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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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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Wetland in danger

The Cienaga de Zapata is the largest and finest preserved wetland in the islands of the Caribbean Sea. But with extreme climate changes in Cuba forecasted for the near future, it could all fade away by the end of this century. Only a few years into this century, the wetland has already endured several tropical cyclones and hurricanes thrashing this region of Matanzas province. According to some experts, the greater intensity of the hurricanes is a consequence of global climate change.

This Caribbean haven presents a habitation for birds only found in Cuba . . . the Zapata wren, sparrow, and rail. It is estimated that the marsh embraces 65 percent of Cuba’s bird life, as well as 1,000 plant species. The environment is dominated by low plains, marshes, and semi-wetlands in the midst of savannah vegetation. Forests, rivers, and lakes exist with miles of caves where hemispherical freshwater lagoons have been created.

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Harvesting of endangered sea turtles banned in Cuba

According to a Ministry of Fisheries Ministerial Resolution, Cuba is banning the harvesting of all marine turtle species, produced for illegal trade of shells, from its beaches and seas for an indefinite time. This stir will hopefully broaden the survival of the seriously endangered hawksbill turtle which nourishes in Cuban waters. The resolution passed in January 2008, has been honored by conservationists for benefiting not only the hawksbill turtle, but other endangered species such as greens and loggerheads. The decision was also applauded by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as a lifeline to all turtle species hatching on beaches throughout the Caribbean.

Hawksbills, small in size compared to other marine turtles, are celebrated for their ornate shells which are dark amber in color with glowing streaks of brown or black. Their shells have been made into jewelry, combs, eyeglass frames, and tabletops. The turtles are threatened by the loss of nesting and feeding habitats, egg collection, entanglement in fishing gear, climate change, and pollution. But the main threat comes from the constant illegal trade of tortoise shells.

For many years, Cuba has held a legal fishery quota of 500 hawksbills a year to keep up its export of turtle shells, but is finally succumbing to the pleas of conservationists. The two fishing communities in southern Cuba that were harvesting marine turtles will be helped in finding continued economic substitutes by way of funds and technical assistance. They will modernize their fishing fleets, re-train their residents, and engage them in hawksbill turtle protection activities by forming Brigades for the Protection of Marine Turtles, the Cuban government reported.

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Considering the efficiency of airlines flying to Cuba as being a chief ingredient in the island’s tourism expansion, Cuban tourism authorities awarded 14 airlines for their high-quality effort. Taken into account are the number of passengers aboard, flight frequency, and destinations. By and large, the following airlines contribute to budding visitor arrivals in Cuba and have preserved, or improved, their frequencies and capacities . . . Air France (France), Blue Panorama (Italy), Iberia and AIR Europa (Spain), Condor (Germany), and Martinair (Holland). Additional award-winning airlines are Transat, Sky Service and Air Canada (Canada), Copa Airlines (Panama), Clik Mexicana and Aerolínea Mexicana (Mexico), Lacsa (Central America), and Cubana de Aviación (Cuba’s flag airline).

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Fading giant buses lighten Havana streets

The camello (the camel) has reached its last stop in Havana. Appropriately named for its humped front and rear sections, a shadow is being cast upon them by thousands of new city buses from China as the government resuscitates a public transportation system which is rapidly disintegrating.

These massive 18-wheeled beasts, prepared with two Soviet-era buses welded together on a flatbed and pulled by a separate cab, have long been Havana's nightmarish public transport vehicle - a rough and sizzling ride with up to 400 passengers at a time wedged inside. Camellos do not have shock absorbers creating a vicious bump with every pothole encountered, and do not have air conditioning, consequently the humidity quickly becomes unbearable. Strangely, the ride is an endearing experience . . . Cuba has the camello and San Francisco has the cable car.
 
The camello was born in response to fuel shortages in the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Cuba lost its annual $6 billion in financial backing. The economy has since recovered thankful to intense borrowing from China and nearly 100,000 barrels of oil a day from Venezuela. Cuba is spending $2 billion to upgrade public transportation and has imported 3,000 modern buses for the capital alone.

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Viva Cuba!

Cuba’s new president, Raul Castro, has lifted the ban on some of Cuba's more arduous restrictions, thus shining a light into one of the world's remaining state-run economies creating a more comprehensible and intelligible socialism.

The new lift on formerly restricted electronics is viewed as a progressive movement in Cuba and a way for citizens to feel that they have more control over their lives and purchasing power. The opportunity to purchase an electric bike, in itself, opens up transportation, motivation and recreation in a nation that has been oppressed for so long. Cubans who can afford it can now stay at tourist hotels and buy a cell phone. Agriculture is being decentralized . . . farmers can decide for themselves what supplies they need and the prices paid to them are rising to boost food production. Raul Castro has even encouraged farmers to use some of the government’s land on which to plant crops. According to Granma newspaper, the Cuban state media will create a new television channel with foreign content to be made available for local island viewers.

