Before and After in Cuba

The last sixty years of Cuban history have been divided into two periods. They are known simply as antes and después. The point of departure was Fidel Castro's Revolution. Since, there has been a grab to define the discourse by those who support the Revolution and by those who do not. Those involved will create arguments to prove that life in Cuba was better before the Revolution or that it has been better because of it. One example deals with the condition Cuban blacks before and after the Revolution.

One argument in favor of the opinion that the Revolution has improved life for the country's blacks, claims that Fidel Castro's nickname "El Caballo" (The Horse) could have been borrowed from the leader of the 1912 black rebellion, Evaristo Estenoz, who was symbolized by the horse, as a subtle appeal to blacks. While it's a little far fetched to believe that Castro borrowed an obscure symbol from a failed rebellion that would have challenged his own rule, it's even more unlikely that the island's black population would have recognized the fifty-year old reference. But that shows the length that people will take to argue their side, and it should be noted that there plenty of examples going the other way.

History is always in dialogue with the agendas of the present. The moment of the Revolution had very little impact on most of the nation's black population. Significant changes in people's livelihood often take place within a regime's rule, not simply during convenient moments of change chosen by historians. (The International Edition has much more)