Contradictions

To say Havana is a city of contrasts is a gross understatement. On a potholed street neglected buildings threaten to collapse, while across the street an upscale restaurant caters to tourists with a high-end menu and chic décor. Narrow, alley-like passageways, totally dark at night, open onto expansive plazas with statues honoring national heroes, and 17th century cathedrals cling to their fading frescoes and chipping gilt.

This pile of rubble marked the intersection to the street where our casa is located.

Uncollected trash piles up on the streets. Sady says the government complains it doesn’t have enough trucks to pick it up.

In 1959, insurgents led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara overthrew the corrupt, repressive regime of Fulgencio Batista. Under the Batista dictatorship, supported by the United States, the economic gap between poor Cubans and the wealthy sugar barons widened. Ultimately, most of the sugar industry — and the land on which the cane was grown — had fallen into US hands, and the American Mafia flourished by controlling gambling, drugs and prostitution on the island. Media censorship, violence, torture, and executions were the order of the day as Batista tried to consolidate his power. Unrest and resistance predictably followed.

The socialist ideology embraced by Castro and Che, with its promises of economic security for all, were understandably welcomed by the Cuban people, aside from the wealthy folks who fled to the US, Europe or other Latin American countries. But it soon became apparent that Cuba had swapped one corrupt and repressive regime for another, as Castro adopted many of the practices that made Batista such a reviled figure: media censorship, repression of dissent and free speech, and persecution of his political enemies. He proudly proclaimed his fealty to the Marxist/Leninist ideology before embracing Communism, opposing gambling, prostitution and drug use, all rampant in the Batista years.

Though he died in 2016 at the age of 90, after ceding leadership to his brother, Raul, his presence still looms large on the island, and people still believe in his promises of Cuban liberation and a free economy. Graffiti proclaiming “Siempre Fidel” and images of the man — along with Che — can be seen everywhere, and Cuba remains a one-party Communist state.