Don’t be fooled, change isn’t coming to Cuba

Growing up in Miami, the son of Cuban immigrants, makes talking about this repressive country all too real for me. Due to policy changes, Cuba has become the source of discussion and prospective travel for many Americans. The simple takeaway: don’t be fooled.

Just 90 miles away from the coast of the U.S., since 1959 Cuba has stood as a tyrannical, oppressive, totalitarian, and communist government. For the last 57 years, Cuban citizens have been beaten, incarcerated, and outright executed for voicing their opinions against the government. My grandfather was a political prisoner on the island. My grandmother was the victim of an “acto de repudio”, when the government gathers all your neighbors and co-workers and has them throw rocks and eggs at your house, spray-paint obscenities on your walls, and simultaneously yell insults at you. My father was part of the calling, in which men are taken from their home at 16, drafted into the army, and forced to cut sugar cane and other crops for four years.

Painting of Fidel Castro. Communist Propaganda fills the streets

Needless to say, with any bit of sense Cubans try to leave the island by any means they can. The government of Cuba does not allow travel of its own citizens out of the country unless they have been scrupulously vetted to be a member of the communist party and the government believes they will return. Living in Miami, there are constant reports of Cuban immigrants landing on the shores of the Florida Keys or Miami Beach, after days in the ocean without food or water.

15 months ago President Obama announced the reopening of embassies between the U.S. and Cuba and the lowering of some travel restrictions making the possibility of American tourism ever more likely. The administration sees these steps as an avenue for a free Cuba. That is completely wrong.

Cuban Hospital ‘Hijas de Galicia’. This is the country with the supposed best health care system in the world. Patients must provide their own beds, medicine, and surgical equipment. This is the rule not the exception

Granted, no Cuban-American member of congress has come out supporting these actions nor were they consulted when crafting this policy shift. Instead, the bureaucrats of Washington who know as much about Cuba as they know about Mars are the ones traveling to the island on March 21, ready to absorb the lies of a ruthless regime. Google “Cuba” and all you will find are picturesque images of old cars and tropical landscapes. If you leave that tourist area; however, you will be shocked to see the real Cuba. The Cuba that is colorless and destroyed.

The Cuban government owns everything and everyone. Every dollar spent on the island benefits only one entity, the government. Every cigar you buy or mojito you drink supports the dictatorship. So when you are think about traveling to Cuba for a summer abroad or for a cultural immersion, think again, because all you will experience is a lie.

Cuban Movie Theater. In the 1950s Havana, Cuba had 130 movie theaters, the most in one city worldwide. There are currently only seven theaters

Cuban Restaurant. The so-called Cuban Small Businesses that are the pinnacle of Cuban reforms

Calle Herrera. Street where my family grew up on

Ice Cream Factory. In 1959, Cuba nationalized all private businesses without compensation to their owners. This ice cream factory remains abandoned

Supermarket. Cubans are not allowed to buy whatever they want. A ration book is given to every Cuban which says how much of a product they can buy a month. Example, a bag of rice per family per month

Calle Reforma

Calzada de Luyano. Main street of Luyano, one of Havana’s boroughs

Corner street sign

Abandoned Gas Station

Fruit Vendor. The so-called Cuban entrepreneur, which through American tourism will thrive and bring democratic change

Ministry of Interior. Government building with the face of Che Guevara, personally responsible for the execution of about 200 Cuban political prisoners

This is what happens to peaceful protests in Cuba.