CUBAN TRANSITIONS

In our two weeks in Cuba we were able to experience the Cuban people’s kindness and hospitality. Generally people were extremely welcoming and ready to strike up conversation with anyone who was willing to listen to them. In my many conversations with Cubans, I found what I have comed to label the Cuban peoples spirit of International Love.

In perhaps the most genuine conversation I had with a Cuban, my favorite book store owner, Fernando and I began a conversation that was enlightening and in many ways life changing. Two topics during our conversation stick out as memorable moments, the first the Cuban mission in Angola and the second Puerto Rican independence or the lack thereof. As many have heard before, Fernando was a commander in Angola and while I didn’t feel comfortable enough to ask him about his exact experiences in the African nation, I was able to speak to him about the reasons behind fighting in Angola. Fernando described his two years in Angola as a “mision de libertad de fuerzas coloniales” or a mission of liberty from colonial powers. To Fernando, Cuba’s goals in Angola and other African nations was to share their independence from imperialist powers. In many ways, Fernando believed that the Angola mission was a selfless act and that Cuba wanted to express their solidarity with other oppressed people.

On that note, our conversation turned towards Puerto Rican independence. Fernando expressed his solidarity with what he called “my oppressed brothers and sisters” and shared a touching moment as we discuss the Puerto Rican struggle to liberate Vieques from US Navy occupation. This need to show some sign of solidarity with me persisted throughout my time in Cuba. When speaking to Tania, the lady from ICAP who gave us the presentation, she found it necessary to inform me that Puerto Rican patriots were also political prisoners in the United States and that our struggle to liberate them was the same as their struggle to liberate the Cuban five. In the providences I was once told that one day I would also enjoy the freedoms that Cuba enjoyed because after all we are the two wings of one bird, sister nations.

Protest for liberation of the Cuban five and the Puerto Rican three (Photo credit: Kathe Karlson via Facebook)

But Cuba’s sense of solidarity with other people and their sense of internationalism perhaps stems from two key figures in their history, Henry Reeves and Ernesto Che Guevara. Henry Reeves was born in Brooklyn, New York yet he died in Matanzas fighting for the Cuban Army of Liberation during the Ten Year war or the First Cuban Independence War. Before entering the city of Cienfuegos, Yoel took us to the place where Henry Reeves committed suicide (to prevent being captured by the Spanish forces) and explain to us the importance of Reeves in Cuban history and perhaps most importantly as a symbol of internationalism. To the surprise of many us, despite being under the burning mid day Cuban sun, we stood around this small plaque and had a moment of silence for the “inglesito”.

Ernesto Guevara, perhaps the most iconic face of the Cuban Revolution was not Cuban but rather Argentinian. Che dedicated his life to the liberty of many Latin American nations but fought his most important battles in Cuba. For his efforts in the Cuban Revolution Che was proclaimed a Cuban citizen by birth.

These examples of selfless acts of internationalism certainly have shaped the character of the Cuban Revolution. Cuba has many brigades of medical personnel in internationalist missions all over the globe and it is something that they take great pride in. I never thought that on a more individualist level however, I would see that rhetoric of internationalism but my experiences in Cuba proved to me that Internationalism is a virtue that many Cubans embrace and take pride in.