Journey to Cuba: reportage from a changing country

No. Cuba is not the Bodeguita de el medio. Cuba is first and foremost Baracoa , the oldest city, a poignant pearl of the southeastern part of the island. When time has stopped, where in the marvelous promenade, full of colorful houses, you can hear only the noises of the buggies and eating tasty fresh fish is cheap.

You can also have interesting encounters, such as the one with Nora Daisi Artimes , an extraordinary elderly woman, revolutionary, reserved and intelligent fighter. Still expressing his pride.

SOLIDARITY AND GENEROUS PEOPLE - "We have problems - says Nora - but we will manage. We are a supportive and generous people, but also patriotic. Nobody can win us over. Whoever would like to invade us can enter, but will come out with the coffin".

They seem like words taken from a Sergio Leone film, but they are typical of the nationalistic sentiment of the Cubans.

Baracoa , the city of Nora, is connected to the rest of the world through one of the most beautiful roads on the planet: the Farola. Which climbs over the wild and lush mountains and takes the traveler to the provincial capital: Guantanamo . Yes, the city of the American base. Inaccessible, spacious and totally out of context.

The streets of Guantanamo are neat, clean and square . In the late afternoon on the sidewalks you can see the fierce dominoes and chess challenges. If you lend your ear carefully, you will hear the notes of Changui, the ancient music of the slaves who cultivated sugar cane. Real professionals play it live, while the city is trying to recover economically from the pandemic. There is indeed a crisis.

THE EMBARGO - "We've been through bad times, but we are recovering - explains Marielis Fuentes Oguendo , a woman at the head of the provincial ideological department of the Cuban Communist Party -. Here the main problem is only one: the Bloqueo, the embargo imposed by the Americans after the revolution. Most Cubans think this too. "

62 years of embargo weigh in fact like boulders on the people, sometimes deprived of medicines and also forced to queue for basic necessities. Yet it resists. Also in Santiago , the second city of Cuba. A two hour drive from Guantanamo. Santiago, the cradle of the revolution, the second city of Cuba, which still has the blood rebellion. Lively and fighting like one of his heroes: Frank Pais , a first-rate figure in the revolution, of which he sowed the seeds. A martyr killed by the men of Fulgenzio Batista in 1956, when he was only 22 years old.

Santiago is also the city where in the monumental cemetery of Sant'Ifigenia rest the ashes of the maximum leader of the revolution: Fidel Castro Ruz . Whatever Westerners say, he is still very much loved by his people. Who struggles with a thousand daily problems and tries to move forward, thanks to government subsidies and totally free Health and Education. A real exception in all the Americas, including the United States.

NO ELECTRICITY - Santiago often lacks electricity . Oil, due to the Bloqueo, is not enough. Nicolas Maduro's Venezuela is the main fuel supplier. The nights in the eternal Santiaguere summers are really hot: the people suffer, without electricity for the fans. In the calle, in the Asuncion or Ceiba barrio, the kids play football, dreaming of being Messi and Ronaldo. The national sport is baseball, but football is expanding like wildfire. Los Diablos Rojos of Santiago have been the Cuban champions for two years. They play home games in the summary of the Comunale. Where the national team often plays, staying in the splendid colonial hotel Casa Granda, in the center of the city. In which one of the most beautiful carnivals in the world takes place and the Conga, a wild folk dance of African origin, is danced (by the thousands in the streets) to the rhythm of large drums.

There is also great hospitality in Santiago. And initial distrust of foreign journalists.

"Many of them have given a distorted image of Cuba - says René Berenguer Rivera, general secretary of the trade unions in the province of Santiago -. We ask instead that they help Cuba in the suspension of the blockade imposed by the United States. So that we too can have an economy more prosperous ".

DOCTORS AND HUMANITY - Despite the Bloqueo, Cuba sends doctors all over the world , even in Italy, a country that supports the embargo. There are hundreds of Cuban doctors who work in our Peninsula. Especially against Covid, in the care of which Cuban doctors have been masters from the beginning, also managing to independently produce five vaccines.

"Despite the almost inhumane blockade to which we have been subjected for over 60 years - explains the medical director Gustavo Frometa - We are sincerely humanitarian and also in solidarity with the countries that adhere to it". Covid in Cuba has been rigidly under control for some time and the loss of life has been nil compared to those in Western countries.

THE CAPITAL - Havana , the capital, where even Giuseppe Garibaldi trafficked, is on the opposite side of the island and can be easily reached with the national bus company Via Azul. An obligatory stop is Santa Clara , 300 kilometers from the capital, where the decisive battle of the Revolution took place, which paved the way for the triumphal descent for the Barbudos. In Santa Clara the remains of Ernesto Che Guevara della Serna , known as il Che, rest in a beautiful mausoleum. "There are not only those of the great Argentine leader - specifies the young director of the Mausoleum - but also those of other brave fighters who died with him in Bolivia".

Santa Clara is one of the least expensive cities in Cuba, where a bottle of good Spanish wine costs no more than 2 euros . From Santa Clara la Habana suddenly appears in all its splendor as a colonial city. You can easily get to the wonderful promenade called Malecon , with the splendid adjacent barri: the Vedado and the Habana Vieja. Swarming with clubs.

Getting around is very easy. With a little experience you can do it almost for free, via public transport. Staying in a casa particular costs no more than 20 euros per day. The nights are fascinating: clubs for all tastes , in a unique atmosphere: sensual and engaging. During the day the pueblo is busy with a thousand chores: work and trade. The police and the party keep watch. And illegal trafficking, such as drug trafficking, is intolerable. You risk 20 years in prison, with no penalty discounts.

As in all of Cuba, there is a double monetary system : in pesos and in MLC (free convertible currency), where you pay in dollars and euros. A system adopted by the government to replenish its coffers.

THE WIND OF THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION - From nearby Miami and Florida, the residence of Cuban exiles, the wind of the counter-revolution blows. In July 2021, there were riots. Also in Havana. "Vandalism financed by the CIA - says Ismael Drullet , one of the most influential trade unionists in Cuba, very loyal to Raul Castro and the President of the Republic Miguel Diaz Canel - But in 11 hours the whole country was under control, also thanks to thousands of workers , took to the streets to defend the Revolution ".

President Miguel Diaz Canel on that occasion said to the insurgents: "They will have to pass over my body." A phrase that has remained in the annals.

Now difficult times have returned for Cuba. Cyclone Ian mainly raped Pinar del Rio. Making Cuba's electricity system go haywire.

Other inconveniences for a people never tamed, which deserves greater consideration by the richer West, which should ask itself once and for all what is the meaning of an embargo that has lasted for 62 years and is raging against 11 million people who have no fault.