Skateboarding is technically illegal in Cuba, but that's not stopping these girls from bombing hills in Havana

Skateboarding is technically illegal in Cuba, but that's not stopping
these girls from bombing hills in Havana
PRI's The World
March 01, 2016 · 4:00 PM EST
By Bradley Campbell (follow)


When I heard about a reporter going down to Cuba to check out the
skateboard scene, I had one image in my head: A long steep avenue called
"La Rampa."

This story is based on a radio interview. Listen to the full interview.
Take a skateboard down that, right into Havana's downtown.

Technically, it's not legal to skateboard in Cuba. It falls into a legal
gray area. That's not stopping a group of young women. There's a passion
for riding that communism can't stop.

"They skate to get around, to get to school, to work, and for fun," says
Miami New Times writer Jessica Weiss. "So it's definitely a part of
everyone's day to day life.

Weiss recently traveled to Havana and hung out among the skaters. She
documents it in a recent article. She says participating in the sport
is trickier among girls.

The reason? There's so few.

She says they don't hold that big a place in the skate scene in Havana,
despite it being quite large.

"It's actually seen as something that is quite bizarre. It's not a
normal quote-unquote activity for a woman," Weiss says. "Among the few
girls and women I spoke to who are skaters, there was a definite sense
of receiving quite a few stares and unapproving glances from onlookers."

The machismo culture in Cuba, still very much alive, also plays a part.

"Not only is there the sense that the man needs to protect the women,
but also the woman, as the wife, or the daughter, or the sister, is sort
just there to be protected. So that has definitely filtered into the way
Cuban society still works," she says.

Weiss says the girls challenge that idea, the one of a fragile woman, by
skating as it's a sport that comes with risk. But as any kid who has
dropped into a bowl, or pointed their nose down a huge hill… it's also
one that comes with freedom.

"This one girl I met just loves speed and hills and getting speed on her
longboard ... For her, that's a thrill. That's something that makes her
feel alive."

Source: Skateboarding is technically illegal in Cuba, but that's not
stopping these girls from bombing hills in Havana | Public Radio
International -
http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-03-01/skateboarding-technically-illegal-cuba-thats-not-stopping-these-girls-bombing