HAVANA — The restoration of diplomatic ties between Cuba and the United States unleashed expectations Thursday of momentous changes on an island that often seems frozen in a past of classic cars and crumbling Art Deco buildings.
On the first full day after the surprise announcement, many Cubans expressed hope that it will mean greater access to things taken for granted elsewhere, and will lift a struggling socialist economy where staples like meat, cooking oil and toilet paper are often hard to come by.
“It’s an extraordinary turn of events for Cubans and Cuban-Americans,” said Sandro Hernandez, 42, a computer technician who hopes to see more jobs created as a result of restored relations.
That optimism, however, was tempered with anxiety. Some fear a cultural onslaught, or that crime and drugs, both rare in Cuba, will become common along with visitors from the U.S. There is also concern that the country will become just another Caribbean destination.
“There are things that shouldn’t get lost, that have gone very well here even though Cubans complain,” said Nayda Martinez, 52, a chemical engineer in Havana. “I don’t want the system, the country or the regime, whatever you want to call it, to change. What the people want is to live better.”
That mix of good and bad was a common refrain Thursday among Cubans trying to digest the implications of such a seismic shift between the two Cold War rivals after more than half a century of bad blood.
Trade with the U.S. will help the country develop, said homemaker Maria Betancourt, 55, but she said she worried it would bring another kind of isolation.
“I wouldn’t want to lose that uniquely Cuban solidarity, or for this to become a more consumerist or individualist society,” she said.
Cuba is a place of contrasts. It matches the most developed nations in education and health indicators such as infant mortality. It has one of the lowest crime rates in the Western Hemisphere and some of the best-preserved habitat in the Caribbean, in part because of the lack of development.
But the majority of islanders work government jobs that pay $20 a month on average. Internet access is scarce, slow and expensive. There is almost no media that isn’t controlled by the state. The Communist Party is the only sanctioned political party, and that is not open to debate. Complaining about a pothole on your street is OK, but openly protesting the government can still land you in jail.
“Life here is so tough”
Cubans have learned to navigate their political system and figured out how to survive amid the scarcity, long lines and a chronic housing crunch that forces families to pack three generations or more under one roof. Many are eager for change, but no one yet knows what the diplomatic opening will bring.
“Life here is so tough that if it keeps getting worse, there will be even more problems,” said Jose Marcos, a 35-year-old shop employee.
While people cheered Wednesday when they learned that three Cuban agents held in the United States had been sent home as part of a deal that also released American Alan Gross after five years in prison, Havana was quiet Thursday.
People went about their daily routines, with bicycle taxi drivers pedaling the streets looking for fares and fruit vendors calling out to passers-by. There was no immediate word of plans for any official celebration like the welcome home party in 2000 for Elian Gonzalez after a yearlong custody battle in Miami.
Trade and cooperation
President Raul Castro has introduced economic reforms, letting hundreds of thousands of people run small private businesses and hire employees, and buy and sell their homes for the first time since the early days of the 1959 revolution. He has allowed the sale of used cars, though the famous classic Chevys and Cadillacs, often kept road-worthy with makeshift parts, are still a delight to tourists.
One way the society might change is psychological. Some Cubans will have to get used to doing normal business with the United States, which for decades has been demonized as the enemy.
In addition to increased trade, there will likely be greater cooperation on shared interests such as counter-narcotics and the environment as occurs between the U.S. and most other countries, even communist ones, said Peter Kornbluh, a fellow at the National Security Archive in Washington.
Cubans might have to get used to the notion that they are not at war with the United States anymore, said Kornbluh, co-author of “Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana.”
“A society that has lived in the historic dark shadow of the colossus of the north is now feeling some sunlight,” he said. “The lifting of the general state of siege mentality that normal relations will bring is ultra-important.”
