North and South

Researching Cuba as a Canadian living in New York was a disorienting experience. When I would describe my work, most people would react with surprise, curiosity, and even envy: Had I actually been there? At times, it seemed like views were as polarized as in any Israel-­Palestine debate. Back in Alberta, Canada’s supposed conservative heartland, my topic of study was met with shrugs. As I planned my first trip to Havana, a friend commented, “You can go there when you’re sixty. Why not try someplace interesting, like Argentina?”

Such reactions were a constant reminder that Cuba means different things to different people in different places. They were also the direct results of different foreign policies.

Fidel Castro and his band of guerrillas came to power in 1959, and the United States has been pushing for regime change since 1960, when the famous embargo was born. Washington prohibits most of its citizens from visiting Cuba; even Barack Obama’s...