Cuba-Viva La Revolucion

September 2000

29'58mins

SCRIPT

MUSIC

MARCHING WITH BANNERS, KIDS WAVING FLAGS

02’09

VO Revolution Square, Havana.

A quarter of a million people gather to celebrate the coming of Socialism.

02’23

Officially, the mass rally has been called by Cuban students and workers on the occasion of International Labor Day.

But it’s an orchestrated ritual.

Speaker after speaker reaffirms defiance to the Imperialist Yankees.

CASTRO IN CROWD

02’41

And they pay homage to their liberator – the father of the Revolution.

To many Latin Americans, President Fidel Castro is a legendary figure - the only one of their leaders to stand up to the United States.

CASTRO IN CROWD, WALKS TO PODIUM

02’59

Seventy-three year old Castro is now the world’s longest serving leader.

He even holds the record for the world’s longest ever-speech - over seven hours - and his message has barely changed in 41 years.

03’14

CASTRO GRAB – ‘Nothing will be easy with regard to Cuba in the future. Forty years of resisting all sorts of aggressions and injustices, and the war of ideas we have been waging ceaselessly throughout five long months have made us much stronger.’

CROWDS CHEERING

03’42

The custody battle over Elian Gonzalez may have been a sad and tawdry spectacle.

But it was just what Castro was looking for to re-energise the Revolution.

03’54

CASTRO GRAB – (end of speech)

Long live Patriotism!

Long live socialism!

Long live internationalism!

Fatherland or death!

We will be victorious!

MUSIC

OLD HAVANA STREETS, DANCING - MONTAGE, OLD FOGIES, COUPLE KISSING, COUPLE WALKING PAST RUBBLE, CHILDREN PLAYING IN ARCH, GIRLS DANCING NEXT TO MERC, OLD WOMAN ON BENCH

04’20

Cuba has long prided itself on a vibrant and unique Revolution.

Here, all races are equal, resources are shared, and happiness is measured by standards other than material wealth.

But under it’s exuberant surface, Cuba is in crisis.

The average wage has fallen to $6 US a month.

The socialist safety net has all but collapsed.

04’50

MAN SELLING COIN

Revolutionary icons of the folk hero Che Guevara are sold on the street by workers the State can no longer afford to feed.

05’01

NATSOT COIN SELLER - ‘Please buy one. Help me so I can eat.’

05’04

Some with nothing to sell survive by begging.

BEGGAR AND SON ON STREET

 

05’07

BEGGAR TO CAM – I have three children, and they don’t have milk. He’s the youngest. He’s three. We have problems to feed them.

BEGGAR AND SON

05’19

Fernando has no job and no prospect of finding one.

05’24

KIM – You can’t work? BEGGAR – Work? If you work here you get paid $5 a month. It’s not enough for life.

 

05’31

KIM – how old are you?

BEGGAR - Forty six.

KIM – Do you remember how life was before the revolution?

BEGGAR – Before the revolution life was worse. I was small, but blacks and whites were different then. Now with Fidel, blacks and whites are equal. Fidel is good.

 

FERNANDO AND SON WALKING IN STREET, UP STEPS TO HOUSE

05’59

Fernando’s family is testament to the failure of Castro’s pledge that no Cuban child would ever go hungry again.

He risks a jail term to bring me to his family’s one-room apartment.

06’13

FERNANDO IN HOUSE - Take a picture. Come. WIFE - Show her upstairs. FERNANDO - Look at the bed. These are the conditions, see? This one’s finished. That’s the bed, right there. (SHOWING ROOM, MATTRESS) That small bed there has no mattress… You see, no food, no medicine, no radio, no TV, nothing.’

06’45

KIM – What can you do?

06’51

WIFE – What can I do? What can I do? There isn’t any work here. If you find a job cleaning floors, you get 100 pesos a month. That’s five dollars. 100 pesos are five dollars. If I go to the market with that money, it goes on rice and neans and a pound of meat. We’d eat that in one day, then look for food for the rest of the month.

