Happy February 24th to all! Not only is today the announcement of the election results in Cuba, but it is also the day that their War for Independence began in 1895 (Spanish-Cuban-American War). So today means many things to Cubans.
The election results will be announced at 2 and the country is awaiting the news. Although, similar to Tuesday, today seems to be a typical day in Havana without much overt excitement or tension. (Just joking…apparently the announcement time changed to 6:00, I guess even presidential election results don’t follow a schedule here!)
This morning, I headed to the Palacio de Convenciónes (Convention Center) in Miramar, where the Asemblea Nacional was meeting to elect the republic’s next President and Commander in Chief, as well as the new second in command. I caught a maquina (taxi car from the 50s) to Miramar with Susan, Robin and Matt and was able to have an interesting conversation with the driver and another passenger. I asked them if many people were going to the Palacio to observe the elections and what they thought would unfold today. I was told that the Palacio would be busy, but they didn’t transport many people there, and that although today is historic, they weren’t too anxious to hear the result. The passenger was quiet, but at one point spoke up, saying, “Esto es que el Comandante ordene”-this is what the Commandante (Fidel) ordered, as in he has said a all along that he wants Raúl to be his successor and that is what will transpire. That seems to be the consensus around here- why be excited when we know what will happen? It’s more of an emotion of retaining the status quo, whether that individually means something positive or negative, rather than viewing things from the big picture that this is a new era in the revolution. The four of us tried to get into the area around the Convention Center, or even inside if possible, but the police were less than flexible about security today. We tried almost everything, but in the end were denied and ended up hanging out in the parking lot where the invited diplomat’s parked. It ended up being a good place to camp out since we got to see all of the countries that were invited and talk to their chauffeurs about what was going on inside. Then we walked down the street for one final attempt to get in and ended up talking to one of the head security officers from the Ministry of the Interior for about an hour. It was an amazing conversation about the electoral process, conditions in Cuba (he had a very favorable view), political freedoms and events at the Convention Center. He was very proud that Cuban citizens are able to choose their representatives, even though they are all within one party, that they are there to represent their constituents and the issues, rather than being career politicians and that those factors would combine to create the best possible government this afternoon.
After the conversation, we headed back to Vedado and had another good conversation with our taxi driver. Unlike most other Cubans that I’ve talked to, he had many opinions about what he hoped would happen today. Rather than the Raúl Castro/Carlos Lage pair that seemed to be popular, he wanted to see Felipe Pérez, Fidel´s former Chief of Staff, elected as President, and really doesn’t like Lage. So that was interesting to hear, especially as some of his comments could have easily been considered as dissidence and we were riding in a state owned taxi. When we got back, I went out in search of a newspaper and any events surrounding the election. Unfortunately there wasn’t much to report on, as life has been continuing on as usual within the changing political environment. I learned that Sunday papers are combined with the Monday papers because the Correo (postal) workers don’t work on Sundays, so that’s always helpful to know. Other than that, people were listening to music, playing basketball and baseball, doing chores and watching the tv for results. I tried to get the opinions of some of the people on the street, but couldn’t get too many people to stop or if they did, to say something in public about the election. I’ll try for more tonight after there is some closure to the election process and people can react rather than predict.
So, election results were just announced and Raul Castro is officially the President and Machado is the Vice President. He was a name that didn’t come up much, so I’ll do some research and post more details mid week. I video taped the announcement and hopefully I can post it soon! Stay tuned!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
New Pictures!
Hello!
All is still well in Cuba, things are just as calm as yesterday and they seem to be remaining that way at least until Sunday´s election results. In the mean time, I was able to compress some pictures and post them on my flikr site at www.flikr.com/photos/tiny987 . Nothing too extraordinary, but they´re very representative of the normalcy in Havana. Hope that you enjoy them!
