How Cuba Charmed Me
By Brenda Lopez
I first went to Cuba in the summer of 2019, to be part of an international environmental conference called Cuba Ambiente. In my time in Cuba I got to see how a different way of living is possible. All the negative propaganda I had learned in school, movies, and news (including Telemundo) was turned on its head. Going to Cuba felt like getting a blind-fold off my eyes. Once the blindfold was removed I was able to discover an array of wonderful achievements happening in the island, including new social relations and hierarchies, new ways of thinking, doing, living. Cuba provides health care, education, housing and basic food needs to all its citizens. Something “the richest country in the world” can’t do for all its residents.
And when I dug deeper, I found that Cuba was not only providing for everyone on the island but when it came to helping other countries cries for help, Cuba was/is the first one to respond. For example, in 2014-2015 when West Africa was combating Ebola, Cuba was one of the nations that answered the call and immediately sent over doctors. Additionally, when FEMA and the government's response failed US residents when Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S., Cuba offered to send doctors to the U.S. and Bush (president at the time) refused them. There were over a thousand deaths in the majority-Black city, showing the U.S. lack of preventative disaster preparedness. In Cuba there were 0 deaths. This wasn’t because Cuba “got lucky,” it was because Cuba has a socio-economic system that values human lives over profit.
Cuba’s socio-economic system puts people first and reduces vulnerability and promotes social equity. Cuba’s success shows in its high literacy rates which translates to more educated people making educated decisions for theirs and everyone's future but also the planets. More educated people means less people who debunk science because “it makes their lives more difficult.” Cuba’s response to the pandemic further shows this, over 90% of the Cuban population is vaccinated, with vaccines they made themselves because the U.S. wouldn't share their supply or even sell syringes to Cuba.
But even when looking at world problems Cubans think big. This is why Cubans themselves voted to create and adopt an extensive preventative environmental plan called Tarea Vida in 2017. In this plan Cubans are thinking short term (within the year), mid-term (within the next 5 years), and long term (10+ years). You can view the whole plan at cubaenergia.cu/tarea-vida but the overall goal of the plan is to protect 1. Protect Human life 2. Mitigate Disaster 3. Adapt. It’s this detailed and logical way of thinking that constantly impresses me about Cuba. Because this is where our government constantly fails us, if we learned and did things differently we wouldn't have people in the streets (Cuba doesn't), millions of people wouldn't have debt for trying to get more educated, I could go on and on but I would need way more pages.
So how is it that a tiny island with a third of the population of California can provide health care, food and education for all its citizens? But a state with a surplus budget of $97.5 billion (as of 2022) can’t? And to continue to blow your mind…..Cuba does all of this with an over 60 year old suffocating economic blockade/embargo. When I say blockade I am referring to 242 current sanctions and restrictions against Cuba. John F. Kennedy was the first to implement sanctions against Cuba in 1962 after the Bay of Pigs. Since then, the blockade has been lightened and toughened depending on the president, as you might have guessed, Trump toughened them (during the pandemic). To clarify, blockade/embargo, call it what you want but what is clear is that the blockade is political retaliation against Cuba and its people's revolution. Don’t believe me? Government representatives have said it themselves… Here is a declassified memorandum written by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Lester DeWitt Mallory on April 6, 1960: ‘The majority of Cubans support Castro […] An effective political opposition does not exist […]; the only foreseeable means of alienating internal support [to the government] is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship […] all possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba […] denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.’
( http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/d499 )
I tell you all this because I want you to be aware, what you decide to do with this information is up to you. But removing the blind-fold is what I find is one of my life duties so after coming back from my first Cuba trip I started the LA US Hands Off Cuba Committee along with my mentor and some of the other young folks who went with us to Cuba. We got active during the pandemic and therefore had to adapt and get creative. We educate people on the blockade through caravans, protests, handing out flyers, zoom book readings, Cuban movie outdoor showings, participating on online webinars with committees internationally and by taking people to Cuba! If you want to learn more and are in Los Angeles I recommend joining the LA US Hands Off Cuba Committee. Our website: ushandsoffcubacommittee.com or follow us on instagram: @ushandsoffcuba (I do all the graphic design). And if you’re not in LA don’t worry because there are committees putting up the good fight nationwide! You can check out a map of all the committees here: tinyurl.com/CubaCommittees. I’ll end by encouraging everyone to go to Cuba and see it for themselves, you can’t go as a tourist because of the current sanctions but you can still get there with the help of any of the committees that support Cuba.
Brenda Lopez is a chicana artist from Inglewood, CA. Besides making art (most nature inspired) she enjoys dancing and discussing ways of dismantling capitalism and how to end the US blockade on Cuba. @brendartsun
