A few years ago, our neighbour, Angelo, invited us to join his 80th birthday celebrations. The venue was not his home in Vancouver, but at a tourist resort in Cuba.
The invitation was quite tempting. Without a second thought, we booked our dream destination: the warm weather and powdery-soft sand beaches of the island nation for the holidays and to celebrate our friend’s landmark birthday.
We landed at Varadero, the designated tourist resort town about 147 km from Havana, the capital city of Cuba. The room we were given at the Iberostar resort had a self-service bar loaded, yes, you guessed it, with rum, along with Vodka, Coke, other soft drinks, and water bottles.
The next morning, we took a guided bus tour of the sugarcane fields and a couple of rum breweries.
A glimpse of the countryside, small towns, and almost worn-out rum factories, along with meeting and shaking hands with local folks, gave us a glimpse of the hardships and scarcity Cubans endure in their day-to-day lives.
The US is often blamed for more than half a century of brutal embargoes and sanctions, resulting in a life of privation.
Despite poverty and its rundown appearance, the Spanish-speaking nation still showcases its vibrant culture in music, dance, and food, where coffee, rum, and cigars are addictive and popular pastimes.
The cultural and social aspects of the Cuban lifestyle have an aristocracy and sophistication of their own. It is a classless society, ideologically speaking, that was politically established under the revolutionary regime that began with Fidel Castro almost 67 years ago.
(Pic of our taxi ride in Cuba.)
LEGACY OF CASTRO
Cuba got its liberation from the dictatorial rule of Fulgencio Batista in a 1953-1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro. His regime aligned with the Soviet Union. It embraced Communism while politically and economically isolating itself from its closest neighbour, the United States.
Cuba lies within a viewing distance from Florida’s southern tip of Key West.
From one autocrat to another autocrat in the garb of socialism-communism, Castro ruled Cuba for over 47 years till before his death, he passed on the Communist throne to his brother Raúl Castro.
Fidel Castro, the hero of the Communist-socialist world of the Leftists, did not turn the political revolt into an economic revolution. Moreover, typical of authoritarian and Communist regimes, freedom of speech and expression were and still are restricted.
Since the early 60s, a generation has been fed on leftist ideologies. But these ideological guidelines have failed Cubans economically while denying political emancipation. Protests often erupt against shortages of food and fuel, medicines, and frequent blackouts. But these outcries are forcefully and brutally suppressed, dispatching many of the protesters to prisons. Over the years, thousands of Cubans have been languishing in jails for the same reasons Castro fought against dictator Batista.
CUBA IS A FAILED STATE
For several decades, Cuba received liberal support and financial aid from Russia to keep it going financially as well as militarily for protection against any takeover attempt from the US. But Russia, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and because of its own economic woes, stopped aiding Cuba.
So far, the country has fed itself through rum and cigar exports, tourism, and remittances from Cubans working abroad. But in the past few years, these revenue streams have dried up.
As a result, a record number of Cubans fled, mainly to the US. Selling whatever they had, they took one-way flights to Nicaragua, travelled through Mexico and then desperately crossed the wired and highly fortified border. But that escape route no longer exists under the strict border-crossing policies of the Trump administration.
According to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, 89% of Cubans live in extreme poverty, a figure reflecting not marginal hardship but near-universal inability to secure basics like food, medicine, and shelter. Most Cubans want to emigrate because of a lack of opportunities and deteriorating living conditions.
Cuba’s population declined sharply from over 11.2 million in 2012 to under 9.75 million by the end of 2024 (source Wikipedia), largely due to emigration and a declining birth rate. The one-party nation has the strictest migration policy.
INSIDE A CUBAN GROCERY STORE
During our two-week holiday in Cuba, we also took a tour of Havana and witnessed more realities of life faced by average Cubans.
Most of the architecturally designed buildings showed badly needed renovation, as we could see the outer plaster on them peeling off. The now-famous antique, but impressively restored and well-polished cars were all over the city, driven as taxis.
Strolling through the capital’s streets, I saw a government-run grocery store with a long line of customers. I also stood in the queue. When my turn came, I walked inside the store, but I didn’t buy anything. A few customers were allowed at a time. Inside the store, the shelves were mostly loaded with Coke bottles and a limited quantity of grocery items.
Cubans are facing an extreme situation of scarcity and destitution. The equality claimed by socialism becomes equality in misery and poverty.
CUBA UNDER TRUMP’S RADAR
Lately, Cuba has been one of the lead and consequential news items on Trump’s to-do list agenda. After all, it has been a long-time, cherished dream of America to secure the Caribbean island as a capitalist partner.
The White House wants to push Cuba to the brink of a people’s revolution against the current regime. To add oil to the fire, the Trump regime has threatened to punish any country that directly or indirectly sells or otherwise provides oil to Cuba.
Regime change options also include direct talks with the Cuban leadership.
“We’re talking to Cuba right now, and Marco Rubio (Secretary of State) talking to Cuba right now, and they should absolutely make a deal, because it’s a humanity it’s really a humanitarian threat,” Trump told reporters on February 16.
However, he stopped short of endorsing a takeover like the one in Venezuela, while he is considering the measure, “it wouldn’t be a very tough operation, as you could figure. But I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”
What and when Trump’s plans are is anybody’s guess.
But one thing is almost certain: Cuba will be undergoing a significant political upheaval anytime soon that can shake the way it is running its affairs under the failed Communist regime.
Through another revolution, or a peaceful evolution, the nation certainly needs to free itself from the shackles of fake and fraudulent policies under the cover of communism that brought nothing but poverty and misery for the Cubans enslaved on their own island.
ANGELO VISITS CUBA AGAIN
Angelo, our senior adventurer, visited Cuba again a couple of years ago to escape the Canadian winter.
He booked a hotel in Havana for a two-week stay. And this is where his ordeal began. His experience:
“The ‘five-star’ hotel was really in bad shape as everything was peeling off. The ‘all-inclusive’ as advertised did not include food. I had to search for a restaurant to eat at. But there was hardly any. The grocery shops had an empty look and were always snaking with lines of Cubans to get some basics. I really wanted to get out of the ‘paradise’ after three or four days of stay. Fortunately, I got a flight to Mexico, where I spent the rest of the vacation. Never again, never again to Cuba.”
-by Promod Puri
promodpuri.com
Promod Puri.com 