The silliness of the “frozen in time” trope
La Alborada – Aug 27
EDITOR
Among the clichés most repeated in mainstream media reports filed from Cuba is that of the country “frozen in time.” Cars from the 50s and earlier; oxen in many fields; not nearly enough smart phones or Wi-Fi; no fast-food franchises from the US; not a single US bank, and relatively few ATMs.
It’s an image of a magical kingdom in some far-away country disconnected from the world since the Korean War, a fine place for archeologists to investigate. You might take a hint from another common cliché: “Cuba is now open to the world,” by which is meant the US. That’s what happened — Cuba closed itself to the world!
It’s a silly approach for self-respecting reporters to take.
Time does not stand still anywhere, including Cuba. What has stood still is the US policy of strangulation of Cuba’s economy, accompanied by an all-out effort to isolate Cuba from the world. The goal of the policy used the words “famine” and “desperation” to first explain it. As far as the denial to Cuba of modern material goods, the policy has worked. Even today, the laws that embody the policy remain in place, and the Cuban economy is not free from their effect. A better phrase for reporters to use would be “the country that has survived the longest siege in history.”
But it has achieved more than just survival. Decades ago, Cuba became the first country in Latin America to eradicate illiteracy, the first step to creating an educated nation. Later, it developed a program in several languages for other countries to use, including English. Literacy means little to someone who is blind, so Cuba (together with Venezuela) created a program to cure cataracts and other eye conditions, restoring sight so far to some four million people in many countries. Cuba focused also on its national educational system, whose students now win international competitions in math and other fields.
Cuba created a university in Havana for information technology, and later other centers around the island, despite US laws that impede access to hardware and software. Earlier, it had begun to familiarize the people with new technology through computer-user clubs.
Like all people, those who read and are educated need to be in good health. Cuba’s national health system is now a model for the developing world. Known for its assistance in emergencies abroad, Cuba also sends health workers to countries that need more medical personnel (including Brazil, the largest country in Latin America), and recently was recognized for its work against Ebola in West Africa. On top of that, it trains doctors and nurses for other countries in Cuban medical schools. (Engineers and teachers, as well as sports coaches, also go out from the island to countries around the world.)
Cuba’s level of health science never stood still. It built from scratch a cutting-edge system for producing its own advanced medical products.
Cuba was the first country to discontinue the use of incandescent bulbs in favor of energy-efficient ones. It has built, and is building more, wind and solar farms; it now manufactures its own photovoltaic panels. It promotes the use of bio-mass energy. At the same time, it implements ecological practices as much as it can, from protected zones to reforestation. It’s the only country in the world where the forest cover continues to expand.
The new super-port at Mariel requires a huge physical effort and sophisticated planning, building rail and highway connections to Havana and west of it. It has installed the latest equipment for receiving and unloading Post-Panamax ships.
These are not indicators of a nation stuck in the past. They exist despite the decades-long US embargo and blockade.
Once practically isolated within the Americas, Cuba now maintains normal relations with all countries in the Hemisphere except for the US. It has achieved a yearly vote against the blockade at the United Nations that is now reduced to a single vote of support for the US blockade, that of Israel. On this issue, the US, not Cuba, has been isolated.
This last achievement does not relate to material goods, of course. But it shows that, in the field of diplomacy, too, Cuba is very much a modern country. In fact, the clocks in Havana and in Washington show the same time.
