CUBA EXPERIENCE #1

On January 5, 2002 seventeen Tufts undergraduate and graduate students boarded Cubana Airlines from Dorval Airport in Montreal to Jose Marti International Airport in La Habana, Cuba. The historic 10-day trip, organized by the Latino Center, was the first time Tufts students have "legally" visited the island. Since the implementation of the U.S. embargo on Cuba forty years ago, traveling to the island from the United States has been very difficult. Under present U.S. law, only certain individuals can travel to Cuba. These include Cuban Americans with family on the island, journalists, religious leaders and students. In order to travel to Cuba we had to apply for a license from the U.S. Treasury Dept's Office of Foreign Assets Control. We applied for the license in May and finally received it in September. In order to receive the license we had to prove to the U.S. government that we were going for educational purposes and not for tourism. The license allows Tufts students and staff the opportunity to visit Cuba for educational purposes for the next two years. Through a generous contribution from the Office of the Provost, scholarships were awarded to those students with financial need. The scholarships enabled us to select an outstanding group of students representing both racial and class diversity. The Cuban people were extremely impressed to see such a diverse group of students in light of the racism and segregation that they expected to see from a group that came from the United States.

In Cuba we spent 10 days learning about all aspects of Cuban society. The people were incredibly welcoming and open with us. We spoke with a wide range of people with very different opinions of the Cuban government and Fidel Castro. Many students were impressed with the openness of the Cuban people as they spoke about the things that they liked and didn't like about their country. Some expressed their desire to leave and others were totally committed to the revolution. Our trip took us to beautiful neighborhoods as well as the 'slums' of la Habana. We visited a very poor neighborhood where local activists were working with the community to renovate homes and provide services for the people.

We learned about Santerķa, art and music, Cuban politics, and health care from specialists and from people on the streets. In Cuba, where the population is well-educated, everyone seems to have an opinion. This trip forced us all to think a lot about our own lives in the U.S. as well question what we saw in Cuba. We were continually confronted by tremendous contradictions in a country where the peso is virtually worthless and ironically, the all mighty dollar rules. We were also confronted with the many contradictions in our own country where 40 million people have no health care. It is obvious that 10 days in Cuba is not sufficient time to answer all of our questions. Our trip allowed students the opportunity to learn firsthand about a country that most Americans have been denied access to for more than forty years.