Cuba in Transition: Impressions and Reflections

In 1959, the US media portrayed Fidel Castro as a Latin American land reformer leading the struggle against Cuba’s brutally repressive Fulgencio Batista. By 1960, Castro had become a dangerous Communist. Contradictory narratives about Castro and Cuba have been the norm ever since. Expatriates denounce the one-party police state that has impoverished its populace. More sympathetic observers point to Cuba’s universal, free public education system and developed-world health care outcomes. A 2010 Havana choir festival provided the opportunity for a month-long, 10 city trip through the Island. Cuba in Transition combines traditional travel narrative with the author’s observations of Cuba and thoughts about possible directions for its evolution, fifty-plus years after the Revolution.