Frozen in Time, Cuba Finally Beginning to Thaw?

Cuba is a Kaleidoscope whose turns bring; happiness and sadness, pleasure and pain, hope and fear. Communism and the 21st century may make for strange bedfellows, but not here on the island of elusive beauty where everyone is under the sheets of “resolver.” Just as in golf where every shot makes someone happy, every twist of the Cuban Kaleidoscope brings joy in some corner.

If Cuba is on your “bucket list”, I recommend removing it immediately. A trip to this intriguing island deserves matriculation to a decidedly more important priority in your life. Four years ago, a gravely ill Fidel Castro “ceded” control to his younger brother Raul. Independently two doctors, off the record, told me that Fidel had colon cancer, which was successfully treated. The brothers are eighty-six and eighty two years old respectively. A Cuba without Fidel Castro will surely be different than it is today. How much change and how quickly will it occur is a hotly discussed and debated topic, both on and off the island. Not debated is the fact that the current situation is untenable making change inevitable.

Limited change is already occurring. The following have been implemented by Raul Castro since assuming the position of President; international travel by Cubans previously prohibited, staying in Cuban hotels which was strangely forbidden as well, the right to sell your home (improvements only, the Government still owns the land) and lastly private businesses are now permitted. Over four hundred thousand Cubans, approximately three percent of the population, now are self-employed through the ownership of mainly restaurants, taxis and retail shops since this new program went into effect.

Therefore, the opportunity to see something truly unique is fading like Fidel and Raul themselves. In the movie Midnight in Paris, the main character Gil, toggles back and forth between present day and early 20th century Paris. The contrast is stark and magical. One needs neither movie sets nor actors to achieve the same sensation in Havana, where there is simply no “modern day.” Walking the streets of Havana, a city described by Winston Churchill as “One where almost anything can happen,” creates the sensation of being trapped in a time machine. It is simply remarkable. An image, which I will try to describe to you, however, have already conceded defeat. The situation, which exists in Cuba, is just so crazy; I have concluded it is not believable unless seen first hand. A local Cuban woman in describing her hometown to me says it all, “Baby, its Havana!”

I will never hesitate again when asked, “What is the most interesting and unusual country you have visited?” Cuba is my new stock response.

Walking down from my Havana house towards the Malecon , the long stretch of sea wall in the center of town, one half expects 1950′s mob boss Meyer Lansky to pull up in a 1952 DeSoto at the Hotel Nacional for the mafia’s annual meeting. A beautiful woman on each arm, surrounded by henchmen sporting machine guns. A sighting of Cuban citizen Ernest Hemingway feels strangely in the cards. Hemingway’s masterpiece The Old Man and the Sea takes place in Cojimar just one hour from Havana. Upon receiving the Cuban flag, Papa kissed the hem. When asked to do it again for the cameras, Hemingway boomed, “I said I was a Cuban not an actor” from Carlos Baker’s Earnest Hemingway. The Spanish are famous for their dichtos or as we say proverbs. “The spirit always returns to where one was happiest on earth” probably explains why so many ghosts are running through the streets of Havana, including Hemingway’s. Or how about Fidel Castro’s Revolutionary sidekick Che Guevara, voted one of the most influential persons of the twentieth century. I can almost see him riding down Presidente Street in a jeep waving a machine gun to adoring crowds. One’s mind cannot be fully “Cuba” engaged without imagining secret Soviet warships arriving in 1960 at the port of Havana stocked with medium range nuclear missiles. Can you imagine the phone call between Khrushchev and Castro? The maniacal Russian leader was probably in a secret below ground bunker on a triple encrypted phone. Thirty four year old Castro fresh off his big win in the Revolution, wearing his traditional green uniform, was probably gawking at the cargo from the dock on a pay phone smoking a Cohiba. I am sure he was already scheming how to acquire the launch codes. Sounds of Dezi Arnez, aka Ricky Ricardo singing Babalu at the legendary nightclub, The Tropicana, echo through the crowded Havana streets. Ricardo gives that awkward tight-lipped smile of his as he sees Marilyn Monroe, sporting full cleavage, and Joe DiMaggio arriving at their front row table.

