Postcards from Cuba - a personal journey

[gary]

In March of this year, I journeyed to the island nation of Cuba.

There is only a 92 mile stretch of water separating Cuba from the United States.

However, owing to the US embargo, flying to Havana is tricky and involved
flying Sydney to Dallas, Dallas to Toronto and then on the once a night
Air Canada flight from Toronto to Havana.

Since 1960, the United States State Department does not allow its citizens to
travel to Cuba for the purposes of tourism. If you are an American, you
can't go there to enjoy yourself including laying on the beach,
smoking cigars and drinking mojitos.

Australians, enjoying greater freedom than their US counterparts, can
go there, travel independently and freely and enjoy themselves as much as they like.

Wandering the streets of Old Havana, you can quickly forget what year it is.

That lamp post/fan/chair/radio/caged elevator isn't some fake antique. Everything is an antique.
Old cannons and cannon balls are used as bollards by the dozens in the streets.

The pace of life is relaxed, the people friendly.

If a taxi driver asks if you need a taxi and you tell him you are just walking, he will reply "enjoy your walk".
If a restaurateur on the street asks if you would like to see the menu and you have already eaten,
he will wish you with a smile to "have a good night".

Live music permeates from the bars and Cubans walk with a distinctive
sway of the hips and seem to know how to dance from birth.

Many in the west will wear brand X, go to a concert with 4,000 other people
or subscribe to a celebrity's Twitter feed in search of what it is to be cool.

Right now in Cuba, everything is just naturally, authentically and effortlessly cool.

[astroboof]

And a cool set of photo's Gary.

I like the third picture best. Makes one think about the industry there that keeps all those old cars running.

Cheers.

[gary]

The Cuban Missile Crisis October 1962.

A brief synopsis.

In order to make his political opponents, the Eisenhower administration (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Dwight_D._Eisenhower) , look weak on defence,
prior to his election, Kennedy claimed that the Soviet Union had superiority in the number of nuclear missiles.

This was termed "the missile gap (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_gap)".

The truth was that the US had superiority in numbers and some time after the election,
the Kennedy administration made true this fact in a press conference.

Faced with the embarrassment of the Soviet Union looking vulnerable and combined with
the fact that there were US nuclear missiles in Turkey, Khruschev got Castro agree to
place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.

The US had already attempted to overthrow the Castro government with
the Bay of Pigs invasion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion)in April of 1961 and both Castro and
Khruschev were convinced the US would attempt a larger scale invasion.

When the US learnt of the missiles through aerial reconnaissance (http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/21.jpg), they placed a naval
embargo on the island. What the US administration did not know at the time was that many
of the missiles had already been fitted with thermonuclear warheads.

In addition to the R-12 missiles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS-4_Sandal)that could strike much of the continental US, the Soviets
had also deployed tactical nuclear missiles and the authority to launch the later had been
given to a Soviet field commander in Cuba in the event of a US invasion.

On October 27 1962, a U-2 spy plane commanded by USAF Major Rudolf Anderson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Anderson)was shot
down over Cuba by a Soviet S-75 Dvina surface-to-air missile system. Anderson was killed.

This was the U-2 that was depicted being shot down in the movie "Thirteen Days".
Video segment - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL98MLL15n0

We examined the wing of that U-2 at La Cabaña in Havana, along with artefacts from the
Cuban Missile Crisis such as an R-12 missile and S-75 Dvina surface to air missile system.

Later in the trip we drove in the locales in the west of Cuba were the missiles had been deployed.

[gary]

The US embargo began in October 1960. This included the import of automobiles.

Fortunately for the Cubans, old cars were built tough and combined with the
ingenuity that comes from necessity, an estimated 30,000 to 60,000 cars built
before 1960 ply the roads of Cuba today.

They are everywhere across the island and range from old clunkers painted with
house paint to beautifully restored classic cars that would fetch hefty prices
in the west.

