Annie, Martin, and myself recieved a tour of a tobacco plantation during our venture through the Pinar del Rio provinence. These are some things we learned and saw.
[Vimeo 773588]
Cuban Enginuity
The Cuban people have the capacity to be creative in ways I’ve never thought possible. They keep cars from the 1950’s running and can, as it seems, solve any minor mechanical or structural problem with whatever raw materials are available to them. It’s astounding. I think it’s a social phenomenon that’s both being missed by the u.s. AND at the same time being perpetuated by it’s trade embargo because millions upon millions upon millions of dollars are being lost because of the trade embargo. That means an absence of resources. Cubans call the U.S. trade embargo “The Blockade” rather than ‘embargo.’
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People to People
After talking with people in Venezuela and now in Cuba, I’ve come to the conclusion that despite being on the so-called “U.S. axis of evil list”, the general populations of these two countries, poor people and rich people alike, are more than willing to open their arms in a gesture of friendship and acceptance of American people — yet the open acceptance of neoliberal policy and the political agenda of the US government is a different matter entirely.
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