Cuba - 50 years on

[Derbeno]

With the 50 year anniversary of the revolution, BBC published a series of articles and webcasts on all sorts of topics from the Island where our instrument was conceived.

These range from history, politics, socio-economics and music.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7806928.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/bizdaily/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/progr ... lett.shtml

[Congadelica]

Interesting. Ill check those links cheers Derbeno.
on a slight different note I just finished watching the movies,Soy Cuba O Mamute Siberiano , Although in its day it was seen as a spoof take on the revolution times in Cuba I found it to be a most beautiful movie flimed over 2 years this movie had a hard time when it was released . the Cunban people dubbed it No soy cuba. it was filmed by a Russian and was his own distroted and dramatised veiw on how things were in cuba post revolution.
I also watched the second movie documentry which returns to Cuba to see some of the original members of the cast , most of these people were amazed that now its an old movie the artwork of the filming is really appreciated.
both these were on tv over the Holiday period.

Marco

[Derbeno]

Thanks for the tip.

Suprisingly, I just found it on Netflix stateside (called "I am Cuba") and added it to my queue.

Cheers mate!

[CongaTick]

Get ready to pack your bags and book your trip! The island will inevitably be directly open soon to yanqui's (and Miami Cuban expats) and their dollars. I predict Obama will make it happen. Shame that the dollar isn't as strong as it once was. Of course all the hotels and tourist facilities are being prepped by the Cuban govt in anticipation-- probably with full inside knowledge of when the "doors" will open. In short order Cuba wil be THE hot Caribe destination for gringos.

[Light Seeker]

I'm so grateful to be going in July, before that happens. Before McDonald's and Wal-Mart get their greedy hands on the island.

[Congadelica]

Cuba is calling me back again also, I think i will visit this year to study music and culture . more live now on BBC radio 4 live

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g4ywr

marco

[CongaTick]

Light Seeker,

You're so right!!!

[Joseph]

I know there is a taboo on political talk here..and rightly so, and I’m all for it.
My response to others comments may touch on that taboo.
It is not my intention to stir up a hornets nest.
I offer my apologies in advance to anyone who might be offended.

Get ready to pack your bags and book your trip! The island will inevitably be directly open soon to yanqui's (and Miami Cuban expats) and their dollars.

I beg to differ.
Obama will probably loosen the painfully tight restrictions (enacted by bush the lesser) on family visits and currency transfers from relatives in the States. There may be some talk of “engagement”, but the island won’t be “directly open to yanquis”, as you put it.
It already is...it's not illegal for a US citizen to go there, it's just illegal for a US citizen to spend money there, unless one has a "Treasury License" which grants an exemption.

Shame that the dollar isn't as strong as it once was.

Popular wisdom for US based Cuba travelers is to switch your dollars to euros, as there are hefty “transaction fees” when dealing in dollars.

Of course all the hotels and tourist facilities are being prepped by the Cuban govt in anticipation-- probably with full inside knowledge of when the "doors" will open.

All land is owned by the government in Cuba, much of it nationalized after the revolution…a very bitter bone of contention between US and Cuba.
The Cuban government leases land to non-US owned companies who build and operate exclusive hotels and resorts, usually on the coasts. This has been going on for more than 15 years, and US business has been complaining all that time about being locked out of lucrative markets…to no avail.
Fairly frequently, I pass quite close by Cayo Coco, a large island off the north coast of central mainland Cuba. With all the highrise hotel development, it is beginning to look like a small version of Miami Beach.
There are many thousands of European (Spanish, German, Italian, et al) and Canadians, who visit these exclusive Cuban resorts and hotels yearly, and many of whom couldn’t give one whit about Cuban culture, or the socialist policies of the government. They are more interested in warm weather in winter, beaches, mojitos, cigars, and chasing cubanitas buenonas in an exotic tropical setting.
The doors are open.

In short order Cuba wil be THE hot Caribe destination for gringos.

I imagine there are more than a few, from all walks of life, in Cuba who shudder at that thought.

The irony is that for fifty years 10-11 million people have lived in isolation from their most natural trading partner
( by commercial and geographical proximity,) and as a partial result of that isolation have managed to continue to hold on to, and indeed develop and capitalize on the roots of their unique hybrid, new world African-Cuban culture, despite the strong gravitational pull of American pop culture.

Frankly, I can’t see a transition happening as you describe it CongaTick, and w e can only hope that if the “doors open “, and it becomes “THE hot Caribe destination for gringos”, that we don’t attempt to trample the locals in our stampede to “Americanize” the place.

Last time I heard talk like this was in early 1990’s, after Russians pulled out, and the “special period” in Cuba commenced.

Warmest Regards,
~Joseph

[TONE74]

What Cuba needs is a whole new goverment with a "real" democracy not a puppet one strategically put there by an outside source. I know there are people plotting already, there always has.
The whole goverment needs to be re hauled with younger people not these old dinosaurs with no concept of reality of what the Cuban people go through to keep their so called revolution going. There is no such thing as a 50 year old revolution. Specially when it contradicts most of the things it stood for, people that agree with Castro's policies should read some of his early speeches.
There is the same social segregation now that he fought to get rid off. The only way my family members can get into some of these places is if they are with me and I have to show my passport and prove that I'm a tourist. I once tried to wash the sand of my feet in Varadero and a guy jumped out to tell me I could not use the fountain that it was for tourist only. I have a pretty good idea of daily Cuban life so I know what I'm talking about. I lived there till 14yrs old and always stay with family not at the fancy hotels so I hear and see the daily grind for 21days every time I go.
Yeah and dollars are not the preffered currency there and it does hurt when you convert them, trust me I know.
This is just an opinion I'm sharing from the way I've seen it so take it lightly.

[Derbeno]

Ironically the best way to expose these dinosaurs would be to lift the embargo.
Who will they then blame for the dire conditions?
Hence in a perverse way they are not to keen to see all US restrictions lifted and will keep finding ways to thwart the process.

[TONE74]

Derbeno I agree with you 100%, that has always been my view of it.

[Joseph]

Ironically the best way to expose these dinosaurs would be to lift the embargo.

I agree, unfortunately there are powerful, well entrenched and vocal dinosaurs in the US who insist on maintaining it.
Somehow I don't see a lifting of the embargo until the hermanos Fidel & Raul are gone from the scene.

Discovery of large oil & gas reserves off Cuba's NW coast may alter the US perception of the usefulness of continued embargo.
http://www.peak-oil-news.info/oil-discovery-cuba-coast/

[CongaTick]

Though I appreciate everybody's opinion, it's at this point in this discussion when I excuse myself to go play some music.

[pavloconga]

Though I appreciate everybody's opinion, it's at this point in this discussion when I excuse myself to go play some music.

Well said CT !

[Thomas Altmann]

I was in Havana on the 8th of January. The biggest amount of people that were gathered on the Malecón were the school classes in their uniforms that had been ordered to wave their flags. I kept outside the whole event, because I hate any kind of mass events, especially if politically motivated. My girlfriend observed the scene and adverted me to four open trucks with a handful of people on it. They came down from Habana Vieja along the Malecón and disappeared in the Rampa. It was a one minute thing.

That was all.

Inspite of all the miserable conditions in Cuba today, not all of which have been caused by the US embargo, I couldn't help feeling sad.

Thomas