BY JACK WILLEY AND BRIAN TAYLOR

HAVANA, Cuba - "I came to Cuba thinking I would see the past, but now I see that Cuba represents the future, and the future looks good," said Jacob Perasso. Dozens of other youth echoed his comments at the final session of the 1996 U.S.-Cuba Youth Exchange, held here August 5 at the Convention Palace.

At this meeting, most of the youth on the trip vowed to go back to the United States and tell the truth about Cuba. After going through this experience many returned as supporters of the Cuban revolution saying things like, "I want to have in my country what you [Cubans] have accomplished." For most it was their first visit to the island.

Perasso was one among 144 young people from 26 states across the United States on a two-week trip that explored Santiago and Guantánamo, two eastern provinces. The trip - sponsored by the National Network on Cuba - featured visits to important sites in Cuba's revolutionary history, meeting people in the streets, going to factories, scientific institutes, hospitals, attending celebrations in honor of Cuban revolutionary heroes, and discussions with Cubans of all walks of life. The final two days were spent here in the capital. At a wrap-up meeting, participants heard a surprise address by Cuban president Fidel Castro.

The U.S. group included young people from MEChA, a Chicano student organization active in defending immigrant rights and affirmative action; high school-age Puerto Rican independence activists from Chicago; gay rights activists; and fighters for Black rights. Octavio Ruiz, originally from Chiapas, Mexico, also participated. The diversity of the group was reflected in the political discussions we had about the struggles each was involved in and how to link them together.

Youth stay with Cuban families
In Santiago, the city where a group - headed by Fidel Castro - launched the Cuban revolutionary struggle with an assault on the Moncada barracks on July 26, 1953, we stayed with families and engaged in an array of cultural and political events.

Katy, a 14-year-old high school student from Greensboro, North Carolina, commented, "Staying with families was the highlight for me. The people are so open. My host family didn't even know me but they took me in as one of their own." She added that this allowed her to meet ordinary Cubans and learn firsthand about life here.

A number of the individuals in the host families had been involved in the revolutionary struggle against the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship in the 1950s, either as combatants in the Rebel Army or as part of the underground movement in the factories.

One former guerrilla in the Sierra Maestra mountains said she was surprised and happy to have in her home a U.S.-born youth who supported the revolution and wanted to emulate it in the United States. "Now I know we are right, now I know we did not fight for nothing," she remarked. Neighbors would come to meet the visitors, ask them questions, and bring messages of solidarity.

The group spent three days at the Giraldo Córdoba Technical and Agricultural Institute in the town of Palma Soriano, northwest of Santiago. Calen, a high school student from Cleveland said that "staying in Palma was the first time I really got to talk to Cuban youth. Everyone I met was pro- revolution. Many of the people were farmers who had nothing before the revolution, which changed their lives." Participants also visited the banana fields that students at the agricultural institute were working in.

An open discussion was organized in Palma to give U.S. and Cuban youth a chance to exchange ideas and experiences. Vanessa Knapton described the demonstrations in Los Angeles for equal rights for immigrants. Octavio Ruiz related to the Cubans the conditions facing immigrants in the United States, as well as a little idea of the explosive peasant struggles in Chiapas. "Imperialism wants to take over all of Latin America," he said.

Discussion on democracy
Others asked the Cuban youth questions. "How is democracy advanced in a one party system?" asked Ryan Lewis from Cleveland.

Iraida, a member of the Cuba's National Assembly, answered, "In 1993 general elections were held and we had our first direct vote for the National Assembly of People's Power [Cuba's legislature]. Through grassroots People's Power meetings we take nominations of any local resident, and delegates are chosen in neighborhood elections. Elections involve many mass organizations that publicize and discuss the elections, such as the Federation of University Students, Central Organization of Cuban Workers, the organization of small farmers, and the Federation of Cuban Women. This means anyone - artists, poets, musicians, workers, professionals, students, or farmers - has an opportunity to be in parliament. Anyone elected who is not performing their duties can also be recalled."

Another Cuban got up and explained, "In the U.S. you have two political parties that are very similar. The candidates are chosen internally by the respective parties. In Cuba the Communist Party is not an electoral party. It doesn't run candidates in elections."

