Cuba Libre On Ice

CUBA

Cuba Libre, on Ice

Originating in Cuba in the early 20th century, the Cuba Libre (Rum and Coke) is considered a mediocre drink, almost an insult to the aged dark liquor that – if one is lucky – sometimes infuses it. Still, the sweet and bitter concoction has its fans, its new high-end reinventions and, of course, its historical legacy.

You could say that it’s an apt metaphor for its homeland these days.

In the wake of warmer relations with the US, exiles like dancer Rolando Sarabia are returning to the island. Sarabia recently took part in the 26th Havana International Ballet Festival after not appearing on a Cuban stage for 13 years.

“Happiness, happiness. I just don’t have any other words,” Sarabia’s brother told the Associated Press. ”This is something big.”

Homecomings like Sarabia’s aren’t the only signs of raised hopes since the US restored diplomatic ties with Cuba under President Barack Obama.

Republican lawmakers are calling for reforms in agricultural financing rules to allow American farmers to sell rice, soybeans and other goods to the island. “Cuba is one of only a very few foreign markets where the potential for US agricultural growth is quantifiable and achievable,” three GOP lawmakers argued in an editorial in the Hill that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

Some things have not changed, however.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel recently embarked on his first foreign tour. The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, noted that he was visiting China, North Korea and Russia – the island’s historical friends, but hardly allies of the United States.

Chinese officials evoked the coded but clear anti-American language of the Cold War years during Díaz-Canel’s appearance in Beijing.

“China supports Cuba in its determination to explore a development path suited to its own national conditions,” said Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Cuba and other nations have also kept up pressure on the US in international bodies like the United Nations, where delegates in the General Assembly still vote to condemn the American embargo of the island while rejecting US criticisms of Cuba’s human rights record, Al Jazeera reported.

American leaders like National Security Advisor John Bolton don’t hold back, either. The Los Angeles Times wrote that Bolton recently described Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua as a “troika of tyranny.” It sounds silly, but the alleged microwave attacks on American diplomats in Havana suggest Bolton might have cause to remain very suspicious of Cuban leaders. And this week, President Donald Trump added 26 new names to a list of tourist attractions that Americans are barred from visiting – though travel to Cuba remains legal, the Associated Press reported.

Such contretemps are one reason that American businesses are less enthused about opportunities in Cuba, reported the Miami Herald.

The climate has consequences. Economic growth in Cuba has stalled. Revenues from tourism and other sectors are down, Reuters said. Government austerity measures likely contributed to the downturn.

Things were so hopeful a few years ago. In Cuba, real change might take more than one generation.