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logo

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • THE FAMILY ALBUM
  • ONCE UPON A TIME IN ROMANIA
    • ▸Bucharest, 1989: The days of Revolution
    • ▸I’ve also lived under communism
    • ▸Portraits of transition
    • ▸”Cabernet cu pepsi”
    • ▸Romania, 1990: Beyond the headlines
    • ▸“Mineriada” – My story
    • ▸Memorial of pain
  • WORK IN PROGRESS
    • ▸Barbershop
    • ▸Melancholic Identities
    • ▸Faces
    • ▸Fragmentary world
    • ▸Two
    • ▸Buddhist monks
    • ▸About windows and walls
    • ▸Mediterraneo
  • STORIES
    • ▸Alone, together
    • ▸Life and death in Varanasi
    • ▸Trans-Siberian – An experience of becoming
    • ▸Boxing in Havana
    • ▸Moving out of Escobar shadow
    • ▸One night at Htee Thein monastery
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – I misteri
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – La pasquetta
    • ▸Stalin’s Museum in Gori
    • ▸Havana: Between magic and decay
    • ▸Muay Thai for a day
    • ▸Cuban billboards
    • ▸Seeking a geisha
    • ▸Belfast’s murals: Behind and beyond
    • ▸Riding the Yangon’s ring train
    • ▸Bazar-Barakholka-Vernisazh
    • ▸An unexpected trip to Dhobi Ghat
    • ▸A different way to look at death
    • ▸Cannes under siege
    • ▸Inside the Guru’s kitchen
    • ▸Tibetan refugees
    • ▸The Golden Triangle: A Mecca of tribal diversity
    • ▸Bullfighting: Barbaric or art ?
    • ▸Crafts and traditions in Morroco
    • ▸Glastonbury with God
  • TRAVEL
    • Cuba
      • ▸The show must go on (part 1)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 2)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 3)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 4)
    • France
      • ▸Paris
      • ▸Paris. Again
    • Greece
      • ▸Mount Athos
      • ▸Postcards from Santorini
      • ▸Athens
      • ▸Mykonos – The picture-perfect Island
    • Germany
      • ▸Berlin
    • Vietnam
      • ▸Four days in Hanoi
      • ▸Cruising through the misty Halong Bay
    • India
      • ▸Portraits of Kashmir
      • ▸Rishikesh – Spiritual marketplace
      • ▸Life on the Sidewalk
    • Ireland
      • ▸The capital of pubs
      • ▸Ireland in ten days
    • Israel
      • ▸Israel in black & white
    • Colombia
      • ▸Colombia
      • ▸Paisas, coffee and much more
      • ▸Streets of Bogota – From Dystopia to Hope
      • ▸Life along the magical Magdalena River
      • ▸A non-touristy guide to Cartagena’s Caribbean paradise
    • Myanmar
      • ▸Min-ga-la-ba Myanmar
      • ▸Up and down on the hills of Shan State
    • Japan
      • ▸Tokyo
      • ▸Springtime in Kyoto
    • Portugal
      • ▸Life at the edge of Europe
    • Russian Federation
      • ▸The unexpected Moscow
      • ▸White Nights in St. Petersburg
    • Italy
      • ▸Rome
      • ▸Random Sicily
      • ▸Vedi Napoli e poi mori
      • ▸Venice
      • ▸Vanishing Venice
    • Morocco
      • ▸Sunset, camel rides and tea in Erg Chebi
      • ▸Medinas: Morocco’s hidden cities
      • ▸Morocco outskirts
      • ▸Djemaa El Fna encounters
      • ▸Surf and hippies
      • ▸The road of the One thousand kasbahs
      • ▸Amazigh – Berber – Free men
    • Georgia
      • ▸Postcards from Georgia
      • ▸The Many Faces of Tbilisi
    • Nepal
      • ▸Kathmandu Valley
    • Romania
      • ▸Romania to go
      • ▸Maramures
      • ▸Tara Motilor
    • Jordan
      • ▸Bedouin Trails
    • Turkey
      • ▸From Turkey with love
      • ▸Ballooning Cappadocia
      • ▸Where East meets West
      • ▸Street life, Istanbul-style
    • Mexico
      • ▸Finding Mexico City
    • Malaysia
      • ▸Transit KL
    • UK
      • ▸London
      • ▸Grab your kilt and bring your pipes
    • Sweden
      • ▸Stockholm
    • Spain
      • ▸Off-season Andalusia
    • Thailand
      • ▸Bangkok, year 2555
      • ▸Life in Pai
      • ▸Thailand
    • Laos
      • ▸Luang Prabang – The City of ultimate Zen
    • Poland
      • ▸Why I love Poland
    • Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
      • ▸Neighbors, but not relatives
      • ▸Patarei – A little slice of Hell
    • Findland
      • ▸A sunny day in Helsinki
    • Denmark
      • ▸Copenhagen
  • SINGLES
  • CONTACT
  • MY BOOKS
  • MY VIDEOS
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Cookie Policy (EU)
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The show must go on (part 3)

 

In 2011, I visited the island for the third time. After 52 years of revolution, Fidel Castro’s retirement from presidency has become official. Which way will chose Raul Castro to lead his country along after his brother stepped down? He declared that he intended to launch economic reforms, but that he would not swerve from the road of socialism whose priorities will be retained to meet the basic needs of the population through gradual progressive changes. The reforms, which began in 2008, included allowing individuals and cooperatives to cultivate unutilized plots of land, permitting self-employment in a wider range of activities, relaxing the restrictions on operating private restaurants and room rentals or allowing Cuban citizens to buy and sell homes.

For the time being, the revolution has been saved and communism can be sipped, aseptic and risk-free, in a “Cuba Libre” glass. The tourist routes on offer are full of a kind of “authentic” poverty which point to rather freedom and a joyous laziness than the real misery. Thus, Cuba is still perceived as an authentic territory where people live carelessly, under the merry leadership of a “cool” tyrant, who knows how to enjoy himself. The fact that the books, songs and the gadgets with Che Guevara, dandy of the Revolution, continue to sell in record amounts is the proof that the myth of Cuba as exotic paradise is still working and the Cuban communism remains, ironically and perplexed, a successful market product.

 

 

 

 

The show must go on (part 3)

 

In 2011, I visited the island for the third time. After 52 years of revolution, Fidel Castro’s retirement from presidency has become official. Which way will chose Raul Castro to lead his country along after his brother stepped down? He declared that he intended to launch economic reforms, but that he would not swerve from the road of socialism whose priorities will be retained to meet the basic needs of the population through gradual progressive changes. The reforms, which began in 2008, included allowing individuals and cooperatives to cultivate unutilized plots of land, permitting self-employment in a wider range of activities, relaxing the restrictions on operating private restaurants and room rentals or allowing Cuban citizens to buy and sell homes.

For the time being, the revolution has been saved and communism can be sipped, aseptic and risk-free, in a “Cuba Libre” glass. The tourist routes on offer are full of a kind of “authentic” poverty which point to rather freedom and a joyous laziness than the real misery. Thus, Cuba is still perceived as an authentic territory where people live carelessly, under the merry leadership of a “cool” tyrant, who knows how to enjoy himself. The fact that the books, songs and the gadgets with Che Guevara, dandy of the Revolution, continue to sell in record amounts is the proof that the myth of Cuba as exotic paradise is still working and the Cuban communism remains, ironically and perplexed, a successful market product.

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