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U.S. elections do have consequences. If Obama is succeeded by a Republican doors that he’s just cracked open with Cuba doors may be slammed shut for another generation.
“I am glad that Cuba is taken off the list of countries that sponsors terrorism and we have lots of hopes,” one student said, “but we also have our conditions,” especially that the U.S. respect Cuba’s sovereignty.
Another student welcomes U.S.-Cuba “normalization,” but she said she believes it must come gradually.
“The U.S. has too much to offer,” she said. “We like our reality and that can’t suddenly change. We don’t want to lose our Cuban identity.”
Contrary to what some have been led to believe, the U.S. embargo notwithstanding, Cubans are not shut off from the world and not even from U.S. influence, particularly in this era of social media. The embargo made it illegal for U.S. citizens to vacation in Cuba, but there has been contact over the years, notably cultural and educational exchanges and nearly 40 American universities collaborate with the University of Havana.
“We have American influences already in movies, fashion and music,” one student said.
And not all of it is positive.
Black Americans visiting Cuba often notice immediately what many Cubans are loath to give voice to, at least in public. Dark-skinned Cubans constitute a significant share of the island’s population and yet white and light-skinned Cubans are most prominent on television and in key positions in places frequented by tourists.
Even so, some Cubans insist that skin color is neither an issue nor a problem.
Cuban intellectuals of the darker hue say the color barrier is not so easily dismissed.
Esteban Morales Dominguez and Gisela Arandia Covarrubas, sought to educate their black American visitors about the complexities of race from the Cuban perspective.
"We don’t use the term Afro-Cuban,” a fair-skinned University of Havana professor said. True, he said, some Cubans are “prejudiced,” but that’s because “culture always lags behind. Maybe the way we see ourselves is the most important part of our resistance. Our pride in being Cuban, I believe, has been a vital aspect of the Cuban people to resist.”