Taking off from José Martí airport my hopes were higher than on the flight home from Jo’burg in 1995. South Africa’s problems were and are far more complex than Cuba’s. In 1959 Fidel could lead a real revolution without risking countrywide bloodshed and so he was able to construct the sort of egalitarian society Madiba dared not attempt to build. It comforts me to think that recent developments may not have invalidated Juan Antonio Blanco’s cautious prognosis. In the middle of the Special Period this remarkable Cuban – philosopher, historian, diplomat, radical and one-time rock singer – looked ahead and wrote:
There is no certain victory for the Revolution. Lloyds of London would not offer an insurance policy on this prospect. But its victory – which means preserving independence and social justice within a framework of ethical solidarity – is still possible … Cuba cannot – if it wishes to survive – be a museum for a dying socialism, but neither can it be the pastiche of Latin America’s tragedy. Cuba has the human and material potential, in spite of the crisis, to become a successful social laboratory for a new model of authentically human and sustainable development. If it is possible to ‘reinvent’ socialism anywhere, then the conditions for doing so exist on this island.
Glossary
Abuela/o – grandmother/grandfather
Agromercado – farmers’ market
Annexationist – Cuban advocating the island’s annexation to the USA
Apagon – blackout/power cut
Apperrear – to throw to the dogs
Automovil – car
Autopista – motorway
Baño – bathroom
Barbudos – bearded men (synonym for the Rebel Army)
Barrio – district/neighbourhood
Bohio – hut as built by indigenous Cubans
Burdel – brothel
Cabaña – hut, cabin
Cafetale – coffee farm
Caique – chief/local ruler
Campesiño – country-dweller, peasant
Camiones – lorries
Cena – supper
Cenagueros – swamp-dweller
Centrale – sugarcane plantation
Cerveza – beer
Colectivo – shared taxi
Compañero/a – companion
Creole – Cuban-born, but of European descent
Cubania – essence, spirit of Cuba/love of, pride in Cuba
Cucurucho – sweetmeat peculiar to Baracoa region
Fidelista – a supporter of Fidel Castro
Ingenio – sugar factory (earlier usage – sugarcane plantation)
Latifundo – big estate
Libreta – ration book
Marabu – thorny bush imported from Africa by accident
Mestizo – of mixed race
MinInt – the Ministry of the Interior
Mogote – geological oddity peculiar to Pinar del Rio
Mulatto/a – a person of mixed black and white ancestry
Peninsulare – Spanish-born Cuban resident (used throughout Latin America)
Peresto – government-subsidised shop
Playa – beach
SECSA – a private security firm
Tienda – shop accepting only convertible pesos (still known as ‘dollar-shop’)
Vegueros – tobacco farmer
Zafra – cane harvest
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Index
Abreus, 1
Abrue de Estavez, Martha, 1
Acosta, Carlos, 1
Aguerro, Carlos, 1, 2
AIDS, reaction to, 1
Alonso, Alicia, 1
Amaya, Juan Francisco Sigler, 1
Angleria, Martirde, 1
Angola, Cuban soldiers in, 1, 2
Angulo, Gonzalo Perez de, 1
Anti-Castroism, US, 1, 2
Arango, Francisco, 1
Aristide, Jean-Bertrand, 1
Armed forces, reduction in, 1
Arnsen, Ingrid, 1
Arroyo, Victor Rolando, 1, 2
Art instructors, training, 1
Atkins, John Black, 1
Babun brothers, 1
Bacardi, 1 nationalisation, 1
Bacardi Bill, 1
Bacardi, Daniel, 1
Bahia Honda, 1, 2
Ballet, 1, 2
Bank accounts with Cuban connections, closure of, 1
Baracao, 1, 2 Archaeological Museum, 1
beach, 1
cacao plantations, 1
Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion, 1
centre, 1
charm of, 1
countryside, 1, 2
forest, 1, 2
greenness, 1
industry, 1, 2
Malecón, 1
military zone, 1, 2
National Park, 1, 2
pools, 1
Reserva Biosfera, 1
tourists, 1
underdevelopment, 1
Barrera, Ileana, 1
Bartolomé Maso, 1, 2
Baseball, 1, 2, 3
Basic Units of Cooperative Production, 1
Batista, Fulgencio, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Battle of Ideas, 1, 2
Bay of Pigs, 1, 2
Bay of Pigs invasion, 1, 2
Bayamo, 1, 2, 3 Casa Natal Cespedes, 1
General Garcia Street, 1
heat, 1
history of, 1
Iglesia de Santisimo Salvador, 1
New, 1
Parque Nico Lopez, 1
Rio Bayamo, 1
Beting, Joelmir, 1
Betto, Frei Fidel and Religion, 1, 2, 3
Biran, 1, 2
Blanco, Francisco, 1
Bolivia, Ché’s venture in, 1, 2
Bosch, José, 1, 2
Bosch, Orlando, 1, 2
Bosch, Pepin, 1, 2, 3
Bouillier, José Leon, 1
Bouquet, Colonel Henry, 1
Bundy, McGeorge, 1
Bureaucracy, 1
Cabello, Marta Beatriz Roque, 1
Cabrero, Dr Pedro Arturo Hernandez. 1
Caimanero, 1, 2
Camaguey, 1 Casino Campestre, 1, 2
churches, 1
zoo, 1
Camaguey Ballet Company, 1
Campismos, 1, 2
Campoamer, Fernando, 1
Cantillo, General Eulogio, 1, 2
Cardenal, Ernesto, 1
Cars, 1, 2
Casa de Pedro y Candida, 1, 2
Casas, Fray Bartolomé de las, 1, 2
Casas particulares, 1, 2
Cason, James, 1, 2
Castillo de Jagua, 1
Castillo de la Punta, 1
Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, 1
Castillo de Moro, 1
Castillo, Ramon Humberto Colas, 1