Cuba - Lonely Planet [31]
The invitation to partake in free education up to university level had Cubans pouring into the cities from the countryside after the Revolution, so that today the urban population is a top-heavy 75%. In an effort to stem or reverse this trend, the government offered land incentives to urbanites during the período especial to encourage resettling in rural areas, and since May 1998 Cubans have needed official permission to relocate to Havana.
There are no official class breakdowns in Cuba, although class divisions based on income have begun to rear their ugly head since the beginning of the período especial. More refreshingly, Cuba is one of the few countries in the world where the notion of doffing your cap to someone of higher social stature is virtually nonexistent.
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SPORT
Considered a right of the masses, professional sport was abolished by the government after the Revolution. Performance-wise it was the best thing the new administration could have done. Since 1959 Cuba’s Olympic medal haul has rocketed into the stratosphere. The crowning moment came in 1992 when Cuba – a country of 11 million people languishing low on the world’s rich list – brought home 14 gold medals and ended fifth on the overall medals table. It’s a testament to Cuba’s high sporting standards that their 11th-place finish in Athens in 2004 was considered something of a national failure.
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On being offered US$5 million to turn professional and fight Muhammad Ali in the 1970s, Cuban triple heavyweight boxing champion, Teófilo Stevenson, is purported to have said ‘Why do I need US$5 million when I already have the love of five million Cubans.’
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Characteristically the sporting obsession starts at the top. Fidel Castro was once renowned for his baseball-hitting prowess, but what is lesser known was his personal commitment to the establishment of a widely accessible national sporting curriculum at all levels. In 1961 the National Institute of Sport, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) founded a system of sport for the masses that eradicated discrimination and integrated children from a young age. By offering paid leisure-time to workers and dropping entrance fees to major sports events, the organization caused participation in popular sports to multiply tenfold by the 1970s and the knock-on effect to performance was tangible.
Cuban pelota (baseball) is legendary and the country is riveted during the October–March regular season, turning rabid for the play-offs in April. You’ll see passions running high in the main square of provincial capitals, where fans debate minute details of the game with lots of finger-wagging in what is known as a peña deportiva (fan club) or esquina caliente (hot corner). These are among the most opinionated venues in Cuba, and the esquina in Havana’s Parque Central (see boxed text,) is highly entertaining, especially in the postseason when funereal wreaths and offerings to orishas (Santería deities) appear for eliminated teams and those still contending. Sometimes a Cuban player is lured to the US, like José Ariel Contreras, who pitched for Pinar, but now earns millions playing for the Chicago White Sox (he formerly played for the Yankees). Most players, however, shun the big-money bait and the opportunity to play in baseball’s greatest stadiums, opting instead to continue earning the equivalent of around US$20 per month – decisions that make their athletic achievements all the more admirable.
Cuba is also a giant in amateur boxing, as indicated by champions Teófilo Stevenson, who brought home Olympic gold in 1972, 1976 and 1980, and Félix Savón, another triple medal winner, most recently in 2000. Every sizable town has an arena called sala polivalente, where big boxing events take