Recreational Options for Young Cubans
Photo Feature by Lorenzo Crespo Silveira
HAVANA TIMES — If we take the general opinion young Cubans and not so young Cubans have as a starting point when they say they don’t have recreational options, mainly on the weekend, we can conclude that there is a serious lack of varied public spaces where they can share experiences and have fun with their friends. Especially when the first thing they want to do is to go to a disco or something similar.
However, a large number of them think and act differently. Like a good friend of mine says when he just wants to have fun: “If today isn’t Carnival, I’ll make my own carnival…” and activities appear where you can use your time in a healthy manner, relaxing your mind and doing something different.
You might not agree with me, but the following are some photos I took and would like to share with you of alternative places here in Guantanamo where youth come together in a different and pleasant environment…
Click on the thumbnails below to view all the photos in this gallery. On your PC or laptop, you can use the directional arrows on the keyboard to move within the gallery. On cell phones use the keys on the screen.
Wonder how much Fidel spent on the over-the-top several acre memorial park for Dr. Ernesto Guevara de Serna Lynch at Santa Clara.
Its a question of priorities and propaganda projects rate well above children walking in National Parks.
I cannot speak about children in the US, but can about children in the UK and Canada where that same basic human behaviour is still to be observed, but also where open political views can be expressed by children without fear of their parents being incarcerated for permitting views contrary to communism.
I wish to thank author Lorenzo Crespo Silveira for touching on such an important subject for the future of our children and for allowing the world to see, that children in Cuba still learn, play, speak to each other and become friends, a far cry from globalized children elsewhere, who have lost basic human behavior to
electronic, mesmerizing instruments.
Although Cuban children have lost some opportunities they had in the past, they are still far ahead of their counterparts in many places around the world, but it is
past due, for the writer and all of us to bring to the attention of the authorities,
the many shortcomings in the system that must be addressed. Here are some:
Guantanamo is among the warmest place of Cuba. its citizens used to survive the stifling summer heat at the river Guaso and Jaibo running through town or at the nearby beach in Caimanera. River Guaso and Bano are higly contaminated and unusable, Caimanera beach is inaccessible because it has been a military zone for decades and should now end.
Upper river Bano, Guantanamo river at Granadillo, the huge reservoir La Yaya, La Gloria, Arroyo Hondo, Yateritas, Tortuguilla and Cajobabo beaches should be developed and made accessible with transportation for the community.
Two Olympic pools that were built in the Caribe neighborhood, have remained unused for years, for lack of pumping and purifying equipment. School
children in Guantanamo are not taken to historical sites in Playitas, Duaba,
Baracoa nor to the huge Humbolt National Park for lack of transport or funds.
Most if not all stadium at middle, high schools and the university, stands unused and except for baseball teams, there is no other competition in towns. Eight movie theaters 40 years ago has been reduced to 3. Popular musical contest at the Radio Station has disappeared, a promised botanical garden and zoo has been shelved for 4 decades. Theater, music, dance and other artistic forms are minimal, which creates opportunities for alcohol and cigarette consumption by our youngsters.
Our children cannot love what they do not know. Dedicate some idle buses on week-end, to take different groups of families to places listed above and other underutilized locations and enlist willing Guantanameros living around the world, to fund these critical programs.
Wherever you live in this world you can make your own entertainment and fun, you do not require expensive electronic gadgets to have fun. Use your imagination and create your own musical instruments and sing along!
A nice series of photographs Lorenzo. Let us hope that these young people will later in life be released from dictatorship and live in a free society where they will be able to fully utilize their talents and abilities to pursue personal objectives rather than the dictates of the State.