The Argentine people, in the face of economic collapse, provide a hopeful…
Frenemies
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- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
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Set to the pulsating beats of Afro-Caribbean music, the feature-length documentary film Frenemies examines the fraught relationship between the island nation of Cuba and the United States.
Presenting a critical perspective on both governments, Frenemies blends archival footage with contemporary examples of Cuba’s economic decay and vibrant culture, painting a vivid portrait of a nation fighting for survival against the world’s longest-running embargo.
"With stunning scenes of Cuba, Frenemies provides a historical and contemporary context for understanding the sixty-year US embargo against Cuba. This film combines a clear description of the US policy with vivid personal stories which make it riveting and appropriate for a broad audience and classrooms." Philip Brenner, Emeritus Professor of International Relations, American University, Co-author, Cuba Libre: A 500-Year Quest for Independence
"Frenemies will help our students think about policy issues, especially international policy, in deeper ways." Dr. Thereasa Abrams, Assistant Professor of Social Work, University of Tennessee Knoxville
"By juxtaposing our prejudices and our responsibility to historic facts and just society, while challenging our notions of ethics and borders, through this inspiring film the director and producer Mirella Martinelli is offering a mandatory educational tool, which presents an excellent starting point for several interesting classroom discussions." Jasmina Bojic, Lecturer, Program in International Relations, Director, Camera As Witness Program, Stanford University
"Frenemies is the best Cuban documentary made to date! It is not pro-Cuban Government. It gives clarity to the insanity of the US embargo toward Cuba. Regardless of your politics on US/Cuba relations you will enjoy this documentary film - the music, the scenery, the actors, the citizens on the street and the story line are magnificent and factual." Albert A. Fox, Jr., President Founder and President, Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy Foundation
"I've just seen Mirella's fantastic film Frenemies and I am very very impressed!...It is a vivid evocation of the Cuba that I've experienced...and the insanity of the continued embargo. I am very much sympathetic with the point of view of Frenemies, the film, and hope it sees as wide an audience as possible." Walter Murch, Academy Award winning editor and sound designer, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather
"Frenemies is more than a history lesson, an activist film, the denunciation of an inhumane economic blockade for decades. It is also a film about dialogue, which cultivates a white rose for the sincere friend, the cruel enemy, and the unsuspecting viewer, led right into an all-important conversation." Erica M. Munhoz, Literary Scholar, Brazil
"Frenemies is a critically relevant film for our times. It brings a new and different voice to the narrative on Cuba. It inspires debate and passions among all Cubans. Frenemies can be an instrument of dialogue and restoration between close neighbors." Teresita Angela Terga, Publisher, Writer, Producer
Citation
Main credits
Martinelli, Mirella (film director)
Martinelli, Mirella (film producer)
Martinelli, Mirella (director of photography)
Coffman, Elizabeth (film producer)
Other credits
Cinematography, Miguel Coyula, Mirella Martinelli, Jake Smucker.
Distributor subjects
Anthropology; Capitalism; Central America; The Caribbean; Citizenship; Civics; Economics; Foreign Policy; Geography; History; Human Rights; International Studies; Journalism; Political Science; Race and Racism; SociologyKeywords
00:00:00.150 --> 00:00:02.504
[waves lapping]
00:00:48.170 --> 00:00:49.730
- I remember going to Key West
00:00:49.730 --> 00:00:51.660
and looking at the southernmost point
00:00:51.660 --> 00:00:53.530
and saying it was 90 miles from Cuba,
00:00:53.530 --> 00:00:55.160
thinking I can't wait to get there.
00:00:55.160 --> 00:00:58.050
And that was probably,
you know, 25 years ago.
00:00:58.050 --> 00:01:00.749
I had nightmares before I left.
00:01:00.749 --> 00:01:02.174
Russia was in Cuba.
00:01:02.174 --> 00:01:05.440
[singing in Yoruba]
00:01:05.440 --> 00:01:08.773
It was a no-no to even want to go there.
00:01:10.550 --> 00:01:14.790
Once the travel ban was
lifted, my dad, my uncle,
00:01:14.790 --> 00:01:19.292
my sisters, we kind of just
got there as soon as we can.
00:01:19.292 --> 00:01:20.750
[harness clanking]
00:01:20.750 --> 00:01:22.700
- We Americans were not allowed
00:01:22.700 --> 00:01:24.743
to go wandering off on our own.
00:01:25.640 --> 00:01:27.460
- The first time I went to Cuba,
00:01:27.460 --> 00:01:30.313
I went on what was
called a medical mission.
00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:35.740
- I visited several times
because I love Cuba.
00:01:35.740 --> 00:01:37.860
And to see, could I live here?
00:01:37.860 --> 00:01:41.296
It's not an easy place to
live, it's under a blockade.
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[Music - Mezclarte, "Soñaba Yo"]
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["Soñaba Yo" continues]
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- I was born in Cuba
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in a small mountain town called Fomento,
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and I was raised in Massachusetts.
00:02:26.440 --> 00:02:29.800
- I had two scholarships
in the US and I lived there
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for almost 10 years.
00:02:31.220 --> 00:02:32.636
And after the Guggenheim fellowship ended
00:02:32.636 --> 00:02:33.711
I returned to Cuba,
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and a lot of people
here thought I was crazy
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because I was coming back here.
00:02:37.071 --> 00:02:41.238
[singing in Spanish]
00:02:53.605 --> 00:02:57.350
- I was seeing past the
geopolitics and the propaganda.
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This was about people.
This was about violence.
00:03:00.839 --> 00:03:03.672
[waves lapping]
00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:11.850
- I was born in Bronx, New York.
00:03:11.850 --> 00:03:16.290
My first trip to Cuba was in 1989
00:03:16.290 --> 00:03:21.290
and I was getting re-certified
to teach social studies.
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And I was thinking, how do you
teach government, you know?
00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:29.460
And it was during Glasnost,
00:03:29.460 --> 00:03:32.960
and I said to my daughter
who had started college,
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"Socialism doesn't work."
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I'd been an activist all my life,
00:03:35.980 --> 00:03:37.340
and I said, "It's not working in
00:03:37.340 --> 00:03:39.080
"the Soviet Union, it doesn't work."
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And she said, "It works in Cuba."
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So I said, well, let me go
and see if I'm gonna teach it.
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And I fell in love with the country.
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[lively salsa music]
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[salsa music continues]
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And I went with a group of teachers.
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I had nightmares before I left,
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because this was at
the end of the Cold War
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so we were getting, you know,
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what it was like in the Soviet Union.
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And it was scary, people
following you around,
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and so that I imagined would be like Cuba.
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So it was so different.
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[kids shrieking]
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Very warm, very friendly.
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- [Man] The majority of people that visit,
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within a day or two
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they're in a Cuban's house for something,
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whether it's playing the
guitar or drinking a coffee.
00:05:02.510 --> 00:05:05.780
- The way everybody
lets themselves be free
00:05:05.780 --> 00:05:08.520
in their laughter, in their conduct,
00:05:08.520 --> 00:05:13.520
in their love of the music,
and they seem uninhibited.
00:05:15.490 --> 00:05:20.460
- There's a simplicity of
happiness and of enjoying life,
00:05:20.460 --> 00:05:22.000
and that's not to oversimplify.
00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:25.190
I think a lot of times
when folks read about Cuba
00:05:25.190 --> 00:05:28.680
or think about Cuba, you
know, Cubans are so happy.
00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:30.030
Cubans are just normal people.
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There's Cubans that are depressed.
00:05:31.410 --> 00:05:32.843
There's Cubans that are happy.
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[lively Latin pop music]
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[Latin pop music continues]
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- I'm going back to Cuba in a few weeks,
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and I've been studying about Santeria.
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Santeria is an Afro-Cuban spirit religion.
00:06:18.510 --> 00:06:23.510
It has roots in Nigerian Yoruba culture.
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[stately piano music]
00:06:49.130 --> 00:06:54.130
- The US relationship in
Cuba before the revolution
00:06:55.510 --> 00:06:58.440
is highly relevant even to this day.
00:06:58.440 --> 00:07:03.440
It's almost ingrained in
the psychology of Cubans
00:07:03.670 --> 00:07:06.310
in terms of foreign domination,
00:07:06.310 --> 00:07:07.560
and not only with the United States,
00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:10.450
Spain's role with Cuba as a colony.
00:07:10.450 --> 00:07:14.640
They've basically been
dominated by a foreign power,
00:07:14.640 --> 00:07:16.913
since the island was cultivated.
00:07:18.510 --> 00:07:22.660
- Back around the turn of the
century, Cuba, Puerto Rico,
00:07:22.660 --> 00:07:26.980
there was starvation, there
was poverty, there was unrest.
00:07:26.980 --> 00:07:30.863
Their governments simply
didn't take care of the people.
00:07:31.870 --> 00:07:33.663
There were revolutionary movements.
00:07:34.820 --> 00:07:37.740
So there grew up in the
United States a faction
00:07:37.740 --> 00:07:40.520
led by a rich American publisher
00:07:40.520 --> 00:07:43.093
named William Randolph Hurst.
00:07:44.200 --> 00:07:48.850
He created a propaganda machine
and built a mass movement
00:07:48.850 --> 00:07:51.270
over a period of about seven years
00:07:51.270 --> 00:07:54.873
that led directly to the
Spanish-American war.
00:07:54.873 --> 00:07:58.206
[stately piano music]
00:07:59.380 --> 00:08:01.830
Spain had stopped being a world power
00:08:01.830 --> 00:08:03.603
100 years before that war,
00:08:04.470 --> 00:08:08.130
but they still had control of Cuba,
00:08:08.130 --> 00:08:10.671
Puerto Rico, the Philippines.
00:08:10.671 --> 00:08:12.660
[waves crashing]
00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:15.280
And at that point
America had set its heart
00:08:15.280 --> 00:08:20.280
on becoming an international sea power.
00:08:20.330 --> 00:08:23.680
We looked at Britain and said,
"They built a great empire
00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:25.880
"and they did it with their Navy.
00:08:25.880 --> 00:08:27.267
"Let's do it too."
00:08:28.140 --> 00:08:31.760
Cuba was easily taken by
a small American force,
00:08:31.760 --> 00:08:35.180
backed up by a Navy that
was, in its technology,
00:08:35.180 --> 00:08:38.270
100 years ahead of the Spanish navy.
00:08:38.270 --> 00:08:42.651
- Once overthrowing the Spanish,
00:08:42.651 --> 00:08:44.725
Cuba was on a trajectory
00:08:44.725 --> 00:08:47.890
to be a revolutionary-type country,
00:08:47.890 --> 00:08:51.470
but then the United
States took Spain's place.
00:08:51.470 --> 00:08:56.095
And in a neo-colonial vein
00:08:56.095 --> 00:08:58.803
supported people like Batista.
00:08:58.803 --> 00:09:01.760
- We had a lot of money
in Batista's government.
00:09:01.760 --> 00:09:04.100
There wasn't anybody in high office
00:09:04.100 --> 00:09:06.093
that the United States was not paying.
00:09:07.090 --> 00:09:09.340
We also had some under-the-table deals
00:09:09.340 --> 00:09:12.810
with American gangsters, Mafia, mobsters.
00:09:12.810 --> 00:09:16.679
Those mobsters had many
millions of dollars in Cuba.
00:09:16.679 --> 00:09:20.173
They controlled high people
in Batista's government.
00:09:21.220 --> 00:09:23.700
- A lot of US businesses
were making money.
00:09:23.700 --> 00:09:25.250
Cuba was a playground.
00:09:25.250 --> 00:09:27.990
You went there, you spent
money, you gambled, you drank,
00:09:27.990 --> 00:09:30.540
you came back to the United
States and all was good.
00:09:30.540 --> 00:09:33.292
- And there were some
pretty awful things going on
00:09:33.292 --> 00:09:37.240
under the Batista regime before Castro,
00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:42.200
very pro-American, lots
of Mafia, developers.
00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:43.870
Americans were coming in
00:09:43.870 --> 00:09:46.830
and really raping and pillaging the land,
00:09:46.830 --> 00:09:50.290
as we have a tendency to
do in other countries.
00:09:50.290 --> 00:09:53.820
The Batista group was enriching themselves
00:09:53.820 --> 00:09:55.327
and allowing this to happen.
