Somewhere in Time Part II - Reflections on Cuba

    

By Richard Curry
Conclusion of a Two- Part Journal

Editor's Note: Travel correspondent Richard Curry first visited Cuba in
March, 1999. One year later he returned, amidst the height of the Elian
Gonzalez controversy, to take an unguided trek in a rented vehicle from one
end of the island to the other. This is the second part of his personal
account.

Day 5 - Images abound. On the way to the Camaquey Ballet Company, we passed
a 200-year old Catholic church. In the doorway I could see a man working on
a car in the middle of the church entrance. Another man was painting the
church ceiling. The man working on the 1975 Russian Lata  told us he hauls
the car out every Saturday and brings it back on Mondays, due to Sunday
church services. He said it would be like brand new when finished, but I
think we're talkin' a two-year project here. It was something to see a car
being welded at the foot of a statue of Jesus Christ.

Road scenes on the way to Santiago De Cuba included horse drawn carriages,
cowboys, cattle in the streets, palm-thatched huts, a bike with a painted
cardboard jet plane formed on both ends, an electrician working on wires
standing on a wooden ladder topped off with an umbrella nailed to the top
for shade,  a small iron-chaired ferris wheel for kids at a town
celebration, and a bike pulled by a horse with hundreds of hitchhikers.

Road merchants were selling turkeys, oranged, and garlic. We bought 40
small oranges for $1.00.  We saw a pottery maker wearing a Clearwater Beach
T-shirt (other t-shirts in Cuba included Marilyn Manson and Michael
Jackson).

We picked up Lisa on the road to Las Tunas. She was 22-years old and a high
school social studies teacher. As we passed a billboard that read "This is
the land of the lion", Lisa replied: "But there is no lion." We asked her
about the economic situation in Cuba. "Here's the difference," Lisa told
us. "For people using dollars everything is getting much better, while
people using Pesos are getting much worse. I have little time to worry
about it, considering my mom's sick and I'm out of work."

On Elian she said, "It's all political. He should be with his father
whether it's in Cuba or the U.S. - it's not important."

I stopped to photograph three vintage American automobiles near a gas
station. A man named Wilbur was surprised when I told him I thought the
blue & white '56 Ford station wagon would be of more value than the '57
Olds hard top. We both agreed the '54 Cadillac Park Avenue would have the
highest value in America. I've noticed there are a lot less vintage
American cars on the roads in Cuba. Hans later found out from a parking
attendant in Santiago that they're being sent to South America, forwarded
on to Mexico, and then shipped and sold in America. Despite the embargo,
the cars are 'coming home' again.

The gas stations weren't plentiful, but they always had gas and were open
24 hours a day. Gas was $3.50 a gallon. We never let our tank go less than
half-full. At one stop I bought a six-year old boy a cold can of coke and a
box of saltines. Ten minutes later I looked around and saw every single
person (about 20) with a saltine cracker in their hand as we drove off.
This says a lot about the Cuban people.

Some Cubans never visit other cities. Many leave their neighborhoods very
often. Two longshoremen from Seattle I spoke with lived a week with a Cuban
family. They met a man who left his home only three times - the day he got
married, the birth of his son, and going out to dinner with them. He was 61
years old. It's a sad fact. Yes, a Cuban education is good, but if you
seldom go anywhere you cannot build upon it and put it to use. There was a
couple who spent their two-week vacation in their home. There was nothing
else to do. They smoked pot and had sex. For many Cubans, sex is their only
form of entertainment.

Day 6 - Went to the town cigar factory with Hans. My journalist credentials
got us in, but then Hans took over. He was talking Spanish for days. We
were introduced to every communist leader in the plant. Then the communist
plant manager introduced us to all the workers. They all stopped working
and in unison pounded their hard wood tables with their work implements.
Hans bowed, so I bowed.

Leaving the factory I asked Hans, "What the hell was that all about?" He
said he told her we belonged to the East German socialist party. They were
applauding international solidarity. After telling him he was walking back
to Havana,
my new commie friend, Hans, later in the afternoon spent two hours talking
with members of the youth-communist party committee. I asked him what side
of the German wall he lived on, and Hans said he did all this just to hear
what they were thinking.

A Santiago school performance (which happens nearly every day) featured
dancers, singers, and magic acts.  I'm convinced all the schools are
creating the next generation of entertainers for the Cuban tourist industry.