For a country where the average income is some $20 per month, there is an
irony in the fact that many Cubans own cars that would probably be worth
hundreds of thousands of dollars on the market in the west.

The Cuban government recognizes their cultural and tourist value though and
has placed a prohibition on their export.

On our first day in Havana we found ourselves cruising in a 1949 two-door
Chevrolet convertible.

The Malecon is an iconic 8km long esplanade in Havana that stretches along a seawall.

At night, thousands of Cubans, including many young couples, come out and sit along
the seawall which looks over the Caribbean.

In windy weather, the waves crash over the seawall and onto the Malecon itself.

[astroboof]

Hey this is better than discovery or nat. geo, keep them coming please. :thumbsup:

-Filled three passports in 28 countries over 4 years, but never been to Cuba or the States, keep them coming.

[gary]

In order to travel around the island, we rented a car from the state-owned
rental car company.

Our six-year-old air-conditioned VW Passat was one of the minority of more modern
vehicles on the road.

Driving in Cuba was certainly less demanding than driving through,
say, parts of Asia or Africa.

Though within towns the traffic could be busy, in rural areas
the 8 lane autopistas that joined the major towns were virtually empty.

People couldn't afford to drive those distances on them.

Subsidized gasoline came courtesy of Venezuela.

Under the overpasses of the autopista there would be official government
sanctioned and controlled hitchhiking stops. All vehicles in Cuba, with the
exception of tourist rental cars identified with a "T" on their number plate,
are obligated by law to give lifts to people. If an official flags your car/truck
down, you must stop and give people a lift.

So it would be a common sight to see a dozen or more people riding on
the back of a truck in order to get to or from work.

In towns other than Havana, horse and carts were the predominant form of public
transport for short distances. There were thousands of them.

So whilst driving you would go from the open freedom of the freeway
with all four lanes to yourself to a rapid fire video game requiring
full concentration whilst you gave way to trucks and horses and carts.

As a rule, the Cubans were cautious and courteous drivers.

When the US embargo is finally lifted, I feel sorry for what might be the
eventual fate of all those horses.

[RickS]

Very cool, Gary. Must have been a great holiday. In a few years it will probably be quite different...

Cheers,
Rick.

[omegacrux]

Such an interesting place
I can imagine car collectors would go nuts

David

[gary]

The Bay of Pigs Invasion - a brief synopsis.

The Bay of Pigs Invasion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion) was an ill-conceived invasion of Cuba by 1,400 CIA trained paramilitary.

The invasion took place 53 years ago, on 17 April 1961.

Kennedy inherited the plan from Eisenhower and it appeared to be doomed from the start.

Kennedy knew that if he did not back the plan it could play into the hands of
his political opponents and he could then be labelled as the Preseident who thwarted
the plan that could have overthrown Castro.

The hawks within the Pentagon knew that an invasion force of 1,400 would not be sufficient
but had bet on Kennedy calling in additional air cover and substantial US troop numbers
as soon as the initial paramilitary force began to flounder.

But Kennedy also knew that if he were to call in the full strength of the US armed forces
that it could risk an all-out war with the Soviets. So he was not about to commit additional
men.

Once the invasion force arrived the US expected a local uprising against Castro.
However, the Bay of Pigs was Castro's favourite fishing spot and upon coming to power
he had helped improve the roads, schools and infrastructure in the region which had
generated a lot of goodwill among the locals.

In fact British intelligence analysis before the invasion and made available to the
CIA had assessed that the Cuban people were predominantly in support of Castro and that
there was no likelihood of a mass uprising against him.

The invading US force was defeated and captured within three days of the landing by
Cuban armed forces under direct command of Fidel Castro.

History Channel documentary on the Bay of Pigs Invasion available here -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKOs0sSxvJY

Bahia de Cochinos - the Bay of Pigs (https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Bay+of+Pigs,+Cuba/@22.166568,-81.1315863,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x8f2cb86c5 9da1253:0xa1f0d979adc3ae24) - is believed to be named after the trigger fish
that inhabit the crystal clear Carribean waters. We swam at the beach of Playa Larga
in the warm water.

