Description

In 2012 I made my first trip to photograph in Havana, Cuba with a Witness For Peace delegation. Our highly recommended educational tour there included visits to medical facilities, artists’ studios and museums, lectures on the economy, organic farms, vocational schools and cultural events. I was inspired to go to Cuba by stories my mother told me about the time when my parents and I lived in Havana for 5 months during 1947. She was appalled by the extreme poverty, illiteracy and lack of healthcare for most Cubans. Years later she gave verbal support to the revolution and admired the changes Fidel Castro made to support most Cubans. The history of Cuba in the years following the revolution is too complex and controversial to generalize about here. Needless to say, it’s a story of great fascination for me and one I enjoy sharing visually.

As stated, prior to the revolution most Cubans were illiterate and lacked basic health care options. Batista’s repressive dictatorship favored American corporations and Mafia owned casinos. Cuba is now internationally recognized for high educational standards and universal health care. Since 1959 the basic needs of Cubans have mostly been met by the Socialist government. But the blockade, AKA embargo, the US government’s weapon, among others designed to overthrow the Castro Regime, has placed an economic burden on Cubans without changing the regime. Recognizing this fact, the Obama administration moved to normalize relations with Cuba in late 2014. However, only Congress can end the blockade. All politics aside, doing so would help improve the living standard of Cubans in all walks of life.

I returned to Cuba in 2013, again in 2015, and most recently right after the death of Fidel Castro in late November, 2016. My plan for that trip was to explore the east end of the island. By chance my trip coincided with nine days of national mourning following Fidel’s death on November 25th. I flew into Holguin on one of the first direct flights to Cuba from a US city, thanks to President Obama’s efforts to normalize relations with Cuba’s government. Also, by chance, my travel plans coincided with the three-day funeral procession that transported Fidel’s cremated remains by motorcade from Havana to Santiago, birthplace of the Cuban Revolution in 1953.

Along the route from Holguin to Bayamo, part of what’s known as the Freedom Caravan highway that Fidel and other rebel fighters took to Havana in January 1959, I saw many supporters placing flags and commemorative photo banners in front of their homes. Preparations for Fidel’s expected arrival in Bayamo’s plaza were under way as well. School children and military cadets joined adults old enough to recall the historic events of 1959. Many waved small Cuban flags and expressed intense emotion when the flag-draped coffin slowly passed by that evening on its way to Santiago. The next day I joined several hundred thousand at Antonio Maceo Revolution Square for a rally that included many foreign dignitaries and culminated in a speech by President Raul Castro. All around me that afternoon people paid homage to Fidel with dramatic shows of solidarity, especially during the singing of the national anthem, and with chants of Yo Soy Fidel (I am Fidel) and Viva Raul.

The balance of my 2016 journey included travels to Guantanamo, Baracoa, Mayari and to the birthplace of Fidel and Raul in Biran. As with previous trips in Cuba, I continued make portraits and street photographs in the social documentary tradition.

Sample Photos