Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (2013–2018): Season 6, Episode 1 - Cuba - full transcript

Good evening, my fellow citizens.

This government,
as promised, has maintained

the closest surveillance

of the Soviet military
buildup on the island of Cuba.

This is the Cuba I grew up with.

Mankind teeters precariously on the brink

of a thermo-nuclear war.

The missile crisis, duck and cover,

hide under your desk,
kids, cover yourselves

with wet newspaper
because we're all going to die.

The flames of crisis burn far stronger,



fed and fanned by the
bitter tirades of Fidel Castro.

And this guy, always in the fatigues,

underlining with every appearance that we

were two nations in a
never-ending state of war.

Today, the United States of America

is changing its relationship
with the people of Cuba.

We will begin to normalize relations

between our two countries.

♪ I took a walk through this ♪

♪ Beautiful world ♪

♪ Felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪

♪ Found something good
in this beautiful world ♪

♪ I felt the rain getting colder ♪

♪ Sha la la la la ♪



♪ Sha la la la la la ♪

♪ Sha la la la la ♪

♪ Sha la la la la la la ♪

Cuba has been sitting here 55 years now,
half an hour away,

basically giving the biggest
superpower in the world

the stiff middle finger.

Fifty-plus years of animosity,

embargo, rationing,

and Fidel Castro is still hanging on.

But recently,
there are powerful indications

that everything is about to change.

We are in Jaimanitas,
a little fishing town.

This place is called Casa de Santy,

owned by two brothers that
go out and fish every morning

and bring fresh seafood.

Okay, humble fishing village,

- traditional fishing family?
- Yes.

We're about to eat sushi.

What's going on in this country, man?

Things are changing,
Anthony, what can I say?

My name is Hugo Cancio. I was born in Cuba.

I was in one of Cuba's
most prominent schools

when I made a joke about
President Fidel Castro.

I was a teenager.

The kid that slept on
the bunk bed on top of me

recorded our conversation
and I was expelled from school.

My mom said the only
choice is for us to leave Cuba.

I'm a businessman. I've
lived in Miami for 35 years.

It's my home base. I come
back and forth to Cuba.

I've been coming to Cuba for over 20 years.

Cuba is a communist
country in economic transition.

Since Fidel Castro
allowed Cubans to establish

more businesses,
there are people that are making money,

people that have created a
tremendous amount of wealth.

People with family
connections to the States,

people tied to the
exploding tourist industry,

small business owners, taxi drivers,

people operating in
ever-changing gray areas

of what is permissible.

How's it work right now? If you're Cuban,

- you can sell your property...
- To another Cuban from Cuba.

That's what's happening right now,
a lot of Cuban-Americans,

a lot of Cubans living
abroad are now coming back

and through relatives are buying property.

Obviously somebody
has touched this building

with some kind of
investment. It's renovated.

It seems to be like a hotel.
Somebody bought the building

and turned it into a little hotel.

However you feel about the government,

however you feel about the last 55 years,

there aren't any places in
the world that look like this.

- It's utterly enchanting.
- It's very seductive.

There's no doubt in my mind
that somewhere in the offices

of the Four Seasons hotel chain,

"One of these days."

You know,
and cruise ships. What happens then?

Well, look... -Is this an inevitable

march of progress? Am I being a snob?

No, no, you're being very realistic.

That's the concern of most Cubans.

I wouldn't mind seeing one
or two Starbucks in Havana.

Hoping that we don't go back to 1958,

when the majority of Cuban
companies were owned

by American corporations.

I have got to believe that Cuba wants

some of the value that represents,
you know,

the hearts and souls of the Cuban people.

Last time I was in Havana,

a meal at a paladar would
have been rice and beans.

Now, sushi.

A certain sign of impending apocalypse.

Ten years ago this restaurant

would have never been allowed,
not only because

private businesses were not allowed,

but the external influence
that you're seeing, remember,

this is a country where chewing
gum or listening to the Beatles

were prohibited.

I don't think we need to
have Twitter every day.

One thing I love about
coming to Cuba is the fact

that I can put my iPhone away. Who cares?

Look what we have around us. I hope Cubans

continue to have access
to free information.

They still want to
preserve these family times.

Tourists have been coming
to Cuba for some time.

Predominantly Europeans,
many of them men of a certain age

looking for, how should we say, company.

But now it looks like Americans
looking to live out fantasies

of Godfather II will soon be able to do so.

And it's all still here for them.

But there's new stuff, too.

This is certainly new.