07’19

FERNANDO - Look, this is the reality the Government doesn’t want you to see.

07’23

WIFE – Other countries say ‘Castro this…Fidel that…’, but they don’t know our situation here. But we can’t say a thing, because if we talk ….(GRABS WRISTS)

07’34

FERNANDO IN KITCHEN – Fifteen years ago life was better. At that time the Socialist bloc was still standing, but when it broke down, Cuba was left alone in the world.’

07’50

FERNANDO – ‘Fidel commanded one year ago, that if somebody talked very badly about the system, they’d be put in jail for ten years…ten years, fifteen years…a long time… that’s why people feel afraid. People shut up and suffer inside because they don’t want to talk nothing dirty about the revolution in Cuba.’

ELIAN BEING RESCUED FROM THE SEA

08’18

The Cuban people’s only alternative to silence is voting with their feet ... and every year thousands risk their lives to do just that.

The United States’ Cold-War era sanctions against Cuba include automatic sanctuary for any Cuban who reaches American soil.

08’38

The controversy over Elian was much more than a battle to bring him home.

It was to discourage others from leaving.

08’46

GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL - JORGE LAMADRID – Director of North American Department at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (IN ENGLISH)

“We are fighting to avoid other Elians. And in fact, we have several citizens, many citizens, most of them, more or less half of them, who are trying to emigrate illegally to the United States, because they are getting the message they will be welcome in the United States, and they are trying to do his way.’

BALLET SCHOOL - YOUNG GIRLS IN DANCE CLASS

 

09’18

Cuba’s revolution has undeniably brought some positive changes to the country.

This ballet school in Havana is typical of the efforts which have been made to elevate society, and give equal opportunities to all.

09’34

SCHOOL PRINCIPAL GRAB - In 1959, the triumph of the revolution in Cuba created the possibility of bringing ballet to underprivileged classes of society. That’s why today, 40 years later ballet is a very popular art and people like it very much.

CUS DANCE SHOES FALLING TO PIECES

10’00

But the struggle is even harder now than 40 years ago.

The costumes and shoes are falling apart.

10’11

Like all officials, Silvia Rodriguez denies it is the fault of Socialism.

She blames it on the US trade embargo, which Cuba calls ‘the blockade’.

CARGO SHIP GOING INTO HARBOUR, EMPTY SHOP SHELVES

10’22

In 1961, the United States banned all trade to Cuba.

Until the late 80’s, the Soviet Union filled the breach.

10’33

But its collapse stripped Cuba of 85 per cent of its trade and the subsidies that had kept its economy afloat.

10’42

AUDIO LEAD GRAB UNDER SHOTS OF EMPTY SHELVES

GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN -

“We have been facing this kind of aggression because the blockade, the United States’ government blockade toward Cuba is a real aggression, it's a real war … economic, financial and commercial war. We have been facing this kind of aggression since many years ago, almost 40 years, and for the whole population, for the whole Cuban economy, we have been paying a very high price for this kind of aggression.”

POOR PEOPLE – OLD HAVANA

OLD CARS IN STREETS, GUY FIXING CAR

11’07

The embargo has helped keep Cuba in a time-warp.

Even today, most of the cars are left over from the 1950s.

Cubans manage to keep their Dodges and Chevrolets running.

But the Government is getting far less mileage from its industry.

TOBACCO FARM – ROLLING CIGARS, DRYING SHEDS (T3 – 19.24 onwards)

11’27

This collective farm in the western province of Pinar del Rio makes some of the world’s best cigars.

But it can barely pay its workers 25 US cents a day.

The US trade embargo not only stops American companies buying the cigars.

It threatens retaliation against other foreign firms that invest here.

DANIEL GREETING MAN ON HORSE

Daniel Soares runs the collective.

