Dispatches from Cuba: Contemplating the future

Physics Today‘s Toni Feder recently traveled to Cuba to learn about the country’s physics community and how it has been affected by the further relaxation of US–Cuba relations. She produced a series of blog posts about her experiences. You can read Toni’s previous post here .

Thursday, 8 December 2016

During my visit I have frequently asked physicists how they expect things to change in their profession if relations between Cuba and the US continue to thaw. Everyone I have spoken with favors normalizing relations, and they wonder whether that trend will continue once President-elect Donald Trump takes office. At the same time, Cuban physicists hope to avoid certain situations: heavy political influence from the US or from Cuban Americans, for example, or an uncontrollable flood of boats bringing guns and drugs to the island nation.

Among the opportunities they see for physics are

• Short-term research positions in the US, which would be useful professionally and financially.
• Collaborations between scientists in the two countries.
• Joint conferences.
• Use of x-ray and neutron sources, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory , and other scientific facilities in the US.
• Joint grants through US funding agencies.
• Easier access to international scientific journals.

“I’d like to see all barriers gone,” says University of Havana theoretical physicist Ernesto Estévez Rams. “It would be a win–win situation. Americans will benefit too.” For example, certain medications developed and manufactured in Cuba would help patients in the US.

Cuban physicists aren’t very worried that their colleagues would leave the country if it becomes easier to go to the US. Now, says Estévez Rams, if someone goes to the US, it’s a permanent decision. “They sever ties.” But if it were possible to come and go freely, some people would probably come back.

Estévez Rams’s colleague Ernesto Altshuler agrees. Initially, many people might leave, Altshuler says, “but who knows what the net flux would be? And brain drain is already bad, so a change would likely improve things.” Physicist Julio Cesar Drake says that people leave mainly because “it’s so hard to survive on so little money.” Normalization of relations with the US would help counter that problem, he tells me in German. Drake studied in the former East Germany.

Today I also had a bit of time to wander around the neighborhood near the university. It’s not always easy to find vegetarian food, but I have had fantastic flan and fresh juices; other than that, I’ve subsisted mostly on rice and beans or eggs. It’s fun seeing the old buildings, which despite their state of disrepair are still beautiful with elaborate architectural and decorative details.

The streets are bustling: Parks are full of people using Wi-Fi. Schoolchildren get their physical education in parks and cordoned-off streets. Men play dominoes or chess. Women talk to each other from neighboring balconies. Men approach tourists to sell cigars and other things, though not as aggressively as in some countries I’ve visited. Ad hoc markets with tourist wares are nestled in doorways and other nooks and crannies. One really nice thing is that it’s safe to walk around alone, day or night.

This evening Altshuler took me to El Morro, the imposing fort built in the 16th and 17th centuries to protect Havana against pirates and invaders. Each evening at 9:00 a cannon is fired—a nod to an earlier time when a blast each evening signaled the closing of the walled Old Havana. The ceremony today, Altshuler says, is the only thing in Cuba that is consistently punctual.