Tim Shorrock: Postcard from...Havana
[Tim Shorrock is a Washington writer and longtime contributor to Foreign Policy in Focus. His articles about Korea have appeared in The Nation, The Progressive, and many other publications. His book, Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing, was published in 2008.]
Just about everything you hear about Cuba in the U.S. media is a lie. I learned that from the moment my TACA Airlines charter jet landed in Havana last Sunday. It was filled with Cuban-Americans returning to their homeland carrying clothing, DVDs, microwave ovens, electronic games, and other consumer goods missing from the Cuban market. I’d always read that the “Miami Cubans” hated the very thought of socialist Cuba. So I was surprised and even a little shocked when the entire plane burst out in loud applause when we touched down. My fellow passengers, I realized, were happy to be back and see their families, even though life is tough and frustrating in the land they still call home.
I’ve been in Havana this week to conduct research and engage in dialogue with students and faculty at the Jose Marti Institute of Journalism, a study center for reporters and editors from Cuba and throughout Latin America. This is my first trip to Cuba and my first time ever in a socialist country. From the many conversations I’ve had, the dominant U.S. media messages – that Cubans are living in fear, crave American-style democracy and capitalism, and are hostile to American interests – are facile justifications for a U.S. embargo and other Cold War anachronisms that should have been abandoned long ago....
Read entire article at Foreign Policy in Focus
Just about everything you hear about Cuba in the U.S. media is a lie. I learned that from the moment my TACA Airlines charter jet landed in Havana last Sunday. It was filled with Cuban-Americans returning to their homeland carrying clothing, DVDs, microwave ovens, electronic games, and other consumer goods missing from the Cuban market. I’d always read that the “Miami Cubans” hated the very thought of socialist Cuba. So I was surprised and even a little shocked when the entire plane burst out in loud applause when we touched down. My fellow passengers, I realized, were happy to be back and see their families, even though life is tough and frustrating in the land they still call home.
I’ve been in Havana this week to conduct research and engage in dialogue with students and faculty at the Jose Marti Institute of Journalism, a study center for reporters and editors from Cuba and throughout Latin America. This is my first trip to Cuba and my first time ever in a socialist country. From the many conversations I’ve had, the dominant U.S. media messages – that Cubans are living in fear, crave American-style democracy and capitalism, and are hostile to American interests – are facile justifications for a U.S. embargo and other Cold War anachronisms that should have been abandoned long ago....