Cuba, I Hardly Knew You

I am newly back from a week in Cuba, and from the moment I started to pack to go, I realized that it was going to be hard to write about what has happened for me over the time spent there. I have even had trouble articulating the simplest responses. Answering questions like" What did you like best?" or "How was it?"

The short answer is that it was both fabulous and complicated, in equal portions. Cuba has the legacy of colonialism that all the Americas share (to a greater of lesser extent). Cuba's history does include more varied influence than most, and for the longest period of time. Christopher Columbus began the colonialist era in 1492--so Cuba was first in line, by virtue of being discovered first. But external involvement in the country continued up until the revolution in 1959. Five hundred years is a long time, and needs to be kept in mind when viewing Cuba through a lens that focuses on the last 50 years. In addition to colonization, Cuba has a history with slavery, and it's population today reflects that legacy as well.

Cuba has been big news in the 21st century because of it's continuing to adhere to communist principles in the post Soviet era, but, as is so often the case, it is much more complicated than that. The U.S. embargo of Cuba may once have held sway on the international scene, but no more, given the relative ease of access that the rest of the world has had to the island. It doesn't make the situation more complicated nor does it simplify it. What it does do is to take the U.S. out of the picture, which is maybe not such a bad idea, given our history on the island. The biggest unanswered question is what will happen when the Castros pass into the great beyond and the next phase of Cuban history commences.