Cuban artists have not had it easy, and Tomas Sanchez can tell you about his own struggles to live life as an artist in Cuba. Although he left Cuba in the 1990s to live in Mexico, he still feels the effects of the Cuban government wherever he goes.
Once fired from a job as an art instructor because he practiced yoga and meditation, Sanchez also lived in Costa Rica but is now buying a place in Miami. He said that in Cuba, Cuban artists and others applying for jobs are asked whether they believe in God. The right answer to get the job would be to say no.
Cuban artists have typically had it better than others, however, since they are more apt to be allowed to live abroad. The Cuban government sometimes will ask for as much as 3/4 of their earnings, however.
He’s famous for his paintings of tropical scenes but he will have his first photography show this December.
What’s with the street-side cafeterias in Cuba? Especially in Havana, you can see sidewalk eateries everywhere, selling all sorts of food, from fruit to mayo sandwiches. Who runs these, since the country is supposedly government run?
The street food in Cuba is sold by small business owners who are trying to make it in a very difficult economy. The Cuban government has allowed certain types of businesses to be privately-owned, and food carts is a very popular area for Cuban entrepreneurs.
Eating at a posh new restaurant in Havana, that’s aimed at comparatively rich foreigners is one thing. Yes, many of the spas, clubs and restaurants are privately owned and they stand for the success story of Cuba’s transformation to a slightly more capitalistic economy. However, for every tourist restaurant that makes it, there are a dozen carts selling street food in Cuba…that don’t make it. They are selling to their fellow citizens, who more than likely don’t have any money. They have a heavy tax burden and no start up money.
If you’re traveling to Cuba and venture out walking around Havana or whatever city you’re in, you’ll see the street food almost everywhere. Just look for big umbrellas, which shade the owner as he or she tries to make capitalism in Cuba work.
President Obama has made good on promises to work on making travel to Cuba easier. Here is a summary of the state of things right now.
- U.S. citizens can send money to Cuban citizens, as long as the Cuban is not a member of the Communist party. The limit is $500 per quarter, or $2000 per year.
- We can all travel to Cuba now, as long as it’s as part of a group going under auspices of religious, cultural, or educational guise, and is a licensed tour group.
- US airports can apply to serve Cuba-bound charter flights, as long as it has immigration facilities and customs facilities that are adequate.
With these new guidelines, President Obama is hoping to reach out the the Cuban people to support their freedom. Back in May 2011, Obama said he needs to see some real change from the Cuban government before we can work on normal relations and travel to Cuba. This was a bit of a setback after so much optimism when Obama first took office and eased travel and remittance rules between USA and Cuba.
The Freedom to Travel Act is under consideration on Capitol Hill right now. That’s big news for anyone following the USA to Cuba events, or anyone who wants to travel to Cuba. There are already 180 people in Congress who are willing to cosponsor the bill, and a similar bill in the Senate has thirty-two Senators endorsing that bill. Is it too early to start packing your bags for travel to Cuba?
The House Foreign Relations Committee is considering the bill now, which is just the first step in the legislative process. This committee has to approve the bill in order for the process to continue into an actual piece of legislation. There are thousands of signatures from the public, supporting Freedom to Travel to Cuba, including many online signatures from Orbitz.com.
The grassroots movement supporting Cuba travel is strong. In fact, polls taken in September 2009 indicate that even Cuban-Americans are in support of opening up travel to Cuba. 59 % of Cuban-Americans were in favor of lifting the ban for all Americans. The tide has certainly begun to change in the public, and even on Capitol Hill, we hope!
After years of chronic transportation woes, Cuba travel is finally getting some relief. President Raul Castro’s Ministry of Transportation is granting licenses to car owners who want to use their vehicles as taxis. This is big news for lots of Cubans, including city dwellers of Havana, who often have to hitchhike to work every morning. Or stand in lines for buses, then pack in like sardines. People in the countryside or suburbs often wait all day for a bus to pass by. Cuba travel within the country is in a dismal state.
