(cross-posted from www.indisputably.org)

Since returning, I’ve received calls from those about to go and questions from others—what are the Cuban people like?  And what do they think of Americans?

The official Cuban policy, of course, is that the US policy has been shortsighted and narrow minded.  And the list of US policies that need to change was also outlined for us:

• end the embargo
• stop treating Cuban immigrants to the US differently from other immigrants (granting them refugee status when no other national group is and thereby encouraging them to leave)
• leave Guantanamo Bay–what lease lasts over 100 years!?!
• and stop broadcasting US propaganda from Radio Marti.

And one can definitely see anti-American sentiment in the Museum of the Revolution in a very funny little exhibit called the Rincon de los Cretinos(the Corner of Idiots).

But those are the official sentiments, and not at all what one hears around and about.  According to the American journalist, Mark Frank, who spoke to us, there has not been any anti-US demonstrations in a decade.  And I did not see any billboards or posters that were anti-US (other than the historic exhibits in the Museum).  Most importantly, each student noted how individually friendly the Cubans were.

For the blog today, I thought I would incorporate some of the student reflections about one of our first speakers.  We had a terrific briefing on the economy from Guilio Ricci, an economics professor at the University of Havana.

From Max Rabkin:

Spending a week in Havana was an eye-opening experience for many reasons. I expected good food, friendly people and time-capsule-like architecture, and was not disappointed with any of those. However, I was most intrigued with how the country and the Castro government was handling the introduction of market reforms and resuming diplomatic relations with the United States.

Most fascinating was the talk with the economist from the University of Havana. I went into the trip expecting a heavy dose of Marxist-Leninist thought to permeate every discussion the group had, and although this was generally true, the economic lecture ended up being one of the fairest and provided the most realistic outlook for the Cuban economy and future enterprise prospects for the public. 

(cross-posted from www.indisputably.org)

On our very first night in Cuba, we went to dinner at the famous Hotel Nacional.  The Hotel is gorgeous on a bluff overlooking the water, old, majestic, and impressive.  Here is a picture of all of us in the ballroom.  Everyone famous who has visited Cuba, comes to the Hotel and there are even pictures all around of the famous visitors (including a larger than life portrait of Hugo Chavez, not something that we are going to see here in the U.S.)  But the thing that really struck me was in the garden next to several old cannons.
(And here is a picture from the garden.)

In commemoration of a battle, the plaque referred to the Spanish-Cuban-American War.  I knew of no such thing.