Aaron Visited Cuba

Cuba Libre - Points of View

Introduction- Aaron Aalborg’s visit to Cuba

Aaron visited partly to observe a largely failed communist experiment, partly for fun and partly to see it before it turns into BigMacWallmartopolis.

Background

Cuba has been a contentious communist presence on the doorstep of the USA since its revolution. After the debacle of the Bay of Pigs invasion, it became the fault line of a near nuclear holocaust 

Aaron wanted to understand the contentious issues about Cuba, as background to his forthcoming novel Revolution.

Questions to be answered

There are a number of questions that we will address. Answers to each of them will spring into your mind as soon as you have read each one. The nature of your answers will depend on whose propaganda has had the most influence on you. Please expunge your initial answers and suspend judgment until you have read this piece.

Cuba’s regime was and still is demonized in the US press. In contrast, much of the developing world and the now extinct communist states saw Cuba as an example of how to cast off US dominance and end exploitation of the poor masses by corrupt governments, exploitative capitalists, gangsters and foreign interests. What led to of these diametrically opposed points of view and what is their validity?

Were the Castro brothers and Ernesto Che Guevara liberators of the downtrodden masses, with good intentions or murderous tyrants?

In old age, Fidel Castro saw his dreams implode, with the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the rampant enterprise culture in China. The Cuban economy is starved of western investment and more recently of subsidies from sympathetic regimes. This is partly due to US policies, partly by regime choice and partly because the only remaining supporting regime is Venezuela. What is the impact of these economic forces?

Cuba is a thriving tourist destination for the middle classes of the World, with the exception of most potential visitors from the US. The land of the free restricts interaction and trade. Despite burgeoning tourist income, the country remains backward in many respects. Why is this?

Looking to the future, with the replacement of the aging revolutionary leadership, will the country become a western type capitalist democracy or will it follow the Chinese model, where the party rules but liberalization of trade, inward and investment and private enterprise drive development and growth?

To answer these questions we will begin by giving two versions of history. Next, we will see how the interests and politics of other countries impacted Cuban affairs.

Lastly, we will consider how the current situation in Cuba and the rest of the world might shape the future.

Two Versions of History

The two versions of history are so radically different, that it is essential to read a little of events, that underlie both versions. Rather than regurgitate a long version of history here, those who are interested might visit Wikipedia to refresh their understanding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba

Firstly, we will list just a few important historical events, with no partisan comment.

1.    During the early Spanish Empire, Cuba was an important naval base for consolidating and defending shipments of loot from Latin America, it had little intrinsic interest, being devoid of discovered precious minerals. Later, it was an important source of tobacco, coffee and sugar. Slaves were imported to work in the fields. That is why there remains a significant black population descended from slaves. 

2.    The independence movement in the last years of the 19th century was partly driven by exiles in the US, but the explosion on the warship Maine, which has since been proved to be caused by internal explosion, was used as an excuse for the US to join in the war of independence and to play a role in driving out the Spanish. The US occupied Cuba. This gave the US a seat at the table in the peace process. From this it acquired a permanent base at Guantanamo, trade concessions, several US controls over aspects of Cuban sovereignty. More importantly, there is a persisting political view that the US is entitled to play a continuing role in influencing Cuban affairs.

3.    During the interwar years, Cuba became the unregulated playground of rich Americans, including mob leaders. The country was a corrupt, rigged democracy, dominated by landed, industrial and political elites. Post WWII, Batista conducted a bloodless coup, supported by the labor unions and communists as well as the US. During his time there was an emerging middle class and economic development was the highest in Latin America, with the typical very uneven ownership of wealth that is common in such situations.

4.    In 1956, Fidel Castro invaded from exile in Mexico with US training. He staged a revolutionary war. The US initially recognized his regime, but after six months decided that he was intent on operating independently from US influence. The US spent the next decades seeking to oust him and his regime. Partly because of this and partly due to ideological conviction and the influence of Che, who was a Marxist, Cuba turned to Communism.

5.    This led to various plots to murder Fidel Castro, supported or instigated by the CIA, including the use of poisoned cigars. Many rich landowners, industrialists and opponents of the revolution fled to the US to escape imprisonment or firing squads. Sanctions against Cuba from the US, including the refusal to refine Cuban owned crude oil. There were restrictions on US citizens traveling to Cuba and trade sanctions.

6.    Cuba strengthened its ties with the communist countries at this time especially for the acquisition of military training and equipment.

7.    The failed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 was conducted by Cuban exiles from the US and supported by the US military. It failed because the US forces were held back at the crucial moment by President Kennedy. This led to greater paranoia against the US in Cuba and rabid frustration among Cuban exiles.

8.    The Cuban Missile Crisis was an attempt by the Soviet Union to base nuclear weapons close to the US. At the time, Russia had US nukes based on its own frontiers in West Germany and Turkey. Kennedy faced down the Russians and the missiles were withdrawn. This incident left permanent suspicions in both the US and Cuba.

9.    The Castro regime saw itself as a model for the overthrow of capitalist regimes in the third world and conducted campaigns in Africa and Latin America to export its revolution, with varying levels of success.

a)    The Cuban regime’s version of history- Fidel Castro and his invaders were heroes. They freed Cuba from rule by corrupt political and industrial elites that exploited the poor. They increased education, improved literacy, introduced universal medical care, redistributed land and took ownership of the means of production for the people of Cuba. They were opposed by ruthless forces from within Cuba and the US. It was necessary to destroy these with equal ruthlessness. The regime believes that the CIA is constantly trying to overthrow its regime, including introducing swine fever, assassinating its leaders, arranging the murder of Che, when he was already a prisoner in Bolivia and much else. The US has done its best to strangle Cuba economically and this has led to slower economic development.

