Javier Galeano AP/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.
Returning to the United States from Cuba (where I was born many decades ago) the day after Fidel Castro’s death, I could not help but reflect upon the temporal coincidence between the passing of Fidel, a towering historical figure, and the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States. I am a historian of late medieval and early modern Iberia and the western Mediterranean; thus these comments do not claim the expertise of a historian of Cuba or the United States. These are personal reflections that I have attempted to place in some historical context.
My wife and I were in Cuba for over two weeks, one of which was spent in La Habana, mostly walking the city’s non-tourist neighborhoods. For those who have long criticized the Revolution and Fidel’s leadership, there was much to note and much to support their criticism. Even though conditions are better now than when we visited four years ago and the care of La Habana’s historic center is much improved, many buildings throughout the city are decrepit and on the verge of collapse. Sidewalks and roadways are often crumbling. There are shortages of essential goods such as toilet paper, shampoo, tomatoes, and the like (though not for tourists and foreigners). The public transportation system is practically non-existent; to get around most Cubans depend on cabs of ancient vintage, the colectivos, which stop at street corners and pick up multiple passengers, depending on their destination.
