Cuba

Havana Port, Cuba

I just got back from Cuba.  The irony in that is what should have been a relaxing mini-vacation found me instead in an oppressive, hostile country.  The end result is that I lived through it - I avoided both arrest and detainment.  

Cuba is a paradox.  It's a country stuck in the 1950s trying desperately to find its way into the 21st century.  But with blood-soaked Raul Castro at the helm, that journey is unlikely.  Thank God time waits for no man, and the tyranny of the Castro brothers and their vicious attack dog Ernesto "Che" Guevara  will - as all tyrants do - fade into the fog of history.  

While I found the Cuban people themselves to be largely self reliant and for the most part complacent, it's the oppressive dictatorship that prevents the entrepreneurial creation of wealth that would benefit all Cubanos.  This underlying oppression is blatantly evidenced by the saturation of pro-Fidel and Che propaganda in the form of murals, posters, art, and other visual media.  Incidentally, the elder Castro brother is referred to as simply "Fidel", an attempt to instill forced admiration, no doubt.  

Typical rococo architecture

The old American '50s cars are cool, but they're just for show.  They are mostly taxis for tourists in Havana, running along the Avenue del Puerto and in front of the Plaza de San Francisco.  Most Cubans can't afford cars, and those who can, usually drive either Russian or Chinese made vehicles.  The Cuban cigars are still excelente, and the local rum is rich, smooth and exquisito.   

But unless and until Cuba can become a self governing nation, the culture, like those marvelous architecturally remarkable buildings in Havana, will continue to decay.  

And that's a damn shame, because the island itself is a geographical paradise.  Tropical Caribbean  beaches.  Lush jungles.   Mountain plantations.  Unfortunately, currently it's kind of a mess.  It suffers the ravages of non-existent stewardship: there are no clean water, clean air, or anti-pollution laws readily visible here.  Were it to be cleaned up even as it was in Hemingway's time there, it would quickly become a viable world economy.  

Perhaps Cuba's return to a somewhat democratic, laissez-faire government, as it was in the recent past, would enable a rising cultural and economic tide that lifts all Cuban boats, thus ending its dependence on other communist nation states.

And then Cuba would be a viable, self sufficient world class player in the 21st century.