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Cuban memory

  • Judy Dixey

Che Guevara mural

Che Guevara mural

In November 2009, I visited Cuba on a fortnight's trip, "Meet the People", organised by Traidcraft, the champion of FairTrade.

With the death of Fidel Castro, I thought it would be interesting to revisit this memory and add one striking thought which I have not heard mentioned in the coverage of his death: in every dictatorship I have visited, there are images of the Dictator plastered everywhere (eg Assad in Syria). But in Cuba, there was no cult of the personality. No images of Fidel - in fact neither he nor his brother Raoul (who had by then taken over) were visible in the streets, on or in official government or other buildings. The person who WAS semi-worshipped was Che Guevara.

I wrote this piece (below), which was subsequently published on Independent Catholic News.

"How was it?" asks Jesus, our guide. "Delicious, excellent, superb" are the various responses as we have just enjoyed the latest meal on our Cuban 'Meet the People' tour, organised by Traidcraft. No problem with meeting the 'five fruit a day' target - the exotic and fresh are on our tables, breakfast, lunch and dinner - papaya, mango, citrus, guava, pineapple, watermelon. But there is also the most delicious pork you have ever tasted, cooked while you walk round the farm and meet the 12 women who work for the farmer, and learn about the techniques and experiments in propagation, or the Heath-Robinson irrigation system which have been helped by the Fair Trade premium. Pork is the meal they all enjoy at festivals and a pig has been prepared for us as special visitors; its mate is snuffling nearby, destined to join in the Christmas and New Year celebrations, but on a plate.

This was only one of the farmers we met in this particular Cooperative, one of a group of private farms which have joined together as individual owners to maximise the benefits of sharing. Some of them were original beneficiaries of the agrarian reforms in the early '60s, when land was 'appropriated', but more recently, the government is leasing land to tenants as a means of sharing it further.

During our free time, I visited a church to discover preparations in full swing for Advent, new pictures and notices being put up, including one explaining the elements included in the Advent wreath. Attending Mass was a most pleasurable event despite the language difficulties. There might have been about 70 people there, young and old. Many of the children crowded up to the front, and participated in the sermon, eagerly putting their hands up to answer questions posed by the elderly priest.

Refreshingly, they also leapt up to voice their own Bidding Prayers, happily kissed the priest and others at the Kiss of Peace, and stood in front of the altar holding the collecting place for us all to walk forward with our donations. What a vibrant way to involve young people in a service.

We met many other people on this tour, visiting a variety of State-provided services or organisations such as a maternity home, a family doctor's surgery, an art school, a primary school. Hens and magnificent roosters strutted around the streets, bullocks pulled ploughs, and horses drew carts and buses as an eco-friendly means of transport (even the 1950s cars are too expensive for most people to run). We also saw other livestock - including a crocodile nursery. Two of the world's 23 species of crocodiles live together (apparently) in perfect amity - the American and Cuban. The nursery is run as a conservation programme, but is also used as a tourism opportunity. Thus it becomes a perfect symbol of a utopian future where two dangerous animals, descendants of the dinosaurs, the Cuban and American, snore together in peace, marvelling an astonished world.

Judy Dixey is a blogger and contributor to ICN. Visit her blog here: https://judydixey.wordpress.com/

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