Santiago de Cuba
Along the coast from the now infamous Guantanamo Bay and at the opposite end of the Island of Cuba from Havana, is Santiago de Cuba. Santiago is the second city of Cuba with a port that is a bit less busy than it has been before the Revolution, before the blockade and before the fall of the Berlin wall. Santiago has had a significant role in the history of Cuba and has its own musical traditions with French influence derived from the slave owners who fled Haiti. Tivoli was the slave quarter of the city and is now a community proud of its African culture including an annual carnival. There is a popular Gallery, Bar and music venue called the Casa de Traditiones Populares (House of Popular Traditions) which, like so many buildings in Santiago has its entrance on the first floor up a flight of steps. Inside, there used to be a huge mural of Christ with a cockerel in his halo unless I have confused venues since I last came to Santiago. Come to think of it, the helpful, tall and old black man who pointed me to centre each time could have been the same person. If it is the same place then the mural has been replaced by a less large painting of Christ holding a sword and the dove of peace in his halo. I think the original had a lot to do with the Santeria religion, or maybe ‘Voodoo’ as this was a Haitian exile area, than Catholicism but the new painting would have some of my old religious teaching colleagues in raptures as they unraveled the symbolism reveled in the opportunities for explanation. But this building is not a church. The painting is a backdrop to the performance area and it is next to a bar that is relaxed and used to welcoming strangers including ones that do not drink alcohol. I could make a pointed remark about some British pubs ( there done). The homemade lemonade was just the thing to cool down with.
Santiago appears comparatively affluent in relation to some other areas of Cuba. The tourist economy is a significant factor, if not the factor. The CUCs (Cuban Convertible Currency dollars) feed the local economy here. Like everywhere else in Cuba, it pays to have a job that has access to CUCs (dollar equivalent currency). As relatively more people have this access in Santiago there are busy varied shopping zones including the Enramada (Calle José A. Saco) which slopes up to Plaza Marti with many shops that contain products rarely seen in other places, perhaps even including Havana. Another uncommon feature are the large video screens in the street advertising up and coming cultural events.
In juxtaposition to this urban sophistication, you can still turn a corner and find a group of men arguing about the qualities of a cockerel that is for sale.
At the centre of the city there are no horse driven coches or biking taxis because of the steep hills that emerge with little logic. On reflection, I am not certain that hills can be logical unless you are a geologist or geographer. It is misleading to assume going up or down hill leads to or away from the sea. It just is not the case and using that as a rule will lead to dehydrated confusion with no chance of escape by bici taxi or coche. Luckily some of the locals take it upon themselves to locate, placate and then allocate bemused tourists to their desired destination, even if, the tourists were not so sure where that was. This is a kind of walking taxi service that is polite, efficient and informative. The warren of central streets are made even more interesting to negotiate because some of the Calles having possibly three names. The historic one from before the revolution, the civic preferred name and what the locals like to call it. Hence, Calle San Basilio became Bartolomé Masó more easily remembered as Masó.
There are tantalizing remains of tramlines and their long re-appropriated overhead electricity supply in some of the Calles and you could imagine what a roller-coaster ride that would have been. For tram enthusiasts like myself it is potentially, an iconic public transport system that needs funding to return the trams and further vitalize the city. A noble aim but one that is probably dwarfed by the other priorities screaming out for the city residents.
The film 'Ciudad en Rojo' (City In Red) re-created how Santiago as it was under Batista in the fifties. A neon lit centre with diners, bars and clubs but with urban guerilla warfare being coordinated and carried out against the Batista regime by brave young men and women. The film documented their heroism but also raised the moral dilemmas for everyday citizens living in the city. The revolutionaries aimed to further the revolution by distributing revolutionary information, helping to supply the guerillas up in the Sierra Maestra and by supporting the disruption of the Batista regime across Cuba.
The Clandestino Museum celebrates these revolutionaries and is based in part of the school that Fidel and Raul went to as a child. It documents this activity and in some cases the violent ends of those involved. Inside, you can read the stories of the Clandestinos, if you can read Spanish, otherwise you can view the equipment they used including the clandestine presses, newspapers and radio broadcasting equipment. Some of the clothes they wore is also displayed alongside their weapons. There are also shocking black and white photos of victims just after their assassinations. I do not have the stomach for them but they are a contemporary depiction of the risks these often young Clandestinos ran.
Away from the centre and not far from the stylish Viazul Bus Terminal and the Railway Station is the large cemetery containing the mausoleum of Jose Marti along with the tombs of many notable Cubans. The biggest queue is for Fidel Castros tomb which is below that of Marti and next to the commemoration of those killed in the assault on the Moncada barracks.
Queuing is well organised and undertaken with quiet patience, with Cubans outnumbering foreign tourists when I was there. On the hour, was a changing of the guard ceremony with goose stepping and recorded martial music which might be appropriate on more than one level. One soldier was allocated to Fidel Castro but three were allocated to Jose Marti. The mausoleum of Jose Marti is on a grand scale. Inside, you can look down onto tomb while a sculpture of Marti contemplates not his tomb, as he looks to one side, but possibly, the many outcomes of his works. On each the arches are carvings representing the coat of arms of Cuba, In contrast the tomb of Fidel is more modest massive piece of Cuban rock with only his first name on a metal plate for identification.
Further back in the cemetery is the family tomb where Frank País resides who was the leader of the Santiago Clandestinos. The rest of the cemetery is worth exploring not just to pay your respects to Frank. There are notices throughout the maze of highly decorative funerary sculpture pointing out significant figures from Cuban History who are buried here but there are also Cuban flags flying next to the Martyrs of the Revolution, two if the deceased was a Clandestino. The second flag being the black and red stripes behind the key date for the 26 July Movement.
After my weekend in Santiago, I have managed to gain a brief touristic glimpse of the city. I have not even mentioned the music, the cuisine or gone further afield beyond the centre, but these are covered in the travel guides. Though, on the topic of food, I perhaps should mention that there are good seafood restaurants here that will challenge you to identify the English names of the delicious fish that is served. These and other aspects are for another time, perhaps, as the Cuban classic says?
Mike Blamires
