HAVANA: “Fast and Furious.” US cruise ships. A star-studded private celebration of Chanel.
The triple tsunami of global capitalism that pounded socialist Cuba this month has spawned a fierce debate about the downside of detente with the United States. Artists, writers and intellectuals who believe deeply in Cuba’s opening to the world are questioning their government’s management of an onslaught of big-money pop culture.
On an island that prides itself on egalitarianism, sovereignty and its long record of outsize accomplishments in the arts, many are openly critiquing opaque deals with multinational corporations seeking picturesque backdrops for car chases and summer frocks.
Cubans began complaining soon after the eighth installment of the hugely profitable action movie franchise “Fast and Furious” began filming in Havana. Many questioned how they would benefit from a production that was causing seemingly endless traffic jams — a new phenomenon in a city where relatively few people own cars.
Then came the arrival of the Adonia, the first US cruise ship in Cuba in nearly 40 years.
Within 24 hours, the world’s rich and famous were lounging on park benches on the majestic, colonial Prado boulevard as slender models showed off outfits by the French luxury label Chanel that seemed inspired by pre-revolutionary Cuba.
The triple tsunami of global capitalism that pounded socialist Cuba this month has spawned a fierce debate about the downside of detente with the United States. Artists, writers and intellectuals who believe deeply in Cuba’s opening to the world are questioning their government’s management of an onslaught of big-money pop culture.
On an island that prides itself on egalitarianism, sovereignty and its long record of outsize accomplishments in the arts, many are openly critiquing opaque deals with multinational corporations seeking picturesque backdrops for car chases and summer frocks.
Cubans began complaining soon after the eighth installment of the hugely profitable action movie franchise “Fast and Furious” began filming in Havana. Many questioned how they would benefit from a production that was causing seemingly endless traffic jams — a new phenomenon in a city where relatively few people own cars.
Then came the arrival of the Adonia, the first US cruise ship in Cuba in nearly 40 years.
Within 24 hours, the world’s rich and famous were lounging on park benches on the majestic, colonial Prado boulevard as slender models showed off outfits by the French luxury label Chanel that seemed inspired by pre-revolutionary Cuba.