11’55

GRAB – DANIEL SOARES – (President of Collective) T4 – 44.38 ‘The United States are great consumers of tobacco. But we cannot trade with them because there are no relations between our countries. In fact, they make a great effort to prevent us from selling our products.’

12’15

America claims Cuba’s real problems are its dictator Castro and his Socialist policies.

But the embargo has failed to force him from office.

12’27

GRAB – DANIEL SOARES – ‘Even though they make a great effort to block and defeat us, we will always find alternatives. That is why we have endured it and will continue to do so. And we will continue resisting whenever necessary, with the effort of our will and intelligence to find alternatives, under the guidance of our commander-in-chief.’

B/W PHOTOS – AL CAPONE, SMASHING CASINO, HOTEL EXTERIORS

12’51

Cuba’s revolutionaries still equate the US with the gangsters they overthrew.

Until 1959, an international mafia controlled Cuba’s politicians…between them they stripped the country of its assets and turned it into a playground for gamblers and foreign tourists.

13’13

American mobsters built huge hotels and casinos, and ran prostitution rings.

13’20

The revolutionaries ransacked the casinos and confiscated American owned property…Fidel vowed that Imperialists would never exploit Cubans again.

CABARET – HOTEL NACIONAL, TOURISTS

13’34

But with the Revolution in crisis, the Government has re-opened the symbols it destroyed.

Tourists once again pack out the old mobster hotels…and five-star resorts are being built all over the island.

 

This is capitalist decadence on the Revolution’s terms.

Only tourists with hard currency are welcome at these resorts.

Only Cubans with the right connections can work here.

Ordinary Cubans are banned from even visiting the beaches.

2-SHOT – WALKING INTO BACK OF SHOP

14’09

Jose is one of few Cubans who would dare speak to our camera… in a back-room for fear of being spotted by police.

14’16

JOSE, POLITICAL REFUGEE

“I can’t even visit the hotels in my own country, because they are only for tourists. Even if I had dollars, I couldn’t visit them. I’d have to be some high-ranking Government official to check into a hotel in my own country.

SHOWING DOCUMENT

14’37

Six years ago Jose tried to swim to the US naval base on Cuba’s far east.

Now he is considered a security risk.

14’48

JOSE - ‘We are here because we can’t go anywhere else. We are trapped. That’s why there are so many Cubans emigrating to the United States, because of economic reasons. There is no democracy, there are no human rights. We have noone to complain to. Now I’m complaining to you. If you weren’t here, who would I complain to?

SHOPKEEPER WARNING US TO BE QUIET

15’18

JOSE – “They’re afraid.”

15’24

JOSE WALKING TO FRONT OF SHOP

‘We’re doing some business here. This is the problem of the police. If you want to continue talking, we can go to my place. It will be more private.

POLICE ARRESTING DEAF-MUTE

15’47

Castro may have freed the workers from imperialist exploitation.

But his regime keeps them under tight control.

Police survey almost every corner.

Troublemakers face swift and certain punishment.

16’02

GRAB “He tried to pickpocket a tourist.”

POLICE ARRESTING OTHERS

16’12

But the biggest criminals are counter-revolutionaries.

Three years ago a new law imposed heavy jail terms for anyone publicly criticising the State.

POLICEMAN WALKING THROUGH CARTWHEELING KIDS

16’24

The most serious offence – punishable by up to 15 years in jail – is publishing what’s called enemy propaganda.

WALKING PAST TRUCKLOAD OF COPS

16’35

The New-York based monitoring group, Human Rights Watch, claims such laws are used regularly to imprison peaceful dissidents.

WALKING IN STREET BACK TO JOSE’S HOME

16’46

JOSE GRAB WHILE HE IS WALKING

‘Don’t. You have to talk quietly. You have to be careful. At a municipal level, there is a sector chief, appointed by the police. He’s in charge of monitoring everyone who lives in a particular area. He can demand answers from people and even blackmail them. If you don’t work for the Government, you can be charged by this person, under a decree which they call the ‘Danger decree.’