Ruins of gun emplacements could be found here and there.

At nearby Playa Giron there is a museum dedicated to the invasion and along the
coast at Playa Maceo there is a wonderful, idyllic inlet that forms a beautiful
swimming and snorkelling spot.

For just a few dollars, there is a buffet restaurant and an all-you-can drink bar.

As you lounge in a sun chair with a mojito in hand, it is hard to imagine that once a
battle took place here.

The Bay Of Pigs Invasion was a precursor to the Cuban Missile Crisis which almost
brought about an all-out nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union.

[gary]

Trinidad is a town in the south of Cuba (https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Trinidad,+Cuba/@21.7977169,-79.9847174,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x8f2ae442e da9e0c5:0x67eb7506b2b15089).

Not to be confused with the island of Trinidad which is part of the
island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, the Cuban town of Trinidad
was founded in 1514 and has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since
1988.

The town was originally founded by the Spanish and became prosperous
from sugar harvested in the neighbouring valleys by Africans imported
as slaves.

The town is preserved almost intact, with cobblestoned streets, colonial
houses, plazas, palaces and churches.

Horse and carts are still common and cowboys still ride the streets.

Every night of the week, there are numerous good restaurants, bars and
live music venues. A lobster dinner will set you back about $8.

Our casa owner pointed us to a bar named "Casa de la Trova" for some
of the best live music in Cuba. He wasn't wrong. This place was cool.
A venue that other musicians would come just to listen. And some of
the coolest musicians in Cuba are in their 60's, 70's and older. Dark
glasses, white suits and hats. These guys invented the genre.

Trinidad was built about 5km inland to provide a buffer zone from
marauding pirates. We are talking the real pirates of the Caribbean
here. And there were a lot of them. Many reached the town itself
over the centuries.

Nearby, on the coast, is the resort of Playa Ancon. We swam in the
warm, clear water at the beautiful beach and hired a catamaran and
skipper to go snorkelling on the coral.

Trinidad became one of our most favourite places we have ever visited.
I recommend you try and get there some time.

[gary]

When travelling in Cuba, we stayed only at private "casa" - bed and
breakfasts legally sanctioned by the state.

Since there are so many casa, it is highly competitive and our various
hosts went to extraordinary efforts to make sure we were comfortable and
they prepared us wonderful meals.

These are a far better alternative to staying in government run hotels
and provide an excellent way of interacting with ordinary Cubans.

[astronobob]

Bit of an Eye-Opener - Keool pics & interesting post Gary !!!

[h0ughy]

WOW this is so cool Gary. thanks for the history lesson and the great images of your trip there

[Regulus]

Fantastic set of photos from what must have been an amazing trip. This, and Iran, are two countries I would love to visit.
Thanks for sharing them Gary.

Trev

[Allan_L]

Brilliant Gary!
Well done.
As astroboof said, better than a Discovery Channel documentary.
Very Cool!
Thanks for sharing

[gary]

Heading north from Trinidad into the interior of the island, the road rose sharply through a
series of hairpins up into the Escambray Mountains and through Topes de Collantes nature reserve (https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Parque+Natural+Topes+de+Collantes/@21.888897,-80.0534923,12z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xa0a51c3a7575e ead).

Here, hummingbirds could be seen feeding on the nectar of flowers.

In the image below, the upper reaches of the Embalse Hannabanilla, a 36
square-kilometre dammed reservoir, can be seen.

[gary]

Che Guevara - a brief synopsis.

Che was born in Argentina and completed a medical degree in 1953.

Beginning in December of 1951 he took a nine month hiatus from his
studies and travelled with a friend, initially on a motorcycle, through
Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela.

This journey was chronicled in a journal that was posthumously
published as "The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey."

Witnessing the poverty of the masses, he became convinced that
Latin America's problems were due to capitalist exploitation
and the solution was a revolution that would unite the continent.

