More Than Cars and Cigars | God's World News

More Than Cars and Cigars

03/04/2015
  • 1 Cuba Sign
    Cuban girls run in a street in Havana, Cuba.
  • 2 Cuba Cars
    Tourists ride in classic cars along Havana's harbor.
  • 3 Cuba Balcony
    Two women visit from their balconies in one of Havana's old buildings.
  • 4 Cuba Cake
    A boy shares a Cuban favorite, cake.
  • 5 Cuba Swim
    A boy dives into the ocean in Havana.
  • 1 Cuba Sign
  • 2 Cuba Cars
  • 3 Cuba Balcony
  • 4 Cuba Cake
  • 5 Cuba Swim

For several decades, an island nation just 90 miles off the Florida coast lay cut off from interaction with the United States. While people and goods passed with relative ease across Canadian and Mexican borders, the borders of Cuba were closed. The images Americans saw of life inside Cuba showed quaint classic cars still in use and masses of workers heading off to jobs on bicycles. Wealthy Americans boasted of luxuriously (and sometimes illegally) enjoying expensive Cuban cigars.

From time to time, news stories told of rickety boats or homemade rafts bringing weather-beaten, desperate individuals to the Florida shore. Their stories painted a different picture than the charming images of life in the Communist country.

President Obama announced in December that diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States would reopen. Those relations had turned chilly—or even downright frigid—during the Cold War. Cuba was once a popular vacation resort for American tourists. It was also a profitable site of American-planted industry. Cuba shut its doors to outside travelers and businesses after Fidel Castro took power in 1959. Castro promised that Communism would bring equality and greater prosperity inside the country.

The United States responded with a trade embargo. That made it illegal to import or export goods with Cuba. Cuba became a country frozen in time.

Through Communist central planning, Cuba's government strictly controls income distribution. Most Cubans barely make enough money to get by. Food and basic supplies are rationed. Milk, meat, and toilet paper are hard to come by.

Some people feel that there are some positives even in that environment. Crime is very low, and health care and education are available to citizens. But most of Cuba's 11 million citizens know what it means to experience real need. They have little hope of a better future.

Opening relations may improve quality of life for Cubans. They hope for more jobs with better pay. American businesses hope to expand into new markets. But some islanders are anxious too. They don’t want the influx of crime and drug trafficking that usually comes with a prosperous society.

Christian church-planting groups are also uneasy. Though Communism discourages or even oppresses religion, Cubans are receiving the gospel. Christianity in Cuba is growing faster than almost every other country in the world except China.

Missionary Kurt Urbanek doesn’t want to lose focus on the most important thing—the eternal needs of the Cuban people.