Cynthia Cisneros in Cuba

My first full day in Havana brings much anticipation. We are excited at the prospect to go out in the city and see daily life.

We arrived on Wednesday in mid-afternoon and were able to see parts of 'Old Havana' and several plazas. They are spectacular in their appearance. The buildings are considered colonial in its architecture, built during Spanish rule. The old buildings, at first, look sad and shabby. However to stand and spend time looking at them, they begin to take on a new look, a look of untold history. The story of how many colonialists lived here, to be replaced by military generals and captains then finally by tourists here to witness the Cuba of the 21st century.

What first caught my eye wasn't what I saw but what I didn't see. The absolute absence of traffic, gridlock and stressed out motorists.

I have to go for now but look for my reports next week on Eyewitness News.

Comments

[A Cuban in Texas]

Of course you won't see stressed out motorists!!! Hardly anyone owns an automobile and there is no gas. They are stressed out whether or not their water or lights will be turned off tonight or whether their child will be able to drink milk tomorrow.

[Alfredo]

well the buildings look sad and shabby because the dictatorship of the last 50 years robbed evrything in sight and neglected everything including their own people. The DESTRUCTION has been done by the present regime so let's not start implying other things. You make it sound like a good thing that they have no traffic and stressed out motorist? well...maybe it's because the latest cars that they can get a hold of are models from the 1950's! believe me they are stressed out watching over their shoulder from the lack of FREEDOM. Jusk ask the political prisoners...you are going to interview political prisoners and Yoani sanchez are you?

[E duran]

This makes me really upset. this is nothing but an excuse for Thomas to take a vacation. Please don't tell me that tax payers are paying for this. Ugh do we not have enough hurricanes along the coast to "learn" from? Also isn't there a number of other islands that are along the gulf that have been through hurricanes. As a galveston county resident i am sick of politicians taking trips on taxpayer's dime. It really sickens me and i hope she is not reelected.

[Walter Lippmann]

Good for you, Cynthia. Hope you continue to look around with open eyes. These others who are complaining about how rotten Cuba is aren't there, and are just repeating what others who also haven't been there have been telling the rest of us for nearly fifty years.

Follow the Cuban story at CubaNews, a free Yahoo news group with over 100,000 items available in a free, easy-to-access database going back to the year 2000. I'm just back from three MONTHS in Cuba, and not for the first time. I can go as a journalist and researcher, by why can't everyone from the US get to go? Why is Cuba the ONLY country ON THE PLANET to which people from the US need a permission slip from the federal government to go for a visit?

[conservative latino]

What a joke! I used to work with a cuban who escaped and he'd tell me about the rationing of beans and rice! THis makes me sick! Channel 13.....GET OUT OF THERE!!!

[Intuit]

This makes me real sick as well. Trying to romanticize Cuba run by a bunch of tyrants is ridiculous. I'm married to a Cuban exile and there is nothing romantic about real life for real Cubans. You want some good info? go to www.therealcuba.com and tell me you're having a good time! Do the right thing and publish the real story!

[Scarface]

I agree with you Intuit...this is jsut an excuse for a vacation. Why go to a country that is run by a dictatorship, in which they tell you how high you can jump. If they tell you to get out of your house you do it or they make you by whatever means necessary! AS SIMPLE AS THAT! What kind of non-sense is this. This really infuriates me. I was born in Cuba and raised in Houston, when I heard about this stupid trip I did not believe they were actually going to go through with it and waste tax payers money like this. Galveston has hundreds of people in need of help and they are barely hunging on but the mayor decides to go see Castro and take a vacation in Cuba. HOW NICE! SHE SHOULD STAY IN CUBA PERMANENTLY AND LEARN A WHOLE LOT MORE ABOUT COMMUNISM AND DICTATORS.

[Scarface]

As for Cynthia Cisneros, well what can I say? No cars = no traffic. Get it! She is probably too busy drinking mojitos and this is all she could come up with. Great story!