In 1956, he traveled to Mexico and met Fidel and Raúl Castro who
had been exiled from Cuba and who were preparng to overthrow the corrupt
dictatorship of self-declared Cuban president, Fulgencio Batista.

Fidel, Raúl and Che were part of a guerilla team of 82 men and
they sailed from Mexico to Cuba in an old leaky 60-foot cabin
cruiser named "Granma"*

Attacked by Batista's troops immediately upon landing, they
suffered heavy losses and the remaining 22 took refuge in the
Sierra Maestra mountains.

Che quickly rose to being second in command and led many
succesful tactical battles over the opposing army.

A forceful and often brutal disciplinarian, Che led the final
victory of the revolution by taking the major inland
city of Santa Clara, despite them being outnumbered 10:1.

This victory was decisive in ending the regime and on Jan 1
1959 Baptista fled to the Dominican Republic taking with him
$300,000,000 he had amassed through criminal dealings, including
with the Mafia.

After the revolution, Che was named commander of the
La Cabaña Fortress prison in Havana. This is where the missiles
and other other artefacts from The Cuban Crisis are on display
today, some of which can be seen in images earlier in this thread.

Whilst at La Cabaña, Che was charged with enforcing revolutionary
justice on Batista's collaborators and death by firing squad became
the common penalty.

Che addressed the United Nations in New York in 1954 and
was sent touring the world advocating socialist and communist
ideals.

In 1966, Che was secretly sent to Bolivia to lead a guerilla
force of 50 men to try and bring about an insurrection that
would overthrow the government. However, he failed to receive
support from the local dissidents and tipped off by a Cuban exile
turned CIA operative, the CIA had sent in a team of commandos to
hunt for him.

He was captured on October 8th 1967 and upon order from the
Bolivian president, was executed the following day.

In 1995, a retired Bolivian general revealed that Che had been
buried near an airstrip and after a year long search, his remains
along with that of six others were found in two mass graves.

Che's remains were returned to Cuba and were placed in the
then newly constructed Che Guevara Mausoleum in Santa Clara (https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Santa+Clara,+Cuba/@22.4362403,-79.963511,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x88d52c2af 854ff97:0xb8a9fe882f36d05a).

A snapshot taken of Che in 1960 by photographer Alberto Korda
was later turned into one of the 20th centuries most iconic posters (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrillero_Heroico).


* Today the yacht "Gramna" is housed in an outdoor glass
enclosure in Havana and is guarded 24-hours a day.
The official daily newspaper of the of the Cuban Communist
Party, which I saw being sold in the streets, is also named "Granma"

[Meru]

Really enjoying read your posts Gary, keep them up :) what a fascinating country

[gary]

We continued our journey up through the heart of Cuba, avoiding the
autopista (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roads_in_Cuba#Motorways) and sticking to the two-way single road Carretera Central highway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carretera_Central_(Cuba)).

Along the way we passed through a small hamlet with the seemingly
unlikely name of "George Washington (https://www.google.com.au/maps/@22.6002732,-80.3112495,14z)".

We passed through vast fields of sugar cane. Cuba was once the world's
largest exporter of sugar and prior to the US embargo, supplied 1/3 of all
US sugar imports. Following that and up to the dissolution of the
Soviet Union in 1991, Moscow purchased much of the crop at a subsidized
price and in return for fuel.

Today, many of the sugar mills are closed and we saw large mills that
had fallen into ruin.

Varadero (https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Varadero,+Cuba/@23.1677328,-81.2149294,13z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x88d307c11 ac4c263:0x390db0c32f899588) is a resort town located on a 1.2km wide, 20km long peninsula,
with a white sandy beach stretching along its entire length.

For many Canadian, European and South American visitors to Cuba,
their resort stay at Varadero is as much of the island that they see.

The water here is crystal clear and aqua blue.

In the evenings, clubs along the peninsula come alive with live
music, dancing and low-priced cocktails. A lot of the country's
sugar makes its way into Havana Club rum and tall classes with
sprigs of mint leaves, ready to be turned into mojitos, would extend
for meters along the bar.