Havana’s history is full of intriguing mystery. Like a new acquaintance, who captivates you, but at the same time, someone you sense has a deep dark secret. Throughout history many of the world’s A listers traveled through the magical island of Cuba. Like it or not Fidel put his tiny Caribbean Island stocked with eleven million people on the world stage.

The architecture, cars, food, clothing and human rights have all changed very little over the past fifty years under Castro’s regime. Something that has changed over the past five decades and for the worse is the Cuban economy. Then there were five, China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam. I think it is safe to say that the collapse of communism around the world has hurt Cuba. Losing their sugar daddy, the former Soviet Union in the early 1990′s devastated Cuba. Overnight the daily oil shipments ceased arriving at the port of Havana sending the Cuban economy into a depression. Factories shutdown, transportation stopped and food shortages swept throughout the country. The Cuban Kaleidoscope turns again.

Communist ideology focuses on government controlled economic planning. In response to a potential military invasion, the Castro government developed a plan named The Special Period, which was to be triggered in an event of such a national disaster. The communist leaders, clearly in a panic, dusted off the Special Period and set it in motion in response to the Soviet pullout. Failing miserably, the economy plunged sixty percent virtually overnight and has barely recovered decades later. In hindsight, buying thousands of bicycles from China and passing a law mandating drivers with empty seats to pick up hitchhikers were hardly the answers to the USSR’s collapse. One of the top Cuban economists, Dr. Jorge Mario Sanchez, professor for the Center of Economic Studies, recently quoted as saying “The Special Period was actually the time when the USSR was giving the aid to Cuba.”

Let us just hope that Castro did not barter for the Chinese bikes with some missiles sites. It is no secret that China is stepping up their investment in Cuba. Offshore oilrigs, managed by the Chinese have popped up over the past several years. All dry so far. It is rumored that the Chinese have taken over the vacant Russian communications facility outside of Havana. I doubt anyone would blink an eye if members of the Red Army started showing up at Saloon Rojo listening to live salsa and mingling with some of the most beautiful women in the world.

Life is tough in Cuba. How tough? The difficult economic conditions, which face Cubans daily, are unfathomable. I had the pleasure of spending some time with a Cuban doctor. Mario is an ENT specialist, twenty-seven years old and married with a one-year-old child. His monthly salary is 737 Cuban pesos. To put this level of compensation in perspective, the Cuban peso exchanges into the convertible Cuban currency at 24 to 1. In turn, a CUC equals 1.15 US dollars. Doing the math, the doctor’s annual salary in US dollars is $425. When asked how he is able to provide for his family, “Extremely difficult, if not impossible. However, I am lucky. Most Cuban doctors make less than 500 Cuban pesos per month. The hospital where Mario works is located thirty kilometers from his house. Without a car and no viable public transportation, he is forced to hitchhike to work everyday. “Some days I am early, some days I am late. Thankfully, everyone in the community knows me so I always get a ride”

Education, healthcare and a very limited amount of food is all provided free to Cuban citizens, thereby reducing the income required to survive. Analyzing the antiquated food vouchers makes one long for high school lunches. Each family’s allocation of beans, rice, bread, milk and meats and vegetables is based upon age. After discussing the situation with several locals, the consensus has the allocation short by at least fifty percent.

So how does this possibly work? “Resolver” is the answer. The Spanish translation is to resolve a problem.

Pedro : Juan want to grab a beer?
Juan : No, I have to pick up the new diesel engine for my car. I have to change engines because I cannot afford regular gas costing $4.00 / liter. Since the government is using diesel, I can buy the fuel on the black market for $0. 25 / liter and bribe the local officials for the balance at a price of around $0.45 / liter.
Pedro : How will you pay for the $3,000 engine?
Juan : My wife’s uncle works in a car repair shop. In exchange for the engine; my sister is going to teach his nephews English, I am going to help him roll fake Cohiba cigars which he can sell to tourists for $75 per 25 box, substantially less than the real Cohibas which sell for $750; my brother will paint his house and I will drive both families for no charge for one year. The local government official, who oversees diesel fuel sales and car repairs in our neighborhood, gets to use the car for dates with his mistress anytime. Oh and my mother is going to give her manicures at her salon.
Pedro : Week later, Juan want to have a beer?
Juan : Sure.
Pedro : Did you fix your car?
Juan : Si, resolver!