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Yaoni Sanchez is probably the most famous blogger on an island where internet access is very limited and controlled. Her blog, Generacion Y, may have been blocked by the Cuban authorities, but in the aftermath comes reward. She was awarded the Ortega and Gasset Prize in Journalism by Spanish newspaper El Pais. This honor is the most prestigious in Spanish language, identical to the Pulitzer in English language, named after philosopher and journalist Jose Ortega y Gasset. It was reported that she received the award in the category of Digital Journalism for the following reason :

. . . for the perceptive way in which her work has dodged the limitations of freedom of expression that exist in Cuba, her sharp information style and the impulse with which she has joined the global space of citizen journalism.

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Fidel Castro stays busy in retirement

Even though Fidel Castro has retired as Cuba’s leader after a 49-year rule, he is staying quite busy preparing editions of his memoirs. The Communist Party newspaper Granma has stated that editions in Hindi, Farsi, and Sinhalese are underway, following publication in China. “Many of the great challenges facing humanity will have no solution without the active and pivotal role of China,” Castro wrote in the prologue to the Chinese edition, which was published in Mandarin. The memoirs, written in question-and-answer style, give a definitive account of his view on key events since he seized power in 1959. He expresses observations from the Cuban missile crisis, to Cuba's military role in Africa, to the fall of Soviet communism.

Being absent from the public for close to two years, Fidel preserves a public presence through Gramma, Cuba’s official media, with a constant flow of articles and musings on world politics. The writings of the “Comandante” are no longer banner headlines on Granma's front page, they now appear inside on the second page entitled “Reflections by comrade Fidel.” Castro's writings mostly appear to be aimed at setting the historical record on his long career.

“Fidel Castro: My Life - A Spoken Autobiography” was published in the United States recently. The book is based on 100 hours of interviews with Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet, editor of Le Monde Diplomatique. Castro has said that the interviews gather his “modest ideas” and there may be more to come.

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The Philharmonic was allowed to travel to North Korea . . .

The government of the United States once again has harmed relations between two peoples by not allowing a group of musicians to participate in a festival in Cuba. Twenty American musicians were not able to take part in the 12th International Electroacoustic Music Festival “Spring in Havana 2008,” a consequence of Washington’s travel ban on the island. By tradition, the music festival in Havana symbolizes a fruitfully creative exchange between U.S. and Cuban artists.

It has been reported that organizers of the event were not informed until the last minute that Bush’s administration had denied the musicians permission to travel to Cuba. The event’s coordinator, Jorge Bolanos, told the press “the hostile policy of the American government is once again stopping us from building a cultural bridge between the two.”

Composer Andrew Schloss, who has lived and worked in Canada for several years, is the only U.S. musician present at the forum. Knowledgeable about Cuban electroacustic music and a collaborator with the National Laboratory of Electroacoustic Music, Schloss was saddened by the absence of his compatriots, “It has become very difficult for them to travel to Cuba due to the ruthless policy of President George W. Bush.”

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Blogger censored by Cuban authorities

Yoani Sanchez, Cuba’s most popular blogger, reported that Cuban authorities have blocked viewing of her blog, Generacion Y. Sanchez, whose blog received 1.2 million visits in February, said government censors had placed “filters” that delayed viewing of her web page on a server in Germany. Recent attempts to view the site from Cuba met with a notice “The page cannot be displayed.”

Sanchez, a 32 year old philology (the study of ancient texts and languages) graduate, has drawn a significant readership by writing about her daily life in Cuba and describing economic hardships and political constraints. As of late, she has criticized Cuba's new leader, Raul Castro, for his vague promises of change and minimal steps to improve the standard of living for Cubans. In a country where the press is controlled by the state and there is no independent media, Sanchez and other Cubans have found in the internet an unregulated vehicle of expression.

This website has a link to Generacion Y (bottom left of this page under Cuba Links) which is not blocked or delayed. For a translated version in English of Yaoni Sanchez’s statement concerning censorship, visit http://blog.isallaboutmath.com/.

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American Artists’ Letter Calls for Normal Cultural Relations with Cuba

Well-known individuals from the arts and show business in the United States have signed a letter addressed to President Bush expressing their support for cultural relations between the United States and Cuba. The letter bears the signatures of more than 200 actors, musicians, filmmakers, producers and other prominent individuals such as Harry Belafonte, Ry Cooder, Peter Coyote, Danny Glover, Sean Penn, Bonnie Raitt, Gloria Steinem and Alice Walker.

