Early 1930's
Havana's Malecon

Early 1930's
Av. Presidentes

Early 1930's
Downtown Havana

*click on photos to enlarge

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News & Stories

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Birthday wishes to Fidel from Cuba’s workers
Letters translated by Granma International

City of Havana,
August 13, 2008,
Year 50 of the Revolution

Dear Fidel:
More than a century ago, José Martí, our national hero, wrote: "Human beings, as patriotic human beings, are only the sum of hope or justice that they represent." And that is what you symbolize for our people.
We know that you would like a day like today to go by unnoticed… but that is impossible, because for millions of Cubans it has become its own, intimate celebration, forged in almost 50 years of Revolution and consolidated deep in the hearts of all revolutionaries.
For that reason, the complicit silence of many years that we have observed to respect your wishes, has been gradually broken with the passing of time, because we feel the need for you to know how happy we feel to share your birthday, and August after August we celebrate it in the way that we know gives you the most satisfaction: by completing works, tasks and special productive sessions, and fighting with dignity as our athletes are now doing in Beijing.
And how much cannot be said on an occasion like this of someone who has signified and signifies so much for Cuba?
How can we overlook the many, many moments and circumstances in which our little country has shone with its own light and voice thanks to your wise, sound and serene leadership?
How can we not recall the glories and the victories, the shared dreams and even the setbacks, together with you throughout almost half a century? How can we not celebrate, even if it is deep within our hearts, the enormous privilege of being your contemporaries?
You synthesize the finest values of our people and, at the same time, with your example and actions, you made them emerge, forged them and empowered the vast majority of Cubans during these years of revolutionary process, in hundreds of combative struggles and work, in internal and external confrontations. Because, although we have not always been outstanding students in all subjects, there is no doubt that in the principal ones, in those related to freedom, independence, dignity, honor, justice, solidarity, internationalism, unity, defense of the homeland, of the Revolution and of socialism, revolutionary spirit and the capacity to resist, we have excellent grades.
"A people stand by the one who has taken them to victory," stated Martí, and we, the generations of Cubans whom destiny gave the privilege of living in this epoch, we have made your apothegm our own.

Dear Comandante:
On a day like today we feel fortunate to have you among us; to love the person who continues to direct us with firmness and justice, even though you only recognize as merits constancy, tenacity, loyalty and firmness in relation to the ideas and principles in which you believe.
On this August 13, we feel happy and proud; we who, come hell or high water, in the face of every foulmouthed prophecy, continue faithful to your thinking, and, as you teach us every day on all scenarios, within and outside Cuba, we are aware that:
"The important thing to take into account is that we are living in one of the most difficult moments of the life of the world; that we have a great, enormous battle ahead, and that humanity cannot lose faith in the possibilities of overcoming obstacles, in the possibilities of winning. That confidence, that faith is much needed in these times," [Fidel].
With Martí, it fills us with "…great pleasure to live among humans in the hour of their grandeur." With you, we are soldiers in that crucial battle you continue to lead, in this globalized and convulsive world in which it has befallen us to live, in search of concepts and ideas that will allow "a viable world, a sustainable world, a better world."

Comandante en jefe:
We dedicate to you today our best thoughts, we send you our best wishes for your total recovery and we reiterate our gratitude to you for you teachings and your example.
We send you our most sincere message of love on your 82nd birthday and our firm decision to continue to move forward, united, alongside the Party and Raúl, to make the homeland solid and the Revolution invincible, and to convert all your dreams into reality.
Cuba’s workers

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Havana Nocturne: How The Mob Owned Cuba And Then Lost It To The Revolution, written by TJ English, is a gripping and insightful tale about life in Cuba during the years of the Mob. The Mob’s control, from politics to the nightlife, may have lasted only a couple of decades, but the repercussions are still being experienced throughout the world.

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Delights of Old Havana

Old Havana, the heart of Cuba’s capital, is filled with historic churches and monuments. The architecture envelops four centuries of styles . . . an eclectic merging of Baroque and neoclassical. To wander through the four main plazas within Habana Vieja, is a Cuban experience to treasure.

Plaza de San Francisco, where the Terminal Sierra Maestra cruise port has two piers opening on to the plaza’s cobble stone streets, is home to the ornate basilica of San Francisco de Asis. A breathtaking vision of Habana Vieja and its harbor can be captured from the church’s bell tower. 

Plaza de Armas, “Square of Arms”, was constructed for military training in 1584. Used books,  primarily post-revolution editions on Cuban history, can be purchased in the square on most mornings. Havana’s town hall is the city museum nowadays, and another museum is located in a 17th century mansion.

