We forget how easily protest songs, spirituals, Broadway showtunes are loved around the world, and how music so easily whisks away the fears and mistrust. We found Cubans to be amazingly friendly, curious about the real America, warmed and inspired by a band of ordinary Americans who'd traveled to their country to find out about their real lives. We're still in somewhat of a quandary. Cuban children, even those with disabilities, seemed wonderfully well taken care of. Cuban cultural life is very rich.
Music is performed live everywhere and at all times.
Yet, ordinary Cubans who we might speak with after a performance would tell us about the ways in which their lives are limited. These were some kids we met in a community center in Havana where we experienced an Afro-Cuban dance performance. It would be well to believe that the US embargo has produced the economic scarcity present there, but most Cubans from cab driver to government economist will agree the government has made a lot of mistakes through the years, and even recently. And the cab driver may likely be a government economist moonlighting to earn some dollars. US economic sanctions will eventually bring down the Cuban Government.