00:09:55.327 --> 00:09:58.510
[crowd noise]
00:09:58.510 --> 00:10:01.347
- So we're aware of the Batista regime
00:10:01.347 --> 00:10:04.200
and the human rights
violations that were alleged
00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:05.450
and probably did occur,
00:10:05.450 --> 00:10:07.690
probably didn't get as much publicity
00:10:07.690 --> 00:10:09.390
as it probably should have, 'cause, again,
00:10:09.390 --> 00:10:10.360
you're having a great time.
00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:12.560
You don't care that the server is living
00:10:12.560 --> 00:10:15.550
in a little hovel somewhere.
00:10:15.550 --> 00:10:18.080
All you're caring about is
you got lobster on your plate,
00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:21.033
your room's clean and the pool's warm.
00:10:21.872 --> 00:10:23.714
[ship horn blaring]
00:10:27.484 --> 00:10:29.580
[seagulls squawking]
00:10:29.580 --> 00:10:32.000
- And you look at US
dominance of the island
00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:34.820
in terms of proposing who
would be the governor,
00:10:34.820 --> 00:10:37.680
intervening militarily dozens of times,
00:10:37.680 --> 00:10:40.750
owning one of the best ports in Guantanamo
00:10:40.750 --> 00:10:42.850
and a swath of Cuban land,
00:10:42.850 --> 00:10:46.750
US companies and land
owners dominating ownership
00:10:46.750 --> 00:10:48.280
of land, factories.
00:10:48.280 --> 00:10:50.530
So political, economic, and social life
00:10:50.530 --> 00:10:52.700
was dominated by the United States.
00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:54.770
- There did need to be a change.
00:10:54.770 --> 00:10:57.290
It's too bad it has to be communist.
00:10:57.290 --> 00:10:59.820
- I would argue that the Cuban Revolution
00:10:59.820 --> 00:11:04.820
is much more about sovereignty
and finding independence
00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:07.100
than it is about communism.
00:11:08.309 --> 00:11:11.726
[Music - Nei Zigma, "Viração"]
00:11:24.419 --> 00:11:26.419
[gunshots and explosions]
00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:30.250
- I was born in Chicago.
00:11:30.250 --> 00:11:34.950
In 1958, March, my family,
we had a business in Cuba
00:11:34.950 --> 00:11:37.200
and I went down with
my mother and my father
00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:40.175
and moved to Havana, Cuba.
00:11:40.175 --> 00:11:43.400
[singing in Spanish]
00:11:58.500 --> 00:12:00.770
The main reason we came to
Cuba was because my father
00:12:00.770 --> 00:12:02.940
had already been negotiating
and starting a new business
00:12:02.940 --> 00:12:04.690
called Vidiguano.
00:12:04.690 --> 00:12:08.017
My father went down to
Cuba to pretty much gamble,
00:12:08.017 --> 00:12:10.970
and that's kind of how
would he ran into this guy
00:12:10.970 --> 00:12:14.187
by the name of Núñez Jimenez,
and Núñez was a spelunker
00:12:14.187 --> 00:12:17.800
and he said there was an
amazing amount of bat droppings
00:12:17.800 --> 00:12:18.850
in these caves.
00:12:18.850 --> 00:12:22.250
And we can take the bat
droppings and formulate them,
00:12:22.250 --> 00:12:24.283
make it into fertilizer for the homes.
00:12:25.930 --> 00:12:28.740
- I do have some revolution memories
00:12:28.740 --> 00:12:33.390
of having to hide under the
kitchen table with my mom.
00:12:33.390 --> 00:12:35.340
And there was fighting,
00:12:35.340 --> 00:12:40.010
there was shooting and
casings all over our porch.
00:12:40.010 --> 00:12:42.780
My father tells me he put, you know,
00:12:42.780 --> 00:12:44.840
they put sandbags against the window
00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:48.293
so that we wouldn't get shot at.
00:12:50.210 --> 00:12:54.650
Our small town was one of
the first towns that fell,
00:12:54.650 --> 00:12:57.868
so to speak, to the revolutionaries.
00:13:00.980 --> 00:13:05.980
There was the tale of my mom
shaking Che Guevara's hand,
00:13:07.270 --> 00:13:09.400
and I thought it was
that she had kissed him,
00:13:09.400 --> 00:13:10.287
and then she said,
00:13:10.287 --> 00:13:13.050
[laughs] "No, no, no, I never kissed him.
00:13:13.050 --> 00:13:14.670
"I just shook his hand."
00:13:14.670 --> 00:13:16.063
'Cause it was a big deal, you know?
00:13:16.063 --> 00:13:18.920
They came in triumphantly
through the town.
00:13:20.153 --> 00:13:23.486
[Music - Patricio Manns, "Su
Nombre Ardio Como un Pajar]
00:13:38.385 --> 00:13:41.201
[singing in Spanish]
00:13:44.680 --> 00:13:47.600
- Our family started the
plant up in Matanzas.
00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:49.560
My father could create the company
00:13:49.560 --> 00:13:51.650
and be part of the new agrarian society
00:13:51.650 --> 00:13:54.644
that Fidel was trying to do, in exporting.
00:13:54.644 --> 00:13:57.290
[waves lapping]
00:13:57.290 --> 00:13:58.750
And it took off.
00:13:58.750 --> 00:14:00.140
After the government changed,
00:14:00.140 --> 00:14:02.449
we were doing very well for a while.
00:14:02.449 --> 00:14:05.449
[bright Spanish guitar music]
00:14:13.374 --> 00:14:15.210
Vidiguano was pretty much marketed
00:14:15.210 --> 00:14:18.200
for the European market
and the American market,
00:14:18.200 --> 00:14:21.260
so the ships would go out of
Havana and end up in Miami,
00:14:21.260 --> 00:14:23.880
and then from Miami things
were shipped to Europe
00:14:23.880 --> 00:14:25.680
and into the north and to New York
00:14:25.680 --> 00:14:29.113
and different grocery stores at that time.
00:14:29.113 --> 00:14:31.500
[waves lapping]
00:14:31.500 --> 00:14:36.140
- My mom was probably more
caught up in the excitement
00:14:36.140 --> 00:14:39.860
than my father, who had gone to university
00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:44.583
with Fidel Castro and never
liked him, never trusted him.
00:14:46.590 --> 00:14:49.323
But no, neither of them
were really sympathetic.
00:14:53.320 --> 00:14:55.820
- This whole Cuban thing
was always hush-hush,
00:14:55.820 --> 00:14:57.687
and every time I'd ask
about these pictures,
00:14:57.687 --> 00:14:59.842
"Oh no, no, no, no. We
don't talk about Cuba."
00:15:01.384 --> 00:15:05.551
[Music - Tomás Sanchez
Boizán, "Son Los Celos"]
00:15:21.780 --> 00:15:25.950
- The first trip was in January of 2017,
00:15:25.950 --> 00:15:29.930
and then I was in Cuba January
2018 for about two weeks.
00:15:29.930 --> 00:15:33.930
A lot of family and just it's
a beautiful place to visit,
00:15:33.930 --> 00:15:36.930
and that's where I'm
originally supposed to be at.
00:15:36.930 --> 00:15:38.839
if it wasn't for Castro.
00:15:39.772 --> 00:15:44.280
["Son Los Celos" continues]
00:15:47.510 --> 00:15:49.500
My last trip, I went to Baracoa,
00:15:49.500 --> 00:15:50.850
which is on the other side of Cuba,
00:15:50.850 --> 00:15:53.710
and got to meet my grandmother's family.
00:15:53.710 --> 00:15:56.670
It was really cool meeting
that side of the family.
00:15:56.670 --> 00:15:58.410
They're all farmers.
00:15:58.410 --> 00:16:00.480
There was one that lived in, like,
00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:02.530
his field and lived in a shack,
00:16:02.530 --> 00:16:06.330
and he had a horse that he
was taking care of in the back
00:16:06.330 --> 00:16:09.160
and he takes tourists
around on a carriage.
00:16:09.160 --> 00:16:11.260
So that's how he makes a living.
00:16:11.260 --> 00:16:14.160
They also live off the land a lot.
00:16:14.160 --> 00:16:17.383
They have a lot of coconuts, bananas.
00:16:19.790 --> 00:16:21.750
And my mother's never
really said much about it,
00:16:21.750 --> 00:16:25.260
and my dad was born and
raised on a mountain,
00:16:25.260 --> 00:16:27.770
and that's about as much as I know there.
00:16:27.770 --> 00:16:30.540
They were only there
until I think my dad was 5
00:16:30.540 --> 00:16:31.600
and my mom was 3.
00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:33.803
They moved because of the Castro regime.
00:16:35.877 --> 00:16:37.580
They're just not big fans of him
00:16:37.580 --> 00:16:40.520
because the Castros took everything away,
00:16:40.520 --> 00:16:43.770
like land, everything,
and made it centralized
00:16:43.770 --> 00:16:44.680
so everybody could have it.
00:16:44.680 --> 00:16:46.760
So basically the farmers,
00:16:46.760 --> 00:16:50.490
everybody that didn't
have money, supported him.
00:16:50.490 --> 00:16:54.070
But the people in Havana and
the cities who had money,
00:16:54.070 --> 00:16:56.120
that's why they evacuated when they could,
00:16:56.120 --> 00:16:57.690
because they knew what was coming.
00:16:57.690 --> 00:16:59.912
They were gonna lose
everything they owned.
00:16:59.912 --> 00:17:03.010
[stately piano music]
00:17:03.010 --> 00:17:07.570
- Primarily the wealthier
landowners in Cuba
00:17:07.570 --> 00:17:10.520
ran to America with whatever they had
00:17:10.520 --> 00:17:13.120
or whatever they could smuggle out,
00:17:13.120 --> 00:17:15.920
and they really haven't
been able to go back
00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:19.970
because their lands and their
homes now have been divvied up
00:17:19.970 --> 00:17:22.773
among the population of Cuba.
00:17:23.860 --> 00:17:28.390
- When wealthy people
left the island of Cuba
00:17:28.390 --> 00:17:32.530
during the revolution and left
their very beautiful homes,
00:17:32.530 --> 00:17:36.620
many of the homes were
taken over by the people
00:17:36.620 --> 00:17:40.520
who worked for the family,
whether it be maids
00:17:40.520 --> 00:17:44.750
or their gardeners, and
they still live there.
00:17:44.750 --> 00:17:48.130
- There certainly was
an anti-poverty campaign
00:17:48.130 --> 00:17:49.950
at the start of the revolution
00:17:49.950 --> 00:17:53.500
that guaranteed equal access
to healthcare, education.
00:17:53.500 --> 00:17:56.677
There was a housing program, land reform.
00:17:57.844 --> 00:18:00.761
[tractor engine puttering]
00:18:26.856 --> 00:18:30.023
[nimble piano music]
00:18:32.018 --> 00:18:36.185
- The United Fruit Company's
330,000 acre property
00:18:37.070 --> 00:18:41.530
under land reform
resulted in 10,000 parcels
00:18:41.530 --> 00:18:44.697
being distributed to the Cuban people.
00:19:05.370 --> 00:19:07.620
- I never considered myself a communist.
00:19:07.620 --> 00:19:10.100
What I would say was I'm a Fidelista.
00:19:10.100 --> 00:19:14.110
I think what Fidel did is magnificent
00:19:14.110 --> 00:19:15.960
for Cuba, for the world.
00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:20.633
- Castro wanted Cuba for the Cubans.
00:19:22.210 --> 00:19:24.570
- I think he definitely
wanted to take power
00:19:24.570 --> 00:19:26.500
away from landlords.
00:19:26.500 --> 00:19:28.960
I think he definitely wanted
to take power and wealth
00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:32.550
away from corporations--
not just Cuban corporations,
00:19:32.550 --> 00:19:35.560
but overseas corporations as well.
00:19:35.560 --> 00:19:38.200
- The United States and Batista
00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:43.160
were relying upon the idea
of private property rights.
00:19:43.160 --> 00:19:44.939
Castro fought to say,
00:19:44.939 --> 00:19:47.820
"No, there will be no
private property rights
00:19:47.820 --> 00:19:52.403
"because you are exploiting
our island and our people."
00:19:56.630 --> 00:19:59.430
- The United States never forgave Cuba
00:19:59.430 --> 00:20:03.250
for having a revolution
that nationalized the banks,
00:20:03.250 --> 00:20:06.190
nationalized imports and exports
00:20:06.190 --> 00:20:09.100
and closed all the
corporations that were there.
00:20:09.100 --> 00:20:13.110
- Those who lose a
revolution hate the winners.
