My New Found Love for Cuba

At Veritas University I'm taking a Contemporary Latin American History course for one of my three electives. So far during the semester we have learned about the independence movements of several countries through Latin America, and are currently learning about the Cuban Revolution.

Not going to lie, at first I didn't enjoy my history class. I thought is was so boring, and all we did was take notes--typical history class, right. Though now I'm starting to really enjoy it. Last week we started to cover the Cuban Revolution and Che Guevara. I fell in love! I'm seriously becoming obsessed with learning more about both Che and Cuba. In high school and college I never found something that peaked my interest like this. It's so exciting to actually find something that you want to learn about, not just something you have to learn about. It's fun!

If you don't know who Che is, I would recommend you read about him--he's a really interesting person. I'll still give you a brief synopsis of his life though. He was born and raised in Argentina. After high school he became a doctor, and decided to ride around Latin America with his friend on motorcycles in 1951. Throughout the trip he learned about other cultures, and saw many things that started to change his thoughts about the world--including poverty, economic gaps in society and political structures. He came to believe capitalism and imperialism are detrimental to an equal society. He went to Mexico and met the infamous, Fidel Castro and his brother Raul (the current president of Cuba). Che joined their revolutionary movement to overthrow the current government in Cuba, and went to Cuba with the Castros. In Cuba, Che fought in the revolution, supported literacy programs, fought against imperialism and advocated Marxist ideals. He later on died in Bolivia, where he was killed by the CIA and the Bolivian government.

I feel like my interest stems from the fact that Cuba is this unknown country with a bad reputation in the US. In school I was only taught about the Cuban Missile Crisis and the United States' embargo on Cuba. Basically those two subjects result in, Cuba = bad. Just now I'm learning the opposite side of the story. Not just the opposite side of the story of Cuba but other Latin American countries as well. The United States imposed their power and influence on several countries in Latin America.

My perspective about the United States and their government are changing. I wasn't ever ignorant to the United States imperialistic policies, but I was to the real consequences it has had on other countries.

¡Pura Vida!