A few years ago, I went to Cuba on holiday. After enjoying an unforgettable week in Varadero, I visited La Habana. The contrast was huge, flagrant, unforgettable too, but for different reasons. I’m glad I went to Varadero first and not afterwards, ‘cause- otherwise- I would have felt guilty. The poverty I saw in Habana really shocked me. People begging for money, food, soap, shampoo, anything actually. I was even asked to buy some milk by a woman holding a baby in her arms. Most of the tourist guides I met were professionals: engineers, architects, psychologists, teachers, who depended mainly on tourists’ tips. No one spoke well of the government. Not even one of them. I felt I had been to two different countries, the first one (Varadero) pouring with well off foreigners but forbidden to local people; the second, the real Cuba. Cubans not only lack material things, but mostly freedom. I’m glad I’ve been there, ‘cause I’ve seen all this with my own eyes. That’s why I welcome the people’s current reaction against a regime that has repressed them and deprived them of their basic rights for over 60 years now. Cuba is waking up, at last. It’s never too late …
Irene Bianchi for Buenos Aires Times