With the re-release of the “Buena Vista Social Club,” I look forward to hearing the lovely sounds of “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas” - “Maybe, Maybe, Maybe” - again. However, lessons from the Cuban Thaw show how a more-open policy could benefit Cuban citizens when many turned their homes into AirBnBs, opened cafes and worked in the numerous tourist-adjacent industries. But let’s be honest, the embargo is more than 60 years old - one of longest in modern history - and Cuba, like its people, remains resilient in the face of these pressures. Cuban citizens must again wait in long lines for food and the most basic supplies - if they are even available - and regular blackouts have returned.Īcross the Florida Straits, the Cuban-American community is divided between those advocating for a return to more-open policies and those who think strengthening the embargo is the path forward. Now, with no income from tourism, the country is even more financially strapped. Exacerbating the situation, Cuba closed its borders in March 2020 to try to contain the virus. President Biden, who campaigned on a promise to restore Cuba engagement, has continued to uphold his predecessor’s policies, adding additional sanctions in the wake of the July 11 protests across the island. Despite having developed not one, but two vaccines against the disease, Cuba lacks the supplies to produce and administer them, including a lack of syringes. Now the pandemic is pummeling the island. embassy leaving Cubans with almost no options for getting visas to visit loved ones or participate in cultural exchanges and cut off remittances so that Cuban Americans can no longer send money to their families. When COVID-19 hit, Cuba was dealing with the economic fallout of the Trump administration’s drastic and cruel policies that severely hindered travel shuttered the U.S. However, it is important not to lose sight that this release is happening during another “special period” arguably of even worse suffering. They are the songs my mother sang to me when I was growing up in Florida, and I’m looking forward to the release of the 25th-anniversary album, which includes yet-unpublished tracks from the original recording session. Burdened with a long history of machismo and discrimination on the island, the Cuban Revolution. I am grateful this phenomenon brought attention to that era of Cuban music and gave those musicians the recognition they deserved. Women have made tremendous advances in Cuba since 1959.