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Fidel Castro Will Always Lead Cuba, Locals Say
Castro's image is displayed at a Havana school and many other places in the city, though for months he's been seen only in videos, looking frail.
(By Ariana Cubillos -- Associated Press)
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Castro's face is everywhere these days, even though since his illness he has been seen only in videos that show him looking frail. It was once an oddity of Havana that, despite Castro's dominance of politics and culture, his image appeared on only a few of the countless propaganda-filled billboards that line the capital's streets. The face of Castro's dashing, revolutionary partner Ernesto "Che" Guevara, elevated after death to mythical status, appeared much more frequently.
But in the past few months, Castro's bearded image has been placed on more billboards than many here can remember ever seeing. Larger than life, he appears on a billboard swinging a baseball bat in green fatigues. In another, he strikes a heroic pose next to a Cuban flag.
Castro's most ardent followers, and there are millions here, have long been able to separate the man from his policies. In one breath they will praise him, and in the next complain vigorously about his policies, especially his restrictions on foreign travel and ownership of private businesses.
Yaima, a 22-year-old art gallery worker, launched into effusive praise of the only president she has ever known, calling Castro "a historic president."
"There will never be another to compare with him," she said.
But seconds later, she added, "We have to have change."
Yaima earns the equivalent of less than $20 a month working in the state-run gallery. She is paid in Cuban pesos. But people who buy the art she sells use a second form of currency, Cuban convertible pesos, or as everyone here derisively calls them, "kooks." Kooks -- primarily used by tourists, foreigners living in Cuba and Cubans who receive remittances from abroad -- have far more buying power than Cuban pesos. Most of the city's finest restaurants and stores take only kooks.
"Now we're working for nothing," Yaima said.
Vázquez, the retired government worker, said she has encountered the same complaints. She has heard people griping about ration books for food purchases and rotting houses.
"But look at Indochina or Thailand," she said. "They've got it worse."
Vázquez said she had never been to either of those places. She had only read about them. She said that in her 50 years, in fact, she had never left this island.
"Oh no," she said. "I could never have afforded it."
A Washington Post special correspondent in Havana contributed to this report.