00:20:13.110 --> 00:20:16.360
[staccato piano music]
00:20:26.007 --> 00:20:29.050
- Less than two years
after the revolution,
00:20:29.050 --> 00:20:31.450
the US imposed the embargo against Cuba.
00:20:31.450 --> 00:20:34.530
- The idea behind the embargo was always--
00:20:34.530 --> 00:20:37.590
and this is documented in US documents--
00:20:37.590 --> 00:20:39.639
to starve the Cuban people,
00:20:39.639 --> 00:20:42.780
to provide enough chaos and suffering
00:20:42.780 --> 00:20:45.760
that they would rise up and
overthrow the government.
00:20:45.760 --> 00:20:49.430
- We were trying to isolate
Cuba back in the '60s
00:20:49.430 --> 00:20:54.430
after the revolution,
and allow wealthy Cubans
00:20:55.130 --> 00:20:56.430
who had come to this country
00:20:56.430 --> 00:21:00.169
to go back to their lands and their homes.
00:21:00.169 --> 00:21:01.883
That just never happened.
00:21:02.820 --> 00:21:04.570
- [Man] In Cuba, they
don't call it an embargo.
00:21:04.570 --> 00:21:06.213
They call it a blockade.
00:21:07.050 --> 00:21:10.020
- We didn't wanna see any
American products going to Cuba
00:21:10.020 --> 00:21:15.020
or any products going to Cuba
that had parts or financing
00:21:15.690 --> 00:21:18.810
or brands that were American.
00:21:18.810 --> 00:21:20.840
So what are we stopping?
00:21:20.840 --> 00:21:25.230
Food, medicine, construction
materials, automobiles,
00:21:25.230 --> 00:21:29.720
electronics, appliances, clothes washers.
00:21:29.720 --> 00:21:32.370
It was meant to be
economically devastating
00:21:32.370 --> 00:21:35.100
to the entire population of Cuba.
00:21:35.100 --> 00:21:38.750
It's still economically extremely harmful
00:21:38.750 --> 00:21:42.120
to the people of Cuba,
not just the economy,
00:21:42.120 --> 00:21:45.152
not just to their ability
to defend themselves.
00:21:46.977 --> 00:21:50.977
[Music - Tomás Sanchez
Boizán, "Sublime Fantasia"]
00:21:58.485 --> 00:22:02.735
["Sublime Fantasia" continues]
00:22:07.290 --> 00:22:09.000
- One night I was with a cab driver
00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:10.317
and he asked me, he goes,
00:22:10.317 --> 00:22:13.240
"Why do you Americans
always get rid of your cars?
00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:16.330
"Why don't you have one
car and keep that one car?"
00:22:16.330 --> 00:22:17.410
And it was a good point.
00:22:17.410 --> 00:22:19.310
I'm like, "Well, the car broke down."
00:22:19.310 --> 00:22:21.417
They go, "Well, why didn't you fix it?"
00:22:21.417 --> 00:22:22.360
"Well, I fixed it,
00:22:22.360 --> 00:22:25.017
"but then it started
rusting a little bit."
00:22:25.017 --> 00:22:26.400
"Why don't you fix the rust?"
00:22:27.650 --> 00:22:31.650
["Sublime Fantasia" continues]
00:22:44.841 --> 00:22:47.674
[engine sputtering]
00:22:55.971 --> 00:22:59.971
["Sublime Fantasia" continues]
00:23:06.040 --> 00:23:09.820
We lived in Cuba for four years
and were doing pretty good.
00:23:09.820 --> 00:23:13.010
We lived down by the Hotel
National, we had a nice house.
00:23:13.010 --> 00:23:16.420
We had a lot of people
working in our companies.
00:23:16.420 --> 00:23:17.900
The big reason we had to leave
00:23:17.900 --> 00:23:22.339
was because of the CIA went
ahead and invaded the country.
00:23:22.339 --> 00:23:25.589
[dramatic piano music]
00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:50.450
After Bay of Pigs, Fidel
said everybody has to go.
00:23:50.450 --> 00:23:52.143
And we had to go...
00:23:54.050 --> 00:23:57.020
...along with a lot of other Americans.
00:23:57.020 --> 00:23:58.620
Or as Yankees, as we were called.
00:24:00.143 --> 00:24:02.893
[mournful horn blaring]
00:24:09.270 --> 00:24:12.160
- It wasn't until the Bay of Pigs
00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:14.940
that my father felt more at risk.
00:24:14.940 --> 00:24:17.920
They wanted to jail him
and they couldn't find him,
00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:20.430
so they jailed his father instead.
00:24:20.430 --> 00:24:24.077
And it was after that
experience that they said,
00:24:24.077 --> 00:24:26.340
"This isn't getting
better, this is a mess.
00:24:26.340 --> 00:24:27.450
"And we have to leave."
00:24:27.450 --> 00:24:30.380
- We had to leave. Everything was seized.
00:24:30.380 --> 00:24:32.810
The company was left behind.
00:24:32.810 --> 00:24:35.960
We came to United States
with barely nothing.
00:24:35.960 --> 00:24:38.890
We came to Miami and my
grandfather had a place down there,
00:24:38.890 --> 00:24:42.353
so we ended up moving
into the house in Miami.
00:24:48.704 --> 00:24:51.720
- I had two aunts that left Cuba in 1960,
00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:53.720
right after a triumph of the Revolution.
00:24:53.720 --> 00:24:55.570
They lived in this very building
00:24:55.570 --> 00:24:57.360
and they actually rented
the whole building,
00:24:57.360 --> 00:24:58.500
which was nationalized,
00:24:58.500 --> 00:25:00.260
and my dad was able to keep this apartment
00:25:00.260 --> 00:25:02.760
where I live now, and everything
remained frozen in time.
00:25:02.760 --> 00:25:07.010
All the furniture is from
that time, from the '50s.
00:25:43.582 --> 00:25:46.499
[waves lapping]
00:25:51.170 --> 00:25:54.670
- I did notice that the letters
that came from my cousins
00:25:54.670 --> 00:25:57.510
were beautiful and sort of old fashioned
00:25:57.510 --> 00:26:02.473
and a different style of
language that was remarkable.
00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:05.870
- After the Revolution,
00:26:05.870 --> 00:26:09.603
the young people went into
the mountains to teach people.
00:26:12.653 --> 00:26:15.250
They volunteered to teach people literacy
00:26:15.250 --> 00:26:16.954
at the risk of their lives.
00:26:16.954 --> 00:26:19.840
Some of these young people were killed
00:26:19.840 --> 00:26:21.700
by the counter-revolutionaries.
00:26:21.700 --> 00:26:25.780
- When you got a country
of millions of people,
00:26:25.780 --> 00:26:30.780
and everybody is literate,
that starts the conversation.
00:26:31.790 --> 00:26:35.130
- They have a very high literacy rate,
00:26:35.130 --> 00:26:37.470
probably comparable to the US,
00:26:37.470 --> 00:26:41.240
and the Cuban people by and
large are fairly well educated.
00:26:41.240 --> 00:26:43.610
It's a very competitive educational system
00:26:43.610 --> 00:26:48.610
in that children start
early in elementary school
00:26:48.610 --> 00:26:51.050
focusing on a particular interest.
00:26:51.050 --> 00:26:53.650
You can visit elementary
schools, which we do,
00:26:53.650 --> 00:26:56.610
that focus on dance,
or they focus on music.
00:26:56.610 --> 00:26:58.760
And then as they grow older,
00:26:58.760 --> 00:27:01.240
there's less and less spaces for kids
00:27:01.240 --> 00:27:04.790
to concentrate on music,
on art, or what have you.
00:27:04.790 --> 00:27:06.870
And then by the university level,
00:27:06.870 --> 00:27:08.653
it's very, very competitive.
00:27:09.820 --> 00:27:13.350
- I had been doing a great
deal of substitute teaching
00:27:13.350 --> 00:27:15.713
with disabled people.
00:27:16.570 --> 00:27:21.020
And so in the US, I remember
this one particular man,
00:27:21.020 --> 00:27:25.020
he was about 20 and he
was huge, he was very big.
00:27:25.020 --> 00:27:27.300
And I was in a classroom,
00:27:27.300 --> 00:27:31.080
and all I could have him
do was sit down and color.
00:27:31.080 --> 00:27:34.390
And we went to Cuba, and the school,
00:27:34.390 --> 00:27:37.670
they had men and women separately.
00:27:37.670 --> 00:27:39.610
The men were working on,
00:27:39.610 --> 00:27:41.410
I don't even know what you call them,
00:27:41.410 --> 00:27:44.150
lathes, but they were electric.
00:27:44.150 --> 00:27:47.190
So it was kind of dangerous stuff.
00:27:47.190 --> 00:27:49.390
These were all disabled men
00:27:49.390 --> 00:27:52.990
making ornate furniture, carpentry.
00:27:52.990 --> 00:27:55.910
When they learned how to do this,
00:27:55.910 --> 00:27:58.810
they would then work in factories
00:27:58.810 --> 00:28:01.790
in their home neighborhoods.
00:28:01.790 --> 00:28:03.390
And I cried,
00:28:03.390 --> 00:28:04.583
I'm getting teary now,
00:28:05.910 --> 00:28:08.174
'cause they were treated as adults.
00:28:08.174 --> 00:28:11.507
[energetic piano music]
00:28:25.150 --> 00:28:28.840
- My school opened up a
semester-long program.
00:28:28.840 --> 00:28:32.460
So in 2005 I spent a semester there,
00:28:32.460 --> 00:28:35.110
and that's when I really
fell in love with the country
00:28:35.110 --> 00:28:39.441
and decided that I wanted to
devote my life's work to Cuba.
00:28:39.441 --> 00:28:41.860
I'd say Cuba, I often tell students this,
00:28:41.860 --> 00:28:44.260
I think it's one of the
best countries in the world
00:28:44.260 --> 00:28:47.873
to study because of the
safety, that it is very safe,
00:28:47.873 --> 00:28:49.010
and because of the openness.
00:28:49.010 --> 00:28:51.260
Cubans will really take
you under their wing.
00:28:52.250 --> 00:28:55.280
[crying and sobbing]
00:28:55.280 --> 00:28:58.350
- The Latin American
School of Medicine in Cuba
00:28:58.350 --> 00:29:02.610
offers full medical school
education at no cost
00:29:02.610 --> 00:29:04.750
to students from around the world,
00:29:04.750 --> 00:29:06.610
including the United States.
00:29:06.610 --> 00:29:08.100
The only stipulation
00:29:08.100 --> 00:29:10.560
is that when they
complete their education,
00:29:10.560 --> 00:29:12.680
they must go back home to their country
00:29:12.680 --> 00:29:16.213
and practice medicine in
underserved communities.
00:29:17.450 --> 00:29:21.110
- People did express
gratitude for the fact
00:29:21.110 --> 00:29:24.193
that all education was free for them.
00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:55.340
- Very educated people, they read a lot.
00:29:55.340 --> 00:29:57.390
It's very interesting
on how they know a lot
00:29:57.390 --> 00:29:58.223
about world events
00:29:58.223 --> 00:30:01.080
even though they're pretty
much sequestered from,
00:30:01.080 --> 00:30:04.160
you know, YouTube and
a lot of other things.
00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:06.510
That's one of the bad
things of a dictatorship.
00:30:08.374 --> 00:30:11.690
[traffic noise]
[birds chirping]
00:30:20.190 --> 00:30:24.440
- I came to Guantanamo Bay
on a US Navy aircraft carrier
00:30:24.440 --> 00:30:28.150
called USS Lake Champlain.
00:30:28.150 --> 00:30:31.130
It had about 1,500 sailors on it,
00:30:31.130 --> 00:30:34.960
and at that point about 150 midshipmen.
00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:37.950
Most of the midshipmen were
not from the US Naval Academy.
00:30:37.950 --> 00:30:41.120
They were from ordinary colleges,
00:30:41.120 --> 00:30:43.920
and like me, they were
attending those colleges
00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:47.950
as Naval cadets and the
Navy paid for their college.
00:30:47.950 --> 00:30:51.360
That's why I was there. I
had grown up in the projects.
00:30:51.360 --> 00:30:53.510
There was no money for college.
00:30:53.510 --> 00:30:55.313
My brother went to college this way.
00:31:01.580 --> 00:31:03.190
So you spend four years in college,
00:31:03.190 --> 00:31:04.080
and when you graduated
00:31:04.080 --> 00:31:06.070
you would get a commission in the US Navy.
