'American garden' frozen in time

HAVANA: Though Cuba provides an idyllic escape into a bygone era, life is very much controlled by the Fidel Castro regime to a point of stagnation.
"I love Cuba and respect Fidel,” clarifies Celia, a 23-year-old university student and a communist party member.
"But there are good things and bad things. The government is unresponsive to suggestions. My parents say it wasn’t so.Fidel, too, is removed from us. I have never seen him in flesh; only on TV. He’s a good man. If he got to know our problems he would probably solve them. But we can’t get to him.”
What’s her problem, though? “Things small and big,” says Celia. “Computers have come to schools but not the university. I am studying architecture. Do you think its possible to make models without computers?” And the big problems? Celia keeps quiet. Uncertainly takes over despite two mojitos (a white rum-based cocktail). There is always uncertainty as you never know how much you can talk freely.
Will she be sad when Fidel goes? Celia nods. It’s safe to assume the Cuban people as a whole will grieve. Fidel has been for them their collective identity — self-respecting and proud, prepared to live a gritty life marked with shortages rather than give in to the Big Brother only 90 kms away. They are convinced — even if out of ignorance — that Cuba is not the American backyard; it’s the American garden.
But when Fidel goes, this identity is likely to be shattered. There will be grief, perhaps a power struggle and celebrations in Miami. But beyond all of this, there will a chaos born out of an identity crisis, finally leading to — who knows? — an outbreak of creativity that’s been long suppressed.