Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of its strangeness. For me it was all behind glass. I felt the sudden separation between us,
between the relative depths of what this trip would mean to us, many years on. One of those
moments of generational wooziness that come with having kids, like realizing there's a part
of their lives you won't see.
We landed under searingly vivid skies, something like what the blue tablet from a packet of
Easter dye lets off. The land right around the airport is farmed; we saw a man plowing with
oxen.ThefertilityofCubaisthethingyoucan'tputintowords.I'veneverstoodonapieceof
ground as throbbingly, even pornographically, generative. Throw a used battery into a divot,
anditwillputoutshoots—that'showitfeels.Youcouldsmellit,inthesmoky,slightlyputrid
smell of turned fields. More and more, as we drove, that odor mingled with the smell of the
sea.
This was the first time I was in post-Fidel Cuba. It was funny to think that not long ago,
there were smart people who doubted that such a thing could exist, i.e., who believed that
with the fall of Fidel would come the fall of communism on the island. But Fidel didn't fall.
He did fall, physically—on the tape that gets shown over and over in Miami, of him coming
down the ramp after giving that speech in 2004 and tumbling and breaking his knee—but his
leadership didn't. He executed one of the most brilliantly engineered successions in history,
a succession that was at the same time a self-entrenchment. First, he faked his own death in a
way: serious intestinal operation, he might not make it. Raul is brought in as “acting presid-
ent.”Ayearandahalflater,Castromostlyrecovered.ButRaulisofficially namedpresident,
with Castro's approval. It was almost as if, “Is Fidel still . . . ?” Amazing. So now they rule
together,withRauloutfront,buteveryoneunderstandingthatFidelretainsmassiveauthority.
Not to say that Raul doesn't wield power—he has always had plenty—but it's a partnership
of some kind. What comes after is as much of a mystery as ever.
Our relationship with them seems just as uncertain. Barack Obama was going to open
things up, and he did tinker with the rules regarding travel, but now they say that when you
try to follow these rules, you get caught up in all kinds of forms and red tape. He eased the
restrictions onremittances, somoremoneyismaking itbacktotheisland, andthat mayhave
made the biggest difference so far.Boats with medical and other relief supplies have recently
left Miami, sailing straight to the island, which hasn't happened in decades. These humanit-
arian shipments can, according to the
Miami Herald
, include pretty much anything a Cuban
American family wants to send to its relatives: Barbie dolls, electronics, sugary cereal. In
many cases, you have a situation in which the family is first wiring money over, then ship-
ping the goods. The money is used on the other side to pay the various fees associated with
getting the stuff. So it's as if you're reaching over and rebuying the merchandise for your re-
latives. The money,needless to say,goes to the government. Still, capitalism is making small
inroads. And Raul has taken baby steps toward us: Cubans can own their own cars, operate
