Skift Take
While the U.S. waits for full access to the island, tourists who have been there for decades are already seeing big changes.
Cuban artist Reynerio Tamayo’s work "Underpinned Wave," painted in 2012 [below], shows a huge tsunami about to shatter over Havana’s iconic seaside esplanade, the Malecón, but it’s pinned back on the point of breaking by Cuba’s wooden scaffolding, a common sight in the Caribbean capital.
The canvas is extraordinarily prescient, though, painted two years before December 17th 2014 when United States President Obama and Cuban president Raúl Castro announced a thaw in diplomatic relations after 50 years of deadlock - and a metaphor for what some fear may happen to Cuba once the 55-year-old U.S. trade embargo - which prevents American businesses trading in Cuba and American tourists visiting Cuba - is lifted.
Urban architect Miguel Coyula told an American people-to-people National Geographic Expeditions group last December that he feared a “tsunami” of visitors and its impact on Havana.
Yesterday, the U.S. and Cuba signed an agreement paving the way for direct scheduled flights to the island. Word on the street is that the ‘travel ban’ - the U.S.