00:31:06.070 --> 00:31:07.273
That was the plan.
00:31:08.120 --> 00:31:10.420
So between my freshman
and sophomore years,
00:31:10.420 --> 00:31:11.440
I went on a cruise--
00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:13.998
that's what you did as a Naval cadet--
00:31:13.998 --> 00:31:15.489
with this carrier.
00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:22.150
I actually spent three days at Guantanamo.
00:31:22.150 --> 00:31:24.003
Guantanamo Bay, at that point,
00:31:25.310 --> 00:31:29.580
was a US Naval base on Cuban soil.
00:31:29.580 --> 00:31:32.013
Things were tense. We were
not allowed to go into Havana.
00:31:32.013 --> 00:31:35.340
We were not allowed to leave the base.
00:31:35.340 --> 00:31:37.370
I went with the first class petty officer
00:31:37.370 --> 00:31:40.160
and another midshipmen as crew on
00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:41.500
what was called a Liberty boat,
00:31:41.500 --> 00:31:44.510
and sailors and Marines
were wondering from the base
00:31:44.510 --> 00:31:48.323
out to this Liberty boat,
a day off was ending,
00:31:49.470 --> 00:31:51.217
and a couple of young Marines passed me.
00:31:51.217 --> 00:31:55.630
Now I've at this point reached
the ripe old age of 18,
00:31:55.630 --> 00:31:58.210
and this Marine that passed
me wasn't much older,
00:31:58.210 --> 00:31:59.840
maybe a year older.
00:31:59.840 --> 00:32:01.710
And he was a few yards past me
00:32:01.710 --> 00:32:04.190
and he shouted to some other Marines
00:32:04.190 --> 00:32:06.378
waiting in the Liberty boat,
00:32:06.378 --> 00:32:09.677
"Hey, I shot me a Cuban
on the fence last night,"
00:32:10.540 --> 00:32:13.020
exactly the way people used
to come into the high school
00:32:13.020 --> 00:32:14.227
on Monday morning and say,
00:32:14.227 --> 00:32:16.910
"Hey, I shot me a deer this weekend."
00:32:16.910 --> 00:32:17.810
And it was like...
00:32:18.820 --> 00:32:20.577
And in this ear a little voice said,
00:32:20.577 --> 00:32:22.002
"This life is not for you."
00:32:25.540 --> 00:32:28.403
The, quote, "Cuban
missile crisis" erupted.
00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:31.010
Everything was on high alert,
00:32:31.010 --> 00:32:33.280
and Naval forces, both ours and Russian,
00:32:33.280 --> 00:32:35.240
were moving everywhere.
00:32:35.240 --> 00:32:38.530
- It was high anxiety time.
00:32:38.530 --> 00:32:41.510
And I remember, you know, waiting out--
00:32:41.510 --> 00:32:46.510
there was a deadline for disarming Cuba
00:32:46.977 --> 00:32:47.868
by the Russians.
00:32:47.868 --> 00:32:50.250
[stately piano music]
00:32:51.500 --> 00:32:55.560
- I quite vividly remember
the Cuban missile crisis.
00:32:55.560 --> 00:33:00.230
As a child of nine years
old, I was on an ocean liner
00:33:00.230 --> 00:33:04.019
going across the Atlantic
to my new home in Sweden.
00:33:04.019 --> 00:33:07.530
[ominous orchestral newsreel music]
00:33:07.530 --> 00:33:09.620
- Within the past week,
00:33:09.620 --> 00:33:13.070
unmistakable evidence
has established the fact
00:33:13.070 --> 00:33:16.580
that a series of offensive missile sites
00:33:16.580 --> 00:33:19.953
is now in preparation on
that imprisoned island.
00:33:23.910 --> 00:33:26.720
- Well, I got back to college in the fall.
00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:30.970
The Cuban missile crisis, as
we call it, was in full roar.
00:33:30.970 --> 00:33:33.343
The US was blockading Cuba,
00:33:34.330 --> 00:33:36.670
and those of us who were
midshipmen were wondering
00:33:36.670 --> 00:33:38.720
if we were gonna get
called up and sent away.
00:33:42.970 --> 00:33:46.650
- We had been having
drills in our classroom
00:33:46.650 --> 00:33:48.243
to get under the desk,
00:33:49.450 --> 00:33:54.450
and we had heard the sirens
go off in our little town.
00:33:54.590 --> 00:33:56.633
This was a very scary noise.
00:33:57.480 --> 00:33:59.530
And here I was on a ship
00:34:00.420 --> 00:34:05.060
surrounded by nothing but cold water.
00:34:05.060 --> 00:34:08.050
We felt very vulnerable being on a ship.
00:34:08.050 --> 00:34:10.960
We were not inside the
borders of the United States.
00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:14.151
We were in international waters.
00:34:14.151 --> 00:34:17.484
[stately piano music]
00:34:19.070 --> 00:34:22.960
- The Soviet regime saw building
a relationship with Castro
00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:25.350
would make a really good place for them
00:34:25.350 --> 00:34:28.500
to have a launching
point for their missiles
00:34:28.500 --> 00:34:31.900
to come into America, to
retaliate for the fact
00:34:31.900 --> 00:34:36.410
that America, United States,
we had put Jupiter missiles
00:34:36.410 --> 00:34:39.050
in Turkey that was close
to the Soviet Union
00:34:39.050 --> 00:34:40.233
that we could launch.
00:34:42.760 --> 00:34:46.390
- We had a great many
missiles based in Germany.
00:34:46.390 --> 00:34:48.640
We also had missiles based in Turkey
00:34:48.640 --> 00:34:51.150
and some of the countries
of the Near East.
00:34:51.150 --> 00:34:56.150
- The Russians were aligned
with Cuba and communism,
00:34:56.280 --> 00:34:58.953
and they were made out
to be the worst enemies.
00:35:01.480 --> 00:35:04.840
- From when I grew up, you
know, a child of the '60s,
00:35:04.840 --> 00:35:07.523
Cuban missile crisis, JFK,
00:35:07.523 --> 00:35:09.673
doing that whole period, duck and cover.
00:35:09.673 --> 00:35:14.060
Obviously Cuba had a lot
of negative connotations,
00:35:14.060 --> 00:35:16.100
communism, the whole nine yards.
00:35:16.100 --> 00:35:19.580
But to me it's all about the people.
00:35:19.580 --> 00:35:24.150
And I think we Americans,
there were things that we heard
00:35:24.150 --> 00:35:25.600
that may or may not have been true.
00:35:25.600 --> 00:35:26.710
And I think it's a lot of things
00:35:26.710 --> 00:35:29.440
the Cuban people may or may not
have heard that'd been true.
00:35:29.440 --> 00:35:32.070
But I think people in
America and people in Cuba
00:35:32.070 --> 00:35:36.487
I think were probably a lot
more alike than not alike,
00:35:36.487 --> 00:35:38.440
and I think it's those
one-on-one relationships
00:35:38.440 --> 00:35:40.490
that you can meet and talk to people
00:35:40.490 --> 00:35:43.640
that really help define relationships
00:35:43.640 --> 00:35:45.243
and dispel a lot of myths.
00:35:47.092 --> 00:35:49.417
[stately piano music]
00:35:50.810 --> 00:35:52.350
- And the outcome wasn't really known
00:35:52.350 --> 00:35:53.980
until those missiles were packed up
00:35:53.980 --> 00:35:56.180
and shipped back to Russia.
00:35:56.180 --> 00:36:00.820
From that point on, anything
that America wanted to do
00:36:00.820 --> 00:36:05.820
to harm Cuba diplomatically,
economically, secretly,
00:36:06.910 --> 00:36:09.360
was just fine with the American people
00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:11.163
and with the American Congress.
00:36:12.105 --> 00:36:14.905
[waves crashing]
00:36:14.905 --> 00:36:18.071
[somber danzón music]
00:36:25.117 --> 00:36:27.127
- [Narrator] "The School for Assassins."
00:36:28.226 --> 00:36:30.876
- But how can it be that my
brother has gone to Cuba?
00:36:32.470 --> 00:36:34.480
Oh, poor Papa.
00:36:34.480 --> 00:36:37.420
He will see all his efforts
to make him a man wasted.
00:36:37.420 --> 00:36:39.600
- [Propaganda Narrator] Deep
in the mountains of Cuba,
00:36:39.600 --> 00:36:41.780
hundreds of youngsters
like Carlos and Oscar
00:36:41.780 --> 00:36:43.260
are being thoroughly trained
00:36:43.260 --> 00:36:45.720
to carry out the campaign of terror.
00:36:45.720 --> 00:36:48.002
- There's dozens and dozens of documented
00:36:48.002 --> 00:36:50.991
assassination attempts against Fidel.
00:36:50.991 --> 00:36:54.080
[danzón music continues]
00:36:54.080 --> 00:36:56.600
- I would say America was very scared.
00:36:56.600 --> 00:36:59.020
Basically, the Red Scare
was they were worried
00:36:59.020 --> 00:37:01.433
about other countries becoming communism.
00:37:03.510 --> 00:37:07.800
- You are all prepared to
return to your own countries
00:37:07.800 --> 00:37:12.410
and begin a wave of terror
and communist agitation.
00:37:12.410 --> 00:37:14.323
- The Red Scare began
00:37:14.323 --> 00:37:18.780
the moment the Russian
Revolution succeeded in 1917.
00:37:18.780 --> 00:37:23.780
- Red Scare, that communism is
going to take over the world
00:37:25.546 --> 00:37:29.747
and end democracy and economic freedom
00:37:31.330 --> 00:37:33.130
that comes from capitalism.
00:37:33.130 --> 00:37:37.070
That would be sort of the
caricature that I have in my mind.
00:37:37.070 --> 00:37:40.370
That rhetoric is certainly still alive.
00:37:40.370 --> 00:37:44.160
President Trump came to the
town where I go to school
00:37:44.160 --> 00:37:45.828
a couple months ago,
00:37:45.828 --> 00:37:50.790
and I went as part of a
peaceful counter-rally.
00:37:50.790 --> 00:37:54.120
And there were people
standing on the other side
00:37:54.120 --> 00:37:56.740
just shouting, like, "Go home, commies!"
00:37:56.740 --> 00:37:59.550
and, like, "Fuck socialism!"
and all of these things.
00:37:59.550 --> 00:38:04.510
Nobody there was explicitly
professing communism
00:38:04.510 --> 00:38:06.803
or socialism of any kind,
00:38:08.480 --> 00:38:12.330
but for some reason, it still--
00:38:12.330 --> 00:38:13.770
for so many people in our culture,
00:38:13.770 --> 00:38:16.988
still evokes this hatred or this fear.
00:38:18.530 --> 00:38:22.230
[Music - Tomás Sanchez
Boizán, "Sublime Fantasia"]
00:38:32.070 --> 00:38:37.070
- A lot of people feel like
the whole Cuba Renaissance,
00:38:37.072 --> 00:38:41.340
I call it, is a threat
to the United States.
00:38:41.340 --> 00:38:44.530
In fact, when I told people
I was coming to do this,
00:38:44.530 --> 00:38:45.807
this documentary, they were like,
00:38:45.807 --> 00:38:47.510
"Well, why would you wanna do that?"
00:38:47.510 --> 00:38:49.000
I don't look at it that way.
00:38:49.000 --> 00:38:52.580
I just look at it that I think most people
00:38:52.580 --> 00:38:56.970
just genuinely want to be
friendly and have their beliefs,
00:38:56.970 --> 00:39:00.950
but also know that United
States is very powerful
00:39:00.950 --> 00:39:03.480
and a good country.
00:39:03.480 --> 00:39:05.060
- [Propaganda Narrator] With
the arrival of the elements
00:39:05.060 --> 00:39:09.720
that were trained in Cuba,
the secret meetings begin.
00:39:09.720 --> 00:39:12.950
- I really didn't know
much about Cuba at all.
00:39:12.950 --> 00:39:16.790
I associated it with
Watergate and the burglars,
00:39:16.790 --> 00:39:19.946
and I knew there were some crazy dudes
00:39:19.946 --> 00:39:22.987
who were Cubans who would stop at nothing
00:39:22.987 --> 00:39:25.745
to sink Castro
00:39:27.095 --> 00:39:31.495
and to prevent us from
having warmer relations
00:39:31.495 --> 00:39:34.190
with the country of Cuba.
00:39:34.190 --> 00:39:39.190
Nixon hired burglars to break
into the Watergate hotel.
