The “Tight-fitting” Flag / 14ymedio

The stars and stripes, best when it is “snug” according to some. (14ymedio)
The stars and stripes, best when it is “snug” according to some. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 27 January 2016 — After Cubans saw the handshake between Raul Castro and Barack Obama at last year’s Summit of the Americas in Panama, the number of American flags in the streets of the island soared exponentially. They are found inside taxis, on the caps that protect against the relentless tropical sun and adorning innumerable items of clothing.

There is some challenge in wearing this stars-and-stripes logo on the body. A gesture of defiance that officialdom just does not like.

Articles in the national press that acidly criticize the growing presence of Uncle Sam’s flag in Cuba have only served to fuel the desire to wear it. As if many would like to make up for those decades when showing the slightest sympathy for the country to the north meant being thrown out of work, kicked out of college or suffering even worse reprisals.

Nice and tight, in contact with the skin, today many Cubans wear it their own way to separate themselves from and contradict the government discourse.