I saw two Revolutionary Museums. Combined, they had six different Molotov
cocktail displays. I saw Fidel's backpack that he used when marching to
Havana during the Revolution. It was U.S. made and in it he carried an 8x10
photo of FDR.  One moment during the Revolution Fidel's army stopped for a
week to watch the Braves vs. the Yankees World Series on TV at a golf club.
The Revolution took a pause.

A joke from a Cuban economist: Fidel goes to a hog farm and tells the
manager, "I want you to try this new diet on this pregnant sow. I've
devised it myself and think we could double the production of piglets."
Some months later the sow has the average number of piglets - five. The
farm manager is a little nervous but tells the district manager that the
Fidel sow produced six piglets. The district Manager calls the provincial
managers and is happy to announce that the sow had seven piglets. This man
is very excited and calls the national manager to announce the birth of
eight piglets. The national manager calls the Minister of Agriculture and
can't contain his happiness when he announces that Fidel's sow produced
nine piglets. The minister is ecstatic. He calls Fidel and triumphantly
announces that his diet has produced 10 piglets. Fidel says, "Just what I
thought would happen. This is what we'll do; we'll export five piglets and
the five that remain will be for national consumption."

The Economic Reality of Cuba (or Why There Isn't Any Money Here)
1. 70% of all government enterprises operate at a loss.
2. The Soviets during the '80s paid higher than the world prices for Cuban
sugar and sold oil to Cuba at lower than world prices, so when Russia
walked out in the '90s, Cuba lost 4+ billion dollars a year in Soviet
subsidies.
3. A lot of the tourist profits at the hotels go to foreign partners.
4. Sugar production profits are down.
5. Cuba doesn't have enough money to import oil or food.
The answer: Produce more by allowing a free market of goods & services
(capitalism). But in truth, Cuba will never produce enough because there
are no incentives and everyone gets the same inadequate wage. So, why work
harder? There is no point to it. Everyone here knows Fidel will never allow
a free market society.

Day 9: The roads back to Havana were very good. I stopped and went through
four small towns on my return. The streets were not so good. I almost sunk
the yaris comjpletely when I barely made it over a street water grate
falling through when I passed over it.

I stopped in Cojimar, the setting for the book and movie The Old Man and
the Sea.  I went here to find Ernest Hemingway's boat captain Gregario
Fuentes. I asked two women in the streets if they would get into my car and
help me find the Capatoli. At his front door I met his daughter, Alvita,
who is 76 years old. Gregario's other daughters passed away at ages 76, 72,
and 71. I also met Rafael, his 46-year old grandson. As I came in, I could
see Gregorio sitting on a chair, leaning against the wall, sleeping next to
the open back door.  Rafael woke him and the 103-year old gentleman walked
in by himself, sat down in an easy chair, and lit up a cigar. The interview:

Richard: What's the craziest thing Ernest ever did?
Gregorio: He was never crazy!
Richard: What was Hemingway's greatest adventure with you?
Gregorio: One day off the Dry Tortugas in a storm I was in a big Cuban
fishing boat. I saw a man was in trouble holding onto his small boat. I
reached down and pulled him aboard. He asked me my name and where I was
from. Ernest then said, "I'm Ernest Hemingway and when I come to Cuba I
want you to be my boat captain." He did find me and our friendship lasted
over 20 years.
Richard: What was the government like before the Revolution?
Gregorio: Very bad. Batista was a very bad man. (Note: Batista's Special
Police (SIM) used to hang people and leave them for days. Some people were
tortured for months at a time. When one Batista soldier ws killed, ten
deaths were demanded in return. A Batista guard known as Ojos Bellos used
to remove prisoner's eyes with a spoon).
Richard: Since Castro have things improved?
Gregorio: yes, the children of Cojimar grew up and always became fishermen.
Today there's no fishermen in Cojimar. They are now teachers, engineers,
doctors. (Note: When I returned to Clearwater a week after this interview,
I met a waiter whose cousin had been completely blind. He had three
operations in Cuba and now has 80% vision.)
Richard: What do you think of Cuba today?
Gregorio: Castro is good, he helps everybody, and he's a help to the people.
Richard: What do you think of the Elian case?
Gregorio: The Cubans in Miami hate the Cubans here and some Cubans here
hate the Miami Cubans. I want them to love each other and have peace and I
think the baby boy should be with his father.