Nearby are large and impressive cave systems.

[gary]

We headed to the west of the island, into the province of Pinar del
Rio.

In October of 1962, this province hosted Soviet medium range ballistic
missiles (MRBMs) fitted with thermonuclear warheads.

George Washington University US National Security Archive of reconnaissance
photos here - http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/photos.htm

As we headed toward the small country town of
Viñales (https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Vinales,+Cuba/@22.6189821,-83.7071729,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x88cb510b2 e12fc21:0x457f7df876c0ea67), we passed dozens of horse drawn buggies
along the mountain road carrying families in their Sunday-best. They
were travelling tens of km to come to a two-day fair in Viñales.

The town itself has a remarkable beautiful background of karst mountains.

We spent a day on horseback riding through the fertile valley.

Here is where the tobacco is grown for Cuban cigars. Leaves hung
inside old drying sheds and provided a rich aroma.

A box of Cohibas could be had for a fraction of their retail price outside
of Cuba.

Cuevas del Indio - "Indian Caves" - were only 5km out of town.
At one end of the karst cave, a river runs through it and boats then
take you the remaining distance back to the outside world.

Another cave, Tierra Para Soñar, started on one side of a mountain
and exited on the other side. The enormous cavern entrance hosted a
large bar and the price of admission to the cave included a
complimentary ice-cold mojito.

In the evening, the main street of Viñales was packed with people who
had come for the fair. These people were mainly country folk and for many
of them tonight was the biggest night out for the year.

Probably every amusement ride in Cuba was set up in the main street.
As they rattled away or came perilously close to the overhead
power lines, their dubious safety made them scarier looking than the
biggest most modern amusement rides here.

Sweets, plastic toys, outlandish cowboy belt buckles, pork rolls, mojitos
in plastic cups and inexpensive bric-a-brac of the type that would have
been sold here in the 1950's and 60's was available at the stalls.

On a stage, a live band played contemporary Cuban music through
large amplifiers to a mass of people that we threaded our way through.

We found a bar at the far end of town where another band were playing.
This was a more relaxed setting. A waiter with bow-tie served us and
in a throwback to another time, he kept a running tab in his head of
what you ordered during the night. You settled the tab when you left.

Inside, you looked up at the stars and realized that you were in fact in
a courtyard garden, with only some areas under cover. The music was cool.
Between sets, the band members came over and joined us at our table
and were quick to share their bottle of rum.

[gavcol]

G'day Gary

You have some great images there!

I love your street photography work, it can be really difficult at times.

Well done.

Regards

Gavin

[Octane]

Thoroughly enjoyed this! :)

H

[gary]

The Hotel Nacional, The Mafia, The Havana Conference of 1946 and the Batista regime - a brief synopsis.

Lucky Luciano

Sicilian-born mobster, Lucky Luciano, had been serving a 30 to 50 year prison term
in the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York, when, in 1942, the U.S. government
offered him a deal.

In exchange for promising no dock worker strikes in the U.S. east coast ports during the war
and for providing the Navy with intelligence contacts in Sicily, Luciano would be
pardoned and sent back to Sicily at the end of the war on the condition he never return
to the United States.

In February 1946 he was put on a ship to Sicily.

Later that same year, he was handed a note from a fellow mafia member that simply read
"December - Hotel Nacional".

The Hotel Nacional

The Hotel Nacional first opened in Havana in 1930 and had hosted an illustrious list
of guests including Winston Churchill, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Alexander Fleming,
John Wayne, Buster Keaton, Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Ernest Hemingway,
Johnny Weissmuller and Errol Flynn.

The mob meets at the Hotel Nacional - The Havana Conference of 1946

What has become known as the Havana Conference of 1946 took place in the week of December 22nd.

It was the most important mob summit since 1929 and the heads of all the crime families of the
United States Mafia and Sicilian Cosa Nostra were present.

