Cuban People Offer Hope for a Better Tomorrow
Being poor is terrible, both in the U.S. and in Cuba. One night after partying at The Hotel Nacional, we sat on the terrace drinking daiquiris, staring out over the Malecon 15 feet below and into the sea. It confirmed what I had always known – how very desperate people had to have been to leave Cuba on a suicide mission in a “Balsa”in those waters! No people should feel like that is the only course of freedom – almost certain death in the sea.
Is Change on the Horizon?
What remains true is that despite communism, Cubans have retained a solid work ethic, which is evident in the city. People hustle their handmade goods, vintage cars work as taxis, the privately owned Palladares, and as Cubans are able to own real estate – construction and reconstruction are everywhere.
This leaves little doubt that some sort of capitalism will serve the country well. And, with 86-year-old Fidel Castro retired, and his brother Raul, 81, now in charge, the question of a is what will the succession plan be? Who will lead Cuba back to a thriving economy?
A palpable change can be felt in the wind on both sides. Our ideological “Berlin Wall” – that line somewhere in the middle of the 90-mile stretch that separates Cuba from the U.S., is slowly dissolving into the Florida Straights. Earlier this year, the United States’ economic embargo on Cuba, turned 50, and the United Nations condemned it again (for the 21st year in a row).
