WPCNR ROVING REPORTER. HAVANA, CUBA 2010. By Charles Lederman. May 1, 2010: Panama hat in hand, White Plains' Charles Lederman visited the Cuban capitol this month and files this report on the storied capitol today, exclusively to WPCNR:
HAVANA, CUBA-- A sprawling metropolis, among the largest of the Caribbean’s historical capitols with over 2 million residents, and rich in its history as colonial trading center and epicenter of civil strife and revolution.
My family and I just returned from a visit to Cuba (there is one flight a week from JFK International for those with State Department license). We enjoyed a rare opportunity for Americans living at the top of the 1st world, to observe life at the bottom of the third world.
What was most shocking to us was the change in both the physical condition of the city structure/infrastructure and in the society since our visit several years ago. During President Bush’s second term, executive orders made it impossible for many with legitimate purpose to visit Cuba. In response, the Cubans outlawed the American Dollar, and gave preferential treatment to Euros and its own monopoly money. President Obama has managed to reverse some of Bush’s orders (whereby we were able to visit), but has really only returned the regulations to a place they had been for years before Bush’s second term.
Havana was New York’s sister city in shipping and trade for almost 300 years. Much wealth has centered on this fortified city of colonnaded boulevards and cobbled back streets. While an influx of European investment has allowed a half dozen streets and hotels to be cleaned up and actually painted (a newly available commodity there),buildings and streets everywhere else are literally crumbling on top of people.
The desperation is apparent in every direction you look. The scantily clad jinateras (jockeys) his at passing tourists to ask for dates (even with kids in tow). The families are packed three generations to a floor of each four or five story walkup. Mysterious pipes spew effluent into the back alleys, while children play stickball around sink holes, collapsed walls, and 8 foot deep holes into a 200-year old sewer system.
Entertainment for foreigners is relatively inexpensive, as the regime is hard up for any hard currency it can get from outside. Food and beverage and cigars are very inexpensive in comparison to our Metro area. A nice meal for four including drinks and desserts was had for less than $100 at the finest rooftop dining room in town, upstairs from our room that had housed the likes of Al Capone, Santo Trafficante, and Josephine Baker.The biggest draws are spots where famous Americans of the past got drunk on Daquiris, Mojitos and Pina Coladas.
The only catch is that Cubans are not allowed to go where the foreigners are welcomed. The Cuban people cannot buy or sell red meat without risking a 20 year jail term, while the foreigners eat platter-sized Argentinean steaks. The Cuban people get a bag of beans and a bag of rice every other week, $8 a day wages, a loaf of bread (if they’re willing to wait on line at 9 P.M.), after the baker happened upon a sack of wheat that week.
It is interesting to note, however that the one place this socialist/communist dictatorship has actually succeeded is in providing health care. We were surprised to learn of so many foreigners coming to seek treatment that the Cuban government will begin charging visitors for health/life insurance during their stay.
The Cubans pay basically nothing for a system that provides comprehensive health care despite an obvious lack of physical resources. There is a doctor every couple of blocks for those in the city, who has one floor as an office and one (floor) to live in. Eyeglasses that take special order and cost hundreds of dollars here can be had the same day for less than $2 in Havana. Cardiologists from around the world visit and train in Havana.
If you don’t get your mammogram or colonoscopy or annual physical, a nurse comes to your door every week until you give in.
The seminal moment of our visit, however happened to be the last moment of our visit. Yankees (Americans) alone flyfrom an old decrepit hangar and runway, while others use a beautiful, modern airport next door. While we were waiting on line to board our flight home (delayed six hours), Cuban who were flying on the same plane began to crowd to the head of the line.
Well, I’m from New York, not Havana, and I’m not one to get pushed around and just go with the flow. So when I (and my wife) told the natives to act civilized, they were shocked that anyone should even raise their voice in such a tense atmosphere.
It was apparent that they all just wanted to keep their heads down and get on the plane out of there…too bad the diplomats on board didn’t see it, as they had already been hustled aboard ahead of the wheelchairs and the children and the crowd of frightened sheep.
