LEILA FADEL, HOST:
In Cuba, expressing opinions in public can get you in trouble. But for Cubans trying to tell you what they really think, there's a single phrase that does a lot of work and carries coded truths. NPR's Eyder Peralta reports from Havana.
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: If you want to get a Cuban talking, just ask...
(Non-English language spoken)?
"How's the thing?"
MARISLEYSIS: (Laughter).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
PERALTA: Marisleysis (ph) sizes me up, and she takes a leap.
MARISLEYSIS: (Non-English language spoken).
PERALTA: "My love. The thing is very bad," she says. Her friend stops her. She's saying too much in front of a microphone. But Marisleysis dismisses her because that's the thing about the thing. The thing can be anything.
MARISLEYSIS: (Non-English language spoken).
PERALTA: The thing is our food, our sustenance, our clothes.
MARISLEYSIS: (Non-English language spoken).
PERALTA: "How's the thing? It's super high. It's super expensive. It's super bad." Fidel Castro argued that there was freedom of expression in Cuba, but he was cryptic about the limits. He famously uttered...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
FIDEL CASTRO: (Non-English language spoken).
PERALTA: Within the Revolution, everything against the revolution, nothing." Cubans who crossed that line have ended up in jail. So like bishops deciphering an encyclical, Cubans have learned to navigate. I catch Nino (ph) and Gabriela (ph) running errands in downtown Havana. Everyone in the story asked us only to use their first names because, well, things are complicated in Cuba, and they didn't want to get into trouble.
GABRIELA: (Non-English language spoken).
PERALTA: "La cosa is the situation in general," says Gabriela. La Cosa, says Nino, is abstract. It can mean something as simple as the struggle to find gas, or it can mean the corruption scandals plaguing the Cuban government.
GABRIELA: (Non-English language spoken).
PERALTA: The meaning also changes depending on the trust you have with the other person, she says. Sometimes, only both of you know what you're talking about. So la cosa in Cuba is like a wink and a nod. It's a phrase you hear on the streets, but also beaming from the high altar of Cuba's music royalty.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
PERALTA: In his latest album, the singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez has a song titled "Here Comes The Thing."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "VIENE LA COSA")
SILVIO RODRIGUEZ: (Singing in non-English language).
PERALTA: "The thing is coming," Rodriguez sings. "It's going to be bad."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "VIENE LA COSA")
RODRIGUEZ: (Singing in non-English language).
PERALTA: It's a song about an unstoppable change, and it comes at a time when Cuba is facing a crushing economic crisis, discontent on the streets and a belligerent President Trump who's predicting the demise of the communist government. The thing is coming with eyes wide open, he sings, and lies won't ever stop it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "VIENE LA COSA")
RODRIGUEZ: (Singing in non-English language).
PERALTA: The thing Rodriguez writes about could be anything - a popular rebellion, a communist renewal or a vicious foreign intervention, and that mystery gives him plausible deniability. Back on the streets, I find Mario (ph) leaning against the government building where he works as a receptionist. He says, defining the thing is not complicated.
MARIO: (Non-English language spoken).
PERALTA: "It's our reality, and you can see it," he says.
MARIO: (Non-English language spoken).
PERALTA: "I work from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.," he says, and he earns about $4 a month.
MARIO: (Non-English language spoken).
PERALTA: His whole paycheck buys him less than a carton of eggs.
MARIO: (Non-English language spoken).
PERALTA: "I don't lie," he says, "because I'll defend my country with my life." And then, like every Cuban, he turns cryptic.
MARIO: (Non-English language spoken).
PERALTA: His 41-year-old son tells him, "Dad, you have to stop believing because this will never get any better." And how do you respond? I ask.
MARIO: (Non-English language spoken).
PERALTA: "Things will get better," he says, "but it's hard. The thing is tough," he whispers.
Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Havana.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "VIENE LA COSA")
RODRIGUEZ: (Singing in non-English language). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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