Fábrica de Arte,

the hottest spot in Havana.

A nightclub,
performance space, art gallery,

highlighting artists,
musicians and DJs from around the world.

Questlove is scheduled
to DJ here tomorrow night.

Like a big bag when
all the arts can fit inside.

What is going on here?

I ask Inti Herrera and X Alfonso,

two of the young
entrepreneurs behind the place.

Nothing like this ever existed before.

Did the government Bureau of Arts help you?

We had, at the beginning, we had subsidies

from the Ministry of Culture.

Even the building,
we asked for the building

because it was abandoned for 13 years.

The place is very popular.

- Right now, yes.
- Who comes here?

These people that love art,

but at the same time, it's very diverse.

It attracts a once
unthinkable mix of foreigners

and locals that enjoys the actual support

of the government, without whom, of course,

it couldn't exist.

Our chef here, Lisette,

is part of the art world, you know, here.

A ceviche of dogfish

with pickled vegetables.

Loin of pork, pan seared with yucca

and a riff on a traditional orange sauce

with garlic and coriander.

- It's good.
- Very good.

What do you think's going to happen

when the door opens and
you've got hundreds of thousands

of Americans flooding in here,

looking desperately to spend
money on anything Cuban?

I don't know, man. We are a small country.

We have to adapt to new things.

But it's a good challenge.

I guess I'm asking how do you keep it real

when you'll all probably be
millionaires in a few years?

- Us? You think so?
- Yeah. Yeah.

It's not our goal in life, but... that's...

- Doesn't matter.
- Yeah, doesn't matter.

We're going to have more factories.

More factories.

Havana still looks
like you want it to look.

Or maybe just how I want it to look.

What was once one of the wealthiest cities

in Latin America left to the elements,

left to collapse,
were frozen gloriously in time.

In fits and starts, Cuba is changing,

but it's not sugar or rum or
tobacco or casino gambling

that is the new god. It's tourism.

All right. So here,
Chinatown. Such as it is.

But are there any Chinese left in Havana?

No. There's a few new Chinese.

- Right.
- At one point the Chinese

community in Cuba was huge,
but they pretty much cleared out

after the revolution,
as did most of the Russian,

Jewish émigrés who were here,
so the state has erected

a few quintessentially Chinatown gates.

Mustered the 14 Chinese
people left in it to...

summon their relatives.

For more than 35 years,

Jon Lee Anderson has been
reporting from conflict zones

such as Syria, Lebanon,
Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

I lied about my age and
traveled around Africa.

When I was 13, I told people I was 26.

In the early 1990s,
while researching a biography

of Che Guevara,
he and his family moved to Cuba

and ended up staying for three years.

You lived here during the special period,

which was not so special.
That was the bad times.

- That was the bad times.
- The Russians had pulled out.

- Soviets all done.
- The economy went like this.

- Completely.
- Ninety percent. It just tanked.

Cuba lost 80 percent of its import goods,

which led to widespread hunger,
malnutrition,

on the island.

Soviet-style place

with food that was
flown in. Quite bad food.

Under Fidel's rule, that's the way it was.

It's like a cargo cult version

of Chinese food here. Dumplings.

The Szechuan chicken
dish that's about as Szechuan

as, well, I am.

What's going to happen? What's next?

The uptick in tourism just after
the December 17th announcement,

the surprise announcement
by Raul and Obama,

in which they said we
decided to make friends again,

the surge in tourism and American interests

in Cuba is like this.

You now have an island
where every room is for rent

because you can make $30 or $40 a day.

That's more than a state
employee makes in three months.

There will be wealthy hipsters,
women in tiny black dresses

drinking ironic rifts on the mojito,

in a lobby of the spanking
new W Hotel with...

in the background,

I would say so.

Will every Cuban have an unalienable right

to free medical care and education?

That's what they're worried about.

The last time I was here,
which was in 2013,

I counted eight to ten
homeless garbage eating people

in the street. I thought, wow,
I've never seen that in Cuba.

That's something the old Cuba,
socialist Cuba,

that could look after all its citizens,

would never have
allowed. It's allowing it now.

This period we're here in,
it's the lull before it all hits.

The train is coming.
It's either going to roar by

and they're going to be
able to jump on and go with it,

or it's going to derail
and it will be a mess.

All of it's possible.

My mom is asking me if you
would like to taste the rice?

Oh, it's fantastic.

Like a lot of Cubans, Yusimi Rodriguez

lives in same working-class neighborhood

where she was born. - I live with my mom,

my sister, and my niece.