Plaza Vieja’s purpose in colonial times was that of a town square where Havana’s wealthiest citizens had the privilege to witness executions, bullfights, and festivals from their balconies.  The square was thoroughly renovated in the 1990s. Today, there is a bar in the southern corner of the square which provides tables outside for strollers to relax with a micro-brewed beer and listen to live bands.
 
Plaza de la Catedral captures the majority of visitors to Habana Vieja. The Cathedral of Saint Christopher is quite unique with its two asymmetrical towers. The design of the towers allowed water accumulated on the plaza, in the past a swamp area, to flow freely through the cobble stone paths. The cathedral towers spread their night lights over the plaza inviting all to enjoy cocktails and cigars at Ernest Hemingway’s old haunt, La Bodeguita del Medio. Another wonderful attraction is Centro Wilfredo Lam. Internationally celebrated Cuban artist Wilfredo Lam’s paintings, whose pieces are admired for their Afro-Cuban spirit, are exhibited. The center also supports contemporary art from around the world, as well as a music store. 

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Cuba . . . advocate of the environment

At the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, Fidel Castro visualized in statement, “An important biological species is at risk of disappearing due to the rapid and progressive elimination of its natural habitat: man … consumer societies are fundamentally responsible for the atrocious destruction of the environment.” Ever since, ecological concerns have continued forward in Cuba due to the long-term interest of the island’s government. The Cuban constitution cares deeply for environmental protection. According to a 2007 report by the Worldwide Fund for Nature, Cuba has been recognized as the one country in the world that has been able to develop, and balance a rising standard of living, in an ecologically sustainable way.

Cuba is conceivably most well-known for its organic agriculture. During the 1990s, the collapse of the Soviet Union meant that the country no longer received cheap oil from Russia. Most pesticides and chemical fertilizers are a by-product of petroleum. Consequently, the only way to survive was to go organic. Cubans were encouraged to produce as much of their own food as possible and to use low-impact ecological methods. In Havana, extremely fruitful organic allotments can be found between tower blocks and all sorts of land otherwise unused. Cuba has over 7000 urban allotments know as “organopinics”, roughly 40,000 hectares. Cuba introduced global organic expertise and is renowned for its use of permaculture, the use of harmonized planting and biological techniques.  These methods make it easier to avoid pests and to maintain soil fertility. Organic waste, such as vegetable peelings, is composted for use in restoring soil nutrients. Worm bins are especially significant in that they hasten the breakdown of compost, turning waste into horticultural gold.

Cuba has become a world leader with its assisting of international action on climate change. They were the first country shifting to low energy light bulbs in order to cut CO2 emissions. As the island now trades oil with Venezuela in exchange for health care, it has developed renewable energy on a large scale, including solar and wind generated electricity. The Cuban government’s “energy revolution” has cautiously planned ways of conserving energy. The country also shares its know-how with other Caribbean and Latin American countries.

Recycling is as well highly developed in the country. Practically all waste is used again in light of environmental concern and ecological necessity.

Wildlife conservation is furthermore a precedence . . . most recently, the hunting of all marine turtles has been forbidden in hopes of preventing extinction.

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Beauty grows in a “garden quite contrary”

The remaining trace of Americanism at the Cienfuegos Botanical Garden is carved into a tall royal palm. The inscription, “Harvard Biological Laboratory”, is decorated into Cuba’s national tree which stands outside what once was called the Harvard House, now home to a library and offices belonging to the communist government-run garden.

Americans had managed a sugar plantation and adjoining botanical center outside the port city of Cienfuegos for 80 years before Fidel Castro’s communist revolution took power in 1959. The Americans were eventually driven out. The socialists renamed this community Pepito Tey, after a revolutionary killed in the tumult. Initially, the rural community had been called Soledad, or solitude, developed by a Boston Brahmin and sugar trader, Edwin Atkins, who began visiting Cuba at the age of 14 in the 1860s.

In the 1880’s, Atkins took over a plantation in a foreclosure. After a while, he set up a garden for research to improve sugar production. Harvard's involvement, in what in time became the garden, began in 1899 with a donation of $2,500 for a traveling fellowship in botany. According to university publications provided by Harvard officials, this gesture was followed  in 1919 by a gift of $100,000. The revolutionaries kicked out the Atkins family in 1959, and Harvard’s association ended in 1961. The family's old sugar works today is nothing more than a steel skeleton, being left alone to suffer the decline in the island's sugar harvests. Nevertheless, the botanical garden flourishes.

The 222-acre preserve now stands as Cuba's oldest and most admired botanical garden, drawing 20,000 visitors a year, according to staff members. The National Botanical Garden outside Havana is much larger at 1,500 acres, but it was founded in 1968 and lacks the champion trees that reign over the sanctuary near Cienfuegos.

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