AhoraCuba!

If we begin to analyze the current social issues in Cuba, it seems to me that it would be an interminable debate, therefore I will focus on concrete examples in and around my community.

Cojímar, simple town of fishermen and nothing more, mixture of cultures and creeds, is a perfect example of the syncretism of race. This small town that once lodged in it great figures of contemporary Cuban intellectualism, but that also was preferred by one of the great ones of North American Literature, Ernest Hemingway, has become an irrefutable sign of the existence of social classes in ¨Socialist Cuba¨.

Whichever doubts, whichever options there are in life are not necessarily always taught to our young people when the time comes to decide the correct way to live their lives. There are not always many choices... to be spiritual or materialistic, a poor intellectual or blissful worker in ignorance. Which is best for me?

Believe me, dear reader, this is a difficult decision when the panorama which appears before you is one which cannot be reasoned with, nor difficult is this decision when the panorama that appears before you cannot be reasoned with nor understood by your mind in any way. Like trying to understand that it is right that the metal worker who occasionally cleans your windows can have a higher standard of living than your mother who is a doctor. Or seeing that the civil engineer at the corner is selling ¨Pizzas and Refresco¨ because it is much more profitable to him, many times over.

We must not judge the Cuban youth to make a right decision from so few choices, when they cannot see the long-term consequences but only the short term benefits, and the government who stands to gain from their education puts them in this crossroads with so little preparation. To choose the blue tablet or the red one... what would you do?