Cuba / by KARIN-BAM STOWE

Havana was the picture postcard and Che aesthetic depicted via the media. The country was so poor, buildings run down, electricity flicking on and off, internet so rare people hook into government servers in local parks. American cars of the 1950’s are everywhere, pristine and add to the surrealist vibe. Did the communist mandate imposed by Fidel work? Some say yes, most I met wanted for extra and healthier. Few places are left in the world now, where time has stood still from decades past. Sooner or later this world will ramp up towards 5G, but what will be lost and found? Tourism will save the day, but also theme park this country towards its healthier, wealthier future.  

Walking Havana at night, doors remain open, Cuban music fills the air, families congregate and people interact, a buzz; the city hum’s with a sense of harmony amongst the poverty. Che and the revolution adorn walls, pictures of him stare down at me at every turn. I used to teach about his iconic portrayal in imagery and its dissemination into pop culture, now I was part of the need to connect to the spirit of fighting against the man-without.

The city people exist with the paradox of the “with and without” which is startling, tourism brings in the wealthy cruise ships brimming with the disposable withouters, ladened down with American dollars ready to purchase their slice of history. The locals drift by and are part of the aesthetic, as if they are fragments for photo-shoot, I click anyway, knowing better.

You can conjure up a 50’s neon sign, but do you dare to follow the glinting arrows that take you into the darken alley ways that lead to the real Cuba?

It’s a time capsule and the people tell me they feel like they are trapped between their heroic past of rebuking America’s influence, but now desiring cherry pie futures.