Of course I would like
to have my own bedroom.

But there are people who
don't even have a house.

You were a translator, is that correct?

- You are now a journalist?
- Yeah, well,

I've been writing for Havana Times

and I write also for another...
independent website.

She struggles to eke
out a living in an industry

where the state firmly controls all media.

What subjects in particular
are of interest to you?

- Racial issues.
- Racial disparity.

This is something that the
revolution promised to address.

Their main mistake was to say
that they had eradicated racism,

that just like... it could
be eradicated just like that.

On the street, for instance, policemen,

the first people they stop, black people.

If you're black,
you are a potential criminal.

Her mom, Rosa, prepares a cabbage stew

with carrots, tomatoes,
and green beans for her,

as Yusimi is a rare vegetarian

on an island where pork is king.

Fantastic, look at that.

And for us, pork marinated in garlic,
onion, and sour orange.

Please tell your mom it's superb,
really excellent.

Thank you.

You have a very highly
educated public here,

one of the most literate nations on earth.

That's funny, we're highly educated,

but we're behind concerning
internet and all that stuff.

Most the folk have access
to only the official media,

the official newspaper. If internet comes,

and I think the government
is trying to delay it,

if that comes, many things will change.

People will have access
to different points of view,

and I don't think our
government wants that.

Mm-hmm.

...what will Havana be like,

what will this neighborhood
be like in five years?

You know, having a prosperous society

doesn't guarantee that it
is the same for everyone.

You know,
you see these people who have been able

to use opportunities, to open businesses,

to open successful restaurants.
Those opportunities are there,

but I cannot use them
because I don't have money.

I don't think it is possible
to have a perfect society,

but I think it is possible to try.

- How you like the food?
- Oh, it's delicious.

Really good. Thank you.

All Cuba seems waiting for something.

For whatever it is that happens next.

Today, that's the roar of Detroit's finest,

circa 1959 and before, of course.

American dream machines tricked out,
babied, pampered,

jerry-rigged or simply held together

with duct tape and bailing wire.

Nice.

What's under the hood?

V8 American engines.

We buy spares, bring spares from America.

All we think about through the week

is our machines, our V8 engines.

Car racing in Cuba, they love it here

Whoa, that's serious.

Los Amigos del Motor are diehard gearheads.

Drag racers who for more
than 20 years have been defying

the law and escaping
the grind of daily life

by pressing pedal to the
metal and hurdling down

the highway faster, faster,
fast as they can go.

They find the best part of the day

when there's not so much traffic.

You get hundreds of people
on both sides of the road.

Before it was absolutely illegal.

It's always been illegal.
It's only the last couple

of weeks that we're
going to get sponsorship

from the minister of sports.

Everything is changing.
It's entirely possible

that soon you'll be able to order any part,
any car,

any car in the world.
You can have it tomorrow.

- What would it be?
- Corvette.

- Corvette.
- Corvette. Which year?

The most modern!

This is a lunar picnic. It's
only to be seen at night.

The grills are painted
with this fluorescent paint.

It's very surrealistic.
It's a weird sensation.

Make you hungry somehow.

Along with his creative partner,

Marco Castillo, Dago Rodriguez is half

of Los Carpinteros, an artistic entity

whose work is shown and
collected all over the world.

Every single project is a different thing.

We have different technology to fabricate,
to develop.

Los Carpinteros have managed to stay

in the government's good
graces by wryly using irony

to make their points.

In the brutally competitive and capricious

contemporary art world outside Cuba,
they are stars.

They make a lot of money.

But they always return home to Havana.

Oh. Looks like we'll be eating well.

Whoo!

Tonight it's a party in Dago's backyard.

Cheers.

Ochoa has made his much loved

pig's head soup with pumpkin,
corn, peppers,

sweet potatoes, casaba, and plantain.

I saw somebody's house,
just an ordinary home,

but they'd created their
own fast-food franchise,

they made it look as
if it was part of a chain,

like Mr. Burger or something like this.

This place can be a paradise
for fast food. Fast food...

I hope they don't come here soon.

Yeah, well, this is my biggest fear,

is there will be a big
glass box of a W Hotel

and start seeing Starbucks
and Victoria's Secret,

you know, all the people who
make every place look the same.

- It would be awful.
- Yeah, but we have

- a... 50 year lack of money.
- Right.

This is a big problem.
The people will freak out

with money when they have the money here.

Of course. I mean,
if there's a $200 million

hotel project that's sustainable,

that reserves the facade of the city,

per se.

