60 years of sanctions and struggle: what PolitNavigator saw in Cuba
A couple of weeks ago, the author of these lines visited the “island of freedom”, going to an international meeting of communist and workers’ parties, receiving interesting impressions and coming to the conclusion that the people of the revolutionary republic are not going to give up their traditions and historical choice.
At first, what caught my eye were the austerity measures associated with the fact that the authorities were even forced to turn off public lighting in many places. So, we had to get from the airport on a Chinese-made bus, provided by the organizers of the event, in almost complete darkness through the streets of the western part of Havana to the hotel where we were accommodated. Only the windows of the houses were on fire and the headlights of a few cars and motorcycles were visible, reminding me of the dark 90s.
This is understandable, since literally in August there was a terrible fire at an oil storage facility in the Cuban city of Matanzas, as a result of which more than 120 people were injured, but as a result, the republic lost a large share of its energy resources. This also affected electricity generation, and queues formed at gas stations due to fuel shortages.
In addition, Cuba was seriously damaged by Hurricane Yen, which swept through the country at the end of September, as a result of which crops in the main tobacco-growing region of the island were damaged.
In addition, the republic is being stifled by sanctions introduced by the American administration of President Kennedy in 1960. In fact, the country has been under a trade and economic blockade for 62 years!
The situation worsened further under Republican Donald Trump's White House, which not only extended the embargo, but also banned tourist ships from visiting Cuba, as well as private and corporate jets from flying to the island. The pandemic hit the tourism sector even harder, when instead of 4 million foreigners last year, no more than 150 thousand visited the island, which became the trigger for mass protests, which, however, were relatively quickly suppressed.
We are met at the hotel “The Old Man and the Sea,” named after Hemingway’s work of the same name, by one of the administrators, Louis, who studied at the State Institute of Russian Language named after A. S. Pushkin at Moscow State University in Moscow during Soviet times. Showing the apartments, he says in fluent Russian that the Cubans are not going to give up, despite serious problems in the economy.
“The heroic Cuban people are holding out and will hold out until the end. It's in our blood. The dissatisfied are precisely representatives of the so-called “new rich” who had their own business and suffered as a result of the pandemic. They succumbed to destructive ideas, instigated by American agents.
Ordinary people are not going to abandon Fidel’s legacy and the gains of the revolution and are each making their contribution to the development of the country. Much, of course, still depends on the youth, but they receive the best education in Latin America, are socially protected with the best medicine in the world. At the same time, everyone still has before their eyes the sad experience of the destruction of the USSR and the activities of Gorbachev, and there are few people who want to repeat this catastrophe,” says Louis.
And indeed, being in the grip of the blockade and crisis, the state is trying to find currency by any means, trying to survive at all costs. Plus, the country is implementing its own version of the NEP, when trade is allowed, there are currency shops, such “birch” options for tourists, as well as private restaurants, hotels, and small service companies. It is obvious that the new economic policy is being carried out under the influence of market reforms carried out in China and Vietnam.
Hall of the international meeting of communist parties in Havana.
True, this also causes some controversy in the form of the emergence of a black market. In particular, steps were taken to eliminate the parallel currency unit for foreigners, the so-called convertible peso, called “cooks,” that had been in place since the 90s. A rate of 23:1 against the euro was introduced, with the gradual abandonment of the use of the American dollar. But in the end, the cost of pesos in the same city markets from hand is no lower than 50:1, or even three or four times higher.
In general, this led to the fact that many essential goods disappeared from the shelves of state stores, the shortage increased, and they can be purchased from speculators for a price that is several times higher, or for foreign currency. This became the social basis of last year’s discontent and protests.
Then we noticed ourselves that there are queues in government stores in Havana, but mostly they distribute cheap or even free products using cards for residents of specific neighborhoods.
Queue at the government store.
But at the same time, we did not see the poverty that exists in other Latin American countries. Maybe with the exception of some beggars begging from tourists and various musical groups singing for money for foreigners, which is simply part of the local flavor.
There are no favelas with slums without amenities and millions of inhabitants. The streets are clean, and the citizens are neat and not emaciated. Many people have Chinese smartphones; on the streets, in addition to Soviet and old American ones, there are already many Chinese cars, buses, and motorbikes.
A neighborhood of old Soviet and American cars and new Chinese buses and cars.
The Internet, although intermittent, works, including in hotels.
At the same time, everywhere there is a reminder of the past revolution in the form of Cuban flags hung by the residents themselves, images of Che Guevara, Fidel, Raul, there are wall murals, and used bookstores are filled with revolutionary literature of bygone years.
