Faces of Cuba

December 29, 2022

“What was your favorite thing about Cuba?” friends have been asking me. Without much thought, I reply: “The beautiful Vegas Grande waterfalls in the Topes de Collantes, north of Trinidad.” But that experience lasted for less than ½ hour while I was there at the falls. Upon more reflection, I think I really enjoyed the Cuban people I met. And that’s saying a lot coming from a misanthrope like me. I like my friends but otherwise, I’m a bit standoffish.

There are a number of adjectives I could use to describe the Cubans I met: friendly without being pushy, helpful when I needed help, relaxed but not lazy, honest and unthreatening, innovative in dealing with scarcities (like the lack of available spare parts for their cars). Admittedly, I’m not including the touts and hustlers in tourist areas who were a pain in the ass. And there were definitely a few jerks and incompetent people I ran into. But overall, I’d give the Cuban people high marks.

Unfortunately, the Cuban people have been getting screwed for hundreds of years. First, it was the wealthy Spanish colonizers who seemed to care little for the welfare of either the common people or the slaves. Then it was the United States that helped Cuba gain its independence from Spain more than 120 years ago but has been meddling in their affairs ever since. Next, it was a series political rulers, some democratically elected and some who came to power through military coups but nearly all of whom were inept and/or corrupt. And finally, for more than sixty years, the communist revolutionaries who admittedly made progress in literacy, education, health care, and corruption have held back the Cuban people from enjoying a decent standard of living. Cubans are nice people who are smart and industrious. Goddamnit, they deserve better!

By the way, the great racial diversity I encountered in Cuba reminded me of what I saw in the Brazilian state of Bahia twelve years ago. And like Brazil, I don’t believe that Cuba is a racially-blind society of equal opportunity. Otherwise, why were most of the business and professional people I encountered relatively light-skinned while most of the people doing menial labor were darker-skinned or black? It would be interesting to delve deeper into this. Officially, the Cuban government supports racial equality. But, in practice?

Following are some of the "people pictures" I took in Cuba in addition to those which have already appeared in previous stories.

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