Whoa, what's cooking over there?

Can't forget the whole roasted pig.

A few years back,
a pretty unthinkable luxury

for just about everybody.

- Oh, wow. Soup.
- Wow.

Everything is biological here.

Organic food.

They have no money for chemistry here.

No pesticides and the hormones yet.

Oh, wow.

Then tamales steamed in the broth

from the pig's head soup.

- Life is good.
- Yeah, it is.

I think that our culture is so strong

that it's going to take a lot of tourists,

a lot of boats...

- How do you say...?
- Cruise ships.

Cruise ships. It's going to take a lot

of cruise ships to
dissolve these ingredients.

We're always like this,
with or without tourists.

This is a typical street
of this neighborhood.

Houses of wood, houses of concrete.

The street is not in good condition.

Here was the bus station.
It's not a bus station anymore.

Now it's a building. It's
a monument of the past.

Mantilla is a suburb of Havana,

home to one of Cuba's
most celebrated writers.

My name is Leonardo Padura. I am a writer.

And we are in the house
where I have lived my whole life.

There are a lot of lines
in the Cuban reality,

that apparently cannot be trespassed.

But I think they can be crossed,

or at the very least they can be pushed.

Author of the internationally successful

Mario Conde detective series,

Padura has been able to
portray the daily struggles,

the absurdities of life in Cuba.

It's a delicate dance,
and few have been able to replicate it.

Your hero in the books,
does he live in this neighborhood?

- Or another neighborhood?
- More or less, more or less.

A happy place to grow up,
this neighborhood?

Yeah, yeah. I was totally free.

I notice a lot of people just hanging out.

- Who lives here?
- All kinds of people.

Doctors, for example. Engineers. Workers.

And people who makes nothing,
like that guy.

- Right.
- He don't make nothing.

- How does he live?
- Trying to find something

to do or something to sell.
Making a small business.

Cafeteria a la BBQ is only one example

of a booming do-it-yourself
service industry.

It's a place where you get
a lot of bang for your money.

Nothing fancy, just delicious.

Gracias.

Fried pork, plantains,

and the kind of silky,
deeply satisfying beans

that dreams are made of.

- This is good. Good beans.
- Yeah.

You've never had a book
blacklisted or banned in Cuba?

- Fortunately, no.
- Have you been able to say

everything that you wanted to say?

I try to be the most honest writer

that I can be,

and I think that I say all that I can say.

The problem is that we need,
in Cuba, a lot of money.

Because it's a beautiful city,

but the people have many problems to live,

with the space,
with the structure of the buildings.

For dessert, flan... -Awesome.

- Cooked in a cut down beer can.
- Thank you.

You're a successful author.

You've been around the world,
you've traveled?

During difficult periods of Cuban history,

I'm sure you had many opportunities to live

in Miami or Barcelona or Los Angeles.

And yet you stayed in the same house,
the same neighborhood.

- Why?
- Because I like it.

I need to live in Cuba,
near to the Cuban people,

near to the Cuban language. For me,
it's very important.

Yes, the future is here.

But the past, too, is everywhere.

The buildings, the cars,
the gears of the whole system

are still largely stuck in time.

My name is Juana Bacallao.

Juana la Cubana.

93-year-old Juana Bacallao

is very much a part of that past.

I have dedicated myself to my art,

to singing for the people, my entire life.

Long before the revolution,

she was a shining star at
Meyer Lansky's Tropicana,

singing for Capone,
Luciano. You know the names.

Always, "Juana! Juana!"
when I try to get into my car.

And that is the life I have
always know with the people.

I go on stage every day at midnight,
with my orchestra.

Cuba has always been divine.

It is a wonderful fountain of friends.

All the people love me.

As long as there is light I will sing.

Cuba is not Havana.

It's a bigger country
than you might imagine,

and the road to Santiago de Cuba,

the country's second largest city,

takes you 12 hours on their

less than modern highway system.

Along the way, you see agrarian Cuba,

the country in which most
Cubans lived pre-revolution.

Santiago is a poorer city. It's blacker.

Unlike Havana,
the symbols and faces of the revolution

still seem to mean something.

These brutalist prefab
workers' housing complexes

are everywhere here, and at first glance,

hell, at second glance,

they look like something
you'd house animals in.

But for many, previously
living even poorer, harsher lives

in the countryside,
these offered something new.

Each group of buildings came with a doctor,
a school.

Still,
they look about as grim as grim can be.

