A year in, detente with US reshapes Cuba's psychic landscape

A year in, detente with US reshapes Cuba's psychic landscape
A year in, detente with US has reshaped Cuba's psychic landscape,
bringing both hope and fear
By Andrea Rodriguez, Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) -- An American flag whips in the wind above the reopened
U.S. Embassy in Cuba. Tens of thousands of foreign visitors have
strolled down the cobblestone streets of Old Havana in recent months,
some booking their lodgings through Airbnb.

At the same time, a surge in Cubans seeking to leave the island before
their preferential status for U.S. residency ends has flooded Central
America with migrants in what could be the biggest exodus since the 1980
Mariel boatlift.

In the year since Presidents Raul Castro and Barack Obama announced a
rapprochement between bitter the Cold War enemies, Cuba has been
transformed, for better or worse. A country that once seemed stuck in
time suddenly faces an uncertain future of disruptive change.

Particularly for those with money, property or connections, the frothy
optimism is palpable, as are the expectations of greater prosperity and
new freedoms. For others — the poor, the old, the vast ranks of
bureaucrats who've dedicated their lives to the communist system, the
dramatic dual presidential announcements of Dec. 17, 2014 and the steps
toward normalization have led to feelings of fear.

Cubans with businesses have been buoyed since then by the prospect of
better relations. Hotels, private bed-and-breakfasts and elegant
restaurants have been packed, with hundreds more expected to open in the
coming year.

Pope Francis, who played a critical role in negotiations that led to
detente, made a stop in Cuba on his way to the United States in
September. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reopened the embassy in
person in August.

"It's a breath of fresh air, knowing that they're filing away the rough
edges between the two peoples and their governments, and that can open a
path to a future of brotherhood and mutual aid," said Fernando Funes, a
former government agronomist who runs a 20-acre environmentally friendly
farm supplying vegetables such as arugula and chicory to private
restaurants in Havana.

Those in favor of the warming in relations are hoping that the
anniversary of the presidential announcements will add momentum to
negotiations to connect the countries with commercial flights and direct
mail, perhaps paving the way for a visit by Obama in the first half of
next year.

But for others, the changes are happening much too fast.

Many fear normalization will end the guarantee of legal residency that
Cubans receive the moment they touch U.S. soil. Roughly 45,000 Cubans
are expected to travel by bus, boat, taxi and on foot from Ecuador and
other South and Central American countries to the Texas and California
borders with Mexico this year. With thousands more sailing across the
Florida Straits, 2015 may witness the biggest outflow of Cubans since
125,000 fled during Mariel.

The exodus has prompted a crackdown by Cuba and its regional allies,
with Nicaragua closing its border to Cubans last month, and Ecuador
suddenly requiring Cubans to get a visa.

A panicked crowd of visa applicants outside the Ecuadoran Embassy
launched a rare street protest on Nov. 27, their ire directed at the
government.

"This is all Raul Castro's fault, no one else's!" shouted Adriel Acosta,
a computer scientist. "He's the one who caused this problem!"

Cuba declared Dec. 1 that its medical system was in a critical situation
because of a U.S. program that offers special treatment for doctors who
want to emigrate. Physicians would now need exit permits to leave the
country for any reason. It was a dramatic reversal for a government that
two years ago eliminated the permits Cubans once needed to leave their
own country.

After Fidel Castro took power in 1959, every aspect of Cuban life was
infused with a sense of struggle against the United States, from its art
to its medical system to its politics. Government critics were tarred as
U.S. agents and dissent was considered an attack on the country.

Elaine Diaz tried to stay loyal to the ideals of the socialist
revolution after she graduated from journalism school in 2008 and
founded a blog that criticized government mismanagement and
inefficiency. Government supporters called her a counterrevolutionary.
Critics blasted her as too tame.

Diaz sought refuge in a Harvard University fellowship in the U.S. and
considered abandoning independent journalism in Cuba.

When Castro and Obama announced that their countries were no longer
enemies, "it was such a relief," she said.

"As a citizen I could feel like I wasn't in a place under siege
anymore," said Diaz, who returned home to launch an independent online
magazine whose just-published second edition is a multimedia profile of
a town in eastern Cuba.

Yans Ruiz is also optimistic about improved relations with the U.S.

He spends 10 hours a day in the garage of his grandmother's house on
Havana's outskirts, using $10,000 in savings to strip paint off a
63-year-old Dodge Kingsway and replace rusty parts. By February, he
expects to have an immaculately restored azure-blue convertible he can
use to take tourists on rides down the Malecon, Havana's sweeping
seafront promenade, for $30 an hour.

"When you've got work, everything else goes OK, and I hope the change
with the U.S. makes things even better," Ruiz said.

___

Michael Weissenstein contributed to this report.

___

Andrea Rodriguez on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ARodriguezAP. Her past
stories can be seen at: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/andrea-rodriguez

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