All is still well in Cuba, things are just as calm as yesterday and they seem to be remaining that way at least until Sunday´s election results. In the mean time, I was able to compress some pictures and post them on my flikr site at www.flikr.com/photos/tiny987 . Nothing too extraordinary, but they´re very representative of the normalcy in Havana. Hope that you enjoy them!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
History in Cuba
Welcome to a changing Cuba! Today was an amazingly normal day in Havana despite its historic implications. This morning, Fidel announced in the Granma and Jovenetud Rebelde, two of the government´s newspapers in Cuba that he will not accept the position of President of Cuba or Commander in Chief in this Sunday´s election. He will retain his position as a member of Parliament and also will continue to write his reflections column in Cuban newspapers, so in those ways will keep active in politics and the revolution. In short, he will no longer be the head of state, Raul will take over that position, but he will remain an active member of the domestic politics through parliament, which in actuality may or may not be so active with his declining state of health.
I got this news at around noon and spent most of the rest of the day out on the streets of Havana, around the areas of the University (a political hub) and the Plaza of the Revolution, where the Communist Party headquarters and monuments to Che and Jose Martí are located. Unless you had read the newspaper, you probably would not have known that today was any different that yesterday or the days before that. People were working, going to school, taking the buses, just as they always do, maybe a few less people in the parks, but that´s about it. I expected both the University and the Plaza of the Revolution to be the most abuzz, since they almost always are with the political news, but they were low-key, operating status quo. I took tons of pictures, many with people reading the article, but little reaction.
In my opinion, there will be more reaction to the elections on Sunday and I think that that´s what many people are waiting for. The reason that today was chosen to announce Fidel´s resignation is unclear, but it leaves lot of speculation about what will happen this weekend, when Raul officially takes power and must choose his second in command. Many seem to feel like this has been coming for a while and that nothing drastic will change, but there will definitely be minor adjustments on their way. As for now, its business as usual until there´s further news.
On a note of optimism, at the close business today at 5, when the flags were at the Plaza of the Revolution, a rainbow appeared in the sky. Kind of crazy, yet a fitting ending to a historic day.
Didn´t get a chance to prepare a long update yet, but I´ll put one up over the weekend!
I got this news at around noon and spent most of the rest of the day out on the streets of Havana, around the areas of the University (a political hub) and the Plaza of the Revolution, where the Communist Party headquarters and monuments to Che and Jose Martí are located. Unless you had read the newspaper, you probably would not have known that today was any different that yesterday or the days before that. People were working, going to school, taking the buses, just as they always do, maybe a few less people in the parks, but that´s about it. I expected both the University and the Plaza of the Revolution to be the most abuzz, since they almost always are with the political news, but they were low-key, operating status quo. I took tons of pictures, many with people reading the article, but little reaction.
In my opinion, there will be more reaction to the elections on Sunday and I think that that´s what many people are waiting for. The reason that today was chosen to announce Fidel´s resignation is unclear, but it leaves lot of speculation about what will happen this weekend, when Raul officially takes power and must choose his second in command. Many seem to feel like this has been coming for a while and that nothing drastic will change, but there will definitely be minor adjustments on their way. As for now, its business as usual until there´s further news.
On a note of optimism, at the close business today at 5, when the flags were at the Plaza of the Revolution, a rainbow appeared in the sky. Kind of crazy, yet a fitting ending to a historic day.
Didn´t get a chance to prepare a long update yet, but I´ll put one up over the weekend!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Buenas!
Hi World!
It´s pesky me again. All is well here grand ole´ Cuba and I´m having a great time, keeping busy exploring outside of Habana for the first times. This weekend our group decided to shake ourselves out of some starting boredom by renting a beach house in a village about 25 kilometers outside of the city called Guanabo.
We traveled out on Friday afternoon after classes ended at 4 and caught a CUC taxi van for the ride. Everything got off to a smooth start until we got to the highway between the Habana Tunnel and Santa Maria beach (the beach that we usually go to). All of a sudden, there was a POP and the car started bumping around, forcing us over to the shoulder. Keep in mind that throughout all of this Cuban law is that cars have the right of way in all situations, so 12 Americans on the side of the road was a dangerously funny situation. Bottom line, it ended up being a flat tire, but made more exciting by Cuban solutions to the problem. First off, a lever operated lift was placed under the car, then a wooden block was placed in front of the popped tire. The driver then droved the car on to the 3 inch block of wood, lifted the car with the jack, then used a wrench to replace the tire. In reality, it wasn´t that unusual or exciting, but it was so much better because it was at the beginning of our trip and the wooden block was amazing. Oh….also, the minute we stepped out of the car, it started to rain and the second we got back in the car it stopped. It was just an overall make lemons into lemonade, laugh at the whole thing type of situation.