WOMAN BEHIND BARS

CDR OFFICE, SLOGANS

17’27

Dissidents are kept in line by the Committee for the Defence of the Revolution … a kind of socialist Neighbourhood Watch.

Each street … sometimes each building … has residents’ committees to report on suspicious or subversive behaviour.

MAN WITH GRANMA

17’45

Cuban media is tightly controlled to ensure only the State viewpoint is heard, particularly about the anti-Castro exiles in Miami.

17’56

STAND-UP - “ This is Cuba’s main newspaper, which for most Cubans is their only source of information. Coincidentally the articles here are repeated verbatim on the television news each night. It’s cover to cover anti-US propaganda. For example, “The Sinister Background of a Kidnapper.” It’s about Lazaro Gonzalez, Elian’s great-uncle. “President Fidel Castro declares that Lazaro Gonzalez sexually abused his pupils.”

MONTAGE OF HEADLINES – (in English)

‘Lawsuit against United States for economic damages.’

18’25

Granma trumpets the same messages in five languages …

The Government insists there’s no need for independent media.

18’34

JORGE LAMADRID - GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL

T9 - 27.11 “It is impossible to imagine that the Cuban Government would be able to remain in power through 41 years without the support of the population. This is a fiction.”

18’49

T4 11.01 - Reverse – If it’s a true democracy, why are people afraid to talk?

18’54

JORGE - You have to take into account our specific conditions of life. We have been living under permanent threat from the most powerful country all over the world, ever. We have been living under the aggressions, threats and hostility from this country.’ 24.05

19’15

MONTAGE – SLOGANS – ‘WE WILL BE VICTORIOUS’, ‘ALWAYS REBELS’ , ‘REVOLUCION’

RADIO PROGRESSO EXTERIOR

19’22

For decades, Cubans have been raised to see themselves as heroes under siege.

Every day, State Radio broadcasts a radio play for children called the Rebels of San Pedro.

19’35

Actor Modesto Acea has been a voice on rebels for twenty five years.

Set in the 1600’s, the rebels live on an island which is frequently attacked by Dutch and British pirate ships. The heroes proudly defend their island from the foreigners.

19’52

GUY DOING SOUND EFFECTS

19’59

For Carmen Solar, the creator and director of ‘Rebels’, the ‘siege of Cuba’ extends into every aspect of her job.

20’08

CARMEN SOLAR – DIRECTOR – We work with records and they’re not easy to find now. We use devices and equipment which are not manufactured in the rest of the world any more. We don’t have things like multimedia and computers. But we don’t have them because they won’t sell them to us. They can’t reach us as they reach other countries. That’s what the blockade is all about. We have great enthusiasm and conviction to work and struggle to overcome these difficulties.

20’50

UPSOT GRAB – MODESTO AND FRIEND SHOUTING INTO MIKE – The Dutch ship will pass this way.

MODESTO – So the ship will come within range of our cannons. We’ll turn it into a colander. Holy Mary? I’m going to have fun. 56.41

Like everyone else, Modesto receives the standard state salary - the peso equivalent of $6 US per month.

WALKING DOWN CORRIDOR IN HOUSE

Modesto entertains visitors in a large, State-owned apartment he lives in with his mother and aunts.

Despite the hardships of the past decade - the so-called ‘Special period’ - he can’t complain.

If he did, he could lose his apartment and job.

 

21'30

MODESTO – My life is still normal. Nothing’s changed.

KIM – Nothing’s changed?

MODESTO – No, no. I am still working. I still do the same work. I’m an actor. KIM – Exactly the same?

MODESTO – Nothing’s changed, not my way of thinking, and not my way of speaking. The main thing is that I continue to work always.

The Revolution controls intimate details of a person’s life … even what they eat.

