Episode 147: Cubans Take to the Streets in Largest Protests in Decades

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Ian: Hey everyone, you are listening to Coffee with Gringos. I'm Ian Kennedy.

Paige:  And I'm Paige Sutherland.

Ian: And today we're going to be talking about something that is going on currently in the world right now—big news—and this is in the country of Cuba. And Cuba is experiencing its biggest antigovernment protests that it's had for more than three decades. This is happening due to having its worst economic crisis in the world. Overall, with COVID but it's really affecting the country. Specifically, there's a lot of frustration with food and medicine shortages, high prices, inflation, power outages, lack of vaccines, so on and so forth, and people are pretty unhappy with the leadership of the president, Miguel Díaz Canel. So, today, Paige and I thought we would touch upon what's going on and what we think is going to be happening in the island nation of Cuba. So, for all of our listeners, as usual, check out that audio guide and transcript online at www.dynamicenglish.cl. So, Paige—the last month or so we've been reading a lot about things happening in Cuba with these historic protests going on. Of course, this is all happening during a really severe crisis that's going on that we all know about in the world right now but it's really exacerbated by just the way that government and the way of life is in Cuba and how it's been for many, many decades. So, what have you been hearing? What have you been seeing? What do you think about what's going on?

Paige: Yeah, I mean, I think, what's tricky about the situation in Cuba is it has deep ties with the US that many of our listeners probably know about. The US has had a very complicated relationship with Cuba ever since the 60s with the Cuban Missile Crisis and since then, there have been a lot of restrictions and trade embargoes with Cuba. As US citizens, we weren't even able to travel there and tourism is a big part of their economy and so they call it the “Cuban Thaw” during the Obama administration where they lifted a lot of those restrictions, and it created this huge influx of US citizens traveling to Cuba, and that was good for everyone where a lot of Americans want to explore the culture of Cuba and obviously that helps their economy with tourism dollars. And then Trump got into office and rolled a lot of those restrictions back, and so you can only travel to Cuba if you're a US citizen for business and humanitarian. It's very specific but not tourism and I think that definitely had an impact on the economy but also the trade embargoes are back where the US is one of the world powers so not being able to trade with the US is probably a big hindrance but it's very complicated and I don't know the details enough to say that's the main reason why they're in economic turmoil. And so, you're hearing some world leaders saying the US needs to step up and Biden isn't really saying much about it. He’s really saying that he supports the people and that they have every right to protest and things should be different but is mute on whether he would lift any of the restrictions. It's probably, to be honest because he has so much going on. I mean, there's a global pandemic here in the US, our economy's hurt, so I'm not sure if the Cuban crisis is first priority. So, it's tough to say if maybe he will end up reversing those like Obama did. I don't know because he was the Vice President of Obama, so you would think he would share those values but I don't know.  Yeah, it will be interesting to see because he definitely has been quiet about whether these restrictions will be lifted. Yeah, what do you think?

Ian: That's a pretty typical public relations response in that way. Support without giving any actual details or give any emphasis on what that actually means. But yeah, I think it will be interesting to see. Like you say, he's got a lot on his plate right now so maybe it's just not top of the priority list but yeah, I mean, I think some changes need to be made in some sort of way. I mean, I think the way that we have had this “mini-Cold War” with Cuba ever since the 60s is a little bit ridiculous. It’s actually—the US-Cuba embargo—the longest embargo that has existed in history. So, I think at some point we need to reevaluate things and step back and say, are we looking at this from an updated and more accurate standpoint than we did before? And maybe we'll have some good changes out of that.

Paige: Hey, Ian. Did you know besides the podcast, Dynamic English offers one-on-one classes of native teachers from all over the world?

Ian: Really? But isn't it just a bunch of grammar lessons?

Paige: No, it's completely discussion-based and focuses on topics the student is interested in.

Ian: That's amazing. But what if I'm not living in Chile?

Paige: No problem. Dynamic does online classes. You can be living anywhere.

Ian: Great, but I'm a little intimidated to take the class alone. Can I join with a friend?

Paige: Of course. Dynamic offers group classes of up to four. Plus, for the next month, Coffee with Gringos listeners get 10% off individual or group classes. So go online to www.dynamicenglish.cl and mention that you are a listener and get your discount.

Ian: Well, I'm sold. Sign me up.

Ian: I think what's interesting too is we're seeing the biggest protests happening—actual protests happening—for thirty years. And what's happening is, a lot of people, especially young people, are taking to the streets with outrage. They're calling for changes, they're calling for help from the government, essentially. And what's so interesting about this is over a third of the Cuban population, they were born after the fall of the Soviet Union back in the 90s and so they don't have a memory of a time when they had economic security in the country or when you didn't have to wait in line for hours sometimes to get food, or gas, or basic necessities. And so, I think the younger people who don't have this memory of what things were like before, they're a lot less willing to have that patience that the government's asking for from the people and they've kind of just had it. They want changes now and they're not really buying what the government's saying with them saying, “Please be patient. We're trying to make these changes.” In their minds, it's kind of bullshit. So, I think we see the demographic and the generational differences that exist as well which just makes this even more interesting.