The black market, estimated to be twenty percent of Cuba’s GDP or ten billion dollars, is a fixture of Cuban life. Where black markets are large stealing and corruption cannot be far behind. Illegal behavior is not innate within the Cuban people; rather it is necessary for survival. Cubans are peaceful and friendly, without question. Good descent people walk the streets of Havana.

If You Please’s Top 10 Reasons Why Cuba is Unique

10) Heavy steeled Antique American Automobiles, which definitely do not float.

9) Guantanamo Bay Military Prison or as one Cuban official was quoted as saying to a US Congressional delegation in response to Cuba’s poor record on human rights, “Congressman, GITMO is the only place on this island where anyone is being tortured”

8) “Remember the Cohiba” the CIA’s assassination attempt on Castro, code named Operation Mongoose, using exploding Cohibas the Dictator’s favorite Cuban Cigar.
7) Marlin fishing, smoking cigars, drinking daiquiris, dancing salsa with the beautiful Cuban women and writing everyday. I am confident Ernest Hemingway, a longtime Cuban citizen, would have been proud of my week in Cuba.

6) No Internet, well after seven days I can answer an oft-pondered question in the US. Yes, while shocking to the point of an Arctic Ocean morning dip, it is possible to survive without being “connected”

5) Two local currencies designed to encourage foreign investment but have only increased confusion leading to more efficient fleecing of tourists. Dividing by 24 and multiplying by .85 is difficult sober, sitting down with a calculator.

4) Island with no boats, confusing at first but makes perfect sense upon quick reflection

3) Last real Communist Regime with all the trappings, we always knew there would be a last, like the Miss Universe pageant sans the Donald featuring instead Kofi Annan announcing to first runner up Kim Jong of North Korea, “If for any reason Fidel Castro is unable to fulfill his duties as the world’s last dictator, you must step in”

2) Fifty year blockade by the United States or as they say in Dublin, America’s pathetic attempt at imitating the Irish, a culture who can forget everything but the grudge.

1) Fifty-Three year rule by one man, Fidel Castro — Guinness Book of World Records material. Intestinal fortitude not seen since NASA accidentally left an astronaut on the moon.

So how does a United States citizen actually travel to Cuba? Most people asked if I was flying through Mexico City, Toronto, or the Bahamas. While it is possible to travel to Cuba from these departure venues, it is by no means legal under United States law. As part of the 1962 embargo, United States citizens are prohibited from traveling to Cuba. The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) oversees enforcement issues regarding trade with the enemy. Yes indeed Cuba is listed as an enemy of the United States as well as a State sponsored terrorist country. However, after seven days on the ground in Cuba, I neither felt nor was treated like an enemy. Conversely, I was welcomed with open arms at virtually every turn. While the Cuban government despises America, the vast majority of Cuban people love Americans.

This obvious contradiction provides valuable insight into the hearts and souls of the wonderful Cuban people. Highly intelligent and sophisticated, Cubans acquiescence to their plight in life is similar to the acceptance of a favorite sports team’s failure on the field. It would be easy for them to blame their troubles on the US, however, they choose to soldier on with the cards they are dealt. The Cuban Government on the other hand, virtually blames everything on their imperialistic neighbor to the north. The Castro Government propaganda machine may be the “hardest working man in show business” on the crazy Cuban stage. The island of Cuba discovered just five hundred years ago, only gained quasi independence a little over one hundred years ago. Independence, not up to the western world’s standards, which lasted for a brief time only in any event. As the old saying goes, “It is hard to keep them down on the farm once they have seen Parie” Cuban Americans standing in the “Parie” of the Carribean, Miami will never go back to the “farm”. However, Cuban Cubans, kept in the dark and prohibited from travel outside of the country, simply do not have that perspective. Thus, they put their head’s down and “resolver”

