From the United States - where biased views of the Cuban reality prevail, tinged by hostile policies of the current administration - citizens interested in the way of life in the Caribbean nation arrive in Havana, not as often as expected.

By Roberto Morejón

From the United States -- where biased views of the Cuban reality prevail, tinged by hostile policies of the current administration -- citizens interested in the way of life in the Caribbean nation arrive in Havana, not as often as expected.

More than a hundred and a half young leaders of social organizations from the northern country have now come into contact in Cuba with a people who, in the midst of material deprivation, are organizing their resistance.

Precisely, the young people are arriving at an adverse juncture due to the fuel shortage caused by several reasons, among them the U.S. blockade and the impediment of suppliers to fulfill their commitments.

U.S. youth activists will see the new generations of this land working and studying, marching on foot, on bicycles or in crowded and scarce buses to their destinations, without declining their constancy.

The representatives of a diverse and supportive American people, as President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote, have a broad agenda.

They will know about the beautiful work at the Latin American School of Medicine, where more than 200 Americans graduated to later return to their home towns and practice their profession in places with scarce resources.

The youth leaders will see Havana neighborhoods in transformation, where precarious houses still cohabit with other modest ones of recent construction, to attend to social emergencies.

And perhaps they will be told of the multiple efforts of Cuban scientists to access projects that, if successful, will make the lives of their compatriots healthier.

Invited to take part in the celebrations for International Workers' Day, which this year will be restricted due to the lack of fuel, the travelers will see the good spirits of Cubans, despite material shortages, and their willingness to show solidarity, even with the Americans.

Because no one feels animosity for those people because of the fact that northern governments bet on the suffocation of the Antilleans.  

To interact with Cubans, to listen to their opinions, even critical ones, to ascertain their way of life, is an interesting opportunity for the guests and also for the hosts, in order to know how they think and feel.