Paige: I think it's complicated too because I think the US plays a role for sure but to say that it's the main reason that there's this kind of turmoil in the country is probably unfair to say and so you see this political football being kicked where the people are calling for their president to step down because he's not handling things well and the president is like, “Oh, it's the US’ fault.” So, it's kind of like a little blame game there where I think the US embargo and all these restrictions definitely probably have a toll on their economy. But at the end of the day, you have a leader who's not prioritizing getting vaccinations. The vaccine rate I think is 15% which is so low because there isn’t access and it seems like reading a few articles that the priorities are spending money on building hotels and foreign investment and all these kinds of things where the people are taking to the streets because they're like, “We need basic essentials. The money from our government should be on that.” And it seems like during these protests that there's a lot of free rights restrictions. The protesters are receiving resistance. It seems like I read the internet is controlled by the government so there's some censorship. So, there are definitely some issues that are related to Cuba that the Cubans have issue with their government regardless of the US. So, I think it's very complicated but it is an interesting thing in this kind of dynamic play out of pointing fingers.

Ian: Yeah, exactly. It's kind of like a game of “pass the buck” and who's really at fault here? And, I think it's like you said, it's very complicated. There's a lot of things that contribute to the state in which the country is in right now, but of course without going down a rabbit hole on the subject of communism, that the political and economic makeup of the country brings up a lot of criticisms and arguments as well. As a communist country, you would think that the government would be able to supply more of these necessities to its citizens. However, that's typically not what we see in these kinds of countries so we would need many other episodes to go through all of that, so we're not going to go there, but it's just adding fuel to the fire of the situation they're in. And again, it's been exacerbated because we're all living in this terrible economic crisis—world crisis—but when you add on the complexities of the embargo, the lack of necessities within the country, lack of infrastructure, you just have a ticking time bomb waiting to go off in some kind of a way. Whether that's the people going to the streets in protests or revolution, whatever it might be. So, it's a very sensitive and hot topic and I don't know. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Paige: I know. I think, sadly, as we know from these kinds of protests that protesting can create change, but generally, it's pretty slow. So, unfortunately, things probably won't change immediately but hopefully, if people keep taking to the streets and getting a loud enough voice to reach beyond Cuba and getting some international pressure, hopefully, some things will get better. But it's definitely a hard time to protest. Every country is trying to weather this pandemic that has ups and downs like we thought we were past it now, there are different variants and cases are going up so I think it's a hard time to focus on anything but the pandemic for any country right now. But hopefully things, things will change soon.

Ian: So, while the protests have in recent weeks been dying down a little bit, we're seeing less of that kind of activity. And the question arises for us is what's going to happen next? And so, experts are saying that if the government, the president, if they don't really change any of their current policies in order to help the people, and supply these necessities and these changes then I think we're going to see bigger protests, bigger actions, possibly even some sort of a form of revolution. It's a little early to say, but again, we have to wait and see because, like we said, the previous protests, these were the biggest ones that we've seen for thirty years there. So, I think time in the next few weeks are going to tell us what's going to happen because of how coronavirus is going, how inflation is going. So, I think we're just going to have to sit tight and see what happens but, hopefully, the people of Cuba can get what they need and can live in better circumstances. We feel bad for everybody in the world right now but there are clearly some places that are better off than others and it seems like Cuba was one of the places that's really suffering. So, hopefully, they can get what they need and life can improve for them.

Paige: Agreed. And hopefully, we can eventually lift some of these restrictions, and me and Ian can visit Cuba because it looks like a beautiful country. I would love that opportunity.

Ian: I would love to visit Cuba. It’s at the top of my list so hopefully, that can be a reality for us sooner than later. So, listeners, as we mentioned all these details here, it's a very sensitive and ongoing situation. So, everybody pay attention to what's going on, and we'll just see what happens in the next coming weeks and hopefully, those changes happen, like we said. So, like we mentioned before, go online and check out that audio guide and transcript at www.dynamicenglish.cl. Thanks for listening.

Paige: We'll see you next time.

Ian: “Coffee with Gringos” officially has over one hundred episodes and we are among the “Top Podcasts in Chile”. And that’s thanks to you. But we are always working to grow our audience so make sure to rate sure to rate, review and share us.  

Key Vocabulary, Phrases & Slang:

 1.     to touch upon (phrasal verb): to briefly talk about or discuss something.

a.      We would like to touch upon the events as they are happening.

2.     to exacerbate (verb): to make something worse.  

a.     The situation is being exacerbated by the virus along with economic problems.

3.     embargo (noun): an official ban on trade or commercial activity with a particular country.

a.     The US-Cuba embargo is the longest in history.

4.     influx (noun): an arrival or entry of a large number of people or things.

a.      An influx of problems has entered the tiny island nation.

5.     to roll back (phrasal verb): to reverse the progress, power, and/or importance of something.

a.     The government decided to roll back on the policies that allowed for better relations between the two countries.

6.     hindrance (noun): obstacle; barrier; complication.

a.     The virus has been a major hindrance to the economy.

7.     turmoil (noun): a state of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty.

a.     The country has been in turmoil for weeks.

8.     to step up (phrasal verb): to come forward and give importance to a particular purpose or situation.

a.      People are calling for other countries to step up and help the tiny island nation.

9.      mute (adjective): being quiet; not speaking.

a.     The president has been mute about the topic when talking with the media.

10.  on one’s plate (idiom): occupying one’s time and energy.

a.      Since there are a lot of things on his plate, it’s unlikely he will take many actions.

11.  toll (noun): the cost or damage resulting from something.

a.     The environmental toll of the policy has been high.

12.  pass the buck (idiom): to shift the responsibility for something to someone else.

a.     Politicians are constantly passing the buck on all the big issues.

13.  to go down a rabbit hole (idiom): to spend more time, effort, or energy than intended.

a.     The topic is so extensive that I don’t want to go down a rabbit hole and spend all day talking about it.

14.  to add fuel to the fire (idiom): to cause a conflict or difficult situation to become worse.

a.     To add fuel to the fire, the government won’t even listen to the requests of the people.