It is mid-winter in Canada and the northeastern United States. Cubans at home and in exile are waiting for Fidel Castro to die. He has run Cuba for about 45 years and most Cubans were not alive before he came to power.

Several years ago, we spent a week as “packagees” in a Spanish hotel enclave and I looked at my trip report to see if anything had changed since then. The hotel complex was located on the north coast near Holguin and very far to the east. We were not able to get to Havana which is the most interesting place on the island for tourists; however, there was plenty to observe where we were staying. I wrote “ The water was just the right temperature for swimming, the surf not overwhelming and the beach very clean. The architecture of the low-rise buildings was pleasing, the planting and gardening charming, the furniture in the rooms comfortable and the food above average. Unlike the situation in many parts of the world, the beach was reserved for the hotel guests and protected by unarmed men wearing black slacks and white shirts.”

But even without setting foot outside the perimeter, we found hints that we were part of an unusual economy. For example, the post cards which were sold in two different government-owned boutiques in the enclave were absolutely terrible. Since everything in this closed community was paid for in U.S. dollars, I calculated that someone could make a pretty penny getting a photographer to take some decent pictures of the Cuban landscape and selling them for a dollar to the guests who would follow us.

One day when Shirley went Scuba diving, I took an excursion with four others in a mini-bus to Santiago de Cuba. This city was the original capital and, although much smaller than Havana is of great historical interest. Since Santiago is due south of Holguin, we were driven more or less in a straight line across the island. It took three hours interrupted only by a mediocre lunch in a government-owned restaurant. The landscape was quite varied. Some of it was mountainous and densely forested; some was flat and appeared fertile; some was non-descript. We saw some smaller towns and villages, but I don’t remember any shantytowns and hovels. Along our route, we saw many two and three-storey concrete buildings which were equipped with wooden louvres that could be closed or maneuvered to admit light and air. This arrangement was much cheaper than windows and acceptable under the prevailing weather conditions. Unfortunately, some of the louvres were in bad shape. Our driver told us that the State and not the occupants owned the dwellings which was why in Santiago many lovely 19th century houses desperately needed repairing and painting. We were told that buildings were classified as to historic, patriotic and tourist importance. If they had none of these characteristics, they received very little attention.

Two important aspects of the Revolution seem to have survived according to what we heard. Medical help is still delivered widely in the countryside, even if not up to the level that one would expect in a first-class hospital. And schools in the countryside are vastly improved over what were there before.

Santiago has an impressive cathedral, a distinguished former city hall, the “oldest house in Cuba,” and the refurbished Casa Grande Hotel in the city centre. Excellent postcards of Cuba are sold in the hotel lobby. We also visited the Plaza of the Heroes (Plaza de la Revolution) in which are located a traditional statue of a military person on horseback and a powerful abstract sculpture. We found the well-preserved Spanish Fort, which faces the harbour, very interesting. The old capital is not a shopper’s paradise as there were very few stores, but this did not bother me since shopping is not high on my agenda when I am in a foreign country.

We had an excellent driver who spoke very good English and who had probably been picked to answer questions in an intelligent manner. He put a number of problems into perspective. For example he said that the Cuban government prior to the Revolution was an American puppet and that the countryside was very poor, while Havana looked and was relatively prosperous. He probably did not know that Cuba and North Korea are the only countries which practise a Stalinist version of communism according to which the private employment by one citizen of another involves exploitation. Thus, the government becomes the florist, the undertaker, the butcher, baker and candlestick maker. I studied the economics of socialism under the late and famous A.J. Schumpeter and never came across a socialist economist who would have approved a total absence of private initiatives or competition. A well-informed defector from Communist Czechoslovakia in 1982 told me that the shoddy goods and the absence of competition were the bitterest complaints in that country, rather than the absence of freedom.
I do not know what most Cubans would wish for most – freedom of expression and the release of political prisoners, or a chance to make a living without the all-pervasive government snuffing out incentives of an industrious people. Since they surely want both, it is a rhetorical question. At the time of our visit, and little has changed in this regard, poverty is everywhere. We were asked by two persons outside the perimeter to send them some used clothing. We were very pleased to do this, but our parcels never arrived. Before leaving, I asked our chambermaid if I could leave toilet articles, pens and papers behind since I did not want to offend anyone. She urged me to leave whatever we could do without. Even our driver admitted that change was needed. But it is clear, that a peaceful reformation and not a violent revolution is required.

I hope that even President Bush will be sensitive enough to realize that armies of American claimants and battalions of American lawyers will not be the agents of this transformation.