Cuba!

I'm back..... after an 8-day trip to Cuba on the "Librarians and Bibliophiles Havana Book Fair Tour". It was my first visit to Cuba and I found it fascinating, completely unique. I had obtained a U.S. "research license" in order to enter the country for library work yet it was still a bit of a challenge. Most of the time I was with a group of librarians and a Cuban tour guide -- we attended the book fair and also visited a publisher of handmade books, the writer's union, the University of Havana, Casa de las Americas, literacy campaign museum, the National Library, and many other book-related places and events. Some of us also managed to attend the Buena Vista Social Club at the National Hotel and the Spanish Ballet of Cuba performing La Casa Alba. I'm still processing it all and trying to get caught up but I wanted to post a few thoughts relevant to business and economics....

Many of the Cubans I spoke with expressed the hope that President Obama will make changes in U.S. - Cuba foreign and economic policy. The embargo or "bloqueo" dominates the economy and daily life in Cuba. As a generalization, it seems that Cubans are proud of their accomplishments, yet also pragmatic and worn-down from the struggle. Cuba will most certainly change in the near future and it will be fascinating to see how it plays out....

A librarian in our group ran across this article ("Che: The Ronald McDonald of Revolution") and I thought it might be of interest to those who follow Cuba... Che is everywhere! (but even more so in Cuba is Jose Marti).