When Billy Cameron first went to Cuba in the mid 1990s it was just for a sun’n’fun holiday on the beach. He had no idea the Caribbean island nation, its people, culture, and society would become one of his great personal and political passions.
Billy, a Labour councillor in Galway City Central, first went to Cuba in 1995. A friend, who had been there during the time of the island’s close relationship with the Soviet Union, recommended he take a trip there “before it changes”.
“You needn’t be in any rush to go yourself,” laughs Billy as we sit for the interview on Wednesday morning. “The Cubans don’t seem to be in any hurry towards capitalism.”
Since that trip Billy has taken a very active interest in Cuban affairs, joining the Cuba Solidarity Group Galway, and returning to the island to take a closer look at its politics and society, as well as attending a solidarity conference in Havana a couple of years ago.
Billy has just returned from his recent trip to Havana where he visited the Latin American School of Medicine, spoke to workers at a city allotment in Havana, and visited sites associated with Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution.
La gente y la música
Cuba is the only Communist state in the Americas and for this it pays a heavy price having sanctions imposed on it by the world largest economy, the superpower that is the USA. To describe the USA’s sanctions on the tiny nation as vindictive is an understatement.
Yet, Billy says that despite the hardships this imposes on the Cuban people, they remain resourceful and inventive, and a strong community spirit pervades life there.
“Progress is very slow but they are living under a blockade,” he says. “That hinders economic development but it has not dented people’s social aspirins in the fields of medicine, education, research, in the area of tourism, and in relations with other Latin American nations, so things are advancing.
“What I see among the people is their ability to cope with adversity. You can see that in the fact that there are more cars on the roads now than before - 1950s Cheveys and Buicks as well as Russian Ladas - all in good condition. Despite not being able to get parts from America, the Cubans show great innovation in how they still manage to maintain the vehicles. They are resourceful.
“There is also a great sense of solidarity and social consciousness. People there look out for each other and you will see the unemployed, the doctor, the professors, and the security forces all living in the same community.”
Of course Cuba is celebrated for its rich and vibrant musical scene, first popularised internationally by the Buena Vista Social Club. It’s something that hits you the moment you get off the aeroplane.
“From the moment I arrived the Vedado area of Havana was thronged with young people coming out from a concert,” says Billy. “At the same time there was music coming from other buildings and on the street. No matter where you go there is music. They love it.”
Cuba can be a place of contradictions. It is certainly an island that provokes contradictory opinions. Many of its opponents in the West declare it an oppressive dictatorship, a human rights abuser, a country made backwards by Communism, whose people would rather live in a capitalist state.
Billy’s experience of the island over the last 15 years gives the lie to the latter two charges, but what about the first two? Is Cuba an oppressive state which abuses human rights?
“There are areas which have wealth, and that creates an upper and lower class,” he says. “One fault I find in the system is that there is no press freedom. The daily newspaper is a mouthpiece of the Communist Party. The lack of press freedom is not something I can go along with.
“Yet the TV stations show soap operas from across Latin America and films from the USA with a strong humanitarian, socially conscious, or educational theme in them, so it is not cut off from the outside world or other opinions.
“With regard to human rights, I would make this comparison with Galway: When you walk down the street La Rampa in the Vedado, you will see it thronged with young people - Goths, rockers, arty types - drinking rum and coke and playing guitar, just further down the gay community will congregate and do the same. The area is heavily policed, but if we are talking about the right to congregate it is there and is not abused. People are able to live their life.
“Each neighbourhood also has a committee for the defence of the revolution. I know a woman in one of the neighbourhoods, who was very outspoken and not a member, yet she was never hindered or abused because of this.”
Health in Cuba
Despite the hardships imposed by the US blockade, Cuba’s health system is regarded as one of the nation’s great triumphs and is admired across the world. Billy got a chance to see why when he visited the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana.
“It’s a monument to solidarity and internationalism,” he declares, “in that a small country invites 1,500 students per year, who come from disadvantaged areas across Latin America, to study there free. I saw people getting as good an education as in any European country. There were six students from the USA, who were immersed in the Spanish language for six months, then did their pre-med course, and a further two years of study.
“The majority of students come from working class and indigenous backgrounds, mostly from Honduras, Guatemala, and Haiti. Some 7,256 doctors from 45 countries, including 84 indigenous communities have qualified from there. It speaks volumes that presidents from 44 countries have visited the school.”
The Galway City Council is looking into the possibility of creating allotments for the city so Billy was interested in seeing how allotments in Havana are run.
“They are run by the community not by individuals as we are trying to do in Galway, but I thought it worth a look,” he said. “What impressed me was that 85 per cent of the fruit and veg consumed in Havana is produced within a 50km radius of the city.
“The allotment started as a small plot of about 800sq m with five workers. It is now in excess of 100,000sq m with 170 workers, including 55 retired people and 42 women. It has developed into a self-sufficient supplier of fruit and veg. All the food is organic and all the profit is put back into the local community and the allotment.”
Viva Che
One of Billy’s heroes is Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, the Argentine doctor who became an icon of the Cuban revolution, and later, an icon for the idea of revolution itself. As part of his journey to Cuba, Billy made the pilgrimage to Santa Clara, a sight of great significance in the Cuban revolution.
“I went there on a Monday to see the monument to Che where his mortal remains are buried,” says Billy. “That was where Che fought one of his most famous battles, defeating the troops of the US backed dictator Fulgencio Batista, and paving the way for Fidel Castro and his men to take Havana. I also saw the Munumento a la Toma del Tren Blindado, the site of where Che and his men derailed a train, causing the surrender of 400 of Batista’s men.”
What is it about the Che that impresses Billy so much?
“Despite coming from a wealthy background he was not oblivious to social injustice, and despite his health problems [Che has asthma] he never let it interfere with his live fully. After the Cuban Revolution he could have held a ministry for life but he wanted to bring socialism, solidarity, and social justice to the rest of Latin America and Africa. He did not rest on his laurels.”
Che’s full name was Ernesto Guevara Lynch, and he was of Irish ancestry on his father’s side. Lynch is also one of the Twelve Tribes of Galway and Billy feels that a relationship between Galway and Cuba has much to offer.
“Cuba needs friends and friends who can be critical as well,” he says. “Links in terms of culture, medicine, and research would be good, and even starting to create alink will itself break down barriers and open people’s minds to the fact that Cuba is just another nation that wants to go its own way without being imposed on by the Goliath that lives beside it.”
