CARIBBEAN VACATION Enigmatic Cuba has a cultural richness

The state socialism of today's Cuba is a product of many ideological forces.
By Dr. GEORGE D. BEELEN
SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR
Only 90 miles from our shore, Cuba is unknown to most Americans, rendering it an almost mysterious and exotic land. When pressed by my 27 traveling companions to offer a summary sentence regarding our visit to the island, my response was: Cuba is a political dinosaur state engendering fear and despair but set in a tropical Hispanic paradise whose land and character exude hope and possibilities.
On the evening of our arrival at Jose Marti International Airport, our initial impression was that Cuba was inefficient, drab and rundown. But by the end of the night, we had experienced another side of the island. We walked through a lush urban park in Old Havana, breezed by open-air restaurants, heard the pulsating sounds of salsas, mambos and cha-cha-chas, and our senses were treated to the smells of Cuban delicacies wafting through the humid air.
After a delicious and abundant meal in a lovely upscale tourist restaurant, complemented by a talented pianist, we headed to our five-star hotel, built and operated by the Dutch in partnership with the Cuban government -- an example of Cuba's recent attempt to re-introduce tourism. Clearly, modern Cuba is more than merely a backward socialist state.
The state socialism of today's Cuba is a product of many ideological forces. It is Hispanic, nationalistic, capitalistic and communistic, all together or one at a time, depending upon events and the wishes of El Jefe, Fidel Castro.
The people
In true Latin style, we found the Cuban people generous, hospitable, family-oriented, gregarious and resilient. These qualities were exhibited by our guides, service people and ordinary citizens. They showed the Americans from northeast Ohio much of their past via walking tours of old Havana's major plazas: Plaza de la Cathedral, Plaza de Armas, Plaza Vieja and Plaza de San Francisco.
Along the way, we saw many urban parks with children using the playground equipment, teens and young adults playing baseball and males of all ages admiring the 1953 Pontiacs, 1956 Chevrolets and 1950s vintage Cadillacs. We saw other modes of transportation in Havana, including "camel" buses (huge 350 passenger buses with a hump at each end and pulled by truck tractors), "coconut carts" (yellow open coconut-shaped golf carts), standard buses, bicycles, tricycles and horse-drawn carriages.
In addition, we saw exotic natural beauty and a wonderful array of architecture, representing 16th-century baroque, 17th-century Cuban baroque, Moorish-style baroque, neo-classical, Italian renaissance inspired, Gothic and modern.
Some restoration
Buildings were in various stages of restoration but many were in a sad state of disrepair. Notable among the restored were several tourist hotels: Hotel Parque Central (our hotel), Hotel Inglaterra, Hotel Telegrafo, Hotel Florida, Hotel Santa Isabel, and Hotel Plaza, Hotel Nacional, Hotel Melia Cohiba and Hotel Riviera (built by American mob boss Myer Lansky in the 1950s).
Former government and commercial buildings are gradually being restored to their original luster; yet others are awaiting a new day in Cuba.
We traveled to museums that showcase the varied history of the land: The Palacio, which was the seat of government for Cuba's colonial governors; the Capitolio, built in 1928 and modeled after the U.S. Capital; the Castillo de la Real Fuerza (Castle of the Royal Forces), considered to be the oldest stone fort in the Americas, and several museums that emphasize the continuing nationalistic thread that runs deep in the Cuban soul.
Cubans pay homage to Christopher Columbus at Colon Cemetery and in some parks, to Jose Marti, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, Antonio Maceo, Maximo, heroes of earlier attempts at independence. Reminders of the heroes of the current revolution abound, from Revolutionary Square where Fidel has given many of his marathon speeches and where Ernesto "Che" Guevara and Jose Marti are abundantly memorialized. Interestingly, there are no monuments, pictures, or tourist memorabilia glorifying President Castro.
Learning about Revolution
However, in the former Palacio Presidencial, now the Museo de la Revolucion, tourists and natives alike can learn everything they want to know about Fidel and the Revolution.
"Guarded" by the tank that Castro used during the Bay of Pigs invasion, the museum details the events of the Revolution with charts, maps, 3-D models, photographs, uniforms and other artifacts related to the period. Outside in an open-air glass-enclosed pavilion sits the Granma, the cabin cruiser Fidel and 81 other revolutionaries crowded into when they landed in 1956 to restart the Revolution. An earlier failed attempt resulted in a two-and-a-half-year imprisonment for Castro and a subsequent period of exile in Mexico. Other icons of the Revolution surround the pavilion.
Restaurants and bars, both large and small abound; some are open to all, others only for tourists. A few are well- known for their cuisine, others for their mojitos or daiquiris, or even for the famous people who passed through their doors. Many have live music ranging from salsa and jazz to cha-cha-cha. An interesting recent phenomenon is the re-introduction of private restaurants, called paladares, usually in residences and limited to 12 chairs.
Music, art, dance
Music, indeed the arts generally, is present everywhere. In addition to the music at every restaurant and cabaret we visited, we heard music issuing from homes and businesses as well as in the streets and parks. We were especially fascinated by a talented and colorfully dressed group on stilts singing and dancing in the streets. On a single day we heard folkloric music at a restaurant, an opera ("La Traviata") at the Gran Teatro and jazz music at a small cabaret. Another evening, we were treated to a performance by the popular Buena Vista Social Club at the Hotel Nacional.
