CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. ― Although Cuba is not far from the United States, the historical, political and bureaucratic chasm that separates the two nations is almost impassable, according to Ethan Hollander, a Wabash College associate professor of political science.
That is why divorcing political bias from truth about Cuba proves difficult on any given day.
“Everything we hear about Cuba in the United States comes through a really strong filter,” said Nathan Bode, a 21-year-old junior at Wabash College, a small, private men’s liberal arts college in Crawfordsville. “We hear about (Fidel) Castro, communism and Cuba’s role in the Cold War, and that’s all you really get.”
To cross that chasm and find unbiased truth, Hollander took Bode and 13 other students to Cuba last November for his political science class, “Cuban politics and culture.”
The trip not only revealed how the American trade embargo has impoverished average Cuban citizens but how Cuba has become a time capsule—unable to move forward in time. It also gave the students and professors a solid appreciation for President Barack Obama’s current attempts to re-establish commercial and diplomatic ties.
“We are letting an island nation rot without our assistance,” Bode told the Journal & Courier. “It’s kind of nice to see that sense of diplomacy is finally coming out of (the past).”
Hollander agreed. “I think the people who suffered most from the embargo were the Cuban people,” he said. “I don’t think the government suffered because it’s a dictatorship.”
