50 Years After The Revolution

Cuba

50 Years After the A mult imediRevolution ap r e se n t

ation b y Stev en Shu ltz, M.

Cuba - 50 Years After the Revolution

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Presentation Overview • Why I went to Cuba • Trip overview • Havana • Cuban Countryside • Pandemic Patriotism • Amigos Cubanos • Cuba Calling Blog • Assaulted Assumptions • Questions

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U.S. State Department Country Description Cuba is aCuba totalitarian police state, which relies on •for

repressive methods to maintain control. These methods, including intense physical and electronic surveillance of Cubans, are also extended to foreign travelers. • Americans visiting Cuba should be aware that any encounter with a Cuban could be subject to surreptitious scrutiny by the Castro regime's secret police, the General Directorate for State Security. • Also, any interactions with average Cubans, regardless how well intentioned the American is, can subject that Cuban to harassment and/or detention, amongst other forms of repressive actions, by state security elements. Cuba - 50 Years After the Revolution

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Why I Went to Cuba

10. To prove the State Department wrong 9. I’ve never been there before 8. Enduring interest in Cuban history 7. Desire to practice Spanish & culture where 6. To be part of a Transportation & Urban Planning Delegation it’s spoken fastest in the world • • •

Organized by Global Exchange 10-day hosted trip in April 2007 Under general license for professional research

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Why I Went to Cuba

5. Moral opposition to U.S. embargo against Cuba 4. I agree with the Pope (on some things) 3. “…unjust & ethically unacceptable…” – Pope John Paul II on the 1998 2. No embargo, better way to spend my 2006 federal tax return

1. Cuba is our neighbor! Cuba - 50 Years After the Revolution

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Let’s Atone for Our ". . . the majority ofSins Cubans support Castro . . . the •Nation’s

only foreseeable means of alienating [this] internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship . . . Every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba . . . a line of action which makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government."

-- Declassified U.S. State Department Memo from April 6, 1960

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Trip Overview 1. Havana 2. Cienfuegos 3. Trinidad de Cuba 4. Cardenas 5. Varadero 6. Mantanzas 7. Las Terrazas

Varadero

Las Terrazas

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Old Havana

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Havana Malecon

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Modern Havana

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Havana’s Got Plans

• U.S. visitors to Cuba annually

– Currently: tens of thousands – When relations ‘normalize’: 1-2 million

• Cargo docks being

turned into cruise ship terminal • Rumors of Starbucks, etc. already scouting for locations in Havana

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Havana Infrastructure

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Cuban Countryside

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Trinidad de Cuba

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Pandemic Patriotism

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Amigos Cubanos

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Cuban Quotes

“My (father/brother/ uncle) lives in the U.S. and has lots of money – I want to move there too.”

“We want more freedom, but social democracy like Scandinavia… not U.S capitalism.” “Here my children can play in the streets, and I know they will come home safe at the end of the day.”

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Assaulted Assumptions • ‘Me’ versus ‘We’ • Measurements of prosperity • Measurements of freedom

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Cuba Calling • http://cubacalling.blogspot.com

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Cuba Calling Feedback

• "I hope that your trip, and other trips like yours to Cuba, will \

encourage the new congress to try to lift the ban on travel to Cuba. I'd love to go there.“

• “No one understands what we have gone through. The day

\

all Cubans are free and have the opportunity to speak up without fear of being thrown in jail for telling the world what they think...then they will know.

• “The Cuba travel ban is a policy based on hate, and it has no support among the American people.”

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As Promised, Live Cuban Music

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Conclusion • Questions?

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