Another major issue in the discussion was gay rights. "Clinton was supposed to be the gay rights candidate," said Mari Amenette from San Francisco. "But according to him, you have no rights to be legally married to a gay partner. Gay parents are denied public assistance for their children because they are not legally married.

"So my question is," she continued, "having heard of an incident where a gay woman got brutalized here by police, what organizations exist here for gay youth?"

A member of the Havana-based Center for Studies of Youth replied, "Gays in Cuba are victimized at times. Those unfortunate examples should not be used to generalize everything. There are gay rights groups in Cuba. The center I work for deals with combating prejudice and attacks on gays. It is a problem that Cuba has and is dealing with."

Visit to Guantánamo
In Guantánamo province, Youth Exchange participants met with soldiers from the Border Brigade at the Cuban base, on the edge of the U.S.-occupied territory where Washington maintains a naval base against the will of the Cuban people. One soldier was asked why she chose to join the military since it is not mandatory for women. She said that everyone in Cuba needs to know how to protect the revolution. She smiled and added, "And I want to be able to do whatever the men do."

The U.S. youth held a number of informal discussions, including one on the speech Castro gave at the national July 26 celebration in Holguín. That day, thousands of people had mobilized in Holguín and cities around the country to celebrate their revolution.

Millions - including some of the Youth Exchange participants during their stay in Santiago - listened to Castro's July 26 speech on television. Among other challenges and achievements of the Cuban people, the revolutionary leader discussed the victory of the recently completed sugar harvest, which was significantly bigger than the last several harvests, registering an recovery after six years of sharp economic decline. This economic crisis, known here as the "special period," was sparked by the collapse in aid and trade at favorable prices with Soviet bloc countries.

The trip finished at the Convention Palace in Havana with a meeting where members of the delegation evaluated the experience and discussed what they had learned.

`I want to bring others to Cuba'
Eli Johnson from Minneapolis said he had never been out of the United States before. "When I started attending the Twin Cities Cuba Network meetings and dispelling my ignorance, I really began giving my support to revolutionary politics," he said. "In Cuba I was surprised by the perseverance of the people. I plan to be active in the Cuban cause and bring others here to see it."

Mai Thong Yang from Davis, California, whose family is from Laos, said, "The U.S. government promised the Hmong people many things. They promised us a homeland, a place to live in peace. I knew nothing else outside of capitalism until I met the Young Socialists. They told me about this trip. The U.S. lied to my family, lied to my people. I owe $17,000 in loans for my college and I have no health insurance. No, Cuba is not a paradise, but people here are equal. There is a democracy."

Milbia Rodríguez, who left Puerto Rico three years ago to go to school at the University of Minnesota, noted, " I wanted to see Cuba for myself. I heard both sides of what Cuba was supposed to be. Cuba is an example for the world, including the U.S. and Puerto Rico. I want to go to the world youth festival next year and bring at least 5 other people with me."

David Turner, a 19-year-old student at the University of Minnesota, said, "I was more of a social democrat before going on this trip. Now I think that to make real change it is necessary to change the whole system."

When Fidel Castro joined the discussion, he began by saying he would not address the U.S. delegation as "comrades" because he did not want to be misinterpreted. He then gave a talk in defense of socialism and the Cuban revolution, explaining why they are taking a number of measures to turn around their current economic crisis.

"You are a reflection of a worrisome situation facing [people in] the United States," Castro told the youth delegation. "You live in the greatest school in the world, the school of capitalism, and you know it better than anyone because you live inside it."

Castro explained that there was no need for Cubans to export their revolution to the United States because the social conditions generated by capitalism push people to revolutionary conclusions and bring some to see an alternative, which is Cuba.

"Why are we being blockaded?" the Cuban president asked rhetorically. "To destroy an example perhaps?"

At the end of his talk, noting the applause he got for the anti-imperialist, anticapitalist, and pro-revolution themes in his speech, Castro said, "Well, maybe now I will have to call you potential comrades-in-arms!"

In Chicago, young people returning from Cuba are making a banner demanding, "No to Helms-Burton" and "End the blockade of Cuba." They will be carrying the banner in the protests planned at the time of the Democratic National Convention August 25 and 27. There they will also hand out leaflets to build the World Festival of Youth and Students taking place in Cuba next summer.  
 
 
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