It did not take the “machine” long to kick into high gear last week. While I was in the country, an ABC newspaper in Spain reported that Fidel Castro suffering from a massive stroke lay in a near vegetative state on his deathbed. The publication cited an unnamed Venezuelan doctor as their source. I even know the story is a fake. Cuba sends thousands of doctors to Venezuela annually in exchange for oil. The Cuban healthcare system is world class. The inference that a Venezuelan medical professional would treat Castro is patently absurd. Certainly, Castro’s last breath will be under the supervision of a Cuban doctor. The Granma International is the State run weekly Cuban “newspaper” named after the boat, which brought Castro to Cuba in 1957 from Mexico to lead the Revolution. The October 28th cover showed a picture of Castro in his backyard holding the October 21st issue of the Granma, with the caption, “I don’t even remember what a headache is.” To the independent outside world, surely this ransom style image usually sent by kidnappers to show that a hostage is still alive would be considered bizarre. Not here in Havana, where business as usual continues unabated. Seriously could you image Obama appearing on the front page of the Washington Post holding up last week’s edition? With a caption of “I can not remember what a sore throat feels like? Then in the text proceeding to cite specific details from fifty years ago. Well maybe he is not that old, but you get the point. I understand the President has been called aloof and known to miss a few meetings now and again, however, I do not think any sane person doubts whether is alive.

Occasionally you will read about the US prosecuting American citizens for violations, however, it is rare. The maximum fine for illegal travel is $10,000. President Clinton created a license allowing US entities to arrange for US citizens to travel directly to Cuba. A “People to People” license is issued by OFAC. President Bush eliminated the license during his term; however, President Obama reinstated the practice in 2011. So far, approximately 170 annual licenses have been issued. In order to qualify the trip must have an educational focus.

Collin Laverty founder of Cuba Educational Travel, from Rhode Island, was one of the first OFAC license recipients. Through his company, Collin has been arranging tours to Cuba for years, largely Government employees, members of Congress and their staffers prior to the new OFAC program. Collin has vast knowledge of Cuban history. His connections run deep and wide throughout Cuba. Businesspersons, government officials, academics and artists are available for meetings with sufficient notice. Fluent in Spanish and street savvy, Collin is an excellent choice for a tour guide in Cuba.

As one might expect, Cuba is an extremely affordable travel destination. Havana bed & breakfast (mainly rooms in private homes), restaurants, bars and museum prices make Medellin, Colombia cost of living feel like Paris. One could live like a king for two nights/three days on the cost in US dollars of a James Bond martini at the Connaught Bar in Mayfair, London. One of If You Please’s favorite watering holes in the world.

After the forty-four minute flight from Miami to Havana, one arrives at Jose Marti Airport named after the leader of the Cuban independence movement from Spain at the end of the nineteenth century. Marti, known as the Apostle of Freedom who was a champion of human rights, is visible all over Cuba. Besides the airport, there are statues, photographs and busts of the Apostle in just about every park, school and library. Founder of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in 1892, Marti led the end of slavery in Cuba and started the movement towards independence. Shot and killed by Spanish snipers in 1895, Marti was unable to live to see his dream of a free Cuba come true.

The United States relationship with Spain took a dramatic turn in January of 1898. President McKinley had received permission from the Spanish for the USS Maine to visit Havana purely as a mark of friendship. On the evening of February 15, 1898, the Cuban Kaleidoscope took a devilish turn changing the history of Cuba forever. While anchored in the harbor, the ship suffered a massive explosion, which killed over 265 men. Established that the forward magazine exploded, attention turned to how and by whom. Pre grassy knoll theorists of the day must have been having a field day with the event. No doubt, had they existed at the turn of the twentieth century, Fox News and MSNBC would have had all of the answers. Filling the void, Hearst’s publication, the Journal went with the aggressive headline; “The Warship Maine was split in two by an enemy’s internal machine” One thing for sure, despite the CIA’s long involvement in Cuba, founded in the 20th century, could not have been responsible.

Concluding that the USS Maine’s sinking was the doing of the Spanish, the US, who long coveted the Island of Cuba, declared War on Spain. Teddy Roosevelt and his rough riders led the invasion of Cuba. The Spanish — American War lasted less than three months. After several years of America’s first experience in nation building, the country was granted back to the Cuban people. The Platt agreement, devised by Secretary of State Elihu Root gave the US significant control over Cuba, however. US military bases on Cuba were part of the Platt Agreement. The naval base at Guantanamo Bay, leased into perpetuity for two thousand dollars a month, can trace its roots to the explosion of the USS Maine.