00:39:41.040 --> 00:39:43.790
It was Cubans who answered the call.
00:39:43.790 --> 00:39:46.420
They did not consider
themselves to be criminals.
00:39:46.420 --> 00:39:49.130
They considered themselves to be working
00:39:49.130 --> 00:39:52.870
for the anti-Castro cause.
00:39:52.870 --> 00:39:55.230
- We in effect did with those Cubans
00:39:55.230 --> 00:39:57.060
who wanted to bring down Communism
00:39:58.492 --> 00:40:00.220
what Russia did with those Cubans
00:40:00.220 --> 00:40:02.513
who wanted to export Marxism.
00:40:03.350 --> 00:40:06.790
We put them to work in
our intelligence agencies
00:40:07.770 --> 00:40:12.193
and turned them into spies,
snipers and assassins.
00:40:13.394 --> 00:40:16.560
And that's the way the
American people saw the Cubans
00:40:16.560 --> 00:40:17.720
for quite a few years.
00:40:17.720 --> 00:40:21.335
And Watergate only made
that impression stronger.
00:41:28.293 --> 00:41:31.110
- I was born in Bradenton, Florida
00:41:31.110 --> 00:41:32.990
and raised in Palmetto, Florida.
00:41:32.990 --> 00:41:37.578
As I visited Cuba twice in 2017,
00:41:37.578 --> 00:41:39.111
I didn't get the feeling
00:41:39.111 --> 00:41:41.230
of being treated less than by anybody.
00:41:41.230 --> 00:41:43.500
- It was the most racially
integrated culture
00:41:43.500 --> 00:41:47.370
I've ever experienced in
terms of, from black to white.
00:41:47.370 --> 00:41:50.670
Every scene you look at had
a full spectrum of people.
00:41:50.670 --> 00:41:54.710
- When I am approached by
law enforcement in America,
00:41:54.710 --> 00:41:57.183
no matter where I go
in America, typically,
00:41:58.600 --> 00:42:00.770
I'm as polite as pie.
00:42:00.770 --> 00:42:02.387
That's how it always starts out.
00:42:02.387 --> 00:42:06.272
"How you doing, sir?
Did I do anything wrong?
00:42:06.272 --> 00:42:08.910
"How can I assist you?"
00:42:08.910 --> 00:42:12.490
That's how it always
starts out, very polite.
00:42:12.490 --> 00:42:15.197
And it usually goes downhill from there.
00:42:15.197 --> 00:42:16.660
"Get your ass over there.
00:42:16.660 --> 00:42:18.970
"Stand over there, shut the fuck up.
00:42:18.970 --> 00:42:20.380
"Put your hands...," you know.
00:42:20.380 --> 00:42:23.270
It just always deteriorates.
00:42:23.270 --> 00:42:24.920
That's my typical experience
00:42:24.920 --> 00:42:28.710
with law enforcement
in America for decades.
00:42:28.710 --> 00:42:32.080
Well, I made a mistake when I
went to Cuba the second time
00:42:32.080 --> 00:42:34.590
by bringing thumb drives.
00:42:34.590 --> 00:42:35.888
They didn't have any,
00:42:35.888 --> 00:42:38.220
the people who were in my
circle that I met there.
00:42:38.220 --> 00:42:41.810
So I went somewhere and I bought packages
00:42:41.810 --> 00:42:45.010
of 15 thumb drives in a package.
00:42:45.010 --> 00:42:47.110
You can only bring three thumb drives.
00:42:47.110 --> 00:42:51.180
I was in that airport for at least
00:42:51.180 --> 00:42:55.433
two and a half to three hours
about these thumb drives,
00:42:56.615 --> 00:43:01.615
but the relationship between
the law enforcement and me
00:43:03.270 --> 00:43:07.110
was at no time intimidating
or disrespectful.
00:43:07.110 --> 00:43:10.870
They were more concerned about recording
00:43:10.870 --> 00:43:15.310
on the paperwork correctly
their confiscation
00:43:15.310 --> 00:43:17.970
of all my thumb drives except three,
00:43:17.970 --> 00:43:21.700
not in demeaning me or suspicioning me
00:43:21.700 --> 00:43:24.633
or threatening me or nothing like that.
00:43:25.590 --> 00:43:30.590
So my one experience
with law enforcement on,
00:43:31.850 --> 00:43:35.050
let's call it what I thought
was a dangerous level,
00:43:35.050 --> 00:43:37.000
was actually pretty pleasant.
00:43:37.000 --> 00:43:39.450
It inconvenienced me
for two or three hours,
00:43:39.450 --> 00:43:42.359
but it was pleasant, it was respectful.
00:43:42.359 --> 00:43:47.359
[Music - Bob Marley and the
Wailers, "Could You Be Loved"]
00:43:57.365 --> 00:43:59.680
- I'm coming from a Christian upbringing,
00:43:59.680 --> 00:44:02.710
and as an adult, I have committed my life
00:44:02.710 --> 00:44:06.820
to Christian practice and I'm
studying Christian theology
00:44:06.820 --> 00:44:08.770
and ethics and history.
00:44:08.770 --> 00:44:13.627
And being in Cuba felt to me
00:44:13.627 --> 00:44:16.780
like most people there have
what I would consider to be
00:44:16.780 --> 00:44:19.760
a very Christlike way of living,
00:44:19.760 --> 00:44:23.080
mostly expressed in how they see the world
00:44:23.080 --> 00:44:25.120
and how they see their community.
00:44:25.120 --> 00:44:30.080
And so to have these values
and this very strong culture
00:44:30.080 --> 00:44:33.990
and this very evident
love for place and people
00:44:33.990 --> 00:44:36.440
that has grown out of socialism
00:44:36.440 --> 00:44:39.050
and the Cuban social project,
00:44:39.050 --> 00:44:40.680
but somehow ends up looking like
00:44:40.680 --> 00:44:43.035
what I think Christianity
should look like.
00:44:44.760 --> 00:44:49.660
[percussive batá music and singing]
00:45:49.520 --> 00:45:51.687
- So the Special Period at Times of Peace,
00:45:51.687 --> 00:45:55.045
as it was labeled, was
essentially the Cuban government,
00:45:55.045 --> 00:45:56.900
Fidel Castro himself,
00:45:56.900 --> 00:45:59.890
letting Cubans know officially
that they'd be going
00:45:59.890 --> 00:46:04.660
into a severe economic depression
and kind of battle mode
00:46:04.660 --> 00:46:07.020
against the collapse of the Soviet Union
00:46:07.020 --> 00:46:09.210
and Cuba being left on its own.
00:46:09.210 --> 00:46:13.320
You know, 35% of GDP
disappeared almost overnight.
00:46:13.320 --> 00:46:17.290
And so it's a military term
of the people and the country
00:46:17.290 --> 00:46:19.870
getting ready to brace itself for war
00:46:19.870 --> 00:46:23.460
and kind of all the defensive
mechanisms that that entails.
00:46:23.460 --> 00:46:24.900
They weren't really going to war,
00:46:24.900 --> 00:46:27.890
but they were experiencing
war-like symptoms
00:46:27.890 --> 00:46:31.057
in terms of kind of economic disarray.
00:46:47.551 --> 00:46:50.260
- It's almost unthinkable
to imagine a country
00:46:50.260 --> 00:46:52.220
with 23-hour blackouts
00:46:52.220 --> 00:46:55.110
and people drinking
sugar water to survive,
00:46:55.110 --> 00:46:58.520
really no gasoline for
transportation or agriculture,
00:46:58.520 --> 00:47:01.660
people getting around
on bicycles or walking--
00:47:02.550 --> 00:47:05.933
really, really, really tough conditions.
00:47:09.847 --> 00:47:14.014
[conversing in Spanish]
00:47:16.780 --> 00:47:18.390
You know, if you look back at that time,
00:47:18.390 --> 00:47:21.350
the US really had an
opportunity to open up
00:47:21.350 --> 00:47:24.680
and engage Cuba, and decided
to tighten the screws
00:47:24.680 --> 00:47:28.330
and tighten the embargo
and try and really force
00:47:28.330 --> 00:47:33.163
more suffering on Cuba at a
time it was already suffering.
00:47:40.650 --> 00:47:43.460
- If a ship lands in Cuba,
00:47:43.460 --> 00:47:47.983
it cannot dock at a US
port for six months.
00:47:48.830 --> 00:47:50.450
If you were an exporter,
00:47:50.450 --> 00:47:53.350
where would you rather send your products?
00:47:53.350 --> 00:47:55.420
You'd rather send them
to the United States.
00:47:55.420 --> 00:47:56.607
They have more money.
00:47:57.881 --> 00:48:00.673
[triumphant orchestral music]
00:48:34.918 --> 00:48:37.351
- Stories of illegal doings,
00:48:37.351 --> 00:48:40.810
where my Cuban husband had a child
00:48:40.810 --> 00:48:44.190
and he would go out in the
country to look for meat,
00:48:44.190 --> 00:48:48.633
which was-- you are not
supposed to kill cows in Cuba.
00:48:49.560 --> 00:48:52.820
The cows were for children's milk,
00:48:52.820 --> 00:48:56.000
so they were not to be killed for meat.
00:48:56.000 --> 00:49:00.050
And he was on a train
with this mass of meat,
00:49:00.050 --> 00:49:03.340
and the train was stopped
and soldiers or police
00:49:03.340 --> 00:49:04.810
were investigating it.
00:49:04.810 --> 00:49:07.516
He had gone up to the top of the roof
00:49:07.516 --> 00:49:12.180
with this bloody pack of meat,
but he ended up losing it.
00:49:12.180 --> 00:49:13.763
He dumped the meat.
00:49:45.610 --> 00:49:48.918
[crowd noise and traffic sounds]
00:49:58.677 --> 00:50:00.960
[waves lapping]
00:50:10.435 --> 00:50:15.435
- The United States imposes the blockade
00:50:15.618 --> 00:50:17.920
on third countries.
00:50:17.920 --> 00:50:18.837
- Not just the United States,
00:50:18.837 --> 00:50:21.570
it's the United States
and its trading partners
00:50:21.570 --> 00:50:23.730
can pretty much crush any countries.
00:50:23.730 --> 00:50:26.467
The United States can easily
say to another country,
00:50:26.467 --> 00:50:29.000
"You do business with X country,
00:50:29.000 --> 00:50:30.720
"you can't do business
with the United States."
00:50:30.720 --> 00:50:34.140
So United States has influence
to basically shut down
00:50:34.140 --> 00:50:36.242
any other country they want to,
00:50:36.242 --> 00:50:37.870
or severely restrict the resources
00:50:37.870 --> 00:50:39.755
they have coming in and going out.
00:50:41.722 --> 00:50:45.222
[Music - Tomás Sanchez
Boizán, "Chivito Maniguero"]
00:50:59.840 --> 00:51:01.530
- I went to Cuba in 2000,
00:51:01.530 --> 00:51:04.470
which happened to be during
the Elian Gonzalez case,
00:51:04.470 --> 00:51:07.950
so it was fascinating watching, you know,
00:51:07.950 --> 00:51:11.542
half a million or more Cubans
march in front of the US--
00:51:11.542 --> 00:51:13.345
it wasn't the US embassy at the time,
00:51:13.345 --> 00:51:15.403
it was the US Interests Section--
00:51:15.403 --> 00:51:16.880
demanding his return.
00:51:16.880 --> 00:51:19.640
- That case was the little boy
00:51:19.640 --> 00:51:24.640
who escaped from Cuba to Miami by boat.
00:51:25.030 --> 00:51:29.710
He was taken by his mother.
The father remained in Cuba.
00:51:29.710 --> 00:51:32.150
The mother drowned on that journey,
00:51:32.150 --> 00:51:37.150
and the little boy was picked
up in an inner tube and saved.
00:51:37.467 --> 00:51:39.185
- And the dad and some of the other family
00:51:39.185 --> 00:51:40.270
were still in Cuba.
00:51:40.270 --> 00:51:43.565
- There was pull and shove,
00:51:43.565 --> 00:51:45.973
does he stay with the family in Florida
00:51:45.973 --> 00:51:48.014
or does he come back
to his father in Cuba?
00:51:48.014 --> 00:51:53.014
Cubans were angry, and
it was a combatant march.
00:51:53.400 --> 00:51:55.790
You felt militant.
