BY STEVEN KASZAB
Havana is becoming a shell of its former self. Once robust and lively even during the Castro era restaurants are closing due to the lack of food to serve their customers. Tourists are staying on the resorts which are themselves suffering supply challenges. The average people, what truly makes up Cuba and its capital Havana are suffering greatly. Who is to blame for that? When a country suffers, you have to start looking at the people elected to govern that country.
The Revolution has lost itself in myth, while the people languish in a reality of despair. Future generations struggle to feed their families, find work and products needed to repair their: housing, automobiles and essential prospects of daily life. Jobs are scarce and working schedules are often uncertain, erratic and difficult to plan for. Medical needs are met with limited supplies. Schools lack all forms of essential products such as books, digital devices and paid teachers.
“Viva la Revolucion was a disaster and why continue with this stupidity”
I have spoken to a young parent who fills me in on the happenings within Havana and beyond the capital. The charity donated by various empathetic nations are gobbled up by the nation’s corrupt administration, police and military. Everything can be taken for the sake of national security and emergency protocols. Anyone who complains in public or is courageous enough to put something into writing and attempt to publish are investigated, followed, threatened and often arrested or disappear. Families who have had fellow members disappear are shunned by the government and not allowed normal services. They rely upon the kindness and charity of neighbors and often tourists alike.
Cuban people continue to rally and remain united against a failed system and the ignorance shown by the superpowers to their plight. Cuban culture is strong, yet forsaken by a government whose attention is reportedly centered upon security issues, and squirreling away any foreign currency they can steal, sending it to offshore banks for their future needs.
My friend has two children living outside of the capital. They go forging in the local jungles for food they cannot find in their grocery stores. Basic medicine for the young is often non-existent. The government has reportedly taken charitable donations from: Canada, the EU and private organizations and sold them to other nations. The entire population of Havana and outside districts experience brownouts (no electricity) on a daily basis. What food they have is eaten immediately before it goes bad, so the youth appear to be well nourished, even obese while their parents go without. Cigarettes and alcohol flow as a substitute for good adult nourishment. A generation of this population will suffer all forms of illness as Cuban leaders realize their time has come.
A popular uprising may surely happen and will be supported by the new American administration of Donald Trump. People will suffer and die. The very soul of Cuba rests upon events elsewhere in the world, where: conflict, uncertainty, and uncontrolled capital make the rules. China has made efforts to introduce itself in Havana, and reportedly, is attempting to control and manage the Havana Harbor.
Traditional targets of the Castro Regime such as: artists, musicians, labour leaders, protestors and intellectuals continue to be rounded up. The Roman and Christian Church are reportedly targeting as well as brutalizing religion just as they do in Nicaragua and El Salvador. The people may not have food to put onto their table, no soap to wash themselves, but the police and army have up to date weapons and bullets galore.
There simply is too much going on in the world, and Cuba and other smaller nations will be ignored and forced to wait their turn in the financial merry-go-round of global charity and super power politics.