Che is seen as a special kind of hero. A doctor, he sacrificed middle class prosperity in Argentina to help the poor of Latin America and elsewhere. He was brave and effective in battle; necessarily ruthless with deserters and counter revolutionaries; handsome and attractive to women and a martyr to the cause.

Guantanamo is a base which should revert to Cuba and is maintained as a provocation and to keep prisoners without trial and outside of international law.

b)    The US perspective- The US has a continuing right to involve itself in Latin America in general and in Cuba in particular, due to its proximity to the US. This thinking dates back to the Monroe Doctrine and ‘manifest destiny’.

 Previously, Cuba provided a base for communism and attempted to project this into Latin America and into the developing world. It posed a specific nuclear threat to the US and this had to be dealt with. The US was right to use the CIA and all means, both under international law and illegally to maintain its essential interests. Guantanamo bay provides it with a location to keep alleged terrorists outside US and to avoid the legal complications of holding them and trying them in the US.

Cuban exiles are a rich and important lobby in the US. They want to see the overthrow of the current regime, the restoration of their property in Cuba and a return to non-communist rule in Cuba. They welcome a US presence in Guantanamo and due to their political influence and power can prevent any rapprochement between current and future regimes in the Cuba and the US.

Some argue that this is an older generation issue, but the US Republican party garners significant support from Cuban exiles.

The cult of Che is still to be feared. He was a Marxist Leninist, exporter of communist ideas and a murderer of those opposed to him.

The impact of international politics

Cuba was both a front line state and a pawn in a bigger game.

Post 1945, the US felt itself to be threatened by nuclear aggression from Russia.       McCarthy was a driving influence in US domestic politics and foreign affairs.

Around the World America felt threatened. There appeared to be a danger of falling Asian dominoes that would isolate the US in the Pacific.

There were significant communist parties in Italy and France, as well as many other West European countries.

The corrupt regimes of Latin America and the Caribbean fostered potential revolution, but at least they were not communist. Duvalier in Haiti, Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, Peron in Argentina, Noriega in Panama, Pinochet in Chile, Stroesner in Paraguay and various other crypto fascist regimes were all at one time or another supported by the CIA as necessary bulwarks against communism.

On the other side, the Russians were obsessed with the threat of NATO and the need to expand communism in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. If you take a map of Europe, turn it and view it from the perspective of the Soviet Union and even more so modern Russia, their country is and was surrounded by hostile Western Regimes with US bases in them. America made frequent, public threats of aggression, as did Russia.

China and Russia were both happy to lend economic support to the Cuban regime, through subsidized food, raw materials, cars and military equipment.

East and West fought a public cold war and a clandestine hot war of spooks and surrogate military involvement around the World.

The current situation

Cuba’s GDP per capita is just over $5,000 a year and the state spends most of it. This is barely a tenth of that of the US. Any tourist can see that Cuba needs change.

On the way from the airport, the wide roads, communist and parade squares and concrete buildings decay and are interspersed with trash and scrub. Sad slogans like ‘Socialism o Muerte’ are painted on old concrete walls. The beautiful, but crumbling facades of Havana hide evil looking tenements. Cobbled streets are potholed and reek of sewage. Masonry blocks and stucco lie where they fall from above.

The state hotels would be considered luxurious by the locals. These buildings show attempts to regain the past splendor of the private houses that they once were. By international standards they are badly finished with bare wires, dingy lighting and defective plumbing. The service is indifferent and the cooking of the excellent ingredients is poor, as was common in European communist states. There was no competitive drive to shine, nor any benefit to the employee of good performance. As an example, Lobster in Cuba is cheap and widely available, but with few exceptions is merely grilled and sometimes ruined.

Higher level jobs remain in the hands of the whiter element of the population, with blacks pedaling trishaws or doing other menial jobs. The pictures of the revolutionary leaders in the Museum of the Revolution do not include any blacks.

 The old clunkers from the 50’s are part tourist attraction, rather than just an indication of a poor nation. They rumble side by side with Skodas and other communist models, but more modern vehicles are creeping in.

One positive development is the vibrancy of the tourist influx. It is astonishing. There are tourists from Europe, Canada, Latin America and Hong Kong in abundance. This is funding serious restoration, fanning out from the old cathedral square. It is also benefitting the small private enterprise eateries that are newly allowed and street businesses from prostitution to craft stalls, with their exuberantly garish paintings and nick knacks. Tourism alone will drive growth and change, but needs help for there to be rapid and large scale impact.

We did not experience the benefits or otherwise of universal health care. Our suspicion is that, as elsewhere, the limited funding available leads to  delays, queues and restricted treatment, at least for those without regime connections.

The Future

Left to its own devices, Cuba will grow on the back of tourism. It would be a shame if that is its future.

The US needs to stop interfering in Cuban internal affairs and perhaps it already has. Cuba is no longer a threat to the US.

Arguably US sanctions, travel restrictions and intervention have been totally counter-productive. Ideally, Guantanamo should be returned to Cuban sovereignty and an open trade policy with Cuba should be adopted. The murders on both sides are still close in living memory. Because of this, due to the power of the Cuban lobby and dreams of continued world domination among the more bellicose US politicians, realistically, such events are unlikely.

The idea that property should be returned to those who fled needs to be either dropped or made conditional on the return of the colonial estates in the US, expropriated during the revolutionary wars.

As the Castros fade into history, their iron grip on the economy is already relaxing. Free trade and free enterprise will return and even small changes in relationships with the US can lead to a resurgent and freer economy. If the US does not relax its intransigence, it will miss out on the growth that will come in Cuba.