{"id":443,"date":"2003-11-10T12:24:27","date_gmt":"2003-11-10T20:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/2003\/11\/verging_on_cuba\/"},"modified":"2003-11-10T12:24:27","modified_gmt":"2003-11-10T20:24:27","slug":"verging_on_cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2003\/11\/verging_on_cuba.html","title":{"rendered":"VERGING ON CUBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winter seems finally to have arrived this weekend, and the trees have pretty much gone bare.
\nBut I was buoyed the other evening by a panel discussion: “Cuba on the Verge” (the name taken
\nfrom a recent book with that title, edited by Terry
\nMcCoy<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>, who organized the event in midtown Manhattan). <\/P>
\n

What Cuba is verging on was not entirely clear, given the recent crackdown on dissidents by
\nFidel Castro, which culminated in the execution of three young Cubans hijackers, and the
\ntoughened anti-Cuba policy by Bush. It was quite a panel, though, and quite a crowd — and the
\npanelists, none of whom were politicians or foreign policy experts, thank God, had definite
\nopinions.<\/P>
\n

The panelists:<\/B> Novelist Russell Banks<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A> (“Cloudsplitter,”<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>
\n<\/FONT><\/EM>“Continental
\nDrift”<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>), who spoke with Castro in a recent six-hour interview in
\nHavana; Jon Lee Anderson<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>, foreign correspondent, author
\n(“Che
\nGuevara: A Revolutionary Life”<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>) and New Yorker staff writer; Achy
\nObejas<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>, Cuban-American novelist (<\/FONT><\/EM>“Memory
\nMambo,”<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A> <\/FONT><\/EM>“Days of
\nAwe”<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A> ) and Chicago Tribune cultural writer; Pablo Medina<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>, Cuban-born author (“The
\nReturn of Felix Nogara”<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>) who teaches at the New School; moderator
\nNorman Pearlstine<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>, editor-in-chief of Time Inc.
\nNovelist William Kennedy<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A> (<\/FONT><\/EM>“Legs,”<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>
\n<\/FONT><\/EM>“Ironweed”<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>), who also met with
\nCastro, introduced the discussion with a wrapup of Cuban historical
\ndevelopments.<\/P>
\n

The opinions:<\/B> Castro believes, correctly, that Cuba is under siege by the United
\nStates — he regards the trade embargo, for instance, as a war blockade — and his siege mentality
\nfeeds not just on old fears like the failed CIA assassination attempts on his life in the ’60s but on
\nnew fears engendered by the invasion of Iraq. <\/P>
\n

That Bush would put a military move on Cuba is deemed improbable even by Castro. At the
\nvery least, however, Castro has used the U.S. invasion of Iraq as a smokescreen to justify his
\ncrackdown on dissidents in the name of security. Meantime, prospective U.S. legislation
\nending the Cuba travel ban<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A> will be vetoed by Bush
\nmore likely than not, even though that has been made difficult by being attached to the
\ntransportation bill he needs to approve.<\/P>
\n

Asked why the U.S. embargo has failed after 40 years to accomplish its goal of forcing Castro
\nfrom power, Banks said the single, most important factor was the creation of a proud, unshakable
\nnational mythology equalled by that of only two other nations in post-colonial history: the United
\nStates and Israel.<\/P>
\n

The national mythology developed in Cuba since the Revolution was and still is such a
\ncohering force that despite any and all the disappointments, setbacks, miscalculations and
\nbrutalities visited upon them by Castro, by the Soviet Union’s ill-fated support and by U.S.
\nantagonism, Cubans believe in themselves as an identifiable people with an ingrained
\nindependence of spirit sturdier than any acquired ideology. <\/P>
\n

For anyone half familiar with Cuba, that’s not a revelation perhaps, but it does crystalize an
\nidea worth remembering. Banks pointed out that without the national mythology formed in the 40
\nyears following the American Revolution — much of it having coalesced around the heroic figure
\nof George Washington before and after his death — the U.S. might have been forced back under
\nthe rule of England or possibly come under the sway of France. The symbolic role of Che
\nGuevera, especially since his martyrdom, has played out in a similar way in Cuba. (Banks did not
\ngo into the Israeli parallels, Ben-Gurion as well as the martyred heroes of that nation’s mythology,
\nbut they seemed self-evident.)<\/P>
\n

Asked what will happen after Castro dies, Obejas pointed out that regardless of who takes
\nover from him (not expected to happen soon, as he seems to have the energy of a much younger
\nman and appears to be in excellent health), the single, most important factor will be what
\nthe U.S. government does. A Cuban government recognized by the United States would be much
\ndifferent from one that is not, whether it’s headed by Fidel’s designated successor, Raoul Castro,
\nor by someone else. The greatest influence on daily life in Cuba, therefore, will
\ndepend on American politics more than its own.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winter seems finally to have arrived this weekend, and the trees have pretty much gone bare. But I was buoyed the other evening by a panel discussion: “Cuba on the Verge” (the name taken from a recent book with that title, edited by Terry McCoy, who organized the event in midtown Manhattan). What Cuba is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-79","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}