October 17, 2007
Cuban Vacation
Browsing through a Site for a Free Cuba, I came across this wonderful essay by our esteemed Humberto Fontova. Grab a tissue before reading.
An Eye-Opening Cuban Vacation
by Humberto FontovaPlease keep this in mind, friends: the following was NOT written by a "Cuban exile, hard-liner, crackpot," (like me.) What the Cuban exile crackpot presents here is a very crude translation of an article written in Oct 25 in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo by a backpacking tourist from Spain named Isane Aparicio Busto, who had just returned from Cuba. Like so many "hip" European tourists to Cuba, Isane might be expected to sport Che Guevara"s face on her backpack or T-shirt. I suspect she wont now.
I say "very crude translation" because Spaniards claim that Cubans don"t properly speak Spanish.. Perhaps, but we at least pronounce our "S" properly and without contorting our mouth to where we resemble someone trying to spit out a mustache hair. At any rate, here goes.:
"We arrived in Cuba without political prejudices, without any intention to set foot in Varadero beach, intent on seen the country outside the much-lauded tourist areas," recalls Spanish backpacker Isane Aparicio Busto."The blow was shocking. We left with our perceptions about the reality of the Cuban Revolution-- and even our with our prior social and political principles-- demolished.
"All we"d heard about from many Europeans who traveled to Cuba was the rum, the happiness, the salsa, the Caribbean party atmosphere. But they hadn"t mention the prostitution either--so we should have known they weren"t totally leveling with us. We"d traveled to Mexico city and Caracas and known the horrible slums on the outskirts of these cities. But through old Havana we found ourselves walking constantly through a miasma of pestilential odors, with morose faces looking at us from decrepit doorways. My friend and I kept looking at each other asking, "where in the hell have all the people traveled that kept telling us poverty didn"t exist in Revolutionary Cuba?
"We saw police everywhere. And it soon became obvious that Cubans are the victims of the 21st century"s version of apartheid. Hotels for foreign tourists, stores for foreign tourists, buses for foreign tourists--a world apart that Cubans themselves are prevented by the police from entering. So we asked a few Cubans how they felt about this system.
"And they all answered-- while looking around-- that it was fine, had to be done that way. That it was the proper way to protect tourists because many Cubans are scoundrels. So was this that proud nationalism of Revolutionary Cuba we"d heard about? The nation"s impoverished people forced to treat foreigners with such meekness and deference--to grovel before them?
"We wanted to stay away from the hotels and tried staying at the house of a Cuban lady named Mari. On the first day there, the block chieftain for the local Committee For The Defense of The Revolution, shows up and says she"s out of line and either she pays her the fee we"ve been paying or she"ll promptly report this to the police. So we leave.
"We learned that the Cuban system is nothing but misery, moral mendacity and abuse. The system simply smothers you. And yet this revolution (with it"s Che Guevara banners) has sold itself to the youth of the world as a paradigm of equality, liberty and national liberation. And the leaders of the government that governs my country (Spain) simply refuse to come out and call this place a dictatorship. The Cuban people's personal aspirations seemed completely mutilated. I"ve never felt such anguish about a nation and a people in my life. if I were a Cuban I"d certainly be on a raft."
That "Varadero," Isane mentioned is the gorgeous beach east of Havana where millions of Cubans cavorted every weekend -- at least during Cuba"s stint as a racist-fascist U.S. satrapy terrorized by crooks and gangsters.
In 1959 Fidel and his vanguard of the downtrodden rose in righteous fury. Inflamed by a patriotic fervor they ended foreign humiliation of Cubans. Of this we"re assured by everyone from Charles Rangel, to Noam Chomsky to Robert Redford to Jesse Jackson to Norman Mailer to any Ivy League history professor.
Now, after 47 years of this fervently nationalist revolution, the best of Varadero beach is barricaded against Cubans by armed police and reserved for rich foreigners, their local footservants and prostitutes.
Jimmy Carter, Barbara Boxer, high-rolling trade delegations from Nebraska to Louisiana to California to Maine are welcome--not to mention Isane herself. Let a non-governmental Cuban citizen try to enter and he"s bludgeoned with Czech machine gun butts.
