The Undying Love of Traveling Abroad

September 3, 2011

It’s been

more than three months since I was on Fidel Castro’s stomping

grounds, yet it feels like yesterday that the cool Havana breeze

surrounded me.

“color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;”>I was one of

six journalists who traveled to the forbidden country in May on to

investigate race relations within the society.

It’s been

more than three months since I was on Fidel Castro’s stomping

grounds, yet it feels like yesterday that the cool Havana breeze

surrounded me.

I was one

of six journalists who traveled to the forbidden country in May on

to investigate race relations within the society.

As this

was my second go round to Cuba, this time I decided to focus my

reporting on the young people.

Here, I

found a similar mindset between young people worlds

away.

Twenty-five-year-old

“background-attachment: initial !important; background-origin: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; background-repeat: no-repeat !important; background-position-x: 50%; background-position-y: 100%;”>Raidel Luiz Iglesia isn’t

all that enamored with the Revolution.

“The

revolution has done many good things, but it has done many bad

things too,” said Iglesias, a musician who has spent all of his

life in Havana. “People work for nothing and you never can see the

fruits of your

Brenda

Lorenzo, 17: “The Cuban people now are not the same ones as 60

years

Neither is

17-year-old Brenda Lorenzo.

“(The

revolution) has brought changes good for the people, but it needs

to change with the time,” said Lorenzo, who is studying piano at

the National Havana School of Music. “The Cuban people now are not

the same ones as the ones 60 years

But

neither Iglesias nor Lorenzo are planning to take to Cuba’s

streets, as tens of thousands of young people recently did in

Algeria, Egypt and now, Libya in a series of uprisings dubbed as

the “Arab spring,” to force their heads of state to step

down.

They say

that even though their socialist system is due for an update, it

isn’t due for an overthrow.

“All that

I know is due to the revolution,” Lorenzo said.

“It just

has to move to incorporate more

Lorenzo’s

sentiments mirror those of much of the country’s citizens,

said

deputy director of the North American Department of the Cuban

Foreign Ministry.

“The

majority of the Cuban people want to keep building the socialism

system,”

“They

don’t want to get rid of something and have nothing to

replace

Iglesias: “It (an Arab spring) would never

happen

enough, Cuba’s own history was changed by the restlessness of young

people.

In 1959,

Fidel Castro, a hot shot politician a little older than Iglesias

changed the face of Cuba for good. He and his younger brother Raul

and an Argentine revolutionary named

Ernesto

led young people to revolt; the same thing that young people in

Northern Africa are doing to rid themselves of autocratic

regimes.

Just as

change was happening in Cuba, a similar change was brewing in the

United States.

In the

late

in the

black people took to the streets and embarked on a series of

protests and acts of civil disobedience during the civil rights

movement.

Pioneers

of that movement often grouse that young black people don’t fully

appreciate what it accomplished.

For the

‘revolutionists’ in Cuba, a similar feeling is present.

“I would

be concerned if those young people try to forget about me,” Eduardo

Torres

director of the Jose Marti National Library said. “Our biggest

challenge is to leave the young people with the values and memories

of previous

Surely Delarosa,

20: “My parents think the same as me, some things [that the

Revolution accomplished] are good, some things

are

Surely Delarosa,

who is 20 and also a student at the university, doesn’t plan to

forget anything.

“I think

that most of the older people trust the young

people,”

“My parents thinks the same as me, some things [that the

Revolution accomplished] are good, some things

are

One of the

good things,

is free health care and education.

“My mother

was sick, and she was taken care of in one of our best hospitals in

Cuba,” she said.

“I study

at the university, and I study for free. I have the best professors

in the country.

“Education

has opened a lot of new doors, for work and things I

didn’t

But to

some young Cubans, the Revolution means something different than

those who came before them.

Iglesias,

unlike Castro and his parents, is not a communist. Because of his

political choice, he had many arguments with his family when he was

younger.

Now, they

do not even discuss politics.

But while

he has taken advantage of the offerings from the revolution such as

free health care and free education, and while he stresses that an

overthrow would never happen, he adamantly criticizes aspects of

the revolution.

Raidel

25: It (an Arab spring) would never

happen here.”

“I believe

what I see,” Iglesias said. “I think that everything that has been

said about the revolution, the thinkings of Karl Marx, or whatever,

this has not been the real fact in

Lorenzo’s

thoughts mirror

Unlike

many of her friends, she is studying something she actually

enjoys.

Although

education is free, there is often a cap on what professions can be

studied so that certain professions don’t become

overcrowded.

Lorenzo

believes that system undercuts the dreams of many

people.

“When they

try to look for a career, often they don’t get the opportunity to

follow the career that they want,” she said. “They spend their time

doing something they don’t want to

For both

Iglesias and Lorenzo the revolution and leadership has its

problems. Despite that, their loyalty still remains to Cuba.

“Everything I told you doesn’t mean I’m against the revolution,”

Iglesias said.

“We all

have many things to be grateful to the revolution. Even the exiles

in Miami have reasons to be thankful for

Kelcie McCrae, Editor in Chief

op_ed

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The Undying Love of Traveling Abroad

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