00:51:55.790 --> 00:51:59.990
And people in the US Interests
Section felt threatened,
00:51:59.990 --> 00:52:01.950
and they complained to
the Cuban government
00:52:01.950 --> 00:52:04.340
that they were afraid that Cuban people
00:52:04.340 --> 00:52:06.400
were going to attack them.
00:52:06.400 --> 00:52:11.400
So Fidel said, "Okay," and
he got Cuban first graders
00:52:11.580 --> 00:52:16.580
and they encircled the US
Interests Section and sat down,
00:52:16.907 --> 00:52:20.710
and he said, "Nobody is
going to hurt you now."
00:52:20.710 --> 00:52:24.730
- And the American government
decided to give Elian
00:52:24.730 --> 00:52:26.370
back to the Cuban people,
00:52:26.370 --> 00:52:29.960
which caused a tremendous
split in American society.
00:52:29.960 --> 00:52:31.300
I think still today there's--
00:52:31.300 --> 00:52:34.040
I still occasionally
see a story about Elian
00:52:34.040 --> 00:52:36.040
who's now, I believe, an engineer.
00:52:36.040 --> 00:52:39.700
- The Al Gore election
is essentially determined
00:52:39.700 --> 00:52:42.670
by Cuban Americans in Miami
00:52:42.670 --> 00:52:45.650
who are upset over the Elian Gonzalez case
00:52:45.650 --> 00:52:48.363
and the Clinton-Gore handling of that.
00:52:48.363 --> 00:52:51.413
[Music - Patricio Manns, "Su
Nombre Ardió Como Un Pajar"]
00:52:51.413 --> 00:52:54.170
- In front of the American embassy,
00:52:54.170 --> 00:52:57.052
there is a sculpture of a man
00:52:57.052 --> 00:53:00.550
holding Elian Gonzalez on his shoulder
00:53:00.550 --> 00:53:04.698
and pointing to the
American embassy accusingly.
00:53:10.530 --> 00:53:15.072
[Su Nombre Ardió Como Un Pajar" continues]
00:53:41.380 --> 00:53:43.950
- I worked in Washington at a think tank,
00:53:43.950 --> 00:53:45.990
working on US policy towards Cuba,
00:53:45.990 --> 00:53:48.640
bringing a lot of members
of Congress to Cuba
00:53:48.640 --> 00:53:50.830
and doing all kinds of research.
00:53:50.830 --> 00:53:53.500
And then when I was in graduate school
00:53:53.500 --> 00:53:55.340
was when I met my wife.
00:53:55.340 --> 00:53:57.740
I was at the University
of California San Diego
00:53:57.740 --> 00:54:00.700
and we set up a program with
the University of Havana,
00:54:00.700 --> 00:54:02.840
and she was a student of economics.
00:54:02.840 --> 00:54:04.430
And so we met that way.
00:54:04.430 --> 00:54:09.070
You know, meeting your
girlfriend at the time's parents,
00:54:09.070 --> 00:54:09.970
especially the father,
00:54:09.970 --> 00:54:12.790
is always nerve-wracking in any situation,
00:54:12.790 --> 00:54:15.000
and then certainly when it's, you know,
00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:17.030
a different country and
a different culture.
00:54:17.030 --> 00:54:19.960
But they were incredibly gracious and open
00:54:19.960 --> 00:54:21.253
and we really hit it off.
00:54:22.960 --> 00:54:25.520
I've been working on Cuba,
spent a lot of time there.
00:54:25.520 --> 00:54:27.840
For the last six years
I've been living there
00:54:27.840 --> 00:54:30.120
permanently in Havana,
00:54:30.120 --> 00:54:33.860
and I often say that I find
Havana one of the most fun,
00:54:33.860 --> 00:54:36.756
hip and fascinating cities
in the world right now.
00:54:37.923 --> 00:54:41.590
[rhythmic electronic music]
00:55:06.217 --> 00:55:08.170
[camera shutter clicking]
00:55:08.170 --> 00:55:11.390
- I came back in September,
I came back in December.
00:55:11.390 --> 00:55:13.270
That was my fourth trip.
00:55:13.270 --> 00:55:17.700
And then I was there
again on a tourist visa,
00:55:17.700 --> 00:55:21.083
wanting to stay, but I
didn't have legal status.
00:55:22.290 --> 00:55:24.613
- I was born in Springfield, Ohio.
00:55:26.160 --> 00:55:28.580
The reason I went to
Cuba in the first place
00:55:28.580 --> 00:55:32.980
is that back then, around 2002 or so,
00:55:32.980 --> 00:55:36.630
Conde Nast had graded
Havana as the number one
00:55:36.630 --> 00:55:40.053
most romantic city in the world.
00:55:42.003 --> 00:55:45.336
[rhythmic carnival music]
00:56:20.390 --> 00:56:25.390
- The same week that I got my
job, I met my husband to-be.
00:56:25.720 --> 00:56:29.430
It wasn't long before we
were dating seriously,
00:56:29.430 --> 00:56:32.339
and then he moved into my apartment.
00:56:33.381 --> 00:56:36.631
[lively salsa music]
00:56:39.824 --> 00:56:44.824
[waves lapping]
[traffic noise]
00:56:56.657 --> 00:56:58.750
- A large part of the blockade
00:56:58.750 --> 00:57:01.961
extends into international banking.
00:57:01.961 --> 00:57:04.990
- 2002, 2003, the Bush administration
00:57:04.990 --> 00:57:07.390
really starts to crack
down on foreign banks
00:57:07.390 --> 00:57:11.610
that are dealing with helping
Cuba trade its US dollars.
00:57:11.610 --> 00:57:15.260
European banks get hundred
million dollar fines
00:57:15.260 --> 00:57:17.580
for doing business with Cuba,
00:57:17.580 --> 00:57:20.590
so that's when Cuba
de-dollarizes its economy.
00:57:20.590 --> 00:57:23.290
The idea behind that was
to get their reserves
00:57:23.290 --> 00:57:26.770
away from dollars, euros,
Canadian dollars, et cetera,
00:57:26.770 --> 00:57:29.803
because they couldn't use them
on the international market.
00:57:30.930 --> 00:57:34.053
- All countries in the
world deal with credit.
00:57:35.300 --> 00:57:37.633
So you're buying rice,
00:57:38.490 --> 00:57:40.780
you buy on credit.
00:57:40.780 --> 00:57:44.220
The US does not permit Cuba to do that.
00:57:44.220 --> 00:57:46.360
Cuba must pay cash.
00:57:46.360 --> 00:57:48.710
- This was 2003.
00:57:48.710 --> 00:57:53.240
We actually, we were met by
placards at the airport in Miami
00:57:53.240 --> 00:57:58.240
saying that if we left we were
supporting a violent regime,
00:57:58.270 --> 00:58:01.100
and that there were
people who were being held
00:58:01.100 --> 00:58:04.780
in dark Cuban prisons,
political prisoners,
00:58:04.780 --> 00:58:07.640
and that we were paying for that.
00:58:07.640 --> 00:58:11.313
This happened to be under
the George W. Bush era.
00:58:12.720 --> 00:58:15.170
I was there with an official tour.
00:58:15.170 --> 00:58:19.020
My passport had to be sent away in advance
00:58:19.020 --> 00:58:20.970
to the State Department
00:58:20.970 --> 00:58:24.590
so that my background could be
checked before I was allowed
00:58:24.590 --> 00:58:29.323
to go on an eight-day bus tour of Cuba.
00:58:30.330 --> 00:58:35.093
We had to stay within our
boundaries as part of a tour.
00:58:36.700 --> 00:58:39.520
Well, for us, the American
government was restricting
00:58:39.520 --> 00:58:40.770
where we could go.
00:58:40.770 --> 00:58:43.650
We noticed that there were other bus tours
00:58:43.650 --> 00:58:46.520
and lots of vacationers, honeymooners
00:58:46.520 --> 00:58:48.120
from all over the world,
00:58:48.120 --> 00:58:52.150
and they were allowed to stay at resorts
00:58:52.150 --> 00:58:56.730
and hang out at the beaches
and go on fishing trips.
00:58:56.730 --> 00:58:58.380
We were not.
00:58:58.380 --> 00:59:00.221
We were watched day and night.
00:59:00.221 --> 00:59:03.030
They said goodnight to us
every night in the lobby
00:59:03.030 --> 00:59:05.493
and expected us to go
straight to our rooms,
00:59:07.260 --> 00:59:09.890
and we were not allowed to go to a beach.
00:59:09.890 --> 00:59:13.850
And we were the last
group at that time allowed
00:59:13.850 --> 00:59:16.410
under the cultural exchange.
00:59:16.410 --> 00:59:20.180
After that, it had to
be a religious purpose
00:59:20.180 --> 00:59:23.810
when George Bush made the policy
00:59:23.810 --> 00:59:26.860
even more severe for Americans.
00:59:26.860 --> 00:59:31.814
We felt that we were the ones
under the communist rule.
00:59:31.814 --> 00:59:36.352
It was our lives that
were being so regulated.
00:59:38.094 --> 00:59:41.261
[tense instrumental music]
00:59:53.540 --> 00:59:58.540
- Guantanamo Bay naval complex
is on the island of Cuba.
00:59:58.770 --> 01:00:01.790
I know some people seem
to be quite surprised
01:00:01.790 --> 01:00:04.923
that there is United
States property on Cuba.
01:00:09.170 --> 01:00:12.257
- [Brian] Guantanamo
Bay was occupying Cuba.
01:00:12.257 --> 01:00:14.900
It was an occupational force,
01:00:14.900 --> 01:00:17.300
because we needed a naval
base in the Caribbean.
01:00:19.040 --> 01:00:22.620
- We maintained territories
in a lot of places
01:00:22.620 --> 01:00:25.060
along the Caribbean and the Gulf
01:00:25.060 --> 01:00:26.290
and around the world generally,
01:00:26.290 --> 01:00:29.450
so us having property in
Cuba is not very surprising.
01:00:29.450 --> 01:00:33.350
Anywhere from the
Philippines, Puerto Rico,
01:00:33.350 --> 01:00:35.650
a number of islands that we had occupied,
01:00:35.650 --> 01:00:37.626
we maintained a presence
in those locations.
01:00:37.626 --> 01:00:39.501
[rapid gunfire]
01:00:42.521 --> 01:00:44.771
[rapid gunfire]
[explosions]
01:01:00.960 --> 01:01:03.920
[tense instrumental music]
01:01:03.920 --> 01:01:06.390
- For the last decade or so,
01:01:06.390 --> 01:01:10.290
that facility has been
primarily used as a containment
01:01:10.290 --> 01:01:13.970
for ISIS fighters and for other people
01:01:13.970 --> 01:01:16.810
that are deemed for whatever
reason probably too dangerous
01:01:16.810 --> 01:01:18.120
to bring back to the United States
01:01:18.120 --> 01:01:19.960
and put in the criminal justice system.
01:01:19.960 --> 01:01:22.130
- There's human rights violation in Cuba
01:01:22.130 --> 01:01:24.400
by the Cuban government
and by the United States
01:01:24.400 --> 01:01:26.690
in the Guantanamo base.
01:01:26.690 --> 01:01:28.100
- [Mara] Well, I think
if the United States
01:01:28.100 --> 01:01:31.120
wants to point fingers
about human rights abuse
01:01:31.120 --> 01:01:34.520
in Cuba, in particular,
that's a little bit ironic
01:01:34.520 --> 01:01:37.300
considering where
Guantanamo Bay is located
01:01:37.300 --> 01:01:38.810
and who's in control there
01:01:38.810 --> 01:01:41.173
and what methods they're exercising.
01:01:42.230 --> 01:01:45.927
- It doesn't seem legal to have
a prison in another country
01:01:45.927 --> 01:01:47.893
when its prisoners that
are affecting your country.
01:01:47.893 --> 01:01:50.250
That's something you should
deal with it yourself.
01:01:50.250 --> 01:01:53.913
It's just not fair that
that prison exists.
01:01:54.783 --> 01:01:59.783
- I don't think the US has
much ground to stand on
01:02:01.110 --> 01:02:04.030
in terms of using human rights abuses
01:02:04.030 --> 01:02:08.530
as the excuse for not
normalizing relations with Cuba.
01:02:08.530 --> 01:02:11.524
I would hope that there
could be collaboration
01:02:11.524 --> 01:02:15.408
and work to address human
rights abuses on both sides.
01:02:18.560 --> 01:02:21.420
- Guantanamo Bay is an
area that could be used
01:02:21.420 --> 01:02:24.080
as a port of entry to Cuba.
