PROTEST
Cuba Libre
Rum & Coke, with a little splash of freedom
Oh, and add some lime to that highball, please.
No, Cubans don’t call this classic cocktail “Libre” in their own country. The ironic appellation for the boozy drink is usually something like “Pequeña Mentira”, or “Little Lie”. Because that’s what freedom feels like, I’m told, from the capital of Havana to far-flung Santiago de Cuba, on the other end of this island nation 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
I briefly got to experience Cuba — on a miniscule scale — as a kid. We played with the Escalona sisters — Helen and Vivian — and I developed a taste for the traditional Congrí — black beans and rice — in their suburban New York kitchen.
We didn’t know the Escalonas long, but almost 60 years later I remember their love — and attendant enthusiasm in almost everything they did. This was before Elian Gonzalez, other “boat people” like him, and about a year before the Bay of Pigs invasion. Fidel Castro had already coopted the country with his Revolución Cubano a few years before.
Of course, my kindergarten self didn’t know any of that.
I was much more impressed with my new friends’ passion — on the playground and with their…
