The above photo taken at the "Conejito" rest stop at Km 96 in Habana.
12-21-06
Today we waited for a friend that I share a car with. We waited all day, and at 3 pm he and the car arrived. We loaded the car and it began to pour rain. We left for Santa Clara at 4pm. We couldn’t find the highway for 30 minutes, becoming completely lost, as I have each and every time I try to go to Santa Clara from Habana. The speed limit on the Cuban highway is 2 beers per hour; I maintained the speed limit. We stopped at each rest stop or ‘Conejito’ each 100 km to indulge in salty and frothy treats. The bathrooms are unbelievable revolting. There is never, ever toilet paper in these places. Often the toilet hasn’t been flushed in years, there is no running water, and yet, the ‘attendant’ is waiting outside the bathroom for his tip. Tip? For what? For making sure the roof didn’t fall in on me?
We pass many police on the way. Never before have I seen so many waiting under each bridge, along the sides of the highway. They stop any car they want, ask for papers, and search the vehicle. They are beginning to get nervous. The Cuban people want a change, and the only thing the authorities can do is repress them more, to retain their power.
I spoke with a woman last night, in her house about the situation is for her, living in Cuba.
She told me that the people here in the province are tired of the lies, that they are not blind. No one believes in the lies the government fabricates anymore. She has a son that has been imprisoned for the past 5 months. He was in charge of a house that a jinetera, or prostitute was renting one night. He claims it was the first time he had ever done a thing like that. He was caught, and sentenced to eight years. His mother wants only to see him, and give him a kiss. He suffering is unimaginable. He has a wife, 8 months pregnant, she went to visit him one day, in her maternity dress. As she tried to enter the prison, a guard told her that if she were to come back another time, she should be nude, so as not to be hiding anything under her clothes.
The mother told me, that the people are helpless against the corruption of the police, the oppression of the government and the economic despair they all suffer. People are talking about how in Havana there is some unrest. I have not noticed any, but what this is telling me, is that the people want change, and are starting to spread rumors about it. She told me no one likes Raul. Here, they call him, "Cantinflora" a vulgar term for the canteen that soldiers drink from.
The Cubans are Fidelistas, they are not Socialistas. They love their oppressive, maniacal leader; he has charisma.
His brother Raul, does not. He is not a man of the people, he has not once visited the provinces. His homage to the human chess piece, Elian Gonzalez, on his birthday in December showed him as a stiff, unsure public speaker. The current system cannot continue under this leader. It has only lasted this long through the oppression, and charisma of Fidel. For all intents are purposes, he is dead. There is a prominent sign in Habana, near the Plaza Revolucion and close by the official office of Fidel Castro. It is a sign that is testimony to the Cult of Personality of Fidel. Like Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Kim Il Sung, Fidel has inflated his persona, and appears godlike and omniscient on the televisions, radio and on the streets, on these massive posters.
The sign translates as " We are doing great"
What will come next for the Cubans?
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