Art is everywhere, too -- in public facilities, hotels, restaurants and in a growing number of commercial establishments. In another recent nod toward capitalism, craft markets (as well as farmers' markets) have been reintroduced where entrepreneurs sell their paintings, crafts, jewelry, historic and revolutionary memorabilia. We even visited the studio and home of internationally acclaimed artist/ceramist Jose Fuster, just outside Havana.
Dance is a staple in Cuba. Gabriel Garcia Marquez called Cuba "the most dance-oriented society on earth." In the cabarets, or on the ballet stage or in the streets, music and dance envelope the visitor. Food, the arts, conversation and much more captivated us in our short visit to Havana. It is difficult to encapsulate the liveliness of Habaneros as they walk or run along the Paseo del Prado (also known as the Paseo del Marti). This boulevard, lined with trees and statues, wrought-iron lamp posts and coral rock benches was laid out in the late 17th century. At any given moment, we saw young and old talking, dancing, engaging in fencing lessons, playing chess, reading and flirting.
Along the famed Malecon, we saw similar examples of a city that works. Laid out in 1901, this sea wall is Havana's most recognizable feature. The curving wall stretches about four miles and protects the minimansions, with their Moorish-domed windows, mosaic iron balconies, stone buildings and heavy carved doors. From a distance, the structures look impressive. Up close, their former brilliance has been worn away by salt, heat, high humidity, hurricanes and neglect. Nonetheless, the Malecon is always teeming with activity: young people dancing and singing, daredevils taunting the salty sea spray, young girls chatting and keeping an eye out for admirers, young jiniteras (prostitutes) looking for clients and couples kissing as though they are all alone.
Touching on religion
Religion is not dead in Cuba; indeed the giant statue of El Cristo de la Habana "stands watch" over the harbor. As in other Latin American countries, Roman Catholicism exists beside or is a mixture of other practices brought to Cuba by African slaves and Catholic priests. While Catholicism suffered in the wake of the Revolution by Castro's closing of many churches and declaring Cuba an atheist state, the 1990s have seen some reversals of these policies. In 1998, Pope John Paul II visited Cuba and preached to large gatherings, securing some concessions from Castro who recently decreed that Cuba is no longer an atheist state; it is now a secular state. Our visits to a Catholic church and to the Colon Cemetery showed Catholics practicing their faith.
However, the island's most popular religion, Santeria, originated in Africa. It is a mixture of African Yoruba and Catholicism. In the Regla district, the center of Afro-Cuban culture in Havana, we visited a Santeria shrine and the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Regla, where we saw much of this mixture, including a black virgin cradling a white infant. Every September 8th, the Virgin's Feast Day is celebrated with both a Catholic mass and a Santeria ritual in a blending of the two religions.
Although most of our week's tour focused on Havana, we did travel to the Vedado and Mirimar districts, just outside Havana. These were the upscale residential districts before the Revolution, but today lack the glitter and grandeur of the first part of the 20th century.
Outside Havana
Traveling farther west on our way to Pinar del Rio, we saw the lush growth and natural beauty of the county side, rural communities and farm towns. One of many noteworthy stops was at a tobacco farm, which was a natural complement to the tour of a cigar factory that we had visited the day before.
Another destination for the day was Las Terrazas, a model socialist community, built on the ruins of the 19th century coffee fincas (farms). While at Las Terrazas, we visited a local school where we were treated to a robust version of Guantanamera by preschoolers and several classes of well-behaved, uniformed youngsters really interacting with their teachers. Education was genuinely taking place. Little wonder their literacy rate is about 98 percent.
Continuing west, we traveled to the spectacular Vinales Valley, purported to be among Cuba's most majestic landscapes. The lush verdure, studded with the famous flat-topped rock formations (mogotes) offered us breathtaking views overlooking the valley.
The western part of Cuba comes close to being a real tropical paradise. Among the departures from the Cuban desire to be free of U.S. neo-colonialism are the reverence for Ernest Hemingway, whose home we visited; the love of the American automobile, even those 50+ years old; and the acknowledgement since 1993 of the strength of the U.S. dollar, the most acceptable medium of exchange in that socialist land.
Conclusions
So what conclusions can we arrive at regarding the Cuba of 2003 -- a Revolutionary state, with elements of Latin culture, nationalism, capitalism, and communism? It is a country of natural beauty, urban amenities, 98 percent literacy, basic health care for all, low-cost housing and jobs for everyone and a remarkably resilient people -- a potential model to many countries.
Yet that same revolutionary Pearl of the Antilles is replete with cities whose building stock is crumbling or needs to be painted, with an economy in shambles, wages for all primary jobs at $11 to $15 per month, no real elections, no free press, a scarcity of consumer goods and Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) which were formed to assure "good revolutionaries" in each block and building throughout the land. Recent arrests and convictions of dissidents offer testimony to Fidel's criticisms: "Everything within the Revolution; nothing outside the Revolution."
Cuba is enigmatic, viewed by some as a forbidden land. It is a strange mixture of influences and ideologies. Put most succinctly: "Cuba today is like a 1950s Cadillac -- held together by American design, Russian-built pieces and Cuban imagination and resilience." The constraints of the socialist, command economy and political system will eventually bow to the inevitable democratic consumer model and open Cuba to unlimited possibilities.
It is the collective hope of our group that as the process evolves Cuba will maintain its unbelievable beauty, indomitable spirit and remarkable adaptability.