Spain’s involvement in Cuba dates to Christopher Columbus’s landing on the island on October 28, 1492, when he promptly announced the discovery of China and dispatched his lieutenants to find the Chinese Emperor. Columbus also declared the island to be “The most beautiful place yet to be seen on earth” Of course; Columbus did not actually discover what has become to be known as Cuba. By the time he arrived, the Taoina Indians had been occupying the island for over four thousand years. In short order, the Spanish slaughtered the Taoina Indians all but expunging the race from the history books in the process. During my visit to Cuba, I neither heard nor saw any reference to the Indian tribe.

The highway of world history is littered with civilizations that lost their lands to superior conquering invaders. The seeds of social unrest, which are so prevalent today around the globe, are indeed sown from such invasions. In short, no one likes to be kicked out of anything, least of all his own lands. The experience definitely leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth, which only worsens with age. Probably explains why the “underdog” in military conflicts so often prevails in the face of insurmountable odds. One only has to look at America’s present day struggle in Iraq and Afghanistan to see the intrepidity and fortitude, which an underdog, with an unbending resolve, is capable of producing. Las Vegas bookies were not around at the time of the American Revolution, however, if they were, no doubt the English would have been at least a 5 — 1 favorites in the Revolutionary War.

Several years ago I visited New Zealand, a nation which prides itself on the having the perfect “utopian” society. When asked to clarify, a proud Kiwi will state unequivocally that New Zealand is the only country never conquered. History is written by the winners, as the old saying goes. The Treaty of Waitangi signed in 1840 provided for a peaceful transition of power between England and the Maori who occupied New Zealand for thousands of years. My guess is that when the Maori sailed from Polynesia to New Zealand, they found the Island to be inhabited by someone who left in a “hurray.” History is more than a little fuzzy on how the Maori landing went over and what happened to the “locals” However, I must admit, after a tour of both the north and south islands, I think the Kiwis may be on to something.

The harbor where Columbus landed is located in eastern Cuba. Had he sailed around the northern coast, he would have instantly realized that the small island was not China. Clearly, the concept of a map has evolved over the centuries. Similar to the way medicine has transitioned from witchcraft to open heart surgery. In today’s world of Google, a map is synonymous with exactness. Through a mobile device, a person can access directions almost anywhere in the world with breathtaking precision. Not in Cuba, though.

Can you imagine being on a fifteenth century vessel and mistaking Cuba for China, a land mass eighty six times larger over seven thousand nautical miles away. What I find so intriguing about antique maps is the fact that they were really just the best guesses of what the smartest people in the world thought the earth looked like at the time.

Apparently, hundreds of years later, cartography had made little progress as evidenced by the mapping of North America. From the 1500’s until 1747, every map of the continent depicted California as an island. It was not until 1683 when Father Eusbio Kino, a Jesuit priest from northern Italy, led a land expedition from Arizona to the Baja Peninsula. The revelation took sixty four years to “sink in” before King Ferdinand VI of Spain “cried uncle” and issued a Royal Decree Proclamation in 1747 stating finally, “California was not an Island”

My close friend, Graham Arader proprietor of Arader Galleries in NYC, widely considered the world’s leading expert on antique maps, “As Royal Cartographer to King Louis XIV, mapmaker Vincenzo Coronelli had special access to the most current records on American geography sent in from the colonies. Coronelli compiled this four-part map of the Americas while in Paris between 1681 and 1683 to construct a pair of huge globes for the French king, where his position as ‘geographe du roi’ and his influential contacts in Paris enabled Coronelli to obtain manuscript maps of New France. An influential and important map, Coronelli’s was not without its flaws, the most famous example, of course, being the representation of California as a mammoth island.”

Do not know what Coronelli charged the French King for his birthday globes, but my hunch is that he overpaid. Coronelli, the world’s most accomplished cartographer of his time, armed with the best information available, put the Golden State out in the Pacific Ocean. Love it! Last August, I made the trek to the Bibliotheque National Francois Mitterand, tucked away in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, where Coronelli’s globes hang like a gigantic pair of right whale testicles. If you desire to see breathtaking pieces of art combining; history, geography and science, this is where to travel.

