SUCH is the power of a symbol. A planeload of American journalists was due to fly to Cuba for the day on August 14th to watch John Kerry raise the Stars and Stripes and formally reopen his country’s embassy in Havana after 54 years. Yet should the secretary of state look eastwards along the Malecón, the seafront of crumbling, salt-scarred buildings, towards Old Havana, his view would be obstructed by a forest of flagpoles and an open-air stage adorned with the slogan: ¡Patria o Muerte, Venceremos! (“Fatherland or death, we shall win”). Used over the past 15 years or so for anti-imperialist rallies, there are no immediate plans to dismantle this theatre of agitprop.
The official portrayal in Cuba of the decision by Barack Obama and Raúl Castro to restore diplomatic ties is that it was a victory for Cuban communism’s half-century of stubborn resistance against the American economic embargo. The popular reaction was one of euphoria, a surge of hope that trade, investment, tourists and the almighty dollar will now rain down on the island.
Eight months on, euphoria has given way to cautious expectation tinged with queasy uncertainty. Many...
from The Economist: The Americas http://ift.tt/1Txr4Q4
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