Yes

by Lesley Mason

Created on: December 14, 2007

Do you want to look at that question again, and just think about what it means? Go on. Take a moment. The United States of America, bastion of the free world, the single remaining global super-power, advocate of free trade, the one country on the planet that has the "right to the pursuit of happiness" actually written into its constitution prohibits its citizens from taking a holiday on the most economically disadvantaged island in the Caribbean.

Is there something wrong with that notion?

We'll ignore for the present that the same United States is using its own land-holding on the island for purposes which the international community view with some, shall we say, concern'.

Let's stick to tourism.

Why are Americans not allowed to visit? Well, technically, it comes under the Trading With the Enemy" act signed by J F Kennedy during the Bay of Pigs crisis some 40-odd years ago. It's rumoured that Kennedy secured a sizeable stash of his favourite Havana cigars, immediately before signing that act but really, half a century on, that has to be about as relevant as the Act itself.

Sitting in Europe, I suspect my forebears were as terrified as anyone else over the Bay of Pigs. So far as facts are within the public domain, that is as close as the then superpowers ever came to World War Three and almost certain nuclear engagement. It is easy to see why the decisions were taken.

But let's get real. That was a long time ago.and the real enemy was never Cuba. It was the Soviet Union. There are strong arguments to suggest that Fidel Castro was never a huge fan of Soviet style communism, and was only driven into the arms of the Russians by the actions of the west. Be that as it may. The domino effect' may (or may not) have been a real threat.

Then.

What about now? How many truly communist countries are there left on the planet? How close are their connections? Sorry Fidel, but just exactly WHAT influence does America think Cuba has on the world stage in 2007?

Trading with the enemy?
!

Just to put this in its proper context: one of the remaining soi-disant Communist countries is China. Is there not something awry with the U.S. granting most favoured nation' trading status to China, whilst still holding Cuba to be the enemy'? Or am I missing something?

There really is no case to answer: of course U.S. citizens should have the freedom they have in respect of China, Russia, Bengal, and any other communist arena on the planetto visit, to witness, to learn, and to make up their own minds.

~

Any arguments about Cuba having decided to go it alone' are unfounded. Cuba wasn't given a choice. That they choose to take pride in their revolution and having made it work (after a fashion) this long, is understandable. But if you've been to Cuba, and ventured beyond the resorts, you will know precisely to what extent it is working' and the price that has been paid.

Beyond Havana and Santiago, the country is desperately poor. Having spent a couple of weeks walking in the Vinales to the northwest and the area around Baracoa and Santiago in the South-east a few years agothe successes and the failures of the current system were unavoidable. No-one was starving. No-one was begging. As I was told by my own GP before I left, and the evidence was there to see, the country has probably the best primary health care system in the world. Sadly, its secondary services are lacking funds. And we met farmers living in two-room mud-shacks planting their fields with garlic, who were actually embarrassed (if equally grateful) to accept a few dollars for the small sweet bananas they shared with us.

Cuba has been ravaged and has been degraded as a result of the 40-50 year embargo by the U.S. The lack of trade with its nearest neighbour (and the tourism is only part of the issue) has forced the country to adopt survival strategies which might not otherwise have been necessary. It is agriculturally productive being able to trade freely would have brought the agric-business forward, raised living standards, and had a knock-on effect for the whole community. This is a fertile island, a staggeringly strange and beautiful landscape, of welcoming hardworking people with productive land. If you do visit, and see the entrepreneurial spirit at work in the market gardens, and the paladares, the casas paticulares,.and any other way of earning a crust from the opportunitiesyou will understand that this is a people prepared to do what it takesnot just to get by, but to do so by pleasing their guests.

This is a country ripe for tourism development.

And that is what worries me.

I stand by the stated casethat U.S. citizens have as much right to visit this country as I do... but I worry that when they are granted that right, when Cuba is allowed to trade as a fully free nation stateit could be swamped. Already, UNESCO funds are driving out the inhabitants of the glorious slums of Havana to preserve and restore the colonial buildings, which will no doubt become offices and high-price residences. Buildings which would be rubble but for those who've scavenged to hold them together when the world didn't care.

Havana is holding its identity yet, but Santiago de Cuba is slowly sliding into a nondescript mozzies and prozzies' cess of the worst kind of euro-tourism; the clubs and the music are worth the visit, but as a lone female, it's an intimidating kind of place (which has little to do with the native inhabitants). It would be truly sad to see the smaller towns go the same way.

Above all, I fear that Cuba could totally lose its identity. Exposed to the riches of free trade and the temptations of the 21st century, why would she not succumb? My ultimate nightmare is that following the death of Fidel, the spirit of the revolution still evident in the personality-cult posters everywhere of Fidel himself and the legendary Ch in the market-stalls of 1950s and 1960s literature in the very feel of the place in the optimism, the slow-smiling, son-dancing, fish-chicken-or-pig?-food style of the place - will be lost. No. Not even lost. Abandoned. For the American dream.

U.S. citizens should have the right to visit. They should visit, with or without that right, because the place is really special.

But I do worry. My absolute nightmare is that the U.S. could so easily take the place over. Cuba could become the 51st State. And that would be such a cultural loss to humanity.

To the citizens of the U.S. I would say: claim your right to the pursuit of happiness.go walking and salsa dancing in Cubabut please, protect the spirit of the place as you pass through. I might just want to go back.

Learn more about this author, Lesley Mason.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.