I call it "designer tribalism". You see the snobs, elites, ignorant, the Marxists have always thought that Cuba or Havana was always like this – a third world theme park of sensual pleasures. That for some reason the natives are innocent, simple, and in the end happy for it all. They say, "Ohhh, but it is so beautiful, so primal, so quaint, I want to see it for myself before the Americans or Miami Cuban Americans take it over and ruin the beauty, and the innocence, and open Home Depots, Havana Disney, Multiplexes, and Burger Kings!" They think Cuba is at it’s apex and this is sad.

Little do they know - because the Castroite propaganda machine has been so strong in brain washing millions - that Havana and Cuba were not always the headquarters of peeling paint, and quaint ruins amidst happy singing dancing brown people ala Buena Vista Social Club. They can't phantom this - because of their racism - yes, they are bigoted and racist, they can't understand because they don't want to admit that Cuba once had a EUROPEAN civil society of rational individuals with manners, varied ideas, and morals, with a vibrant middle class, institutions, businesses, an economy, schools, department stores, hospitals, houses of worship, Rotary Clubs, Masons, orphanages, car dealerships, Woolworths, and industry. Before the revolution everyone wanted to go and live in Cuba – now they use it as their personal whore house. They think Cubans need a boss man and benevolent leader to look after them. When I was in architecture school – a black Dominican once said to me that DEMOCRACY was a white European concept and that Latin people did not understand it – and that is why they love Fidel Castro so much because the “Latin” is so enamored of the “strong man”. Total BS but you know, Anglo people who go to IVY schools have the same attitude.

My father used to tell me that before Castro – Havana was the Paris of the Caribbean. My father did not lie. And as to the stories of Havana as the eternal red light district – the way the left makes it sound like all Cuban women were wayward prostitutes only capable of being rehabilitated by Fidel and his revolution – THIS is another lie – my father who was from Havana, and did not lie mind you, always said that Havana was a nun’s convent compared to the debauchery that went on in other world cities like New York or San Francisco.

Amen Mario,
I have had soooo many people, some of them good aquaintances which have told me how they would hate for the cruise ships, and McDonald's, and Lowes to get into Cuba as it would ruin the "quaintness", the "charm" and the "warmth of its people".
Even though I am one of its people myself and have comported myself towards them with that same "warmth", they somehow feel that it can be better captured if our country is held in a communist stasis and if its offered by those unfortunate brothers and sisters of ours under the tyrant's yoke. By those who would give their bodies as an offering to the tourist god in exchange for some means to survive one more day in our land turned picturesque communist hell.
I have told them various times, if they would have people kept in those situations for ever just so they can go once in a while and go "AHHHHH!", "WOW!". They would have us sacrifice our true culture, our original customs, our patrimony, our roots, our futures, the future of our children to the altar of ecotourism and folkloric traditions and arts exploited and reinvented by the godless communists.
The funny thing is that they also think that way about the preservation of primitive cultures worldwide, where ways of life must be preserved so that the natural resources are kept pristine, so that scientists and miriads of groups with government grants, and donations from others can make a living studying them for the formulation of a sociological thesis and documentaries for PBS and National Geographic. Never mind that the children die of disease and lack of modern medical care, that loss of life to natural events is staggering per capita, that housing is dismal and earning a livelyhood all but impossible. It would be such a shame to have this lost to modern civilization!
I guess the emergence of a new primitive society manufactured by castro and his goons will attract more monies and grants for all these guys to make a living exploiting Cuba. For those bored tourists that have exhausted CanCun, Hawaii and Alaska and are in the search of something exiting and affordable.
And for those degenerates that cannot afford the plane fare to Malaysia and Thailand and the sex tours found there.

I sent this come mierda Weisberg and email. If anyone is interested in seeing it go to my web site by clicking on my name at the top of this post. Regards to all.

I'm old enough to remember newsreels and TV news stories from Havana before the revolution. Havana was not New York or Chicago, but it was certainly a modern city on the level of say, Atlanta or Baltimore. I suspect it was more modern and industrious than Miami at the time.

I'm reminded of a TV anchor I once worked with. Her husband was a big-time Sports Illustrated photographer who bragged about being a friend of fidel. They went to Havana for their honeymoon in 1998, and she came back talking about how wonderful the lives of the Cubans were. They didn't have to worry about anything because fidel took care of everything.

I asked her if she had gone out into the streets and talked with the people about their condition, if she had walked around and seen the decay of the buildings, etc. She said no. They were afraid they might catch something out among the people, so they stayed in the hotel room and ate pop-tarts the entire time.

So that's what fidel has given us - a formerly modern city that's now viewed by its tourists as part of a disease ridden third world country.

There's also a "decaying design buff" tourist that loves to go seeing decaying old buildings, misery and fear. That's the market to which the industry of depressing coffe table books about Cuba caters. Those people are so low and so arrogant in their OTS that they reject the notion of restoration of old buildings. They say that the restored part of Old Havana looks Disneyesque and fake. They certainly prefer the filth and destruction, the only places where their inferiority complex morphes into a superiority complex. Those are the real enablers of the tyranny, they tend to be unwashed sandalistas, and they always arrive to NYC with a smile and a che t-shirt. Then, they become gloomy when they have to work and they daydream of mulattos in Havana. In the Havana that is hostage of cagastro, they cannot even get themselves to dream of a free Cuba. Where they would not even be able to get a job sweeping the floors of a coffee shop.
Some of those were also fond of the pre-restored Beirut, and Satan's Baghdad.... Not to mention that they have an incurable nostalgia for the exSoviet Union and the former East Germany!

You all need to read the response Henry Gomez wrote to this worthless "postilla humana" Weisburg!
Amen Brother!!
From your mouth, to God's ears!!!
Carmen

Thanks for the endorsement. That idiot's column in slate pissed me off.

By the way DeFede's column in today's Herald is the best one (for real, not sarcastically) he's written on his trip to Cuba.

I heard a comment once from an American tourist on his way back from a "photography" trip to La Habana
He said "it is like visiting Pompeii"
Certainly a GREAT tourist attraction but hardly the tourist paradise the cultist would lead you to believe. THAT is the utter stupidity of the propaganda machine . 2 million tourists in 2004 boasts Granma! Yeah and they spent HOW much you stupid fucks? How many visited the Great Pyramid at Giza?
I can absolutely tell you that from my first visit in 1999 to my last in 2001 La Habana had gone from a semi interesting tourist town, Not very different than Sao Paulo or Monterrey (for those with DOLLARS) to just a plain shithole where even at the best hotels or resources you couldn’t even get toilet paper.
Jesus even the Foreigners pharmacy at the Marina Hemingway was out of AlkaSeltzer but they DID have medical grade morphine ! go figure that one out!