Last night I have met the first dissident here in Cuba. Well, not literally, but this was the first time I had a pretty open conversation with a Cuban about politics.
When I left the boat I walked into town, pretty much along what must be the main street. A little bit further a guy was walking along with me, and after while he started to talk to me. After a few words in Spanish he started talk English, and his English very good, by far the best from all Cubans I have met so far. Turns out he is a computer hobbyist, a challenging thing here in Cuba. We talked about programming, computers, Cuban life, etc. Turns out that indeed internet access is prohibited for Cubans. There is limited access for government companies and the tourist industry. Same with satellite TV. Computers are extremely hard to get by as well. There is a bit of black market, and apparently some Venezuelans leave some behind (he is the second person that mentioned that to me).
After walking around town for about an hour (which pretty much seemed to cover the whole town) he showed me the “Free Mason” building (I am not sure if I have the English name right). When we got back near the dock (he lives in the first building outside the yard) I asked if he new a place to eat. A friend of his runs a Palader (privately owned small restaurant). This was in the other part of town, near the Russian style apartment complexes. The lady cooked me a nice vegetarian meal (omelet with onions, rice and beans, hand made fries and a simple salad). While she was busy doing that we sipped on a beer in rocking chairs and talked a bit about politics. He never mentioned Fidel’s name, but he made the international “bearded guy” signal. He was very well informed about the situation off the world, I assume mostly from listening to the US radio stations (AM and short wave). His criticisms about Cuban government were exactly what you expect: a privileged minority that rules, lack of freedom for citizens, government control of everyones life. Much more like the old Soviet states than I expected (guess the Soviets taught how to rule the country in all possible ways).
We talked a little about what happens if “El Commandante” dies. In a way he sounded frustrated about the fact that 60% of the Cubans dislike the ruling system, but nobody does anything about it (sounds familiar).
All in all it was very nice to meet someone like him. Now at least there was not language barrier (not on my side at all, and barely on his side). And he was not too feared about sharing his feelings.