Cuba before and after

T

TennVet

Member
I've never been to Cuba, but among the many ports around the world I was fascinated when my brother told about his submarine sailing into Guantanamo Bay. He told of the first time their and the seamen were hearing tales of a rebel in the hills raising his armed forces to overthrow Batista, a dictator with a nasty reputation. Many of the sailors wanted to go into the island interior and fight with the mysterious hero. Then years later when the true Castro showed his character that story changed a lot. Kind of makes me think of the disillusionment of students on the campuses in our country today. Give those students 20 years, see what they say.
 

TennVet said:
I've never been to Cuba, but among the many ports around the world I was fascinated when my brother told about his submarine sailing into Guantanamo Bay. He told of the first time their and the seamen were hearing tales of a rebel in the hills raising his armed forces to overthrow Batista, a dictator with a nasty reputation. Many of the sailors wanted to go into the island interior and fight with the mysterious hero. Then years later when the true Castro showed his character that story changed a lot. Kind of makes me think of the disillusionment of students on the campuses in our country today. Give those students 20 years, see what they say.
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Somehow, I don't think it will take nearly that long.
When I think of Cuba, I think of great American classic cars.
Cuba_VintageAmericanCars-d1f4419b59b139cb4f6ed0506a317b6e.jpg
 
I don't think we'll ever know the real story regarding Cuba. Lots of players, lots of agendas, lots of disillusionment and rebellion. I'm not sure current conflicts are honestly depicted or evaluated either.

People are too easily swayed and herded by banners and hot-button sloganism.
 
Manatee said:
I have read that there is a lot of "make do" with those ancient cars, such as a fork lift engine in a Cadillac.
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Some of them have Russian tractor engines in them, so they sound like a tractor. I know, I was there. It's been legal for Canadians to visit.

I'll say right off, it's not a society I would choose to live in. I wouldn't feel I fit in there. But it's not a simple situation, and I'd say there were some interesting things about it. For one, after the Soviet Union collapsed, and was no longer buying the huge excess Cuban sugar crop, the Cuban economy (meaning jobs & income for Cubans) suffered drastically. Government employment diminished and work was deregulated considerably. That meant more neighbor helping neighbor, and more 'necessity being the mother of invention' (more independent creativity).

The Cuban people are friendly, they love music & dancing (and are good at it), and they love baseball & soccer. The architecture, for instance of apartment buildings, improved after Soviet influence ended. After the Batista days, the literacy rate rose dramatically. And I saw a lot of books around, reflecting many subject areas, and from cultures & nations around the world. It's well known Cubans get good health care.

We were able to travel where we wanted, though the buses aren't the most modern or most comfortable. I felt there was too much supervision by policemen, keeping some sorts of interactions on the streets of Havana, between citizens & visitors, acceptable. A taxi is supposed to be licensed as such, but we were able to ride in an unauthorized one at one point because we were inconspicuous when hiring the guy. We were able to have a very frank conversation over several days on a beach near our hotel with one youngish guy whose profession was teaching French & English — "brainwashing" hadn't tainted this fellow's mind at all.
 
I had an elderly Cuban neighbor. He was a policeman when Batista was in charge and then later when Castro took over. So I asked him, What was the difference under the two regimes.

After thinking a minute, he said that under Batista, if a machine broke down a new one showed up within a week from the US to replace it. He said that under Castro, that machine sat broken and unused for a year.
 
I remember the beginning, when we Americans mostly all loved Fidel Castro. I remember seeing him in NYC, his cavalcade, how he stopped traffic, how people rushed to shake his hand. I remember him staying at a hotel in Harlem rather than a fancy one midtown. Hotel Theresa, was that it? I remember being in Miami Beach when the first Cubans arrived. When my friend & I were bored we would run up behind them at the Beach, yell "Viva Castro" then run away as they yelled at us.

Then it changed.
 
I was in Cuba with four friends in 2007. We'd heard that Raúl Castro (Fidel's brother) was in charge, practically speaking though not yet officially. I believe our feeling was that things were loosening up somewhat, and this was out of necessity. There was a certain amount of personal initiative and small private enterprise, and that increased greatly in the years after we were there, under Raúl's leadership.

Historically, Cuba had been a colonial situation. It seemed the Cubans (those living in the country) were determined to establish and maintain an independent economy & political situation.
 
I spent almost 2 years at the GMTO Naval Base. There were Cubans, who lived in Cuba, working at the base. They were your average joes. Those "commies' on the other side of the fence gave immediate clearance when we had troops who needed to be medi-evacted to the US. The US treatment of Cuba is childish, and mostly political BS. What happened in the 60s, happened in the 60s. There really is no good reason for the US not to have full diplomatic relations with Cuba.
 
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Back in approximately 2014-15 I had a chance to go to Cuba by ship , with my motorcycle , on a [ahem] sales promotion. There was to be only 12 riders/motorcycles. I declined, and have kicked myself ever since. The guy [in Cuba] that was hosting it all, treated those that went, like royalty . They traveled all over Cuba , seeing it from a native . The guys that went said they had amazing food, accommodations , entertainment etc,etc.

As they say, hind-site's 20/20
 

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