“President George W. Bush... We are writing you as representatives of the cultural sphere in the United States. We write you as American citizens,” the letter starts. “We believe the time has come to move towards cooperation and constructive relations with Cuba.” The letter adds: “The present policies deny such possibilities of friendship and cultural sharing. In denying us the possibility of engaging in such exchanges and relationships, we are being denied our fundamental rights as guaranteed by the 1st, 5th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. As citizens, artists, scholars, educators and cultural workers from all artistic practices, academic disciplines, advocacy and service organizations in the arts, we hope you will read and consider the petition.”

The letter invites opening “a respectful dialogue with the government and people of Cuba in accord with established protocols supported by the community of nations;” ending “the travel ban that prevents U.S. citizens from visiting Cuba and allow for Cuban artists and scholars to visit the United States, thus eliminating the censorship of art and ideas,” and initiating, “by working with appropriate members of Congress, a process that can result in the development of normal bilateral relations between our countries.”

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Map of failed Batista assault signed by Castro auctioned

Shortly after Fidel Castro’s release from prison in 1955, he met up with his friend Bernardo Viera Trejo. Castro had attempted to overthrow the island’s dictator, Fulgencio Batista, with an assault on the Moncada military barracks in southeastern Cuba. His failure sent him to prison for two years. During their conversations, Castro drew a map of the ill-fated attack and signed it for his friend. More than half a century later, Viera is selling the map, the latest in Cuba-related historical documents placed on the auction block.

Viera is a former journalist who has interviewed luminaries including Ernest Hemingway and Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges. Days after their reunion, Viera left for Europe as a journalist for Bohemia, Cuba’s best known magazine. Castro, on the other hand, fled to Mexico where he prepared another coup against Batista. When Castro returned to Cuba in 1959, Viera quickly to wrote about his revolutionary efforts. But like many early supporters, he soon became disenchanted with the new government, the arrival of Soviet advisers, and the attacks on the same press that had heralded Castro’s arrival. At first fleeing to Venezuela, Viera eventually settled in Miami. He says he is auctioning the map because of its historic value and because he needs the money.

The Dallas-based Heritage Gallery, where the map was auctioned, also held a public sale for a lock of hair snipped from Ernesto “Che” Guevara before his burial in 1967.

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Cuba's underground music scene

Australian music entrepreneur Chris Murphy, who created world music label Petrol Records, ventured to Cuba on a mission: to raise the profile of the country’s hidden urban music scene. Murphy feels there are just a few places still left on the planet where “musical gems” can be found. Out of his experience came “Liberacion: The Songs of the New Cuban Underground”, which received a Grammy Award nomination.

Murphy has also filmed a 57-minute DVD features shots of street parties in the city of Santiago de Cuba, quarters to a dancehall, a reggae-influenced rap scene, and where the 1959 revolution began, along with video of the city’s promising artists recording in a makeshift studio. When recording began, word spread swiftly among the city’s hopeful artists, and the Cuban government which commenced trailing his crew. Murphy is optimistic the DVD will give Santiago de Cuba’s music an passage beyond the town’s streets.

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Cycling’s Tour of Cuba

The 33rd edition of the Tour of Cuba cycling championship has attracted teams from ten nations. Leading teams competing are coming from Venezuela, Dominican Republic, United States, Slovakia, Mexico, Poland, Guatemala, and Spain. The race will cover 1,797km in 13 stages. It will begin in Baracoa in the eastern Cuba province of Guantanamo and end in the capital city of Havana.

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The most amazing time to visit Cuba is during the 26th July Carnival. Dia de la Rebeldia Nacional is a festival of unique experiences, with people dancing in the streets, mojitos, Cuban music, and a legendary speech by Fidel Castro. The festivities involve the entire population of Cuba for three incredible days. The pinnacle of street entertainment in Havana and Santiago de Cuba, the 26th July Carnival is the most popular traditional festival in Cuba.

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Falling in love with all of Cuba

Es Cuba is a touching and adoring travel memoir of falling in love with a country and one of its compatriots. Lea Aschkenas’ tale is filled with delightfully woven descriptions of Cuba, centering on the customs and habits of its people. Aschkenas is a sensitive observer in her writing’s about the innocence, isolation, contradictions, and resolute optimism of a people who have persevered against the collective disappointment presented to them by a government that has been unable to deliver the utopia secured through socialism. A seasoned traveler, she is overcome by her own passion for Cuba and her unraveling warmth for Alfredo as she comes to appreciate his naïveté, sincerity, and ability to live for the moment, something attributed to the effect of growing up in a culture where nothing is ever certain. Aschkenas patiently faces the lesson "of how little in Cuba is as it appears on the surface."

