A walk in Havana

Boston Globe ^ | March 14, 2002 | Jeff Jacoby

[sarcasm]

HAVANA''THIS IS THE real Havana,'' Miguel said as we turned from Avenida Simon Bolivar to a gritty side street cratered with potholes. ''Here you see how Cubans live. Tourists don't come to this street.''

Well, they might if they were simply walking around, as I had been when Miguel came up to me a half-hour earlier. It was my first afternoon in Havana and I was taking advantage of some unexpected free time to explore the city. I had gotten no more than half a block from my hotel when a muscular black man in a bright orange sweater fell in beside me and asked, ''Hello, my friend, where are you from?''

[No!]

"but to me, it was a city full of sadness and frustration."

I await the FINE day when I may go to Havana and smoke a fine CUBAN OWNED La Flor De Cano, sip a fine coffee at a Cuban Owned Cafe, and see the Havana as God intended it to be...

I feel it won't be too long now

[Luis Gonzalez]

"I feel it won't be too long now..."

"Nuestro dia ya viene llegando!"
Willy Chirino

(our day is coming real soon....)

[Luis Gonzalez]

Radio Free Republic Presents

The Banana Republican Hour

With your host Luis Gonzalez

This week’s guest:

Brothers to the Rescue founder, José Basulto

On February 24, 1996, three light aircraft left Miami on a routine flight. Their missions, to search the waters off the Florida Coast for rafters trying to reach the US shores, and bring them help by guiding the US Coast Guard to their location. That day in February, only one plane would return to its home base in Miami.

Tune in to Radio FreeRepublic this Thursday, March 14, at 9 PM EST, and listen to the actual sounds of a terrorist in action, murdering unarmed American citizens.

Sr. José Basulto, founder of Brothers to the Rescue and pilot of the surviving Cessna, will shed light on the events of that day, and detail how the Clinton administration withheld advanced knowledge of the attack from the humanitarian volunteer group, helping seal the fate of these four courageous flyers.

Radio FreeRepublic, fearless talk radio.

Click on Banner to hear broadcast of Show Thursday, March 14, at 9PM EST/6PM PST


RadioFR Every Thursday at 9PM EST/6PM PST

RadioFR Archives, Hear the shows you missed

[Armando Guerra]

"Nuestro dia ya viene llegando!"

From your keyboard to God's ear.

[No!]

Bump!

[Luis Gonzalez]

Haven't seen you in quite a while!

Your is still the coolest FR name ever....I guess one has to know Spanish to figure that out.

Listen to Radio FR tonight, Sr. Basulto will be an amazing guest. Captured at the Bay of Pigs, US Military, CIA, Brothers to the Rescue...some life!

[TheGoodDoc]

No wonder Cuban communism is worshipped by the DNC, ABC, NBC, CBS, ABC, and the rest of the liberals.

A Cuba-type restructuring of the US is Dan Rather's and Terry McAulfee's idea of paradise (with themselves on top of course).

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Big BUMP!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

U.S. policy on Cuba to receive full review Reich, who will be officially sworn in Monday as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said one area of innovation may be greater support for civil society groups in Cuba. Other U.S. officials say this may include support for human rights activists who are deemed ''traitors'' by the Cuban government.

The officials say they are considering ways to overcome the Cuban government's jamming of the U.S.-financed Radio and TV Martí, and new rules to limit travel by Cuban diplomats in the United States.

''We are going to review the whole thing,'' Reich said. ``The problem is that we have relied entirely on one component of the policy, the embargo.''

He added that U.S. foreign policy has a variety of tools at its disposal, including ''political, economic, diplomatic, informational and military components,'' and that some of these may be employed. [End Excerpt]

[gedeon3]

Yeap. Except that you have the wrong name for cuban rom. Flor de Cana is a rom made in Nicaragua, and a fine one. But the cuban rom is Havana Club. This great rom is not the creation of communist pigs; but was made long before the b*stard castro ruined cuba.

[B4Ranch]

You are referring to the 'property rights' that us Americans are losing, of course.

[RayChuang88]

This article proves the horrible tragedy that is Cuba.

Cuba under the right government could have been the economic superpower of the region, with agricultural and mineral resources coming out of the wazoo and unbelievable amount of sandy beaches for tourism. The country could actually have become the Latin American equivalent of Japan just from the exports that the country could have produced.

Instead, a Communist regime has economically ruined that country, with a very destitute population that is often harassed by the secret police of the Castro regime.

