Bloqueo: Looking at the U.S. Embargo Against Cuba (review)

This documentary is the product of two filmmakers' journey to Cuba in 2001 with the Pastors for Peace Caravan, a group that protests the U.S. travel ban and economic embargo of Cuba by openly traveling with aid and visitors to the island without permission from the U.S. Treasury Department. Through talking heads and at times random images, the film provides a history of the more than forty-year old embargo and its consequences for Cuba. First we learn about events leading up to the imposition of the embargo in the early 1960s and the embargo's impact on Cuba's ability to trade not just with the United States, but with other countries as well. Next, we learn about the economic crisis known as the "special period," provoked by the Soviet trading block's disappearance in 1991, and Washington's tightening of the embargo. The film then explores some of Cuba's responses to the economic crisis of the 1990s. While we learn that tourism produced certain undesirable outcomes (prostitution and the objectification of women, for instance), we learn that Cuban responses in the areas of agriculture, energy and health are ecologically sound (organic farming, urban agriculture and solar energy are some examples) and egalitarian (Cuba's high doctor-to-patient ratio). The film concludes that the embargo remains today because "Miami Cubans" drive U.S. policy and because the United States is threatened by a defiant underdeveloped country with free health care and education.

At times the visuals in the film raise more questions than they answer. Frequently they do not match what has been talked about, leaving the viewer to wonder about the tractor-trailer buses known as camellos instituted during the special period, or the black mami figurines sold to tourists. Viewers wishing to hear other sides of the story will be disappointed by the absence of pro-embargo voices, stronger criticisms of the Cuban government, or greater nuance in the treatment of some of the issues raised. Aside from interviews with an airplane pilot, a farmer and a Cuban historian the filmmakers meet on the street, most of the interviews are with caravan participants or Cubans and foreigners in Cuba who are affiliated with Pastors for Peace. Cuban American audiences might be offended by their portrayal in the film as a monolithic group of fanatical hardliners shouting in the streets and calling for the death of Fidel Castro, although mention is made at the end of the film of a Cuban American who supports the caravan because he believes it is time for a change in U.S. policy towards Cuba.

The makers of Bloqueo are up front in the initial voice-over about the conditions under which the film was made. Their choice of the term "blockade," used by its critics, rather than "embargo" makes it clear where the film's loyalties lie. The film does a good job of presenting criticisms of U.S. policy and providing a look at Cuba beyond what is presented by the mainstream media. It would be useful for introducing undergraduate audiences to Cuba and U.S./Cuba relations. I showed the documentary to a group of adult undergraduates. A student recently arrived from Cuba felt that it glorified the situation on the island while the other students found it extremely informative. A lively discussion, aided by additional readings on Cuba, ensued.