Cuba – Do They Like Us?
(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.