Cuban Americans send about $800 million a year to their relatives
on this island. About 500,000+ Cubans apply annually for 20,000 legal visas
granted by the U.S. government. This creates a problem: the Cuban
government now knows who no longer supports the revolution, so you're
watched a little closer. Some peple who have applied here have been sent to
concentration camps while waiting for their visa.

I then drove into Havana. Here I went to the press office to get my visa
and passport back. Of course it was closed on Saturday. I found a lady with
a set of keys. She kindly opened the office and got me my documents. I then
took back our rental car. I had drive 1,350 miles. Hans- 8 miles. I taxied
back to the Nacional Hotel and collapsed for the evening.

Day 10 - Last Thoughts on Havana.
Today I got up early. On the TV at 7:00 am they showed two Cuban
soldiers - one with a German shepherd and the other with binoculars looking
towards Key West for the next U.S. invasion.

After breakfast I walked alongside the Malecon - a sea wall where lovers
hold hands and watch the waves splash against the wall, and to also view
the 19th Century 40-foot tall lighthouse across the harbor mouth. There's a
plaque on the wall that reads: "Built in part by the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers." On the sidewalk, a one-and-a-half foot tall ugly ass black
mangy haired dog attacked me. I think it was a cross between a jackal and
an African hyena. He was very persistent with razor sharp teeth. The chases
lasted for two blocks. I considered drop-kicking him over the wall, but he
finally left me alone. In ten days I only saw two cats. They haven't been
revivied since the peple used them as food supplements in the early '90s.

There are no fat people in Cuba.

U.S. Senators recently said there is religious repression in Cuba. I set
out on this Sunday to find out. I found four churches in Havana. They were
all open and each one had people worshipping. The last church I visited -
the Plaza De la Catedral of Havana, was just starting a service. Every pew
was full; people were standing three deep on the sides. There was a lady
playing the piano, 20 men singing in the choir (the music was wonerful) and
a procession of eight priests, with the first two administering incense to
the parishioners.

Pope Paul II deserves a tremendous amount of priase for helping make this
happen. He should now consider returning to the United States - a country
where 50 churches are closing each and every week.

The sights, sounds, and smells of Havana will stay with me after I leave:
the squeak of old bikes, the smell of diesel trucks, the leaded gas fumes
of old cars, the songs 'Guantanamera' and 'Commandante Che', the Elian &
Revolutionary billboards, the warm smiles, the people kindly saying 'hola',
the colorful paintings, the police on nearly every Havana corner, the smell
of rum and cigars, pickup baseball games, street dogs from hell, and kids
in school uniforms.

Conclusion o Two visits to Cuba in the last two years by no means makes me
an expert on the Cuban-U.S. relationship. But as one American, I give you
my thoughts:

The U.S. has to get acclimated to the fact that Cuba is not going to become
it's 51st state. Get over the Bay of Pigs War, which we lost, and forget
the failed American backed Batista government, which Fidel overthrew. This
was at a time when the U.S. owned and operated 75% of Cuba.

The embargo is wrong for the Cuban people. The U.S. isn't punishing Castro;
he'll get whatever he desires until he dies. Life's simple necessities and
medical supplies are more difficult to obtain. Life here is difficult
enough after 41 years.

Fidel did improve the country's education and medical capabilities. Life
expectancy in Cuba is now 76.2 years. In the U.S.A. it's 76.5.
In Cuba there are 5.3  Doctors per 1000 people; in the USA it is 2.6.
However, hospital supplies are dwindling and many doctors are leaving this
profession for better pay in Cuba's tourist industry. Condoms are a rare
commodity in Cuba, but not abortions. There are 160,000 a year. The U.S.
number 1.5 million a year and we have condoms. This is one case of shortage
and another of stupidity.
Fidel Castro did bring roads, water, and electricity to central Cuba. He
did rid the country of a tyrant and give the Cuban people a measure of
their own identity and national pride. But now it's time to rethink the
goals of the Revolution. Was it not fought to get the people what they
desered - namely, freedom? Today they live on $15-$20 per month with
limited food rations and cannot speak their minds. They're denied the good
hotels, restaurants, decent transportation, and even some of the nation's
beaches. It's now come full circle.

Fidel has said, "The blockade has turned us into patriots and
revolutionaries and prepared us to face the future." One Cuban on the
street said, "I don't live in the future. I live in the present."

Fidel should get away from his own political rhetoric and work on his
country's economic solutions.