01:02:24.080 --> 01:02:26.260
Hopefully sometime in the
future it can be used that way.
01:02:26.260 --> 01:02:30.170
It's deep water enough that
probably some large ships
01:02:30.170 --> 01:02:32.311
could come into that area.
01:02:32.311 --> 01:02:35.104
[waves lapping]
01:02:37.212 --> 01:02:42.212
[singing Santeria invocation]
01:02:58.080 --> 01:03:01.623
- For decades, it was very,
very hard to travel to Cuba.
01:03:02.460 --> 01:03:06.380
- My father, who was
very political, [laughs]
01:03:06.380 --> 01:03:10.250
had said that that was something
that we could not go to,
01:03:10.250 --> 01:03:13.809
so that's probably why I
really wanted to go. [laughs]
01:03:15.242 --> 01:03:18.063
- It's our government that
doesn't want us to go there.
01:03:25.110 --> 01:03:28.210
- When travel opened up
during the final years
01:03:28.210 --> 01:03:30.270
of the Obama administration,
01:03:30.270 --> 01:03:31.900
I was really interested in going.
01:03:31.900 --> 01:03:34.820
Legally, I knew it couldn't be
a beach vacation-type thing,
01:03:34.820 --> 01:03:37.860
so I decided to sort of do
more educational activities
01:03:37.860 --> 01:03:40.040
to still operate within the law,
01:03:40.040 --> 01:03:42.540
because there were still
some travel restrictions.
01:03:42.540 --> 01:03:46.750
- Our groups have to have
an eight-hour-a-day schedule
01:03:46.750 --> 01:03:48.290
that we adhere to.
01:03:48.290 --> 01:03:52.220
We have to keep a journal
every day of what we did.
01:03:52.220 --> 01:03:56.010
All paperwork has to
be kept for five years.
01:03:56.010 --> 01:03:59.090
- The first time I went
to Cuba was in 2012,
01:03:59.090 --> 01:04:02.280
I went with an organization
called Witness for Peace.
01:04:02.280 --> 01:04:05.030
I'd been wanting to go
to Cuba for many years,
01:04:05.030 --> 01:04:08.230
and that was my first opportunity to go.
01:04:08.230 --> 01:04:11.280
- Before we left, we
were told to make sure
01:04:11.280 --> 01:04:14.490
that we had our pepper spray with us.
01:04:14.490 --> 01:04:17.950
When I got to Cuba, I
actually felt very safe.
01:04:17.950 --> 01:04:19.183
I actually really did.
01:04:20.030 --> 01:04:23.370
Every place we went, I felt comfortable
01:04:23.370 --> 01:04:27.813
and I didn't feel like
safety was an issue at all.
01:04:29.380 --> 01:04:32.700
- I ended up with a lot
deeper feelings for that place
01:04:32.700 --> 01:04:34.350
and those people than I would've imagined
01:04:34.350 --> 01:04:35.860
would be possible in a week.
01:04:38.100 --> 01:04:41.433
[relaxed bolero music]
01:05:02.008 --> 01:05:05.516
[bolero music continues]
01:05:08.901 --> 01:05:11.110
- And then, like, traveling through Cuba,
01:05:11.110 --> 01:05:13.520
we took a horseback ride into the woods.
01:05:13.520 --> 01:05:15.460
We even went to this deep water spring,
01:05:15.460 --> 01:05:18.440
so we were hiking maybe
for at least a half hour,
01:05:18.440 --> 01:05:20.340
you know, following this trail.
01:05:20.340 --> 01:05:22.750
And then there's this little stand
01:05:22.750 --> 01:05:24.910
and they're selling mojitos in the woods.
01:05:24.910 --> 01:05:28.940
And then there's this older
and nice-looking gentleman
01:05:28.940 --> 01:05:30.790
just strumming away playing,
01:05:30.790 --> 01:05:33.851
♪ Guantanamera ♪
01:05:33.851 --> 01:05:36.847
[singing "Guantanamera"]
01:05:36.847 --> 01:05:38.523
- And we visited this farmer.
01:05:40.365 --> 01:05:42.865
[man humming softly]
01:05:44.567 --> 01:05:47.040
And then the guy we
bought the coffee from,
01:05:47.040 --> 01:05:48.790
you know, he was gonna make the coffee,
01:05:48.790 --> 01:05:52.599
so he started grinding
the coffee with this beat.
01:05:54.024 --> 01:05:56.774
[pestle tapping rhythmically]
01:05:59.617 --> 01:06:03.617
[singing in Spanish]
01:06:39.877 --> 01:06:43.145
And there's music,
there's music everywhere.
01:06:43.145 --> 01:06:45.700
[ominous orchestral music]
01:06:45.700 --> 01:06:50.700
- Shortly after I went, Trump
reinstated the travel ban.
01:06:51.096 --> 01:06:53.763
[ominous music continues]
01:07:01.988 --> 01:07:03.690
- I was born here in Havana
01:07:03.690 --> 01:07:06.340
and I'm an independent filmmaker.
01:07:06.340 --> 01:07:10.290
My most recent film "Nadie"
tells a story of a Cuban poet
01:07:10.290 --> 01:07:11.820
who once believed in the Revolution,
01:07:11.820 --> 01:07:15.130
participated in building
the power structures
01:07:15.130 --> 01:07:18.030
of the Revolution, who
later became disappointed
01:07:18.030 --> 01:07:19.160
and became a dissident.
01:07:19.160 --> 01:07:23.490
Through him we see the story
of Cuba in the last 60 years.
01:07:23.490 --> 01:07:25.170
Through him we see all the contradictions
01:07:25.170 --> 01:07:26.940
and why he fell in love
with the Revolution
01:07:26.940 --> 01:07:29.190
and then grew disappointed.
01:07:37.830 --> 01:07:39.110
- Even sugar.
01:07:39.110 --> 01:07:40.697
We used to have a lot of sugar mills
01:07:40.697 --> 01:07:42.320
and most of them are closed down now.
01:07:42.320 --> 01:07:45.770
We are importing even
sugar, which is insane.
01:07:45.770 --> 01:07:47.950
Cubans, I think, are great entrepreneurs,
01:07:47.950 --> 01:07:50.210
there are great examples
of that all over the city.
01:07:50.210 --> 01:07:52.560
But they don't have the
possibility to prosper.
01:07:55.200 --> 01:07:57.220
- [Collin] So if you were
to ask the Cuban people
01:07:57.220 --> 01:07:59.850
whether they feel that
the Cuban government
01:07:59.850 --> 01:08:01.740
restricts them too much,
01:08:01.740 --> 01:08:05.083
I think hands down the majority
of Cubans would say yes.
01:08:06.500 --> 01:08:09.960
Right now, for example,
there's a freeze on licenses
01:08:09.960 --> 01:08:11.573
for private businesses.
01:08:14.920 --> 01:08:19.040
- I think a small growth of
small business entrepreneurs,
01:08:19.040 --> 01:08:21.160
gradually, is not gonna
happen overnight, of course,
01:08:21.160 --> 01:08:22.860
but it's gonna make the economy grow.
01:08:22.860 --> 01:08:26.200
And I think that's the way to
go, because a radical change,
01:08:26.200 --> 01:08:28.800
I think it will be
dangerous for this country.
01:08:28.800 --> 01:08:30.390
If somebody makes a lot of money,
01:08:30.390 --> 01:08:33.350
then they have to pay
high taxes, of course,
01:08:33.350 --> 01:08:34.300
which is the way it works
01:08:34.300 --> 01:08:36.810
in the Nordic countries, in Scandinavia.
01:08:36.810 --> 01:08:38.760
And that's the way I
would see for the future.
01:08:38.760 --> 01:08:40.010
That's what I would like.
01:08:42.750 --> 01:08:45.800
The system in Cuba is-- they
say it's a communist regime,
01:08:45.800 --> 01:08:47.660
but what we are living right now,
01:08:47.660 --> 01:08:49.430
it's a low budget capitalism,
01:08:49.430 --> 01:08:52.600
because even the greatest
conquests of the Revolution,
01:08:52.600 --> 01:08:54.930
which were free
healthcare, free education,
01:08:54.930 --> 01:08:57.720
and worked great during my childhood.
01:08:57.720 --> 01:09:00.650
After the collapse of the Soviet Union,
01:09:00.650 --> 01:09:02.530
the economy being in shambles,
01:09:02.530 --> 01:09:05.863
corruption started to emerge everywhere.
01:09:47.419 --> 01:09:50.586
[gentle piano music]
01:09:59.030 --> 01:10:00.900
- [Miguel] The social
classes started to emerge
01:10:00.900 --> 01:10:03.650
even more and more to
the point we are now,
01:10:03.650 --> 01:10:06.130
which is pretty obscene
that we have a hotel
01:10:06.130 --> 01:10:07.470
like the Kempinski Hotel
01:10:07.470 --> 01:10:10.190
where they sell underwear for $100,
01:10:10.190 --> 01:10:12.630
and just two blocks away in old Havana
01:10:12.630 --> 01:10:15.920
there are people living six
family members in a small room.
01:10:15.920 --> 01:10:19.210
It has nothing to do with
the ideals of social justice
01:10:19.210 --> 01:10:21.543
that the Revolution created.
01:10:32.998 --> 01:10:35.831
[dramatic orchestral music]
01:10:47.059 --> 01:10:52.059
- When there are 38 million poor children,
01:10:52.130 --> 01:10:55.170
and 60% of African Americans are poor,
01:10:55.170 --> 01:10:57.813
when 65% of LatinX are poor,
01:10:57.813 --> 01:11:00.730
when 40% of Asians are poor,
01:11:00.730 --> 01:11:05.060
when there are 67 million
poor white people,
01:11:05.060 --> 01:11:10.060
we must say, "This is not right."
01:11:12.553 --> 01:11:14.961
[crowd cheering]
01:11:19.130 --> 01:11:21.115
- My film "Memories of Overdevelopment"
01:11:21.115 --> 01:11:24.420
tells a story of a Cuban
writer, a Cuban intellectual,
01:11:24.420 --> 01:11:28.110
who lives for a while in
Cuba, then gets censored,
01:11:28.110 --> 01:11:29.970
goes into exile in New York.
01:11:29.970 --> 01:11:34.870
And through him, we see what's
wrong with the two societies.
01:11:34.870 --> 01:11:37.260
Through him we see a man that doesn't fit
01:11:37.260 --> 01:11:39.333
neither in communism or in capitalism.
01:11:41.120 --> 01:11:43.770
The film played in Cuba only a year after
01:11:43.770 --> 01:11:46.430
it was playing at other film festivals,
01:11:46.430 --> 01:11:48.010
and it played at the Havana Film Festival
01:11:48.010 --> 01:11:49.428
outside of competition
01:11:49.428 --> 01:11:52.650
at noon, so that almost
nobody would see it.
01:11:52.650 --> 01:11:54.477
It's a way of censorship saying,
01:11:54.477 --> 01:11:56.070
"We did not censor the film."
01:11:56.070 --> 01:11:57.850
Putting the film in
competition, for example,
01:11:57.850 --> 01:12:00.240
allows the director to
have a press conference,
01:12:00.240 --> 01:12:03.195
which gives more publicity to the film.
01:12:03.195 --> 01:12:06.620
[rhythmic salsa music]
01:12:06.620 --> 01:12:11.620
- I visited with Arturo
Montoto in his studio,
01:12:12.180 --> 01:12:17.120
and his work is about the delicious fruit,
01:12:17.120 --> 01:12:19.710
meaning the people of Cuba,
01:12:19.710 --> 01:12:24.710
and the people are
earthy and just fabulous.
01:12:25.050 --> 01:12:30.050
And this was his work that
we saw in the Cuban biennale.
01:12:31.210 --> 01:12:33.397
It's called "Invisible Gardens."
01:12:35.000 --> 01:12:39.580
Each of them was a close up of the fruit,
01:12:39.580 --> 01:12:42.640
but each of the fruits were constrained,
01:12:42.640 --> 01:12:45.020
just like the Cuban people.
01:12:45.020 --> 01:12:47.790
The fruit almost became an abstraction,
01:12:47.790 --> 01:12:52.790
and what you saw first was
the barrier to those people,
01:12:53.550 --> 01:12:55.217
or for those people.
01:13:33.450 --> 01:13:35.320
- My most recent film, "Nadie,"
01:13:35.320 --> 01:13:37.170
we tried to do a screening in Havana
01:13:37.170 --> 01:13:38.580
just three blocks from here.