And I suspect Isane didn"t know the half of it..She probably didn"t know that prior to the glorious Revolution, Cuban had a higher standard of living not only than the Venezuela and Mexico she"d visited but higher than half of Europe, and boasted almost DOUBLE her native Spain"s per capita income.
Revolutionary Cuba"s early Minister of Industries, and Bank President Che Guevara had quite a base to work with. Yet it normally requires an earthquake, volcano, tsunami or atom bomb to match Che"s industrial and economic achievements in Cuba. Indeed Tokyo, Pompeii, and Hiroshima have all recovered. Havana, richer in the 1950"s than Rome or Dallas, now resembles Calcutta, Nairobi or Phnom Penh. One place where Cuban exiles agree wholeheartedly with Castro is regarding his exalted post as a Third World Leader. He and Che made Cuba into a Third World country alright.
Posted by Ziva at October 17, 2007 11:51 PM
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Ziva, at least people are beginning to see the truth, even if it is one person at a time. I wish Isane had known the Cuba of my childhood. I was not from a rich family, basically your average middle class, but I was able to travel with my parents to see the beauty of our country. I left with my mom and sister, my father was turned back at the airport when he was going to board the plane for no reason at all, in 1961 when I was 7 years old. But I still have wonderful memories of going to the beach and staying at a seaside hotel, enjoying the beach and beautiful sand. Traveling to see the country side and all the beauty found in our prosperous country. I get very upset when I read in the MSM about how the Cuban Exiles are only a bunch of rich people who spent everyday of their life taking advantage of the poor cubans and that they deserved to have their properties and money seized for the betterment of the people of Cuba. I come from a family that was definately not rich, with a father who worked very hard so my mother could stay home and take care of my sister and I, who tried to give us the best education that he could afford with his average salary, and who taught us the meaning of working hard and being honest. My mother taught us morals and decency and respect for everyone and that we are all created equal in God's eyes. But I don't lose hope, I will be able to go back one day to a free Cuba and again enjoy what the average Cuban enjoyed prior to those monsters taking over. Thank you so much Ziva for your fervor and your support, it gives me hope every day.
Posted by: ORGULLOSADESERCUBANA
at October 18, 2007 05:53 AM
Those who for a variety of reasons (the most innocent ones being ignorance and stupidity) insist on trying to justify the inexcusable MUST resort to grotesque distortions and flat-out lies in order to have any chance of convincing. They are only too ready to do so, sometimes because they don't know any better, but much more often because that's what suits their agenda--which has virtually nothing to do with what's best for Cuba or its people.
It is very sad and highly depressing, but the world has an amazing abundance of contemptible opportunists, hypocrites and out-and-out SOBs. Tragically, not a few of them were or are Cuban.
Posted by: asombra
I had experiences similar to ORGULLOSADESERCUBANA. In the 1950's when I lived in Guantanamo we were what you could call middle class. We raised our own chickens and ducks, a goat once, I remember collecting two or three eggs from our hen. We were not rich--although I went to school with some rich kids--but we didn't lack for food or a roof. I remember going out to restaurants and going to movies, and going to the municipal park to hear the great municipal band. I went to a bilingual Episcopalian school (El Colegio Americano). Everybody worked, my step father was an albanil (a bricklayer) my mom was a housewife, my brothers and uncles and cousins all worked all over town in all sorts of endeavers. I had an uncle, Jerabel, who was a comedian. I am just saying life was pretty normal. The people I knew, my family and friends, were smart and had hope for a better future and had confidence in themselves; everybody had plans. I dont read about that kind of hope anymore when I read about Cuba. I guess my point is that you don't have to be super wealthy to know what a treasure Cuba is.
Posted by: kenko
All evil is ultimately based on lies (it has to be, otherwise it would have too much trouble getting very far or sustaining itself once there). That simple fact explains a very great deal.
Posted by: asombra
All - very moving comments, talk about needing tissue. I am convinced that there is a great need in this country (international) for a Cuban tragedy education program similar to what the Jews have for Holocaust education. I really believe if houses of worship, schools etc. hosted groups of survivors sharing their stories and recounting what Cuba was like bc; it would make a big difference. As it is, our voice may be small, but one thing is certain, from all the blogs, from dissidents on the island, and true friends of Cuba like the Czechs etc., the regime no longer has a monopoly on the media.
Posted by: Ziva
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