The second blog posting deals with my personal top three ‘take-aways’
from the Cuba course; what did I learn? Did I learn new things while in Cuba:
yes.
Did I learn a different viewpoint or see a different side to issues while
in Cuba: yes. Did I change my own opinion about Cuba: yes. Did I learn to
temper my own opinions and listen better and open up more: yes. Did I see
things that made me appreciate life more: yes; but what are the top three topics?
Cuba restricts internet-usage to public Wi-Fi hotspots in
parks [all the better to monitor you with!] and limits users by charging for
access cards, while cell service is expanding but limited. How many times a day
I reached for my cellphone simply amazed me; it was beyond too much! Yes, yes,
we rely on our phones for everything nowadays; but do you truly understand what
it is like to not use your phone? What
is that mountain called over there? Google it. What is that architecture style?
Google it. What’s the weather going to be tomorrow? Google it. What’s the latest
news out of America? Google it. What is the correct spelling of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
Google it. What time is it? Look at your phone. 
Not having access to Wi-Fi and fully-functional cell service
may sound like Heaven to some people; but it was strange to me. It was not as
simple as going back in time to pre-cell/pre-internet times; back then you did
not know what you were missing since you had never experienced cell and
internet service. Now, you know what is missing and slowly see how many times a
day you rely on that pocket computer to provide information you never knew you
needed before. Is it changing our habits? Certainly! But is that really a bad
thing? Do any of us miss going down to the local telegram office to send a
message in Morse Code?!
Life changes and evolves; we evolve with it or life passes
us by. But what if you can’t evolve with it? What if your government monitors
every action you do online? [Well, let’s leave the NSA debate out of this for
the moment since they monitor all overseas internet traffic but almost all
internet traffic does go overseas now
and then back to the USA.] What if you are not
free to speak your mind for fear of being overheard by the Secret Police? What
if those police follow you simply because you are more successful than your
neighbor; or you said the wrong thing at a party? What if government bureaucrats
monitor your crop planting, growth, and yield (or widget production) – taking 98%
of what you make to distribute ‘equally’ to everyone else? Do you start to
understand what Freedom truly means?
Every country has its problems; every country has its idiosyncrasies.
Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail; but we Americans do so with the knowledge
that we have the ability to raise ourselves up with hard work, sweat, and
tears. Our work is our own, not the government’s to take.
Yet every Cuban I saw was working hard and looking for ways
to improve their own life and to help their family. The ingenuity displayed to
insert boat motors or Toyota motors into 1950’s American cars to keep them
running was amazing. Other Cubans would stand in line every morning at the Cuban
National Telephone Office to purchase that day’s allotment of Wi-Fi cards so
that they could later sell them for double the price to people at the hotspots
who ran out of internet time in the middle of a message, project, or call (been
there, done that). Some others would take their farm goods or personal art into
town and sell them on the street corner, in the market, or simply walking along the sidewalk; though I would not recommend buying cigars this way (as some in our groups discovered while inhaling crap). Some Cubans ran little side businesses at their regular business, like the security guard who sold me Cuban pesos at a rate better than the exchange location he was guarding because that location could not sell to foreigners. All of these are actions I personally observed in Cuba and demonstrate how all
people will work hard to make life better; but these people were all looking
for ways that kept the government influence in their lives to a minimum. Freedom takes many shapes and forms, not always
the same one we may see at home…
Finally, I learned that the American embargo of Cuba is not having the desired effect. One can still get Coke or Diet Coke, American products, and other
embargoed items, albeit at a much higher price than home. The Embargo is there
to force the Cuban government to change policies and to change its actions, but
that assumes the Cuban government
actually cares... I do not think they do.
The Cuban government lets its people suffer while reaping
profits from their labor. The streets remain full of potholes and destroyed in
areas; buildings and infrastructure crumble. Private ownership of boats is
strictly controlled and monitored so their own citizens do not run away; piers
remain empty. The Cuban government is corrupt with some living the high-life
while the majority live in poverty. I understand the desire to force a change,
but it is not working because their officials do not hold the same values and
ideals that we may.
Things are different in every country, but there is an assumption
in International Affairs that governments want to do what is best for their own
citizens. Sadly, sometimes the government would rather do what is better for
the government at the citizens’ expense; we see this in Cuba, Syria, and Venezuela
right now. If current actions are not having the effect you desire, it is time
to try a different approach.
I was, and am, impressed with the common people I encountered
while visiting Cuba and I respect the hard road that they have traveled and
still do!
We are all more
similar than we are different across this amazing world…
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