[Scarface]

Cuba is a treasure stuck in the 1950s and ruined by Castro Intuit. Beautiful country but no freedom to do anything. How can you learn anything from that? I don't know what else to say. This whole thing is a joke right?
Who is next? Obama? Is he going to ask Castro how to run a country too?

[JJ]

All I can say is that she is so naive and foolish!!!! What is she thinking?? This is NOT reporting.

[Tamika]

I have yet to understand all the anger surrounding Cuba. Politicians have always visited areas with similar problems to learn from those places.

I think it's irresponsible for Cuban exiles to speak for all Cubans. That would be like rich white Americans speaking for working class Black families. Exiles (understandably) have a completely different view of Cuba than it's current day reality. Yes, it has it's issues, yes, it's dilapidated, yes, it's because of diplomatic issues. And yet, their education and health systems are far more advanced than most states in the US.

And for the record, many islands and/or countries with public transport don't have traffic. They're less overpopulated, and have mass transportation.

[Intuit]

Tamika if you don't understand go to the web site I listed in my previous comment. Look at the contrast and maybe you'll get a glimpse of what the REAL CUBA of today is. When I said exile maybe I forgot to mention that we have family still stuck in Cuba. We communicate with them weekly. We send them everything we can to help sustain their lives. They live in shambles and ruins TODAY the right here and now. So when a Cuban exile speaks with anger you better know they know what they're talking about.

[Tamika]

Yes, Intuit, my family is in Cuba, as well. I would never speak out regarding a country's experience without knowledge of said country. The difference is that my Cuban family is made up of recen llegados--not Exiles. The perspective is 100% different. I don't need your website to tell me what life is like there. My ex-husband goes every year, and just came back a month ago.

My point is that island life is different than life in the US; that life in a developing nation should not be measured against that of a developed nation; and that the perspective of an exile is one of someone who has been exiled from his Patria. That's a big difference.

There are few asthetic differences between Cuba and neighboring Domican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica. The most notable is the old automobile predominance.

I think when people honor the country for what it is, and view it as a whole, they'll see that there is a lot of beauty in Cuba. Not only in it's people, but in it's commitment to healthcare, education, and solidarity of a people.

Cynthia--I hope you bring this back to your blog, and not shy away from presenting another side... as a reporter should do.

[motherof3]

I understand the frustration of many Cubans in their reaction to this post, but I feel it is important for all Americans to go to Cuba freely. I went and was introduced to my fiance that is still in Cuba being forced to wait a total of 5 years before he can leave. My first visit was wonderful. I went with my friend to see the family she hadn't seen in 5 years and to pay my respects to the father that she'd lost and was unable to return to see when he was dying. I saw the people and loved seeing Cuba for myself. But soon, I too felt first hand the frustration of the people as I was stopped and harassed by police because they thought I was a Cuban that perhaps was begging a tourist (my Cuban friend) for money. With each trip I feel more and more the pain of the Cuban people as I see more and more how they have to live and what they have to do to survive there. Every time I am there, I am stopped and harassed by police until they realize that I am a tourist. Then I am treated like a queen. The best thing about Cuba is their health care system. Though they lack many resources and, due to lack of pay, many have to bribe doctors for better care, I found that they, overall, have a system that is fueled by care and not financial gain as we have here. I went to a hospital there with my sick children. My husband presented them as Cubans, we were treated for free within fifteen minutes and our prescription cost about $2 US. When the doctors realized that I was American, they still treated my children without a problem. I will always be indebted to them for that. If more people went to Cuba as I did, they would soon understand what life is really like there (as most non-Cuban Americans have no clue other than knowing that Fidel is bad). Maybe you too Cynthia, would realize that Cuba is a slave state. If you can't say what you want, can't worship as you wish, can't go where you please, have your food rationed to you, only make $25 a month, are scared to speak up because you are in fear for your life and those that you love, you are a slave. If all you see is what the government wants you to, what kind of story do you really have to tell? The one you just did.