The wonderful spirit of the Cuban revolution
On the 30th anniversary of Che Guevara's death, Brian Campbell -
recently returned from Cuba - examines the current state of the
Cuban revolution.
In the foyer of the Hotel Sevilla in the centre of Havana framed
photographs cover the walls. They show film stars and famous
singers from the 30s, 40s and 50s drinking and gambling among the
well-dressed gangsters who once ran Cuba's lucrative tourist
industry.
Cuba was a mafia heaven - and the largest tourist destination in
the Caribbean - where corruption seeped from the heart of the
state. A small elite safeguarded US interests while poverty and
illiteracy was the lot for the majority of people.
But one photograph stands out from the rest in the foyer of the
Hotel Sevilla. It shows Cuban people armed with sticks and
hammers on the night of 1 January 1959 when the revolutionary
forces had fought their way to victory and the dictator Batista
had fled to the Dominican Republic.
The photograph shows the people breaking into the hotel's casino
which they then smashed to pieces.
It is a symbol of that great revolutionary moment. Bristling with
energy, the picture captures the sweeping away of the brutal
regime which cared more for American millionaires and gambling
gangsters than the welfare of its own people.
The Cuban revolution set about very quickly building the most
egalitarian society in the Third World. Their health service is
the equal of any in the world, with a doctor for every 170
families and a doctor and dentist attached to every school. Their
education system is also second to none and housing is a
priority. Elsewhere in the region slums and shanty towns ring
every city. Not in Cuba.
The revolution's achievements are immense and they have been
defended against all the odds. But the problems are also immense.
The US blockade which, with the Helms-Burton Act, attempts to be
worldwide in its scope, forces Cuba into all manner of ingenuity
in order to import and export the most basic of goods. The
Coca-Cola in Cuba's tourist hotels is bought `illegally' in
Mexico. Cuban cigars are smuggled into the US where they are sold
on the black market.
In order to break the blockade, the Cuban government is
increasingly entering into joint venture agreements with foreign
firms. Many of the tourist hotels are jointly owned by companies
from Italy, Spain, Canada and elsewhere. In Havana large buses
which can carry 250 people - known as `camels' - are supplied
from Canada.
Tourism is now Cuba's major foreign currency earner. Last year it
grew by 15% and that will be matched this year when 1.2 million
tourists are expected to bring in $1.75 billion. New hotels are
springing up - hotels with 2,500 new rooms were built in the last
year. In Havana, the old part of the city is being renovated with
superb attention to preservation. Havana is fast on its way to
becoming one of the most stunning examples of colonial
architecture in the world. It is not surprising therefore, that
Cuba's enemies have launched a bombing campaign against hotels in
Havana and the beach resort of Varadero.
But the tourist economy and the links between Cubans and their
relatives in the US (there are as many Cubans in Miami as there
are in Havana, it is said) led the government to legalise a
dollar economy. Today the peso and the dollar are both legal
tender.
This has led to its own difficulties. Those who have no access to
dollars, either from relatives or by working in the tourist
industry, survive on a basic income. This in turn has led to the
growth of all the ills accompanying a tourist industry.
Prostitution has openly returned, as have conmen and middlemen
who sell stolen cigars in whispered conversations with
foreigners. These people are intensely disliked by Cuban workers.
I spoke to one man, a doctor, who explained why. He and his wife,
a psychologist, earn 650 pesos a month (about US$30) but have no
access to dollars. A prostitute could make the equivalent of
their monthly earnings in one day. A bartender or waiter working
in a tourist hotel could also earn dollars regularly. It creates
an inequality which the socialist system has sought to avoid. The
government acknowldges the difficulties but it is clear that the
battle will be an ideological one - there will be no major policy
changes. Investment in tourism will continue despite the
drawbacks because it is simply too important to the national
economy.
Dollars also come from the United States. Cubans in the US are
allowed a 21-day visa to visit Cuba and many of them return for
holidays. They are for all the world like the returned emigrants
who used to grace Ireland with their fat wallets, generous habits
and tales of the New Country. No doubt many of them, like the
Irish emigrants, have found the US less than the Promised Land,
but the lure of a new life in the States is evident, particularly
among young people.
I met a journalist who went to Miami three years ago. Now he was
returning for a three week holiday. With his dollars he was
taking his family and relations out for a night on the the town.
He has two jobs in Miami - as a courier and a barber - and he
works round the clock. Life in America is good, he tells me, as
returning emigrants do.
I asked the doctor if he ever thought to emigrate to the USA.
``Yes,'' he said, ``but I love my family, my neighbourhood, my
friends and...'' He hesitated. ``And I love my flag,'' he said
finally. While he was often demoralised by shortages and the
effects of the blockade, like everyone I met he supported the
revolution. He knew what life was like before 1959 and,
particularly as a doctor, he recognised the gains which have been
made in Cuba. But the consumerist society is such an attractive
vision that many people long for its material world.
`Lila', a former underground fighter who smuggled explosives into
Havana in the 1950s and was at the forefront of the literacy
campaign in the years after the revolution, said to me, ``there
are two privileged classes in Cuba, the young and the old.'' Lila
(her real name is Rosa Perez) was intensely proud of Cuba.
Indeed, the people are the most patriotic (and the most friendly)
I have ever met. Their long history of fighting for independence
has left an unquenchable spirit which sustains the revolution
against all the odds.
I ask Lila what she thinks of the revolution today. ``I love the
revolution and I would give my life for it,'' she says with real
emotion. ``Everyone who was here before the revolution would
understand that,'' she says. ``We must try to teach the children to
understand that too.''
That is the difficult task which Fidel Castro and his band of
wonderful revolutionaries are faced with.
It is impossible to come away from Cuba without feeling a sense
of pride in what has been achieved. But that is tinged with a
sense of foreboding. These are difficult days for a Cuban
revolution which has weathered many attempts to sink it. When the
Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc collapsed, it spelled the end
of Cuba's vital trading links. It looked as though its economy
might collapse and indeed, right wing Americans set up an
organisation designed to share out the spoils.
But the revolution has survived and there is no doubt that
everyone whose moral basis is the welfare of the common good has
a duty to support it in the difficult months and years ahead.
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