With the advent of the New Year many people filled their lungs with hopes of change. On December 17 both President Obama and President Raul Castro announced a shift in Cuba-US relations. The reactions did not take me by surprise. The majority of the US public welcomed the change. The new generations of Cubans in Miami started to make plans for their involvement and relationship with a “new Cuba.” The old generations of Cubans and Cuban Americans (many of whom have never really had any physical or experiential connection with the Island, other than what they have been told by their seniors) swarmed the Versailles Restaurant in Miami’s Little Havana. The Cuban official discourse on the Island started to change their rhetoric. I landed in Cuba on December 21, few days after the announcements. The abundant Anti-imperialist US propaganda had completed disappeared from the billboards. Every transaction I engaged in with a local was tagged by apologetic phrases such as: “I am sorry, next time it will be better,” and “now that things are changing, everything will start to improve.” I ran into a few old friends who joked about the fact that now it was easier for us to do business since we were no longer enemies.
But have “things” really changed? With the passing of years I have become less naïve and more cynical. Therefore, I have more than a few interrogatives. I understand that it is still a naïve thought, and that prisoner negotiations usually take a long time to reach resolution. But, two years at the negotiating table is way too long for both governments to get to this point. Another question: why is corporate media back to business as usual with regards to Cuba? For a few days hopeful news reports were commonplace in American media outlets. Now even the New York Times, which seemed to herald the changing approach towards Cuba, is back to their 50-year old Cuba-thumping semiotics. On a recent presentation on Cuba (just a couple of days before the announcement), I was asked if I believed that President Obama was going to do anything to change the course of Cuba-US politics. I replied; “no, he won’t. There is nothing at stake for him when it comes to Cuba.” After the announcement, I felt embarrassed by my response. Obviously, I did not take into consideration the fact President Obama is part of new generation of Americans who are ready to bring about change. And, for him it was now time to take care of the Cuban problem. Now the question is: how far is he willing to go, how far will he be allowed to go? As the days go by and “things” seem to go back to business as usual, I am not so embarrassed. Days after the announcement, President Obama goes on vacation to Hawaii. OFAC and the Department of Commerce are in a stalling state. Cuba-US politics seem to be once again only for the talking, not for the doing.
And, what about in Cuba? Although the fresh air of exhilaration due to the changing attitudes towards “la yuma” breeze through every interaction, everything else remains unchanged. One of my Belgian colleagues who resides in Cuba and works from within the Cuban tourist industry sarcastically remarked: “Out with the US-imposed bloqueo, then it is time for our self-imposed bloqueo.”
This year my partner and I decided to non-celebrate New Year’s Eve. His argument to convince me was that December 31 and January 1 are just days in a human-construed calendar and that “things” are not to change just because of the dates. Me, being a social constructionist couldn’t have agreed more. Things are not going to really change unless we commit to taking actions towards change. Presidents can talk all they want, and still “things” won’t change. My partner told me that this year we were going to celebrate “our” New Year on July 25. He, being Colombian, is totally unknowledgeable of Cuban history. I find it very ironic that he just randomly picked that date, which is the eve of July 26, day when “things” did start to change for the Cuban people 62 years ago.
Is this move by both the US and Cuban governments a new old or an old new political chess game?