The people of France affectionately referred to Louis XIV as the Sun King. His seventy plus year reign, as the King of France, is the longest in European history. A charismatic genius who reigned over the glory days of France during her rise to world power in the seventeenth century, the Sun King delivered the goods. A rising tide lifts all boats as they say or as President Reagan coined “trickle down” economics. Therefore, building Versailles, the most decadent structure in all of Europe, was a seen as a sign of strength not excess. Decades later, it was a decidedly different story when the “peasants” climbed the walls chasing Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette from their Chinese silk laden sheets and onto the guillotine.

We live in an era where wonder and fantasy rages about intriguing concepts like; life outside of our world, galaxies beyond the Milky Way and the far reaches of space. Imagine for a moment living in a world where the boundaries of earth were unknown.

Cuba quickly became Spain’s springboard for expansion into the riches of the New World. Havana’s layout with a narrow northern opening to the Atlantic Ocean provided excellent defense against invading ships. The foreboding 16th century Castle Morro kept watch over Havana like a vulture for centuries. Classic Spanish architecture deployed in Havana made use of plazas as the centerpiece of activity. After a few mojitos, one could easily mistake Havana for Seville. Add on a few daiquiris and one stumbling through the narrow streets of Old Havana could swear they were in the French Quarter.

The Spanish deployed their 1 x 1.5 formula for plaza design. In order to isolate the square, the streets were blocked visually by covered arcades. Famous Spanish writer, Alejo Carpentier called Havana with ten miles of them, the City of Arcades.

Fidel Castro and his revolutionary forces seized control of Cuba in 1960 and deposed Batista. It did not take too long for the country’s relationship with the United States to go up in smoke like a well burning Cohiba. In October of 1960, the US implemented partial restrictions on trade with Cuba. Castro responded by nationalizing all US businesses in Cuba and seizing the personal property of most US citizens living in the country. Castro cozied up with the USSR, a country more than willing to finance the spread of communism around the world, especially in Cuba, located less than one hundred miles off the coast of Florida.

Eager to monetize his recent victory, Castro cut a deal with Russian President Khrushchev, which allowed for the placement of medium range nuclear missiles aimed at the USA on Cuban soil in exchange for aid. Resolver in play again. President Kennedy played one of the all time games of chicken with the Russians, who eventually caved. In his article which appeared in the Granma last week Castro felt the need to bring up the Cuban Missile Crisis and surprisingly WWII, “Cuba did not have anything to do with nuclear war nor with the unnecessary slaughter of Hiroshima and Nagasaki perpetrated by the President of the United States Harry S. Truman, thus establishing the tyranny of nuclear weapons.” Nice recall for a person who cannot remember what a headache feels like.

As a result the United States issued a complete embargo on February 7, 1962, essentially blocking all commerce with Cuba. Period end of sentence.

Fifty years is a long time to hold a grudge. Much has happened in the world since El Bloqueo descended on Cuba like an angry python. Sometimes you simply forget what you are fighting for. I think this old saying has more than a ring of truth when it comes to the US — Cuba relationship.

Consider, If Your Please’s “Top Ten Most Significant World events since the Cuban Embargo”

10 — JFK Assassinated
9 — Mao Zedong launches Chinese Cultural Revolution
8 — Vietnam War
7 — Martin Luther King “I have a dream speech”
6 — Nelson Mandela elected first black president of South Africa
5 — Berlin Wall Falls
4 — Iraqi/Afghanistan War
3 — Soviet Union dissolves
2 — 911
1 — Invention of the Internet

Not to mention; placing a man on the moon, Nixon’s resignation, collapse of Eastern European regimes, the Arab Spring, invention of Rock & Roll and Facebook reaching one billion users, to name a few more.

The American people have elected nine presidents since JFK, the man who placed the trade embargo on Cuba. Apparently, none has felt the need to change course with our southern neighbor. However, three have made an effort to ease tensions with Cuba.

