cubaninsider: A New Cuba Arising

28.7.15

A New Cuba Arising

And A Wonder To Behold

A good way to get to know and understand the changes taking place in Cuba is to purchase this book: "PASSAGE TO CUBA: An Up-Close Look At The world's most Colorful Culture." It is a portrait of love by a great American photographer, Cynthia Carris Alonso. Since 1993, she has made many trips to the island, astutely capturing in unforgettable photos Cuba's people, their culture, and their hopes and dreams.

This is Cynthia Carris Alonso. {Photo courtesy: Alicia Alonso} "Passage To Cuba" is her first book but her photography has earned her many awards and accolades. She has had a love affair with Cuba and its people for over two decades, as illustrated by photos and loving captions in this book. She told the The New York Daily News, "I am hopeful that political changes will bring economic benefits for the Cuban people as well as for foreign investors, while preserving the beautiful spirit and culture of the Cuban people."

This Cynthia Carris Alonso photo was taken in a sugar cane field in San Antonio de Los Banos. It is obvious she believes that the rhythms of Cuba flow the strongest in the veins of everyday Cubans.

This, I believe, is one of most poignant photos in Cynthia Carris Alonso's book "Passage To Cuba." There are on the island of Cuba today Cubans who are old enough to personally remember the brutality and thievery of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship of the 1950s. Such Cubans tend to cherish Fidel Castro's revolution the most, a fact American's visiting the island might discover for the very first time.

The uniqueness of the Cuban Revolution is defined by numerous black-and-white photos from the 1950s. Women like these with reasons like this began the downfall of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship. If Americans don't understand the revolution's origin, perhaps it relates to the fact that the Cuban narrative since 1959 has mostly been controlled by those who fled the first and finest female-powered revolt.

Time Magazine has also published an excellent pictorial of a changing Cuba: "INSIDE THE NEW CUBA: Discovering The Charm of a Once-Forbidden Island -- The People, The Culture, The Paradise." Because of dictates by revengeful Cuban-Americans, everyday Americans for decades have been the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba. That may change as Obama-led changes bring a degree of sanity and decency to U.S.-Cuban relations. Meanwhile, these two aforementioned books will provide you excellent portraits of a uniquely gorgeous island whose past, present, and future continues to fascinate.

This January of 1959 edition of Time Magazine introduced 32-year-old Fidel Castro to the American people. Notice the "July 26th" banner. He named his Cuban Revolution after his ill-fated attack on Batista's Moncada Army Garrison on July 26th, 1953. July 26th in the year 2015 was on Saturday this past weekend. The anniversary was a really big deal in Cuba, with thousands turning out for major ceremonies.

Moncada's 62nd anniversary on Sunday, July 26th, 2015. {Photo: Yamil Lage/AFP}

This past weekend in Santiago de Cuba at the 62nd anniversary celebrations of the Moncada attack, Cuban schoolchildren played the role of the attackers. Instead of guns as weapons, they are carrying giant pencils as their weapons of choice. Even though the real attackers were markedly out-gunned and it was a bloody disaster, Fidel Castro mandated that his revolution against Batista was "The July 26th Movement."

Celia Sanchez, the most important Cuban revolutionary, wore a "July 26th" armband.

Largely because of Celia Sanchez, Cuban schoolchildren today are far healthier, much safer, and considerably better educated than pre-revolutionary Cuban children were during the Batista-Mafia rule. These young students are shown at a ceremony celebrating Celia Sanchez's birthday -- May 9th.

This photo of 12-year-old Celia Sanchez is courtesy of Cuba's Oficina de Aseintos Historicos. It was taken in 1932 in the southeastern Cuban city of Manzanillo where Celia, by 1953, was orchestrating the most important and most dangerous anti-Batista urban guerrilla activity. Shortly thereafter she became the most important guerrilla leader and procurer of arms and supplies in the Sierra Maestra Mountains and its foothills. Celia was birthed on May 9th, 1920 by her father, Dr. Manuel Sanchez, in their home in the southeastern Cuban town of Media Luna, where her birthday is celebrated yearly by awed Cubans.

Photo courtesy: Barry McColgan/Facebook.

Beautiful statues of Celia Sanchez are tourist attractions in Cuba today.

After the ill-fated Moncada attack on July 26th, 1953, Fidel Castro spent almost two years in a Batista prison and then almost another two years recruiting in the U. S. and Mexico before finally hooking up with Celia Sanchez's revolution in the Sierra Maestra in December of 1956. The photo above shows Fidel examining his microscopic rifle, a gift from Celia. From that day till the day she died of cancer at age 59 on January 11, 1980, they were inseparable soul-mates. Till this day, he worships the ground she walked on.