01:13:38.580 --> 01:13:39.690
There was a police raid
01:13:39.690 --> 01:13:41.230
blocking the two sides of the streets
01:13:41.230 --> 01:13:44.020
so that none of the guests we
invited were able to arrive.
01:13:44.020 --> 01:13:46.590
When we were turning the
block, they stopped us
01:13:46.590 --> 01:13:48.510
and they said, "You can't go through."
01:13:48.510 --> 01:13:50.957
Not only "Nadie" is not
being shown in Cuba,
01:13:50.957 --> 01:13:53.210
but if I had had a mild censorship
01:13:53.210 --> 01:13:56.410
with "Memories of Overdevelopment"
after making "Nadie,"
01:13:56.410 --> 01:13:59.610
that's it, all possibilities
of work in Cuba ended for me.
01:13:59.610 --> 01:14:03.860
I could no longer work in
any field of the country.
01:14:08.360 --> 01:14:11.680
But I move forward, I say,
this is my reason to leave.
01:14:11.680 --> 01:14:15.664
If I cannot make films, I'm
ready for jail or for anything.
01:14:19.590 --> 01:14:22.330
Cubans have lost the ability
to actually be honest
01:14:22.330 --> 01:14:23.440
in front of a camera.
01:14:23.440 --> 01:14:27.210
They're really concerned about
how their words might impact
01:14:27.210 --> 01:14:29.790
their work or the work of their relatives,
01:14:29.790 --> 01:14:32.000
so they have this inner
police inside of them
01:14:32.000 --> 01:14:34.693
that watches every move.
01:14:38.250 --> 01:14:41.620
Today we were gonna
interview a Cuban doctor
01:14:41.620 --> 01:14:44.240
and her husband, who's a lawyer.
01:14:44.240 --> 01:14:47.050
And yesterday they said
they were gonna do it,
01:14:47.050 --> 01:14:51.637
but today they said they
had an epiphany, [laughs]
01:14:51.637 --> 01:14:54.610
and they decided that
they were not gonna do it
01:14:54.610 --> 01:14:57.680
because she says that doctors
01:14:57.680 --> 01:14:59.810
are pretty much owned by the government.
01:14:59.810 --> 01:15:01.010
She doesn't wanna get in trouble.
01:15:01.010 --> 01:15:04.430
And her husband-- who had
agreed to be on camera
01:15:04.430 --> 01:15:06.900
and was even more willing than she was,
01:15:06.900 --> 01:15:08.070
because he had cancer
01:15:08.070 --> 01:15:10.550
and he felt he had very
little time to live
01:15:10.550 --> 01:15:13.770
and didn't care about
saying whatever he felt--
01:15:13.770 --> 01:15:16.010
decided also that it was not gonna be good
01:15:16.010 --> 01:15:19.593
because it was gonna
affect his wife's job.
01:15:43.450 --> 01:15:46.250
We had great patriots and a lot of heroes
01:15:46.250 --> 01:15:48.070
in the independence war and the revolution
01:15:48.070 --> 01:15:49.920
against Batista, against Machado,
01:15:50.820 --> 01:15:54.700
and I would just like for
Cubans to regain that courage
01:15:54.700 --> 01:15:55.760
that they lost.
01:15:55.760 --> 01:15:57.290
It's the people that make this change.
01:15:57.290 --> 01:16:01.110
I think that right now we
deserve the government we have,
01:16:01.110 --> 01:16:04.110
because majority of the
population is not willing
01:16:04.110 --> 01:16:07.593
to put anything in danger for a change.
01:16:35.828 --> 01:16:38.745
[waves lapping]
01:16:42.400 --> 01:16:47.400
- Cuba somehow has stood up
against the USA's embargo
01:16:48.620 --> 01:16:51.110
for so long, which is an amazing feet.
01:16:51.110 --> 01:16:53.020
- We've had this embargo for years.
01:16:53.020 --> 01:16:55.870
- ...to force the Cubans, through pain,
01:16:55.870 --> 01:16:58.970
to basically adapt to what the US wants.
01:16:58.970 --> 01:17:00.560
- We're such a huge country
01:17:00.560 --> 01:17:02.870
and the number one economic power
01:17:02.870 --> 01:17:05.910
just targeting this little tiny island
01:17:05.910 --> 01:17:08.410
with very limited resources...
01:17:27.378 --> 01:17:29.961
[Music - Mezclarte, "Soñaba Yo"]
01:17:39.309 --> 01:17:42.150
- It didn't work, and it never has worked
01:17:42.150 --> 01:17:44.240
and clearly it won't work.
01:17:44.240 --> 01:17:45.870
So, you know, you need to get onto
01:17:45.870 --> 01:17:48.669
a different kind of policy after awhile.
01:17:55.840 --> 01:17:59.780
- If you're not familiar with
IFCO / Pastors for Peace,
01:17:59.780 --> 01:18:01.560
they challenge the blockade.
01:18:01.560 --> 01:18:04.960
- [Bruce] They go around
the US in an old school bus.
01:18:04.960 --> 01:18:06.830
- We try to educate people in these cities
01:18:06.830 --> 01:18:08.600
about what's going on in Cuba
01:18:08.600 --> 01:18:10.830
and how we can end this
embargo against the country
01:18:10.830 --> 01:18:12.813
that's never done anything to us.
01:18:14.184 --> 01:18:17.890
- Research shows 75% of the US population
01:18:17.890 --> 01:18:21.060
wants to end the US embargo against Cuba.
01:18:21.060 --> 01:18:22.730
- [George] It's common
sense to lift the embargo.
01:18:22.730 --> 01:18:25.857
I think the UN has
voted 20 something years
01:18:25.857 --> 01:18:27.446
in a row now to do it.
01:18:28.280 --> 01:18:31.120
- We should move on, we
should lift it, but...
01:18:33.050 --> 01:18:36.610
- Those Cubans who fled
after Castro came to power
01:18:36.610 --> 01:18:38.280
gained a great deal of power
01:18:38.280 --> 01:18:40.273
in the American Republican party.
01:18:41.160 --> 01:18:45.510
They were people who had a
stake in colonialist profits.
01:18:45.510 --> 01:18:47.530
- Especially in Miami,
01:18:47.530 --> 01:18:49.120
and there are a few other
areas in the United States,
01:18:49.120 --> 01:18:52.090
you know, Hudson County,
New Jersey, is another area
01:18:52.090 --> 01:18:54.797
where Cuban Americans basically dominate
01:18:54.797 --> 01:18:55.960
the political scene.
01:18:55.960 --> 01:19:00.250
And we see prominent national
figures like Marco Rubio,
01:19:00.250 --> 01:19:02.900
who sort of came up as a Cuban American
01:19:02.900 --> 01:19:05.420
through Republican politics in Miami.
01:19:05.420 --> 01:19:07.530
You also see Senator
Menendez from New Jersey,
01:19:07.530 --> 01:19:08.980
who's a Democrat.
01:19:08.980 --> 01:19:13.120
Senator Menendez's parents
escaped Batista, not Castro,
01:19:13.120 --> 01:19:16.860
but he still is against
normalizing relations with Cuba
01:19:16.860 --> 01:19:19.490
and has held that politically hostage
01:19:19.490 --> 01:19:21.800
when he was chair of the
foreign relations committee
01:19:21.800 --> 01:19:24.220
in the Senate, when President Obama
01:19:24.220 --> 01:19:26.786
was trying to re-establish
relations with Cuba.
01:19:58.063 --> 01:20:00.553
- Lifting the embargo
will be the best thing.
01:20:00.553 --> 01:20:02.950
Regardless of the problems
that we have here,
01:20:02.950 --> 01:20:05.020
I think those problems is something
01:20:05.020 --> 01:20:07.160
that we have to solve ourselves.
01:20:07.160 --> 01:20:09.560
There shouldn't be a pressure
from any other country,
01:20:09.560 --> 01:20:10.460
especially the US,
01:20:10.460 --> 01:20:13.320
which sometimes acts as
the policeman of the world,
01:20:13.320 --> 01:20:15.340
trying to put their hands into everything.
01:20:15.340 --> 01:20:18.833
It's just mandatory that
a country has sovereignty.
01:20:24.731 --> 01:20:27.370
- When I look at Cuba, I see families
01:20:27.370 --> 01:20:30.233
not a bit different from
mine, only superficially,
01:20:31.130 --> 01:20:35.073
struggling, because they're
being oppressed by my country
01:20:35.073 --> 01:20:36.770
deliberately by a policy
01:20:36.770 --> 01:20:39.990
and with huge resources to keep it up.
01:20:39.990 --> 01:20:40.953
It's just wrong.
01:20:42.030 --> 01:20:43.478
- It's like, we're not stopping.
01:20:43.478 --> 01:20:46.169
When we used to go to the Mexican border
01:20:46.169 --> 01:20:50.120
with these vehicles, we tell
people they don't have reverse.
01:20:50.120 --> 01:20:52.191
We're not backing up, we're going forward.
01:20:53.433 --> 01:20:57.443
[Music - Mezclarte, "Soñaba Yo"]
01:21:09.589 --> 01:21:12.705
["Soñaba Yo" continues]
01:21:47.556 --> 01:21:51.723
[Music - Nei Zigma, "Tocororo"]
01:21:57.784 --> 01:22:00.017
- Feels like home.
01:22:00.017 --> 01:22:00.850
When I was there,
01:22:01.890 --> 01:22:03.113
everybody there is me.
01:22:04.100 --> 01:22:06.950
Like, not me specifically,
not the same thoughts,
01:22:06.950 --> 01:22:09.780
but they're Cuban, I'm Cuban.
01:22:09.780 --> 01:22:10.613
Felt home.
01:22:11.771 --> 01:22:15.858
["Tocororo" continues]
01:22:21.700 --> 01:22:24.197
- It's one of the safest
countries in the world.
01:22:24.197 --> 01:22:25.610
If you look at incidents in Cuba,
01:22:25.610 --> 01:22:29.769
in terms of crime against
tourists, terrorism,
01:22:29.769 --> 01:22:32.530
violent crime or any of those things,
01:22:32.530 --> 01:22:33.973
there's really none of that.
01:22:35.908 --> 01:22:40.075
["Tocororo" continues]
01:22:42.150 --> 01:22:45.617
- There was a huge
billboard in Cuba that said,
01:22:45.617 --> 01:22:47.277
"There are...," I forget how many.
01:22:47.277 --> 01:22:49.222
"3 billion children in the world
01:22:49.222 --> 01:22:51.791
"are going to sleep on the street tonight.
01:22:51.791 --> 01:22:53.827
"Not one of them is Cuban."
01:22:57.108 --> 01:22:58.813
You give up a lot for that.
01:23:02.606 --> 01:23:06.331
["Tocororo" continues]
01:23:08.050 --> 01:23:11.010
- If there are shortcomings
in the Cuban model,
01:23:11.010 --> 01:23:13.543
that is up to the Cuban
people to correct those.
01:23:22.070 --> 01:23:23.720
- The majority of Americans,
01:23:23.720 --> 01:23:26.150
certainly the majority of Cubans,
01:23:26.150 --> 01:23:27.850
the majority of Cuban Americans,
01:23:27.850 --> 01:23:30.123
they all want better relations.
01:23:31.694 --> 01:23:35.486
["Tocororo" continues]
01:23:39.040 --> 01:23:42.970
- I am a member of the human community.
01:23:42.970 --> 01:23:44.370
That's how I look at it.
01:23:44.370 --> 01:23:46.298
And so is Cuba for that matter.
01:23:49.489 --> 01:23:53.189
["Tocororo" continues]
01:23:57.646 --> 01:24:00.160
- We need to have
discussions with countries.
01:24:00.160 --> 01:24:02.360
We have to go out and create peace.
01:24:02.360 --> 01:24:04.803
- We can all get along.
01:24:07.593 --> 01:24:11.202
["Tocororo" continues]
01:24:32.457 --> 01:24:35.290
[waves lapping]
01:24:39.249 --> 01:24:42.874
[Music - Big Night Out, "Guantanamera"]
01:25:35.316 --> 01:25:40.316
["Guantanamera" continues]
01:26:40.796 --> 01:26:44.771
["Guantanamera" continues]
Distributor: Bullfrog Films
Length: 87 minutes
Date: 2020
Genre: Expository
Language: English; Spanish / English subtitles
Grade: 10-12, College, Adults
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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