Cuba: the politics & the practice

The American’s eyebrows shot up, he leaned back in his chair and appeared to recalibrate, regarding us with a modicum of suspicion. First, we had failed to high-five him across the table at his proclamation regarding Osama – ­“We got him! We got him! Forget the royal wedding; that’s the biggest thing to happen this year!” – and then we’d mentioned our impending departure to Cuba.

Clearly, he was not a fan of Cuba and was not sure why anyone would want to do something as overtly anti-American as to travel there. Like the American, I knew very little about Cuba – and a lot of what I thought I knew was wrong.

Cuba is an enigma, multi-layered and full of contradictions. We were only there for eight days so I cannot claim to have even scratched the surface of this complicated and unique place. For fear of giving a completely ignorant and misguided account, I've tried to figure out how to write about Cuba without touching on politics and the revolution and it is impossible - the political context permeates everything.

Here's a brief outline of the revolution as I understand it.

• Before the revolution, Cuba was known as ‘the Babylon of the Caribbean’; it was the place to party, gamble and indulge in sex shows and prostitutes. It was riddled with Mafiosi and run by a cruel and exploitative dictator who was supported by the US government. In addition to installing many of his mafia cronies in his government, Batista bled the country of $300 million.
• Castro, a young lawyer, denounced the legitimacy of the government to no effect. He then tried to take control of a military base and was thrown into prison. Two years later he was released and went into exile in Mexico where he built his army and met Che Guevara.
• In 1959, after two years of armed struggle, Batista was overthrown by Castro's forces.
• After the revolution, the new government focused on two things: education and land reform. A literacy campaign was launched where students travelled throughout rural Cuba teaching reading and writing. Within two years, illiteracy was virtually eradicated. Large landholdings were seized (particularly those in foreign ownership and including those in US hands) and redistributed amongst Cubans. This was what caused the rift in Cuba’s relationship with the US. In response, embargos were introduced preventing the import of sugar (Cuba's main export) and cigars into the US. Most of the Americas – with the exception of Canada and Mexico – followed suit.
• In 1961 Kennedy sent a group of CIA trained mercenaries to overturn the socialist government, but, contrary to expectation, the attempt was not supported by the Cuban public and was a failure.
• The following year Kennedy got wind of Cuba’s missile programme and all hell broke loose. A naval blockade was imposed and the US president demanded that Cuba dismantle its missiles. After 13 days, the Soviet Union acquiesced and removed their missiles from Cuba. 
• Castro cultivated trade relations with China, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. In the early 90s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of communism, Cuba entered a difficult economic period. With the US trade embargos, the withdrawal of Soviet aid and loss of trade with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Cuba virtually ground to a halt. Salaries were lowered and prices rose. Gradually, once Eastern Europe and Russia stabilised, Castro was able to negotiate new trade agreements.