CUBA <> by David Stork

[posei...@sympatico.ca]

 

From: ricardo a gonzalez <ricar...@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: CUBA <>  David Stork
Date: Tuesday, April 24, 2001 6:52 PM

----------
David Stork

It was called the Cuban Model; a tropical version of eastern communism which
would set the way for the new Americas. But like much of the pop art and
idealism of the 60s and 70s, the movement fell out of favor and pragmatism
came into style. ...but retro is back and Cuba is more retro than any
country out there. Castro is selling Cuba as a tourist destination. "Come to
Cuba and enjoy the pleasures it has to offer" might say Fidel. "Come taste
the Cuban rum, take the Cuban women, and dance to the rhythm of the Cuban
night."
Cuba today is in crisis. The economy, though improving, is still a shambles
and the living standard ever decreasing. Cubans spend their days "inventando
y resolviendo" (inventing and resolving), in a quest to get ahead. Castro
wants them to keep pushing ahead, reaching for that
always-over-the-next-hill dream. The old dream, of an island utopia, is long
forgotten.

David Stork has documented dictatorships for the last ten years of his life.
He's spent extended periods in Romania, the former Soviet Union, China and
Cuba. Focusing on oppression and it's social consequences, David's photo
essays have been published in DETOUR Magazine, the Los Angeles Times,
Playboy and Amnesty International among many others.


All photographs © David Stork 1997.

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