We got to Guanabo safely and settled into our houses. That was also a fun story. We still don´t have our passports back from the government so we have to rent casas particulares (guest housing) illegally from families. The one that we ended up renting was right next door to the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, so that was an added twist to keeping our cover story intact. We bought tons of food and had great meals throughout the weekend like pork marinated in onions, garlic and tomatoes, rice with onions, scrambled eggs, fried rice and tomato salads (yes…guess what? These days i´m liking tomatoes and eggs. CRAZY!) Then after dinner, we went to the beach and walked and hung out there for a while. A few of us went crazy and decided to go for a swim in our clothes, which ended up being one of my favorite things of the weekend. The water was incredibly warm and the sky was full of bright stars and overall, lots of fun. After that, we headed home and I ended up scoring my own room with 2 beds and a bathroom all to myself. Saturday morning we slept in a bit, then had breakfast and headed to the beach at around 11. The water was a little chillier, but we all had a good time swimming, having chicken fights, tanning, reading and looking for shells (there are the most incredible shells here!) We headed back in between for lunch and dinner, which we ended up eating with the house owner and having some great conversations about life in Cuba and by the beach in Guanabo. Interesting side note, there were open sewers in the town which made for some interesting walks and treks back from the beach, unfortunately Lauren ended up contracting dysentery from swimming in the ocean with the sewage, but everyone else was fine. Saturday night we went out on the town, but didn´t end up finding much, so just walked around for a while, chatted on the beach, then hung out back at the house. Sunday morning was a torrential downpour, so we were stuck inside reading, playing Uno and Phase 10, and listening to Paul play his guitar. It ended up clearing around 1, which was just in time for us clean up and most headed home. Katie, Mary and I stuck back and closed up the house and took a bit to walk on the beach before going back to Havana. Our car never ended up coming, so we pulled a guy with a big car on the main street over and bargained with him to drive the three of us and 9 friends from Canada to Havana. We crammed in the back of his 50s van/wagon, avoiding police stops and laughing about the crazy times of the weekend.
Monday we had 2 block classes, history and international relations, which were interesting and have diverged from each other luckily, but I still need to build up my attention span. In history, we´re learning about the Cuban 1868 War for Independence, la Guerra Chiquita in 1879 and the Spanish-American-Cuban War for Cuban Independence in 1895. The facts here are quite different from those in US schools to say the least, but its interesting to hear another side of the story. In IR, we´re talking about the change in Cuban diplomatic relations after the Triumph of the Revolution (1959) in terms of both Cuban diplomats being received abroad and foreign diplomats being received in Cuba. After class, Mike, Mary and I had a great walk around some of the back roads from the University back to ANAP and found some very pretty tile and nice houses. Night time was pretty calm, just hung around the house.
Tuesday was our day off from classes, so Mary and I decided to explore new areas of Havana. We got our student ID cards laminated on Calle Lazaro by finding a little sign on the top of a door, ringing the door bell, having a beach bucket lowered to our level, placing the ID and 10 pesos in the bucket, watching the bucket go back up to the roof, waiting across the street at a church, then having the bucket lowered again with the finished product. Now that´s Cuba if I ever had to give a single example. After that we went down toward Habana Vieja and saw a lot of Cuban life outside of the tourist sector, where everything was in Cuban pesos and the residents were operating within the given restrictions, like assigned housing and limited material resources. It was a definite eye-opener, but something that was great to see and start to get a sense of. After that we stumbled upon the Casa de Musica, the Cuban equivalent of the House of Blues and got their schedule. We walked back along the Malecón after that back home to ANAP, I did laundry in a bucket, then headed to the Ministry of Foreign Relations for a formal meeting with them and the visiting representatives from AU. The head of AU Abroad, Vice Provost and a Dean and professor on Cuba and our group heard about Cuba´s relations the world, especially the US, straight from the source. It was a great meeting and got to hear some interesting perspectives and views on the future. After that, we had a huge feast at ANAP with 2 turkeys, beans and rice, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, fruit cocktail pie, orange juice, malanga (potato) chips, fried rice, grapefruit and oranges. It was AMAZING! Then we had a meeting with the AU delegation about our program and how everything was going, a few new precautions, but pretty much good reports on all accounts!