MODESTO - Do you want to see our ration book? (GETS BOOK OUT OF DRAWER) This is our book.

KIM – how does this book work?

22'05

PALOMA – This is the ration book for the control of food products. Each and every Cuban citizen is guaranteed a specific quota of certain products. They each get it, regardless of their profession, skin colour – that’s not important. Every person has a right to these products, including the children, who are guaranteed their milk.

CU OF BOOK – SHOWING COLUMNS

PALOMA – For example, in April, each person gets six pounds of rice, 12 or 16 ounces of grain, beans…

VEGETABLE SHOP – GUY SELLING POTATO-LIKE THINGS, USING RATION BOOK

22'45

There are designated shops where, in theory, Cubans can collect their subsidised food allocated to them in the ration books.

Shopkeeper, Ernesto, praises the ration book as a sign of Fidel Castro’s enduring wisdom.

ERNESTO GRAB - “Our commander-in-chief is a very intelligent and compassionate man. His wish is that every person in Cuba can eat and have everything necessary for a good life. But there are certain obstacles. We are facing a world power that is choking us daily. But the Cubans overcome this through our own effort, and we have had many successes – like this.’ (WAVES VEGETABLE)

BARE SHELVES

22'35

But for Cubans with pesos, there is very little available.

These days, to buy what you need, you need US dollars.

DOLLAR SHOPS

In July 1993, Castro reluctantly legalised US currency as the peso collapsed.

Now Havana is full of dollar stores … and those stores are full of goods.

JOSE – GRAB – ‘Cubans cannot buy most of the things that are sold in the country. The majority of the shops only accept dollars. But a Cuban doesn’t get his salary in dollars, but in our currency.’

24'15

There are now two classes of citizens … those with dollars, and those without.

NATSOT SALSA DANCING AT HOTEL NACIONAL – TOURISTS WATCHING

PEOPLE AMUSING TOURISTS, MUSICIANS, FRILLY WOMEN

For all the propaganda, most ordinary Cubans no longer see Yankees as imperialists.

They simply see them as rich foreigners.

More than two million people now have relatives in the United States.

It’s no longer a secret that most live better than those who stayed behind.

The money they send home is all that keeps many Cubans above subsistence level.

The rest invent ways to make ends meet ….while they wait for something to change.

UPSOT MUSICIAN TRIO WITH TOURIST AND MARACCAS

25'09

But all this, is considered, ‘illegal enrichment’.

PROSTITUTES - BLONDE ON BIKE

Prostitution too, officially, does not exist…

But dollars are too necessary, and too tempting for many young women……

THOUGHT-TRACK – OVER WOMEN SHOTS – JOSE - ‘They want to make money from foreigners, have encounters with foreigners. The cheapest women in the world are Cuban women – for $20 they will go with a foreigner.’

The Government sees tourism as the new boom industry when the embargo is lifted.

25'45

JORGE LAMADRID - “I don’t know how many tourists, American tourists will be travelling to Cuba, for example. Millions, perhaps. We are preparing ourselves. We are building more than 4000 rooms every year in our tourist industry”

CUBANS WITH FOREIGNERS

But many worry about the effect this is already having on Cuban youth.

KIDS WALKING INTO CLASS, ULYSSES TALKING TO CLASS

This ‘after-school centre’ in old Havana is trying to confront the problem.

Ulysses Cruz is the centre’s Director.

26'12

THOUGHT-TRACK – ULYSSES – (DIRECTOR OF STUDENT CENTRE) - This centre is located in a neighbourhood with a high level of delinquency among children and teenagers. Most of these children live in very crowded houses with poor living conditions. That’s why when they get out of school, they wander the streets rather than returning home.

KIM Q - Does tourism nave a negative effect on the children?

ULYSSES – Tourism always brings positive and negative effects to the country that receives it. The negative effects are especially bad on the youngest generation, including the possibility of prostitution and petty crime. (TO THOUGHT TRACK OVER MODELLING CLASS) The creation of this centre has helped to channel these children’s energy into creative activities.’