[MattinNJ]

My Cuban Father in Law told me this morning that there are two hundred Cubans seeking asylum in Madrid. Apparently they were government workers who were on a plane that stopped for refueling on their way to a tour of Russia. He also told me that Cubans need a medical prescription to buy oranges. Words can't express the pained look on his face when he watches a documentary video of Havana as it used to be. That will always be home to him but he is running out of time to go back and see a free Cuba. I have taken an oath to piss on Castro's grave one day in return for what he did to my wife's family

[Joe Boucher]

Years ago there were maybe 3 or 4 misguided souls that hijacked aircraft to go to Cuba. So now we're up to maybe 4 or 5. I have told this on Free Republic before. Years ago when the Marielitos came, near the end of the flotilla a few friends and I went out fishing from Fort Pierce Florida. When we went out we'd go about 5 in the morning and stay out trolling all day. We'd go maybe 30 miles into the Atlantic. We kept seeing rafts on the horizon. If the Navy or Coast Guard picked up these people they'd scuttle the rafts and spraypaint them phospersive orange paint so that aircraft spotters would know that they were empty. The last few days had been rough, maybe 8 and 10 foot seas. That day we came upon 9 rafts. All empty and trashed and sea tossed. No people though. We wanted to go in to go home but couldn't because we'd see another raft and felt obligated to check and make sure no one needed help. The rafts we so very crude. Copper pipes lashed together. Maybe fourty vehicle inner tubes. These folks would risk everything to get the hell out of Cuba and it appears that many lost.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"These folks would risk everything to get the hell out of Cuba and it appears that many lost."

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

Patrick understood, didn't he?

[No!]

They are STILL made in Cuba, my friend...

I have had several boxes.... And I know about when and where most of the cigars started. (Check my profile) ;) Thanks

[Polybius]

Part of the allure of being a well-heeled Marxist liberal is the ability to travel to revolutionary places on your American passport and invite your friends to a slide show once you get back to your Manhattan apartment.

I shared the soc.cul.cuba post pasted below on another FR thread last month.

The poster, David, was a New York Liberal now living in Seattle. We e-mail and he and his friend Lois had Cuban Christmas Eve Noche Buena with us one year. The story they told us that night of Lois in the Cuban Police station with her New York Liberal "I have civil rights!" attitude and David telling her to shut the h*ll up in Pig Latin was hilarious.

They went to Cuba believing the Liberal propaganda. After three trips, they came to the conclusion that Castro was "a Fascist".

As the old Cuban saying goes, "Nadie escarmienta por cabeza ajena"....."Nobody learns a lesson through somebody else's head".

Sometimes, depending on your upbringing, being a Liberal is the natural order of things. At least these two Liberals opened their eyes and allowed themselves to be educated by Cuba itself.

I respect these kinds of Liberals. The other Liberals who go to Cuba, stay in state run hotels without asking questions and then take photos of the smiling Cuban hotel workers, as if they were animals in a petting zoo, as proof of how happy Cubans are living on the plantation are beneath contempt.

**********************************

It was the best vacation of my life. The people are wonderful; it is one of the best places in the world to visit....but the repression is getting really bad. I have so much to write that I barely know where to start.

Let me just sum up some of what happened to us briefly. When I recover from jetlag I will post in more detail.

We took a road trip to Guernevaca Beach. We were 5, 2 American guys, 1 American woman, 2 Cuban women. The Cubanas were immediately accosted by the police and told they couldn't accompany us to the beach. Everyplace we attempted to eat we were sent away. It is obvious the government wants to keep the tourist beaches sterile with no interaction.

Lois went to Baracoa with a German and a Cuban man. She made the mistake of taking lots of pictures and befriending a homosexual. She was detained, maybe arrested for a brieftime. Her male friend was thrown in jail.

After we moved out of our hotel where the hot water was sporadic and the food was terrible and we weren't allowed Cuban guests, 2 Ministerio de Interior Officials visited our private house and told us to report to the Immigration Office the next morning. There we were told our Visas said we had to stay in hotels (not true). They later checked to make sure we had moved out.

Police came to the casa particulare looking for Lois the next day, scaring the daylights out of our friends. At their request we completely erased all of our videotape to keep them from being compromised. The place is becoming a Fascist state. It appears to me that Castro is getting scared and tightening the screws. Even back here I am afraid to tell everything for fear of retribution against my friends.

[No!]

PS:

And that would be Habana Club

lol!

[CUBANACAN]

BUMP! GREAT ARTICLE

[CUBANACAN]

BUMP! GREAT ARTICLE