Today we went on a bus tour or the architecture of Havana. We got to see some really nice examples of the different time periods and could get access to museums that would have otherwise had an entrance fee. Then we had the buss for an additional 4 hours after the tour ended, so we tried to go to the beach, but got caught in some rain, so we headed inland to Guanabacoa and ended up exploring there. It was raining and dirty at the beginning, but then we found a dominoes social club that invited us in and gave us lessons on how to improve our game. We played with them for about an hour until we had to get back on the bus and had a great time. When we got home, I played baseball with my 10 year old friend, Yoel, and his older brother that works at ANAP, Javier. Baseball is like second nature to the kids here, there are things that would take people years to learn, but here it´s almost instinctual. After that was dinner time and now I´m here at the internet!
One other crazy update, I found out that the Cuban Olympic Committee is right next door to our residence and I got an interview to work with them or help out around the office. Right now it looks like I might even be with the President of the Committee…sweet! I´ll keep you all updated!
That´s about it for now! I´ll post again soon!
-Jen
It´s pesky me again. All is well here grand ole´ Cuba and I´m having a great time, keeping busy exploring outside of Habana for the first times. This weekend our group decided to shake ourselves out of some starting boredom by renting a beach house in a village about 25 kilometers outside of the city called Guanabo.
We traveled out on Friday afternoon after classes ended at 4 and caught a CUC taxi van for the ride. Everything got off to a smooth start until we got to the highway between the Habana Tunnel and Santa Maria beach (the beach that we usually go to). All of a sudden, there was a POP and the car started bumping around, forcing us over to the shoulder. Keep in mind that throughout all of this Cuban law is that cars have the right of way in all situations, so 12 Americans on the side of the road was a dangerously funny situation. Bottom line, it ended up being a flat tire, but made more exciting by Cuban solutions to the problem. First off, a lever operated lift was placed under the car, then a wooden block was placed in front of the popped tire. The driver then droved the car on to the 3 inch block of wood, lifted the car with the jack, then used a wrench to replace the tire. In reality, it wasn´t that unusual or exciting, but it was so much better because it was at the beginning of our trip and the wooden block was amazing. Oh….also, the minute we stepped out of the car, it started to rain and the second we got back in the car it stopped. It was just an overall make lemons into lemonade, laugh at the whole thing type of situation.
We got to Guanabo safely and settled into our houses. That was also a fun story. We still don´t have our passports back from the government so we have to rent casas particulares (guest housing) illegally from families. The one that we ended up renting was right next door to the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, so that was an added twist to keeping our cover story intact. We bought tons of food and had great meals throughout the weekend like pork marinated in onions, garlic and tomatoes, rice with onions, scrambled eggs, fried rice and tomato salads (yes…guess what? These days i´m liking tomatoes and eggs. CRAZY!) Then after dinner, we went to the beach and walked and hung out there for a while. A few of us went crazy and decided to go for a swim in our clothes, which ended up being one of my favorite things of the weekend. The water was incredibly warm and the sky was full of bright stars and overall, lots of fun. After that, we headed home and I ended up scoring my own room with 2 beds and a bathroom all to myself. Saturday morning we slept in a bit, then had breakfast and headed to the beach at around 11. The water was a little chillier, but we all had a good time swimming, having chicken fights, tanning, reading and looking for shells (there are the most incredible shells here!) We headed back in between for lunch and dinner, which we ended up eating with the house owner and having some great conversations about life in Cuba and by the beach in Guanabo. Interesting side note, there were open sewers in the town which made for some interesting walks and treks back from the beach, unfortunately Lauren ended up contracting dysentery from swimming in the ocean with the sewage, but everyone else was fine. Saturday night we went out on the town, but didn´t end up finding much, so just walked around for a while, chatted on the beach, then hung out back at the house. Sunday morning was a torrential downpour, so we were stuck inside reading, playing Uno and Phase 10, and listening to Paul play his guitar. It ended up clearing around 1, which was just in time for us clean up and most headed home. Katie, Mary and I stuck back and closed up the house and took a bit to walk on the beach before going back to Havana. Our car never ended up coming, so we pulled a guy with a big car on the main street over and bargained with him to drive the three of us and 9 friends from Canada to Havana. We crammed in the back of his 50s van/wagon, avoiding police stops and laughing about the crazy times of the weekend.
