CUBAN PERMITTED RARE VISITED TO U.S
While literal and figurative walls between the communist and capitalist worlds were crumbling last year, nothing changed in the chilly relationship between the United States and its near neighbor Cuba. Diplomatic relations remained cut off, and the embargo on Cuban imports and exports continued.
This summer, however, the Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan breached the barrier when it "imported" two Cuban artists. They were the first Cuban students to receive visas in perhaps 20 years, according to Robert Evans, executive director of the Plowshares Institute, a Simsbury, Conn- based nonprofit organization that seeks to foster peace and cultural exchange.
Joaquin Jorge Tornes, 17, and Yoel Almaguer Carralero, 19, attended the five-week residential program of intensive study during June and July. They joined about 215 other teenage visual artists, dancers, actors, theater technicians, and musicians—mostly from Connecticut—in a program that included interdisciplinary activities and cultural experiences.
"I had a great desire to come and see for myself what this country was really like," says Tornes {speaking through the Center's director, B. Joan Hickey, who is fluent in Spanish). His family in Cuba had been worried about his trip. "We heard that the United States was very militaristic and wished to expand throughout the world, annexing other countries," he says.
The two young men were able to come through the efforts of Hickey and the Plowshare Institute. Hickey had written to the Cuban Ministry of Education, which responded positively and suggested the pair as candidates, and Plowshares offered to provide the students' tuition and airfare. Nevertheless, getting them here wasn't easy.
When Hickey was trying to obtain visas, sha was told hy a representative of the State Department that our relations with Cuba were "frigid, bordering on hostile." The visas came through only two weeks before the program was to begin.
Their instructors report that the language barrier sometimes hindered discussions of the Cubans' work, but they also noted that for the most part mime and "communication through the medium of visual art" were sufficient.
Arturo Ponce de Leon, a student who came to the States from Mexico three years ago, served as the Cubans' friend, tour guide, and translator—responsibilitics that he took upon himself without being asked. "I had a lot of fun," he says. "I liked helping them and showing them things." Another student, a particularly shy and quiet girl, proved to be fluent in Spanish and gained thc confidence to translate for her class and her teacher.
"The Hispanic students found new pride in their role as facilitators," says Hickey, noting in addition that some non-Hispanics brushed up on their Spanish, and that other students had a bicultural experience for the first time.
Tornes and Carralero lived in the dormitories, ate and followed classroom routines like their classmates, but, admittedly, they did get some special treatment. Hickey embellished their CCY experience by arranging day trips to Hartford, Boston and New York City museums. Instructor Paul Paturzo describes their typical museum experience: "We started on the top floor, and they procceded to look at every single piece of artwork in the building all the way down." He recalls their awe at seeing original Picassos and Van Goghs, and their pride in seeing a work hy Cuban artist Wilfredo Lam.
Hickey hopes that this is the beginnmg of a permanent relationship with Cuba: "In a situation where diplomatic relations are tough, it's important to continue to extend invitations." She notes that the Cuban students can have a positive influcnce upon other CCY students, helping them to "learn what heing a global citizen is all about."
Suplemento RED & BLACK, Vol. 12 , No. 3, Wesleyan University. Connecticut, EE.UU. Oct., 1990. Foto Nancy Walz.