The Cuban government put a big damper on Cuba travel and stopped issuing taxi licenses in 1999 and car ownership is not common among most citizens of Cuba. To get around, people have to be creative, to say the least. There are taxis, but they don’t cruise around much because that eats up a lot of gas. There are nice taxis, even, but these are for tourists and charge up to $30 for a sweep around Havana. Taxis for Cuban citizens cost about $.50 for a typical common ride.
The Cuba travel situation isn’t even good when it comes to buses, aren’t easy to get in Cuba. There just aren’t many. The old buses they use from the Soviet Era. They are hand me downs from East Germany and still have East German cities as their destinations. The government has purchased nice buses from China, but they are used to shuttle tourists around.
Alas, the new taxi licenses allow drivers to ferry Cubans only, not foreigners. So if you’re trying to figure out how to travel to Cuba this won’t help much. But it should help the transportation system in general as Cuba tries to move forward on Raul’s promise to improve daily life for Cuban citizens.
Sometimes Cuba culture comes to us so we don’t have to worry about how to travel to Cuba. Cuba’s National Ballet Company and the great Alicia Alonso, the 83 year-old General Director, are touring Europe. This company is world-famous for its dancers and performances, and Ms. Alonso was once the hottest ticket on the circuit, in the 1940s. The Company will be performing these ballets, in a tour of Cuba culture that ends in Italy on November 15:
Featured dancers are:Viengsay Valdés, Anette Delgado, Sadaise Arencibia, Yolanda Correa, Yanela Piñera, Joel Carreño, Javier Torres, Elier Bourzac, Ernesto Álvarez and Alejandro Virreyes. In 2004, Cuba’s National Ballet Company toured the United States and five dancers defected, which was a big blow for Cuba culture. It was a painful time for Alicia Alonso, who had trained them for nine years. They ended up with the Cincinnati Ballet, two of them becoming soloists.
Up and coming ballet dancers Cuba are hand-picked while very young and given free training. Top dancers earn about $50 per month. Stars in the US can earn up to $10,000 for just one gala performance! However, in the US, classic training is extremely expensive, while it’s free in Cuba. One thing for the current regime is that it seems to value this area of Cuba culture, at least just a little bit.
It’s coming soon, we knew it would happen. Cuba will soon open up to travel, thanks to the new Obama administration. We’re watching with bated breath, now that relatives can freely travel. We hope anyone can travel to Cuba soon, anyone with a desire to see a new place, new faces. We’re watching from as close as you can get, Key West FL. That’s only 70 miles to Cuba, as the crow flies. We hear a small buzz in the air, as people talk of starting charter companies that will ferry visitors from Key West to Cuba, via boat. When that happens, Key West will change yet again, morphed by the tourism industry every twenty years or so. The world will be watching, so stay tuned for what’s happening in Cuba travel.
July 3, 2009 – Confederation Park, Ottowa. The Chucho Valdés Quintet wowed the crowd at the 2009 Ottowa International Jazz Festival today. The weather had been rainy but miraculously the skies cleared just in time for the pianist and his quartet to wow the crowd with their island rythms. Chucho Valdés is a Grammy winner – five times over.
Vocalist Mayra Caridad Valdez and the rest of the group gained whooping admiration from the crowd as they built the intensity of their music. The played for about an hour and a half, and everyone forgot the rain, the mud, and everything else for that matter. It was all about Chucho Valdés, his group, and the fabulous Cuban music they shared with the audience. Encores and standing ovations followed, and the night was capped by a dueling set of gourd shakers. It was a spectacular show and a great night for fans of Cuban music.
This was a huge month in Jazz history, since Chucho Valdes has been missing from the scene for seven years…did he break a mirror? He’s the Cuban ambassador of Latin jazz and one of the best pianists in the world.
Cuban artists have not had it easy, and Tomas Sanchez can tell you about his own struggles to live life as an artist in Cuba. Although he left Cuba in the 1990s to live in Mexico, he still feels the effects of the Cuban government wherever he goes.