The "Mob's Accountant", Russian-born Meyer Lansky, had been a partner of Luciano and had set
up legal gambling operations in Florida, New Orleans and Cuba. He was there to meet Luciano.

There was a long list of other organized crime figures present, including Joseph "Joe Bananas"
Bonanno, Vito Genovese and the Fischetti brothers, "Trigger-Happy" Charlie and Rocco.

This meeting was dramatized in the movie "The Godfather Part II".

Frank Sinatra was flown in to provide the entertainment. He came on the same plane
with his friends, the Fischetti brothers.

Conference decision - capo di tutti capi - boss of all bosses

Luciano opened the agenda with discussion of appointing the position of "capo di tutti capi" or
"boss of all bosses'. The position had been vacant since 1931 when Salvatore Maranzano had been
murdered by Luciano's own henchmen. Luciano put forward the motion that he himself
should now be bestowed the title, which was agreed to.

Conference decision - Mafia agrees to global narcotics trade

Next on the agenda was the proposal that becoming major players in the global narcotics trade,
particularly in the United States, would be good for business.

Luciano detailed the shipping of massive amounts of heroin through a large and complex network
from North Africa and then via Italy and Cuba into mafia controlled ports in the U.S. including
New York.

Joseph "The Old Man" Profaci was present at the conference and would become a key player.
Profaci was was the biggest importer of olive oil and tomato paste in the United States
and would use these food import businesses to smuggle narcotics for decades to come.

Conference decision - The Bugsy Siegel & Flamingo Hotel problem in Vegas - a conditional hit is ordered

Next on the agenda was the discussion of a hit on Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.

Sigel had persuaded his friend, Meyer Lansky, that the construction and operation of
the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas would be a smart and profitable investment for the mob.

Lansky and the mob had agreed.

But the construction of the hotel had been troubled. Siegel had appointed his own
girlfriend as project overseer. Contractors would sell Siegel materials during the day
only to come back at night and steal them. The project had been projected to cost
$1.5 million but rose to $6 million.

When it became known that Siegel's girlfriend was making regular secret flights to Zurich
to deposit money in a Swiss bank account, the suspicion was that Siegel was stealing
money from the project.

The Flamingo was to open in the very same week as the Havana Conference.

Lansky convinced the other delegates to wait and see how the hotel did upon its opening
because Sigel might still make them some money. The opening turned out to be a flop and
though the hotel started to make a small profit, Lansky himself gave the final okay
and Sigel was shot in the head at his Beverly Hills home in June of 1947.

The hit brought about a major transfer of power from the New York crime families to
the Chicago Outfit and a subsequent increase of mob involvement in Las Vegas.


Batista

In 1952, Fulgencio Batista had seized power in Cuba via a military coup.
He established solid relationships with organized crime, notably with
Lansky and Luciano.

Batista encouraged large scale gambling in Cuba and prostitution and the
narcotics trade flourished.

The Hotel Nacional was the most elegant hotel in Havana and Batista endorsed
Lansky's plan to open a new casino there. Despite objections from Ernest
Hemingway, the casino wing opened in 1955. Each night, Batista's bagmen would
skim their 30 percent of the profits not just from the Nacional but from
hundreds of casinos, nightclubs and hotels in Cuba.

Meantime, U.S. business interests on the island flourished and the U.S. government
used its influence through Batista to help make profits rise. When Batista
agreed to a large increase in telephone rates, ITT Corporation presented
him with a gold telephone. This is also depicted in "The Godfather Part II".

In October 1960, in his campaign for the U.S. Presidency, Senator John F. Kennedy
criticized the Eisenhower administration for supporting Batista.



In a letter of October of 1963, Kennedy wrote -



At 3am on January 1st 1959, Batista fled with his family and forty supporters to the
Dominican Republic, carrying with him $300 million that he had amassed through
graft and payoffs.

On January 8th 1959, Fidel Castro and his army rolled into Havana.

The Hotel Nacional was restored in the 1990's but no longer carries the status
it once had.