Only fitting in Cuba where either everything is upside down or inside out, President Carter the consensuses pick as the least successful US leader in over fifty years is by far the most popular amongst the Cubans. After office, Carter met with Castro marking the first time in history that a US President has visited Cuba. Carter and Castro are forever linked in Cuban history because of the Mariel boatlift. A bus crashed into the Peruvian Embassy in Havana during Carter’s Presidency. The Peruvian ambassador announced asylum for all passengers and Carter went a step further, declaring the US a free country who would accept all Cuban refugees. Carter, who always had a big heart, sometimes was a little naive to the ways of the world. Castro emptied his prisons and mental institutions announcing that anyone wanting to leave for America could do so. Boats showed up just off the coast of Havana where tens of thousands of Cubans boarded for America. Sadly many sunk, killing thousands in the process. Most of the prisoners ended up in then Governor Clinton’s Arkansas jails, who proceeded to riot, killing dozens. The issue became a serious election point. Both Clinton and Carter lost their respective reelection bids.

As President, Clinton still holding vivid memories of the prison debacle, reached out to Cuba with a program whereby twenty thousand Cubans could legally emigrate to the US annually. Having received over one million of applications, Cuba is still processing emigration requests dating back fifteen years.

Besides reinstating the People to People licensing allowing US travel to Cuba, President Obama has lessened trade restrictions with Cuba. A limited amount of food and healthcare goods may be shipped to Cuba.

Eleven US Presidents have dealt with Castro, exactly twenty five percent of the forty-four men who have held the office. Fidel Castro outlasting ten US Presidents during his reign spanning over five decades is quite an unprecedented feat, worthy of note, irrespective of one’s ideology. Adding to the accomplishment has been the fact that the past fifty years have not exactly been the golden years for communism. It has been a tough half century for dictators of all flavors, for sure. Quite simply the man both has both staying power and a keen knack for survival. Apparently, age has not dismissed his passion for Communism and Socialism. Castro holed up in Havana, obviously unfazed by the global trends towards democracy, commented on the state of worldwide economics in his Granma article, “The peoples are learning and resistance is growing, faced with the crisis of capitalism which is recurring with greater frequency; no lies, repression or new weapons will be able to prevent the collapse of a production system which is increasingly unequal and unjust”. Please keep in mind this was neither a speech nor an interview where transcribing errors can occur. Rather the statement comes from Castro’s own hand. I believe so, however, one can never be too sure about anything that happens in this place. After all, I learned the details of Sandy a class II hurricane from Facebook a day after the storm hit Cuba, while I was on the island. In fairness, I was in tobacco country and the hurricane hit the eastern Guantanamo side.

After all, is not everyone stronger with a dangerous foil? Batman is surely made tougher by the Joker and what would James Bond have been without Dr No. What better foil for the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro than the United States the most powerful country on earth? For that matter what better boogeyman than Fidel Castro for the United States? Could a more perfect poster child for the anti communism crusade exist? Surely if not, the CIA would have had to invent him.

It appears that the blockade has backfired. Meant to punish Castro, it has actually helped keep him in power all of these years. His underdog status gives daily meaning and importance to his Revolution. Something you see all over the country. Propaganda in the form of; road signs, state run television and newspapers are bombarding Cubans with anti; American, capitalism and imperialism messages. A plethora of content capable of producing a Tokyo Rose blush!

Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey a member of the Foreign Relations Committee is the most powerful advocate against lifting travel restrictions to Cuba. He took to the Senate floor in 2010 to oppose a bill that would open US travel to Cuba, “Travel to Cuba will not help the people of Cuba gain freedom, it will only line the pockets of Castro’s evil regime with more dollars which will be used to further oppress Cubans.” Besides an obvious contradiction to the current ways of international trade, I believe the Senator is misguided here. As Proximo cheered on his fighters in the movie Gladiator, “Win the crowd and you will win your freedom” so to will the “crowd” free Cubans. Information is power. Social media was credited with driving the Arab Spring. Cubans need to see Parie.

Also helping Castro stay in power has been the US immigration policy, which has allowed both legal and illegal emigration into our country. Either way from Castro’s perspective, the “opposition drain” removes potential problems off his shores. Do not like it, leave.

Lastly, the country’s investment and unwavering commitment to education and healthcare have been the shinning stars of Castro’s Revolution. Over 13,000 students from 120 plus countries are training at the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), Cuba’s flagship institution, recognized as a worldwide top tier medical teaching facility.

