cars zipping down the freeway and dream about Cuba. And I wonder what my society would look like if it were based on the equal distribution of resources and social justice.