In the movie, Strawberry and Chocolate, the two flavors of ice cream represented two different ideologies. The movie was set in Havana, Cuba during the year of 1979. David, the protagonist, meets Diego, a gay man, who shows him many things he had never seen or experienced before. When Diego first meets David they both are eating ice cream. David has the chocolate and Diego chooses the strawberry. David is a revolutionary and seeks to change Cuba but follows the conservative route in order to do so. He respects the way that things are and is in accord with his fellow revolutionaries on how it should be changed. Diego, on the other hand, is opposed the communistic views that Cuban society upholds. He wants to speak his mind and have freedom to express his ideas. When David enters the apartment of Diego, it’s as if he enters a completely new world. He’s shoved into a new reality and shown things he had never seen before. Diego has forbidden books and art, music from exiled Cubans, whiskey, and so much more. Diego sees something in David, a form of hope, as they become better friends. He tries to show David the ways of the world and how Cuba should be. Both love Cuba but have different ideas when it comes to the way in which reform should be instituted. Miguel, David’s roommate, is representative of the main stream revolutionaries of the time. He, unlike David, was unwilling to condone radical thoughts from anyone on how Cuba should be changed. He thought of it as a crime to do think the things that Diego believed in. By the end of the movie, Diego was being forced out of the country but was leaving some of his ideas behind. His ideas would live on through David. In the end David picks up the strawberry ice cream and repeats what Diego had said in the beginning. This and his final goodbye hug show that he has finally come full circle and has come to accept Diego. David, although not in full accord, believed in Diego and was going to carry on some of Diego’s ideologies.

In Chapter 9 of the Burns text, The Revolutionary Option, he describes the great effect that the Cuban revolution had and the precedents it set for the rest of Latin America. Although Cuba did not seem like a revolution was necessary, things weren’t as good in Cuba as they appeared. Sugar was the main export of Cuba and the U.S. was a very important partner. Batista overthrew Machado, a corrupt dictator, and put Martin in his place. The U.S. backed Batista and kept a puppet government going while Batista kept all the real power. Unfortunately the people of Cuba felt that nothing had really changed since the rule of Machado to the fall of Batista. Castro, a representative of the middle class, led the popular revolution to take Cuba from the control of the U.S. and from Batista. Castro’s slogan was “nationalism, socialism, and anti-imperialism.” (260). Castro had many new ideas. He redistributed land, created literacy campaigns, created more jobs, provided healthcare and education, and much more. Although Castro appeared to be communist, he did not yet consider himself to be one and tried to have relations with the U.S. despite his nationalistic views and ideas. Castro promised to leave the U.S. base alone and tried to get an increase in the sugar quota in exchange but the U.S. was stubborn and declined. Cuba decided to negotiate with the Soviet Union, as Batista had in the past, in order to sell more sugar. The U.S. saw this as an alliance between the two countries and things began to spiral out of control between the two countries. Since the U.S. decided to invade Cuba, Castro decided to formally declare the Cuban revolution as a communist revolution and sought full support from the Soviet Union. The revolution encouraged art, film, music, poetry, and all other forms of cultural expression. The revolution brought about many new ideas to the country. Women were encouraged to obtain education and to enter a profession. Equal rights of men and women were an idea of the revolution. Cuba’s revolution caused the U.S. to take a different approach with the rest of Latin America. (258-272).

This chapter outlines how Cuba came to be what it is today and the struggles that it had to endure in order to get where it is. Cuba had a different revolutionary tactic than the rest of Latin America. Its different start caused it to lead a different path than the rest of the countries. It also played a big part in how the U.S. handles future governments that it does not agree with. Because of Cuba the outcome of Latin America has been dramatically altered from what it might have been had there not been a communist revolution in Cuba. This chapter showed that certain forms of revolutions and governments are better for a certain structure than others. Perhaps anything other than the communist government that was put into place may not have been as successful as quickly in the bettering of Cuba. Cuba was able to dramatically change because of the programs that Castro initiated.

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