Cuba es y debe ser libre
Elliott Young
On my last night in Havana, I walked along the Malecón after a gluttonous meal at La Guarida, a rich paladar, and the set for the film Fresa y Chocolate, nestled in the poverty of Centro Habana. The Detrás del Muro project dots the seaside boardwalk with installations that have been erected over the past few days for Havana’s art biennial.
I came across one translucent plastic box with what looked like a king’s robe lying in a pile. A group of young Cubans posed in front of the box taking pictures. I told them about the story of the emperor who wore no clothes, thinking that the installation was a subtle critique of the emperor who wore olive green for so long and now stumbles along in velour Fila track suits.
Leaving my students and their Cuban friends with their Planchao and caffeinated energy drinks, I headed home alone. I came upon the monument to the Maine, sandwiched between the grand Hotel Nacional and the fortress like US Interests Section, a symbol of US imperialism and also its defeat. The trova song Hasta Siempre Che Guevara was being played by street musicians trying to coax a CUC from tourists, a strange ode to the psychotic, romanticized revolutionary who adorns so man t-shirts and posters.
I thought of the scene from the classic Cuban film “Memorias del Subdesarrollo” when the protagonist witnesses the American eagle as it is toppled off of the pedestal of the monument. He views the protest through a telescope and is at once an eyewitness to history and completely detached from the events surrounding him. The inscription on the monument reads “El pueblo de la isla de Cuba es y de derecho debe ser libre y independiente.” That this was a joint resolution of the US Congress in 1898 that laid the groundwork for more than a century of US intervention adds a level of irony to what is already a multi-layered site. The statement that Cuba “is” free is followed by the affirmation that Cuba “by right should be free and independent.” Is Cuba free and independent? Or is it an aspiration that it “should be” free and independent? Why the contradictory sentiments or the double insistence that it “is” and “should be”? Imperialist guilt, perhaps.
The next morning, friends stopped by to pick up my remaining food and eat a breakfast of tea, almond butter, my two remaining New York bagels and mangoes. El Chino played me an audio recording of Tania Bruguera being denied access to the Museo de Bellas Artes. I told him how the theater students at the art university (ISA) decided to go on strike last night to protest the rotten and maggot-ridden food they are served in the school’s cafeteria. The ISA students staged a similar protest in 2009, the last time I brought a group of students to the ISA.
I emerge from the airport in Cancun and get whisked along into a waiting shuttle to take me to the Marriot Courtyard airport hotel. In the hotel room, Tyler is checking Grindr and watching Ru Paul’s talk show as the guests discuss the benefits of plastic surgery and try to guess which of three extravagant asses is padded, real or a fake implants. Wifi is free. I email. I Skype. I text. I am exhausted. Sleep.