Old photographs, advertising of the 50s. Sold to the Republic as paradise Old photographs, advertising of the 50’s. It is sold to the Republic as the lost paradise. (CC)

CUBA REPORT: HAVANA, CAPITAL OF MEMORIES

Any past time was better, says a saying that is being fulfilled in Cuba.

The walls replete with photographs of old city landscapes and a whole host of famous artists from the Cuba Republica, carrying discs from the same period and old advertising posters from the 40s and 50s of last century.

In a central space, an old off-duty victrola captures the protagonism of the small restaurant hall. On the tablecloths, old vinyl records (long play) serve as a tray holder, while the portavasos are other discs (single) of the same material.

In this private business – as in many similar ones that began to proliferate in Old Havana and in other parts of the city from the so-called “raulist reforms” – the whole atmosphere exudes that unmistakable encouragement of cult to the past than in the last Times has been seizing the capital as an epidemic. “Any past time was better,” says a saying that is being fulfilled in Cuba.

But it is not just any past. No. Because, curiously, none of these enthusiastic private entrepreneurs shows any interest in appealing to the socialist aesthetic of Soviet encouragement that occupied thirty years of Cuban national life without silencing the native spirit. There are no matrioskas, balalaikas or characters of the “Russian dolls” decorating stained glass or interiors of these businesses or decorating piñatas and private halls dedicated to children’s parties.

“While the battles Ideological and fiery anti-imperialist discourses are kept in public spaces, both the nascent entrepreneurial class and the chameleonic Castro dome are invented a marquetry Cuba. (CC)

Nothing evokes the indestructible Cuban-Soviet friendship of an era under which almost all the members of that Cuban proto-entrepreneur were born, who today prefer to revive the Republican prosperity of strong Yankee influence and forget the hard years of Bolivian rule on the Island.

That explains that in any of these environments you can find a decoration that reproduces the cover of a disc by Benny Moré and not that of one of Van Van or Isaac Delgado; Or from the walls look at the glossy and smiling face of Kid Chocolate, but not Teófilo Stevenson.

There is no doubt, glamour is a Western capitalist product. Although, as is the case, it is a glamor as old and encased as that of the Cuba of the 50s, which – as is always the case in societies without freedoms where mediocrity prevails – ends up being a model that tends to be standardized.

Because, as usually happens before any opportunity to thrive advantageously, the rogues who have decided to take advantage of the new lode that offers this sort of aesthetic of longing, to extract their own revenues, as is clear from a detailed announcement published in the very Popular web Revolico, where for the price of 25 CUC, or its equivalence in CUP (625 pesos), you can purchase a collection of 27,000 Cuban photographs from before 1959, “for the walls of your business.”

The paradox is that, after almost six decades of Castroism, the republican liberal ideal is returning camouflaged in its cultural symbols. (DC)

Any past time was better, says a saying that is being fulfilled in Cuba Any past time was better, say a saying that is being fulfilled at the end of the day. Rajatabla in Cuba. (La Habana.com)

“Live the history of our country through the image”, urges the announcement, which promotes the sale of a “wide selection of photos of cafes, hotels, streets, houses, monuments, shops, historical sites and main streets and Avenues of the Cuban capital “.

This offer is not limited to photographs, but also includes “old maps, postcards, bus lines, architectural drawings, engravings, very good quality scans of old beer advertisements such as Cristal, Hatuey and Polar, the loose propagandistic Cigar brands, hotels, casinos, beverages and much more that constitute a large and valuable treasure trove of value. ” All a cult of the pre-revolutionary past that shows the persistence of a lost paradigm, the more ingrained and endearing the more decadent and ill-fated the present and the more uncertain and gloomy the future.

The paradox is that, after almost six decades of Castroism during which the greater efforts of the power went to try to erase the 57 years of republic – “pseudorepública”, call it – trying to impose a model (this yes “pseudo” socialist ), Falsely proletarian and foreign to the national culture and aspirations, the republican liberal ideal is returning camouflaged in its cultural symbols, and today it grows as a cult to the memory of those “better times”, when prosperity and wealth were laudable goals and Not crimes.

As a result, and in view of the inability to project a promising future, the much vilified Republic has become the symbol of paradise lost, and returns to occupy a place of preference in the collective imagination, despite the fact that more than 70% of Cubans today were born after 1959 and have been (de) formed under the doctrine of austerity and sacrifice.

The paradox is that, after almost six decades of Castroism, the republican liberal ideal is returning Camouflaged in its cultural symbols. “The paradox is that, after almost six decades of Castroism, Liberal republican ideal is returning camouflaged in its cultural symbols. (CC)

However, the use of republican symbols is not exclusive to the small niches of the private economy. The mediocrity and lack of imagination also reach the almighty State-Government-Party that almost controls the entertainment industry. Recreating the past before 1959 has become a very lucrative source of income even for the Republic’s own destroyers. Especially since American tourism became the main destination of socialist marketing.

This is demonstrated, for example, by the careful reconstruction of old hotels, bars and other spaces destined for international tourism, which until recently were decadent localities or simple ruins, whose architecture and interior spaces recently rescued recreate the elegance and style of the The pre-revolutionary Cuba.

In this way, while ideological battles and fiery anti-imperialist discourses are maintained in public spaces and in the official press, for the indoctrination and control of the native proletarians and for the sake of regional progress, both the nascent entrepreneurial class and the chameleonic dome Castro are invented a marquetry Cuba, a parallel reality disguised as republican tradition and artificially rescued for solace and delight of foreign visitors who pay in dollars for attending this species of theme park: a country frozen in the middle of the twentieth century.

And it is not necessary to deny a past that, for better or worse, is part of the culture and history of the island and represents a period of prosperity and expectations of that young nation. What is truly sad is that six decades of Castroism have left us as a legacy a people that, instead of pushing for the future, assumes as a paradigm a past that, beyond its lights and democratic achievements, was imperfect enough to Its sine the longest dictatorship of this hemisphere, in whose hands the destinies of all Cubans remain. It is a pity.

Agencies / 14ymedio / Miriam Celaya, Havana / Internet Photos / Arnoldo Varona / TheCubanHistory.com
THE CUBAN HISTORY, HOLLYWOOD.

CUBA TODAY * HOY – CUBA LEGACY * SU PASADO – THE CUBAN HISTORY.

TheCubanHistory.com Comments

comments