27'00

GIRLS MODELLING

GIRLS WALKING INTO BUILDING, PAST DUCK, MODELLING CLASS

Ulysses is keen to maintain a sense of Cuban pride in his students.

TOUR OF CLASSROOM – CIA TOAD

ULYSSES - ‘This is the room dedicated to natural history. Here we educate the children about different species of animals and plants. This display is symbolic. It represents the Bay of Pigs invasion by the Cuban mercenaries with the aid of the American CIA.’

Cuba is always represented as a sleeping crocodile. As you can see here, it has a rifle, because he represents the militia who fought the mercenaries, defending the homeland. The toad was selected because it is a revolting animal, to represent the mercenaries who were defeated in only three days, and we put Uncle Sam’s hat on his head.’

28'05

BOYS EATING ICECREAM, WALKING UP STAIRS, DRAWING

Mario, Hector and Ernesto are some of Ulysses most promising students.

At twelve years of age, they have firm views about where they would rather live.

THOUGHT TRACK (12 YEAR OLD STUDENTS) –

MARIO – I imagine that life for children in the United States would be very stressful, because there they have corruption, drugs, racism and all those things that we don’t have. Those children probably drink alcohol, take drugs and do all those things which are not allowed in Cuba.

28'45

HECTOR – There, children aren’t as happy as they are here. Most can’t afford school fees, and schooling is free in Cuba. They have to pay for hospitals, and that’s why many of them die from various diseases. Some are found in garbage tips looking for food.

PIONEER KIDS WALKING PAST FIDEL PICTURE –

Translation of text – ‘With intelligence and ideas we will achieve our objectives.’

The State is still putting its faith for the future in revolutionary thinking.

For most of the past year, young Cubans have been bombarded by non-stop propaganda about Elian.

29'22

NATSOT KIDS SINGING

Let us save our Elian.

Free our child.

Down with Imperialism!

Castro has always condemned opponents as agents of the old regime.

ELIAN POSTER, DOG SHOP, LITTLE BOY WITH PHOTO

Elian’s relatives - who tried to keep him in the US - were portrayed as traitors and criminals.

So are any Cubans who try to leave.

29'53

GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL – Half of them, and this is the real proportion, have a very very bad legal background. They commit a lot of violations.’

MEN IN FRONT OF CAR

But Jose believes they have little choice.

JOSE - Cubans can’t live on the salary paid to them by the Government. They have to live on illegal business. That’s why there are so many social problems that are not known around the world. Everything that happens here is closed, secret, like if a man kills three women, it is kept quiet. The press is not told about it.

30'40

SOPPY TV MONTAGE OF ELIAN PICS

Anti-US propaganda and the Elian case dominated every television broadcast and every political meeting.

No-one could escape it.

TV AERIALS ON ROOVES AT DUSK

AT JOSE’S HOUSE – WATCHING ELIAN RALLY ON TV

Q. How many times a week do they have these demonstrations?

JOSE - Daily. This they have in the morning and in the evening, twice. The same thing. You have to watch it. If you don’t want to watch it, turn off the television.

31'15

CASTRO IN MAY DAY RALLY

KIDS AT RALLY LOOKING BORED

The Revolution, and the battle against the United States will continue to be central to the lives of Cubans, for as long as Castro is in charge.

31'25

AUDIO LEAD JOSE GRAB – “If there were weapons here, there would have been another revolution. Understand? Nobody can begin a revolution here, everything is controlled. The Government has anticipated everything. What took place forty years ago cannot happen again.”

WOMAN WITH FLAG AT RALLY

Meanwhile, the dream of a glorious future is becoming as worn as the Revolution’s flags.

End 31'59

The international media frenzy surrounding the Elian case brought the world's attention to Cuba.

The US public is now more in favour of abandoning the embargo than ever before,