28 Marzo 2010

This morning we went with the program to the cemetery where Jose Martí’s remains lay. We saw the changing of the guards of his memorial and some other noted tombs of figures from Cuba’s history. It was a really beautiful cemetery, though I’m a bit strange and find them to be very peaceful places in general (I recommend people in Boston visit the Arlington cemetery- it is a really nice arboretum). Then we traveled to the Moncada Barracks, which Fidel Castro Ruiz attacked in the event known as the 26th of July movement. I’ve really enjoyed supplementing all my class learning with trips to these museums: it helps put pictures to all the histories (even though often, I can’t look at the pictures because the violence depicted in them is extremely unsettling).
In the afternoon we drove to the church of la cobra. It contains an emblem of the patron saint of all of Cuba and many people leave offerings including Hemingway’s Pulitzer which got stolen years ago. It really reminded me of Thailand. Normally, Cubans are not very religious (as I’ve said before, the most common religious affiliation is atheism). Here, however, I saw a very superstitious and pious people. Our driver in the city even requested that we bring back some copper from the mine for him, for good health. A few years ago, a buddist monk in Thailand gave me directions to follow to ensure good health past 30, and so, with my shoes on the left side of the house and budda in my window, I did not feel appropriate as an agnostic and with my fulfilled duty to the thai monk to participate much in the offering/fortune ensuring rituals here.

Then, at 8 tonight we all met up again to go to another Committee for the Defense of the Revolution.

There are Committees for the Defense of the Revolution in every neighborhood dispersed throughout every few blocks in Cuba. They are non-profit, democratically elected committees that work to defend the revolution and fix community problems. The one we visited was working to eliminate Dengue fever from the city and also focused on donating to the national blood bank. Similar to the other CDR we visited they had a presentation planned. They sat us down in chairs gathered in the street near a table filled with fresh fruit. They proceeded to inform us about the goals and formation of CDRs in general. Then, interestingly and uncomfortably, they began ‘telling’ us about the injustice of the embargo and the damage it has done over the years to the economy and the people. One man even called us (Americans) criminals; I didn’t see him later, he must have left early. A woman defended Cuba and reinforced that it is not a terrorist nation. We sat silently and listened. It was a difficult position to be in. on the one hand, I really appreciated the neighborhood people’s sincerity with us. On the other hand, the embargo began decades before I was even born, and I don’t think they realize necessarily just how little power three students in the United States have to end the embargo if they could convince us to petition it. The president of the CDR redirected the conversation (thankfully) by addressing the crowd to say that our presence in their CDR was appreciated and that our efforts to come to Cuba are an example of the distinction between the people and the government of the United States.
After this dialogue the atmosphere lightened considerably. They wanted us to say something because we had been very quiet until that point. We turned to Veronika (the most proficient at Spanish) and she began to say that we have felt very welcomed and are learning a lot as we try to gain a more complete understanding of this country. It was funny when she faltered before the word ‘welcomed’ because the CDR members were suggesting ways to fill in the blank: ‘Like family?’ they asked. ‘yes, like family’ we agreed.
For the most part this is true. The women show us which houses are theirs so that if we are ever in the area again, EVER, we can go and find open doors to welcome us. They shared the fruit with us and then brought out some Cuban rum and coke to drink (a Cuba libre) before turning a speaker towards the street out of an open window and demanding we join them for a street dance party. It was fun. We piled back into our embarrassing tourist van and drove back to our over-comfortable hotel to sleep.