Matanzas, Cuba - Under a hot, late-morning sun, Staci Detwiler
sat on a bulkhead of the schooner Amistad, surrounded by
children in the maroon uniforms of the Escuela Vocacional de
Arte Alfonso Perez. The schooner rocked against the huge black
bumpers of the industrial pier, and when one of the children
began to turn slightly green, Detwiler, a deckhand who has
worked on the Amistad for 10 months, offered to continue the
lesson on land. "It's OK," said Alejandro Morales Leon, the
general director of the school, through a translator, mimicking
the rocking of the boat. "She can dance the reggaeton, so she's
used to it." For the sailors who have brought the Amistad to
Cuba, Tuesday morning's visit of school children to the vessel
was affirming, Detwiler told the group. Her guests agreed. "You
are making us believe history," Morales said. "It's a great
place for us to look at where the slaves used to be." When
Amistad returns to the United States, Morales asked that the
crew convey "a message to the American peop