On November 8th 2006, for the 15th consecutive year, 183 nations within the UN General Assembly voted to end the US blockade against Cuba. Only four nations voted to maintain the embargo, which causes shortages of food, medicine, and other important supplies for eleven million people – the Marshall Islands, Palau, Israel, and the USA.
For 19 years the Pastors for Peace, an ecumenical agency whose mission is to help forward the struggles of oppressed peoples for justice and self-determination, have defied this immoral embargo, transporting humanitarian aid, international citizens, and Americans (whose government forbids themotherwise), to Cuba. In the summer of 2008 I joined them.
It didn’t take me long to realize that, despite my 20 years of activism and 10 years of university, in Cuba I knew nothing. I knew nothing about the real effects of the embargo, or about the Cuban people or their lifestyles; I knew nothing about their cultural or political history, or about the impacts of the revolution that I have understood only intellectually and philosophically.
Arriving in Cuba was like landing on an alien planet – whereas in America and Canada my work as an activist is often misinterpreted, regarded as unusual and pointless, in Cuba I was embraced as a life-long friend returning home. We Caravanistas were welcomed with musicians, speeches from dignitaries, samplings of rum, and a small army of media documenting our arrival. At our residences we were embraced with open arms, delightfully fed, and later taken to a celebration hosted by decidedly self-assured women who read revolutionary poetry and introduced the Cuban national choir and other renowned musicians.
There are no corporate billboards in Cuba. Instead, large signs immortalize inspiring messages: La moral de la revolución está tan alta como las estrellas – The moral of the revolution is as high as the stars (Fidel Castro); La arcilla fundamental de nuestra obra, es la juventud – The fundamental building blocks of the new work are the youth (Che Guevara); Revolución es igualdad y libertad plenas – Revolution is complete equality and liberty.
Prior to their revolution, most Cubans lived in abject poverty. Fulgencio Batista ruled over a hedonistic gambling empire that returned millions to the already wealthy. The United Fruit Company had expropriated 330,000 acres of arable land and controlled Cuba’s sugar operations. Illiteracy and hunger were rampant. The people’s revolution changed all that – while Cubans are still ‘poor’ economically, they are healthy and fed and there are no millionaires. Cuba’s national government distributes personal wealth through a guaranteed income, and social wealth through cradle to grave health care, plus education through university.
After a few busy days in Havana – meeting with government officials, religious leaders, and activists working to free the Cuban Five* – we Caravanistas journeyed to one of the provinces. I chose Sancti Spiritus, and it was there that I learned and experienced something of Cuba’s agricultural regime. One day, after an emotional introduction to four combatants who fought alongside Che Guevara in the surrounding jungle, after placing flowers at a commemorative graveyard and walking through a small village while revolutionary songs blared from our jeep escort, we visited a rather large co-operative farm in the municipality of Fomento.
With warm greetings, we were told that this co-operative was created when local landowners pooled their land and resources to facilitate increased productivity. The co-op’s founders are now retired, but they continue to live in the neighbourhood and reap the benefits of the harvest. There is also a resident doctor (recently returned from work in Bolivia and Venezuela), a school, a grocery store, and a social club for cultural, political, and sports activities.
Over 52 members belong to this co-operative, many in attendance at our feast. For the omnivores there was a roast pig, but luckily we vegans and vegetarians were blessed with cristianos y moros (rice and beans), roast potatoes, the yummiest carrots I’ve ever had, cucumber, corn on the cob, squash, green beans, spicy radishes, and enormous amounts of fruit – mangoes, papaya, bananas.
After we were fed, the Cuban agriculturalists willingly answered our many questions, with help from Ariel, our trusty interpreter.
Yes, they’ve seen many changes through the years. The transformation of the Soviet Union meant Cuba lost her only trading partners, and was launched into a time known as the “special period.” They were forced to re-consider many things, including their agricultural practices. Though it was very difficult at the time, the special period made them stronger and more united. Organic agriculture is better, the Cubans understand, not only for the earth but also for human health.
I asked whether corporations like Monsanto, who are attempting to control the world’s seed stock through genetic engineering, have any influence. Not on this farm, I was told, where co-operative owners control their own seeds and distribute them throughout the province.
The following day we Caravanistas traveled to a co-operative restaurant in the district of Trinidad. As always, we were warmly greeted and more than adequately fed. Several Cuban farmers were represented at this gathering, also organizers from other local co-operatives, and a local musical ensemble.
We learned that this centre was created through the peoples’ own initiative, intended to provide food for the people. Whereas yesterday’s co-op experience was with a CCS (Cooperatives of Credit and Services), this one is part of a CPA (Agricultural Production Cooperative). While a CCS is a collective of farmers who pool their resources, a CPA is comprised of independent farmers who work collaboratively for the purposes of commercializing production.
Every farmer, regardless of whether they’re connected to the CPA or the CCS, has a government contract which guarantees purchase of their crops. Some of these are exported – coffee, for example, or mangoes and guava which are sent to factories for baby food or packaged juice production. Altogether there are 20 co-operatives in Trinidad, and the Cubans made it clear that the two methods of production are well connected – the main overall objective is to produce food for the people.
There was definitely a strong feeling of community and co-operation emanating from these folk, and a sense of devotion to their revolution. One Havana Cuban who traveled with us commented on their generosity – a trait he doesn’t always find in the city. When asked what they enjoy most about their work, one woman said “To know we are able to provide for so many others, to help the national economy by producing grains and milk and other items that the government would otherwise have to import.”
The Cubans have a lot to teach us about life beyond the empire, about how to live your values and survive, even when the cards seem determinedly stacked against you.
***
See www.PastorsForPeace.org
The Cuban Five (FreeTheFive.org) were imprisoned in the USA a decade ago, after they infiltrated Miami-based anti-Cuban terrorist organizations for the Cuban government.
Janine Bandcroft is founder and co-ordinator of the Victoria Street Newz (relativenewz.ca), a radio programmer with CFUV and, when there’s time, she publishes the Left Coast activist events lists.