Cuba – revolution in ruins or still being built? Reflections on a visit to the island 1–17 February 2022

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.14.1.0005
• Published date: 05 July 2022
• Date: 05 July 2022
• Pages: 5-10
• Author: Stephen Wilkinson

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EDITORIAL

CUBA – REVOLUTION IN RUINS OR STILL

BEING BUILT? REFLECTIONS ON A VISIT TO

THE ISLAND 1–17 FEBRUARY 2022

Stephen Wilkinson

University of Buckingham

Stephen Wilkinson is senior lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University

of Buckingham, Editor of this journal and the Director of the International Institute for the

Study of Cuba.

Shall we ever find that lovely land of might-have-been?

Ivor Novello

At the risk of sounding facetious, if capitalism is renowned for the process of

‘creative destruction’ then in an ironic sense one might have to concede that, on

the face of it, Cuban socialism is marked by a sense of ‘entropic decay’.

At least that is the initial impression one gets walking through the streets of

Vedado, Havana, as I made a point of doing on a recent visit for 17 days in

February, seven months after the ‘social explosion’ of 11 July 2021, when people

took to the streets in unprecedented scenes of protest. These protests were

against the government’s handling of the economy, food scarcity and a perceived

lack of COVID response that has produced a general anxiety about the future of

this socialist revolution, now in its seventh decade with no utopian end any-

where in sight.

Even in February, Havana basks in the providential glow of intense sunshine,

which always has the effect of making places appear rather more cheerful than

they would otherwise seem. This is a blessing because everywhere one finds ruins.

Walking the streets of Vedado, the 20th-century city built largely during the

‘American’ period, after Cuban independence in 1902, is an unsettling yet pleas-

urable experience in which architectural wonders of art nouveau and art deco,

now in their second century of existence, rise resplendently in decorative defi-

ance amid piles of rubble, broken pavements and crumbling facades. Here and

there, wooden scaffolds prop up buildings, balconies cling on with their rusted

DOI:10.13169/intejcubastud.14.1.0005