Yet Santiago is anything but grim.

Siboney Beach is where
locals go on the weekend

to kick back with family,
drink the best rum in Cuba,

which means the best rum anywhere, swim,

hang with family and friends.

Hola, gentlemen. We will be needing...

Reymel is our local fixer.

Ruben is in the bar business.

Sergio rents rooms to
the occasional tourist.

Everybody getting by, making the adjustment

to private enterprise
Cuba in their own way.

Until a few years ago,
you couldn't rent or sell, right?

No. It was different.

Years ago you could rent...

A long time ago was allowed to rent house,

but no sell and buy.

What kind of fish is this?

- Dorado.
- Dorado.

- It's huge.
- Good.

Fresh caught dorado

and lobster is on the menu.

Do they thank this is going to change?

I mean, look,
we've all been following the news.

We will have a tourism
that we've never had before.

North American tourists.

Right. Half an hour away.

I mean, they can basically
take a boat over for lunch.

What do you think Americans want?

They have no idea. They don't know,

never talked to an American tourist before.

Looking good now, man. Good rum, cold beer,

good fish, good lobster.

You'll be needing a
blender for pina coladas.

If they have no machine,

they're going to do it by hand.

Put it this way, my friend.

You're going to be making
a lot of pina coladas.

I think you're going to need the machine.

Nighttime is party time.

Where everybody, it appears,
at least from when I was there,

hit the streets.

Mom, dad, sis, even grandma

get, well, crazy.

Used to be son and
trova that ruled the streets.

This was where those musical
styles were born, after all.

But now it's reggaeton and,
of course, hip-hop.

Alan Garcia,
is the leader of the Santiago-based

hip-hop trio, TNT la Rezistencia.

We've been making hip-hop for 15 years.

Which is quite difficult here in Cuba.

We've been in jail three days
once just for make hip-hop.

Definitely it's a change in Cuba,

but I don't think it's
because the relations

with the United States are getting better.

It's because the people
just realize we need change.

We still want a kind of society
where everyone participates,

and everyone is determining
the future of our society.

So born and bred, Santiago?

- Where the good rum comes from.
- Exactly.

So tell me, music business in Santiago,
what are you doing?

for people.

for proper food,

but they've got money for a jar of beer.

And just enjoying that
beer in a place with music.

How much American hip-hop do you get here?

We get actually quite a lot.

It's by friends. Someone
who came from outside,

then was passed to me and
passed to my friends, and that's it.

It's hand by hand.

In the beginnings, the '90s,
we start to make hip-hop here,

and we got a lot of problems.
Hip-hop came from the States,

they are like the everlasting
enemy of the revolution,

so you are making a music, a protest music.

- Right.
- So we have been a couple times

in jail just for songs.

So now you can make money performing?

- Yeah.
- You can make money selling?

CD's in the streets.

But actually, right now,
more possibilities are coming,

when the opportunity to promote the music,

when the opportunity to
having access to internet,

free access, I mean.

That's going to be the biggest thing?

Yeah. If you want to spend your holidays

properly in Cuba, come down to Santiago.

We got a couple things to show to you.

- Cheers, man.
- Cheers, man.

For Santiago.

- Hola.
- Hola.

Let's do it.

- Hi, I'm Tony.
- My name is George.

How long you have been driving a taxi?

For more than 20 years.

Mostly Cubans or tourists?

No, tourists, most of them Spanish,

Italian, even people from Canada.

And all Canadian people.

You from Santiago?

Yes, I was born in Santiago.

I used to live in Russia for six years,

- I started there.
- Really?

Yeah,
I was really young. And I really enjoyed.

Oh, yeah? It's supposed to be cold there.

Oh, no,
can you imagine it's a different Cuba,

and Russian, no, first time I saw snow,

I sent to my mom a lot
of pictures holding snow,

throwing snow. -

What were you studying in Russia?

Mechanical engineer.

So you went from
engineering to taxi driver?

Yes, yes. In 1990, Russia left us alone.

We got in trouble with the economy,

so I have to change my job. So it looks

like the embargo might end,

a lot of money gonna start coming to Cuba,

you think it's gonna change?

I think the American
businessman will invest in Cuba,

and that will be good for everybody.

How about going back to engineering?

Uh, you know,
that will depend on how much it would pay.

Right, okay.

What next for Cuba?

Something is coming.

It will come from out there,

but also from within Cuba.

It's already happening, but what is it?

Everybody knows, everybody can feel it,

it smells like freedom,
but will it be victory?