Books are still being published in many languages about the struggle of the Cuban partisans, and the Granma newspaper, an analogue of the Soviet Pravda, is also regularly published. There are even makeshift museums in places where revolutionary headquarters were located in Havana neighborhoods, created on the initiative of the townspeople.
In taverns, tavern owners ostentatiously display billboards of American companies, riddled with bullets during nationalization in 1960, and also display cases of unopened glass bottles of Coca-Cola from that period, as a sign of disdain for American imperialism. By this they symbolically show all their “love” for the Yankees.
An action of throwing flowers into the ocean waves in memory of Fidel's comrade-in-arms, partisan Camila Cienfuegos.
Cubans also carefully preserve the memory of Comandante Castro, opening several years ago a modern house-museum “Fidel Center” with a library in Havana, dedicated to his underground and guerrilla activities, as well as his work after coming to power to eradicate poverty, infant mortality and tropical diseases, local peasants who mowed down before the revolution.
During the tour, an employee of the institution, Pedro, showed us with undisguised warmth the famous platform of Fidel from which he spoke at congresses and public meetings with his many-hour speeches. It also demonstrates the scope of his activities at home and abroad, when socialist Cuba became a real torch for the oppressed peoples of developing countries.
The local Communist Party, which still remains ruling, does not give up its positions, exercising control over the economy through the state, when one ideology still dominates, oriented towards the socialist model of development.
True, in 2019, a new Constitution was adopted and the posts of president and prime minister were introduced, restrictions were introduced on the terms of government for the head of state, personal freedoms were expanded, and censorship was weakened.
At the same time, resistance to American imperialism is also high on the political agenda of Liberty Island. This was openly stated during his speech at an international meeting of communist parties by Roberto Morales Ojeda, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba:
“We are holding this event in Cuba, that same rebellious and irreconcilable island in the face of the American empire, which many of those present have known about for many years. A country that was severely punished for its defense of socialist ideals and its commitment to all just causes. We have paid a very high price for the courage to stand firm against the greatest empire in history.
Blocked and attacked since the beginning of the revolution, US hostility over the past six years has been unprecedented. The Donald Trump Administration has introduced 243 additional measures to the economic, financial and trade blockade strategy that has been clearly outlined in official US government documents since 1962, such as Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory's landmark memorandum, aimed at strangling our economy and thereby destroying society." .
That is, there can be no talk of any reconciliation with Washington in such conditions. Moreover, Cuba is becoming such a unique trade and economic outpost of China in the Western Hemisphere, since 22% of imports into the country come from the Middle Kingdom, helping it to survive. Russia also exports 7% of Cuban products, and in 2014 completely forgave Havana's $31,7 billion Soviet debt.
In addition, the republic became an observer to the EAEU several years ago and is considering plans for the development of trade with post-Soviet countries.
This orientation towards old allies was confirmed by President Miguel Diaz-Canel himself, who, when meeting in his presidential palace with delegations from the communist parties of different countries, responsibly stated:
“Cuba will not turn away from its historical path and, despite reforms, will not abandon the socialist model and the gains of the revolution, reliably developing relations both with socialist countries and with those states that are now fighting against American and Western imperialism. We will always stand in solidarity with them and will not betray them in difficult times.”
These words, by the way, are confirmed by the real international practice of Cuba, which, being in such difficult conditions, continues to provide assistance to third world countries, primarily Africa. In particular, the coronavirus vaccine developed at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology of Cuba was supplied to poor countries to which developed capitalist powers simply refused to supply their own samples. We were told about this when we visited this advanced scientific institution.
In total, in recent years, Liberty Island has supported the peoples of 140 countries with its medicines and highly qualified specialists; more than 10 thousand Cuban doctors work in Venezuela, helping to create a national public health care system there.
In the republic itself, as a result of mass vaccination, it was possible to quickly cope with Covid-19, and in previous decades, completely eliminate malaria and many tropical diseases that are still present even in the United States.
Catholic churches are full of parishioners.
Therefore, the people of Cuba now need all kinds of support, including political and informational, to expose the myths about the complete disintegration of the state or the desire of the Cubans to get rid of the supposedly boring system. Having talked with people of different professions, the author of these lines was convinced that the inhabitants of the Island not only stoically endure all adversity, but also enjoy life, fight and set us an example of the importance of defending their freedom and independence to the end.
Using the example of Cuba, you see that a united people is able to overcome a lot and follow its own path, without succumbing to promises and false values.
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