Conversations With Cuba

Conversations With Cuba, C. Peter Ripley, University of Georgia Press, 1999

This is one American's chronicle of several trips to Cuba in the 1990s. The story starts in 1991, right after the end of the Soviet Union, and the ending of Soviet aid. One of the author's first impressions is that the capital of Havana has needed at least a coat of paint for the last 30 years (one of many casualties of the US sanctions). In 1992 came the "special period," when, among other things the mere possession of dollars would get a person an automatic five years in jail (a policy that didn't last).

Throughout the period, life for the average Cuban was characterized by a huge lack of consumer goods, so people made do as best they could. Whatever consumer goods were available went to the "special" stores, the ones that are only for foreigners and that only accept dollars, and the rapidly growing number of tourist hotels springing up all over the country. Built by non-American companies, they too are forbidden for the average Cuban, a policy enforced by tourist police. The thriving black market also helped cause the creation of a whole subculture of teenage and young adult street hustlers. They would hang around hotels and offer their services at anything to anyone who comes out, hoping for dollars at the end, or dinner in one of the hotels, or something from one of the "special" stores.

Ripley travels from one end of Cuba to the other. Among the places he visits in Santiago, birthplace of the Cuban Revolution, which started disastrously in 1953 and culminated six years later in victory. He meets a number of people along the way, some of whom are very cynical and apolitical, and others who are as patriotic and loyal to the Revolution as a person can be.

In Cuban society, there are periods when Fidel Castro eases his grip on the people, allowing, for instance, farmers to sell produce for dollars at local farmers markets, and periods when he tightens the screws, forbidding all street hustler activities.

This is one person's look at a country about which most Americans know almost nothing. It's easy to read, it feels "non-partisan" (for want of a better term), and it is very much worth reading.