I like this photo because it has hope. I find that I frequently am photographing stairs or light coming from above. I did an entire series of photos that combined the old decaying buildings of Habana Vieja with attractive young women. I thought this somehow captured my hope for the country. The younger people who aspire to a better life for themselves and their families climbing out of the decay of the past 20-30 years. Clearly the Revolution was a good thing. I am not sure that all of the politics that went with it were in Cuba's best interest, but I understand that there was little reason to believe that the US had anything much to offer based on its prior history. I dcon't look for anything good to happen in the next several years in the attitude of our current administration toward Cuba. Things might change once it is clear what Jeb's political ambitions are. If he opts out of a Presidential run in the forseeable future, then the need to pander to the South Florida Cuban Americans will diminish and their influence will lessen. Let's hope so. We have had too many Bushies already.

La Nina

All Cuban women learn to flirt at an early age. This little girl was playing on the sidewalk while her mother shopped at the "Free Market". The streets are really quite safe in most areas. Police are common patrolling the streets on foot and in their cars. One should be careful in interacting with people on the street. I have had the sad experience of being thought a tourist, talking with a hustler, and having that person hauled away for badgering a tourist. Children play with abandon in the streets of many areas, especially in Habana Vieja and Centro. It is common to see boys playing stickball wth a slat of trash lumber and a huge wad of tape. Yes, you can make a serviceable baseball from duct tape! Well. the Cuban boy can.

Que Bola?

There are 39 known deaths of Cubans trying to reach the United States so far this year. These are the result of the "wet foot, dry foot" policy which grants considerable benefits to thse Cubans who reach the shore and stand upon it. Those in boats even outside the surf are turned back. Cubans are the only people we do this for. If two rafts, each containing 5 people, one from Haiti and one from Cuba reach the Florida beach, the Cubans stay with a bunch of bounty, the Haitians go home with nothing.
A few years ago I had a drink with Roberto Salas, the Cuban photographer. This was shortly after several young Cuban men had died trying to stow away in the wheel wells of international airliners. All four of them had died. Roberto was very angry. He thought the US policy which he believed encouraged young people, especially young men, to leave Cuba was one of genocide. It made escape sound attractive, and escape was a very dangerous undertaking. This is still the case.
In the recent article regarding this issue in the New York Times, the increase in numbers of those trying to escape was attributed to the worsening repression and economic situation under Castro. There was little mention of the role played by the embargo, the recent changes in laws limiting the amount of money families and friends may send those in Cuba, and the harshness of our government's attitude toward the Cuban people. There is always hope. It is kept alive and good is done simply by continuing to make people aware of the issues with Cuba.

Que Bola?

Que Bola?It is interesting to follow all of the writing, blogging, and editorializing regarding the illegal wire tapping being done in the name of national security by our current leaders. They have undertaken an assault on the system of checks and balances not seen in probably more than a hundred years. While they are re-writing history and telling "big lies" in hopes of geting through this crisis, they are doing precisely what they accuse the Cuban government of doing to its people. Spying on its citizens, unlawfully detaining and jailing them, having tight control of the press, torturing supposed enemies of th state-does this sound like Cuba or the US? I have been reading Thomas Merton's "Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander." He has a great little homily on what it takes to be a pharisee in politics. He says, "At every moment display righteous indignation over the means (whether good or evil) which your opponent has used to attain the same corrupt end which you are trying to achieve. Point to the means he is using as evidence that your own purposes are righteous--even thought they are the same as his." This sure seems to be the case in our countyry's current stance toward Cuba and its people.