What would a trip to Cuba be without a visit to Vinales, a lovely small farming village, located two hundred kilometers west of Havana. Virtually all of the tobacco used in the production of Cuban cigars is grown in Vinales.

Who says Cuba as no hedge funds? Every year the government comes to Jose’s farm and collects ninety percent of the tobacco yield. The remaining ten percent is left for Jose and his partner. In American financial circles, we would call that a zero and ten fee structure, which differs from the standard two and twenty.

Vinales a prehistoric underwater valley, defined by steep cylindrical mountains, gives off the image of gigantic cigars protruding through the earth’s surface. The climate is ideal for growing and storing tobacco.

Jose the top man on the two person non-mechanized crew at Vequero was at a loss to come up with the Spanish word for terroir. His response translated into English, “The best soil in the world is in my hands.”

Cuba is famous for their baseball. If You Please caught our first Communist sporting event, a pre season all-star game featuring the best players from Cuban National League. The Latino Americano Stadium home to the Cuban league champion Havana Lions hosted the event. Picture zero advertisements around the facility, no seat numbers, and player uniforms with neither names nor numbers on them.

Cuba, winners of twenty-five of the forty Baseball World Championships dating back to 1938, can flat out play the game of baseball.

From afar, Cuba has long held great potential. However, potential without possibility is nothing more than a Cohiba without a match. For the first time in a long time, Cuba is looking to have possibilities, albeit slowly. Ultimately, freedom and capitalism will be the match and the strike, igniting Cuba’s renaissance, transforming her into the jewel of the Americas that she needs to and can be.

Many say Castro is a bad person and that Cuba holds nothing of importance to the interests of the United States. Agreed as to the first point, however after fifty years and his “retirement” does it really matter? If part of the litmus test for providing financial aid to countries were “no bad guys” then our Federal deficit and debt would be substantially lower. The US has been “making it rain” around the world with other people’s money for so long, people are drowning in dollars. There never appears to be any correlation to the depth of the dollar “rivers” and success in achieving diplomacy nor does the character of the leaders appear to be a consideration.

As to the second point, the USS Maine exploded and sank in the Havana harbor over one hundred years ago. Locked in a military struggle with the Cubans, it is hard to fathom why the Spanish would sink the ship. Surely, they would have deduced a high probability of US military action. It was no secret that the US had an interest in Cuba. After all, they kept making unsolicited offers to the Spanish themselves. Possibly the Cubans blew up the Maine? Sick of four hundred years of Spanish rule, the Cubans figured they would opt for US control with the possibility of friendlier terms. “Resolver” as they say. In either event, President McKinley saw strategic value in Cuba, enough so he declared war.

My hope is that the US Congress can bury the hatchet in time guaranteeing America’s part in this unfolding story. A story that symbolizes all that the United States Constitution stands for. “Do as I say not as I do” is reserved for weak parents handling misbehaving children. Definitely not for members of Congress who are shamelessly putting their own self interests above those of the suffering people of Cuba. I understand that the two million Cuban — Americans living in the US, mainly Florida are angry with Castro. Indeed, they have become a powerful voting constituency in an important battleground state. However, sitting in Parie lobbying their respective members of Congress, who need their votes, about keeping the screws to Cuba, does not fit with our country’s principles. The principles of the US Constitution were designed to transcend politics of personal interest. I hope that the high road in Washington, the road less traveled, can miraculously produce a traffic jam on the way to Cuba. The situation needs to change.

If alive today, Jose Marti would surely be horrified by the human rights afforded to Cuban citizens by the Castro Government. In the late 19th century, Marti could not have summed up the future disagreement between American and Cuba more eloquently or powerfully,

“Those who have you, o Liberty, do not know you. Those who do not have you should not speak of you, but win you.”

“I have often wondered what I should do with the rest of my life and now I know, I shall try and reach Cuba”, Earnest Hemingway.

I am with Papa on this one and intend on continuing to search for Cuba’s elusive beauty. A beauty that is hard to see, but easy to feel.

The Cuban Kaleidoscope of endless changing phases and images is about to turn again.