Island that Dared

by Dervla Murphy

  Taking off from José Martí airport my hopes were higher than on the flight home from Jo’burg in 1995. South Africa’s problems were and are far more complex than Cuba’s. In 1959 Fidel could lead a real revolution without risking countrywide bloodshed and so he was able to construct the sort of egalitarian society Madiba dared not attempt to build. It comforts me to think that recent developments may not have invalidated Juan Antonio Blanco’s cautious prognosis. In the middle of the Special Period this remarkable Cuban – philosopher, historian, diplomat, radical and one-time rock singer – looked ahead and wrote:

  There is no certain victory for the Revolution. Lloyds of London would not offer an insurance policy on this prospect. But its victory – which means preserving independence and social justice within a framework of ethical solidarity – is still possible … Cuba cannot – if it wishes to survive – be a museum for a dying socialism, but neither can it be the pastiche of Latin America’s tragedy. Cuba has the human and material potential, in spite of the crisis, to become a successful social laboratory for a new model of authentically human and sustainable development. If it is possible to ‘reinvent’ socialism anywhere, then the conditions for doing so exist on this island.

  Glossary

  Abuela/o – grandmother/grandfather

  Agromercado – farmers’ market

  Annexationist – Cuban advocating the island’s annexation to the USA

  Apagon – blackout/power cut

  Apperrear – to throw to the dogs

  Automovil – car

  Autopista – motorway

  Baño – bathroom

  Barbudos – bearded men (synonym for the Rebel Army)

  Barrio – district/neighbourhood

  Bohio – hut as built by indigenous Cubans

  Burdel – brothel

  Cabaña – hut, cabin

  Cafetale – coffee farm

  Caique – chief/local ruler

  Campesiño – country-dweller, peasant

  Camiones – lorries

  Cena – supper

  Cenagueros – swamp-dweller

  Centrale – sugarcane plantation

  Cerveza – beer

  Colectivo – shared taxi

  Compañero/a – companion

  Creole – Cuban-born, but of European descent

  Cubania – essence, spirit of Cuba/love of, pride in Cuba

  Cucurucho – sweetmeat peculiar to Baracoa region

  Fidelista – a supporter of Fidel Castro

  Ingenio – sugar factory (earlier usage – sugarcane plantation)

  Latifundo – big estate

  Libreta – ration book

  Marabu – thorny bush imported from Africa by accident

  Mestizo – of mixed race

  MinInt – the Ministry of the Interior

  Mogote – geological oddity peculiar to Pinar del Rio

  Mulatto/a – a person of mixed black and white ancestry

  Peninsulare – Spanish-born Cuban resident (used throughout Latin America)

  Peresto – government-subsidised shop

  Playa – beach

  SECSA – a private security firm

  Tienda – shop accepting only convertible pesos (still known as ‘dollar-shop’)

  Vegueros – tobacco farmer

  Zafra – cane harvest

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  Index

  Abreus, 1

  Abrue de Estavez, Martha, 1

  Acosta, Carlos, 1

  Aguerro, Carlos, 1, 2

  AIDS, reaction to, 1

  Alonso, Alicia, 1

  Amaya, Juan Francisco Sigler, 1

  Angleria, Martirde, 1

  Angola, Cuban soldiers in, 1, 2

  Angulo, Gonzalo Perez de, 1

  Anti-Castroism, US, 1, 2

  Arango, Francisco, 1

  Aristide, Jean-Bertrand, 1

  Armed forces, reduction in, 1

  Arnsen, Ingrid, 1

  Arroyo, Victor Rolando, 1, 2

  Art instructors, training, 1

  Atkins, John Black, 1

  Babun brothers, 1

  Bacardi, 1 nationalisation, 1

  Bacardi Bill, 1

  Bacardi, Daniel, 1

  Bahia Honda, 1, 2

  Ballet, 1, 2

  Bank accounts with Cuban connections, closure of, 1

  Baracao, 1, 2 Archaeological Museum, 1

  beach, 1

  cacao plantations, 1

  Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion, 1

  centre, 1

  charm of, 1

  countryside, 1, 2

  forest, 1, 2

  greenness, 1

  industry, 1, 2

  Malecón, 1

  military zone, 1, 2

  National Park, 1, 2

  pools, 1

  Reserva Biosfera, 1

  tourists, 1

  underdevelopment, 1

  Barrera, Ileana, 1

  Bartolomé Maso, 1, 2

  Baseball, 1, 2, 3

  Basic Units of Cooperative Production, 1

  Batista, Fulgencio, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5


  Battle of Ideas, 1, 2

  Bay of Pigs, 1, 2

  Bay of Pigs invasion, 1, 2

  Bayamo, 1, 2, 3 Casa Natal Cespedes, 1

  General Garcia Street, 1

  heat, 1

  history of, 1

  Iglesia de Santisimo Salvador, 1

  New, 1

  Parque Nico Lopez, 1

  Rio Bayamo, 1

  Beting, Joelmir, 1

  Betto, Frei Fidel and Religion, 1, 2, 3

  Biran, 1, 2

  Blanco, Francisco, 1

  Bolivia, Ché’s venture in, 1, 2

  Bosch, José, 1, 2

  Bosch, Orlando, 1, 2

  Bosch, Pepin, 1, 2, 3

  Bouillier, José Leon, 1

  Bouquet, Colonel Henry, 1

  Bundy, McGeorge, 1

  Bureaucracy, 1

  Cabello, Marta Beatriz Roque, 1

  Cabrero, Dr Pedro Arturo Hernandez. 1

  Caimanero, 1, 2

  Camaguey, 1 Casino Campestre, 1, 2

  churches, 1

  zoo, 1

  Camaguey Ballet Company, 1

  Campismos, 1, 2

  Campoamer, Fernando, 1

  Cantillo, General Eulogio, 1, 2

  Cardenal, Ernesto, 1

  Cars, 1, 2

  Casa de Pedro y Candida, 1, 2

  Casas, Fray Bartolomé de las, 1, 2

  Casas particulares, 1, 2

  Cason, James, 1, 2

  Castillo de Jagua, 1

  Castillo de la Punta, 1

  Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, 1

  Castillo de Moro, 1

  Castillo, Ramon Humberto Colas, 1