"Cubans have struggled with the meaning of freedom for a long time. At first it was in the form of runaway slaves and slave rebellions. By the 19th century it was against Spain, and later in that century these strands merged and freedom meant independence and abolition. In the 20th century, freedom was defined as defending the island from the might of the United States.
What will 21st-century freedom mean for Cubans? Friends here have told me – and this has been a refrain over the many years I have been coming to the island – that all they want is to live the life they want and to have more choices, but not necessarily to dismantle the state. Castro has been wise to not hold back the tide of change. Cubans, as their complex history has shown, are willing to fight.
Maybe it was the man with the shiny gold tooth, blue smartphone in his pocket, and large pair of black headphones round his neck who clarified the events of that day for me, after my walk along the seafront. Clutching a small box of rum while standing in a queue for a pizza slice, he declared on Wednesday evening: “People used to be afraid to speak out. Now, I’m not afraid.”
After an open and animated chat, I returned to my casa particular, where the host family had broken out the vintage port they normally reserve for the new year in order to celebrate this new age. They, too, were forthcoming with their opinions, and we raised our glasses many times that evening. Right now, this is the real Cuba, the one that is not afraid of the changes to come. The question is: when it comes to Cuba’s future, are the rest of us still living in the past?"
Carrie Gibson’s history of the Caribbean, Empire’s Crossroads, is published by Pan Macmillan.
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