Monday we had 2 block classes, history and international relations, which were interesting and have diverged from each other luckily, but I still need to build up my attention span. In history, we´re learning about the Cuban 1868 War for Independence, la Guerra Chiquita in 1879 and the Spanish-American-Cuban War for Cuban Independence in 1895. The facts here are quite different from those in US schools to say the least, but its interesting to hear another side of the story. In IR, we´re talking about the change in Cuban diplomatic relations after the Triumph of the Revolution (1959) in terms of both Cuban diplomats being received abroad and foreign diplomats being received in Cuba. After class, Mike, Mary and I had a great walk around some of the back roads from the University back to ANAP and found some very pretty tile and nice houses. Night time was pretty calm, just hung around the house.
Tuesday was our day off from classes, so Mary and I decided to explore new areas of Havana. We got our student ID cards laminated on Calle Lazaro by finding a little sign on the top of a door, ringing the door bell, having a beach bucket lowered to our level, placing the ID and 10 pesos in the bucket, watching the bucket go back up to the roof, waiting across the street at a church, then having the bucket lowered again with the finished product. Now that´s Cuba if I ever had to give a single example. After that we went down toward Habana Vieja and saw a lot of Cuban life outside of the tourist sector, where everything was in Cuban pesos and the residents were operating within the given restrictions, like assigned housing and limited material resources. It was a definite eye-opener, but something that was great to see and start to get a sense of. After that we stumbled upon the Casa de Musica, the Cuban equivalent of the House of Blues and got their schedule. We walked back along the Malecón after that back home to ANAP, I did laundry in a bucket, then headed to the Ministry of Foreign Relations for a formal meeting with them and the visiting representatives from AU. The head of AU Abroad, Vice Provost and a Dean and professor on Cuba and our group heard about Cuba´s relations the world, especially the US, straight from the source. It was a great meeting and got to hear some interesting perspectives and views on the future. After that, we had a huge feast at ANAP with 2 turkeys, beans and rice, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, fruit cocktail pie, orange juice, malanga (potato) chips, fried rice, grapefruit and oranges. It was AMAZING! Then we had a meeting with the AU delegation about our program and how everything was going, a few new precautions, but pretty much good reports on all accounts!
Today we went on a bus tour or the architecture of Havana. We got to see some really nice examples of the different time periods and could get access to museums that would have otherwise had an entrance fee. Then we had the buss for an additional 4 hours after the tour ended, so we tried to go to the beach, but got caught in some rain, so we headed inland to Guanabacoa and ended up exploring there. It was raining and dirty at the beginning, but then we found a dominoes social club that invited us in and gave us lessons on how to improve our game. We played with them for about an hour until we had to get back on the bus and had a great time. When we got home, I played baseball with my 10 year old friend, Yoel, and his older brother that works at ANAP, Javier. Baseball is like second nature to the kids here, there are things that would take people years to learn, but here it´s almost instinctual. After that was dinner time and now I´m here at the internet!
One other crazy update, I found out that the Cuban Olympic Committee is right next door to our residence and I got an interview to work with them or help out around the office. Right now it looks like I might even be with the President of the Committee…sweet! I´ll keep you all updated!
That´s about it for now! I´ll post again soon!
-Jen
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