Cuba as a Cubist Painting

Cuba is a popular destination for Canadians; especially Quebecers.

And why not? Cuba's beaches are among the most pristine in the world and the people have a certain aura to them that can be described as generous and friendly. Considering the wretchedness regime they live under that keeps them poor, Cubans maintain a high spirit. It's a place with culture and history.

Havana once upon a time was home to one of the most magnificent cities in the world. It remains a symbol of the revolution in its sad decadence and Cuba's turbulent history in the 20th century. Its musical heritage and legacy was reintroduced to the world when the great innovator and experimenter Ry Cooder, one by one, plucked and rediscovered all the great Cuban musicians of a long lost and forgotten era. He called them the Buena Vista Social Club. Of course, who can forget the stream of stunning baseball player's and boxers that ooze out from the island?

I wonder, however, if our affection for Cuba would be different if Canadians lived under a Communist regime. In my best estimation, from talking to people about Cuba, it's clear that people who visit Cuba do not appreciate the severity of the regime. They say they love the people but that is easy to say when you know you are leaving.

If we care so much about people we would with hold our tourist dollars that help to feed Fidel Castro. Alas, we do not. As usual, we pick and choose where we want to be noble. Anti-war and other peaceniks don't care about Iraqi's per se in as much as they hate George W. Bush. Likewise, tourists to Cuba tolerate the regime because it's a) inexpensive to go to Cuba in neat travel packages and b) the beaches. The Caribbean is littered with beautiful islands.

It's a form of ideological hypocrisy. I was guilty of this also when I visited Cuba. Unlike most people, I zeroed in on the conditions and felt I had done a disservice to the legacy of Cuba. I was part of a anti-freedom machine that prevented Cubans from going onto the beaches with other tourists as if they were animals. Grocery store shelves were thinly stocked as were pharmacies with little or no medicine. 100% health care services exist in Cuba but it is a system that lacks the proper equipment and knowledge to sufficiently diagnose and cure people.

It has, as defenders and apologists of Castro are fond to point out, 100% literacy. It is true that Cubans are well educated but it is an educational system that rings hollow. What good is being an engineer trained in Russia if you are handing out towels in a local hotel to pampered tourists? How valid is a society when its own people have to look over their shoulders to speak in quiet tones to avoid possible spies around them? The irony is not lost on Cubans. To their credit, Cubans refuse to place blame, unlike Arabs for example, on anybody for their trials and tribulations.

I bring this up because Fidel Castro recently spoke about the 'Revolution' that once included Che Guevera - the hero to leftists and spoiled, disaffected and romantic Westeners. He said that the 'revolution' is not complete and that history will make communism prevail or something like that. Whatever the reasons for Castro deciding to pimp out his society to such an impractical and failed ideology is not the point.

The point is, what if communism did prevail in the 20th century? How would we view Cuba? In a larger sense, the United States?