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Cuba's Sharing of Education

Regardless of Washington's blockade against Cuba, the Caribbean island continues to share the achievements of its notable educational development with many peoples of the world. It is quite significant that Cuba has already surpassed educational goals fixed for the year 2015 by UNESCO, a UN organization that recognizes Cuba as among the four countries with greatest teaching performance. The island has the greatest number of teachers per inhabitants in the world, and will soon have a university graduate for every 11 inhabitants. The "Yes, I Can" literacy method of Cuba is one of the most advanced in the world and it has been successfully implemented in more than 25 nations around the world.

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Old Age in Cuba

More than 2,500 inhabitants of Cuba, mostly women, have passed the age of 100 years old. An island where the average life expectancy is 77 years, the eldest person is a 122 year old woman.

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Gloria Estefan’s “90 Millas”

Gloria Estefan’s most recent direct tribute to Cuban music is “90 Millas” (“90 Miles”), named for the distance between Cuba and the United States. The songs, written by Estefan along with various collaborators, are all sung in Spanish featuring guest musicians from across Latin America. The CD includes an abundance of songs about love & dancing that draw on vintage and modern Cuban music . . . from the fine distinction of son to the elegant flute and violins of charanga to the striking beat of rumba & mambo.

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US Beats Cuba to Win Gold at Baseball World Cup

The United States defeated Cuba 6-3 to win the 2007 Baseball World Cup for the first time since 1974 and end a series of nine successive title wins for the Cubans. It was the first US victory over Cuba in a World Cup game and their third gold since the tournament began in 1938. Cuba was a record holder with 25 World Cup titles, going for a 26th title at the 37th edition of the tournament. The Cuban team was absent from the 1973 and 1974 games in which the US won gold.

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We Loved Lucy . . . But We Fell in Love with Ricky

Less than ten years after the Mexican-American “Zoot Suit Riots” in Los Angeles; throughout a decade when restaurateurs hung signs reading “No dogs or Puerto Ricans allowed”; and during a time when Puerto Rican nationalists tried to storm the House of Representatives, America welcomed television’s first Anglo-Latino couple.

The legendary sitcom I Love Lucy was based on a hit radio show about a Midwestern banker and his wife, written and starring the famous comedienne Lucille Ball. On the insistence of Ball to have her real-life, Cuban-born husband co-star, the television version was changed to reflect a middle-class nightclub bandleader and his wife. In spite of network executives’ reservations over whether white America would accept an Hispanic husband ( actually the term in those days was “Latin lover”), Desi Arnaz brought the character Ricky Ricardo, the loving but often exasperated Latin husband, to life for American audiences.

No matter what Ricky Ricardo might or might not have influenced in terms of cultural adjustment, Arnaz himself created the innovative role model that helped Hispanics say to America, “Honey! We're home!”

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Younger Castro outshines older Castro in Cuba Election

Acting President Raul Castro, not his older brother Fidel, was the top vote-getter of the Cuban parliamentary elections this past January 2008. Bespectacled and camera shy, far less charismatic than his older brother who is Cuba's ailing long-time leader, the 76 year old Raul received 99.4 percent of votes cast in the family's base of Santiago in eastern Cuba . . . a percentage point more than Fidel received. However, both brothers easily won re-election to the sanctioned legislature known as the National Assembly of Popular Power presented to the island's 8.4 million voters.

While far less prominent globally than his brother, Raul has long been popular in eastern Cuba, playing up his rural roots and down-home sense of humor. In fact, various Cubans consider him more pragmatic than his visionary brother. Also defense minister, he bested his brother in the 2005 parliamentary vote as well, receiving 99.75 percent compared to Fidel's 99.01. The younger Castro has been governing Cuba since his brother underwent emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006 thus temporarily yielding power. Regardless of his illness, the elder Castro remains head of the Council of State, Cuba's supreme governing body.

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Castro Outgrowing His
Urge to Rule

In a letter read out on state TV in December 2007, Fidel Castro, Cuba's leader since 1959, wrote “My basic duty is not to cling to office, and even less to obstruct the path of younger people, but to pass on the experiences and ideas whose modest worth stems from the exceptional era in which I have lived” . . . “What made me change? Life itself.” By the time he led Cuba's 1959 revolution, he had already realized it was his “duty to fight for (socialist) goals or die in combat”, and not to stubbornly hold on to power, the letter further enlightened. Castro's words drew a standing ovation from 509 lawmakers at the legislature, where his chair sat empty next to his 76-year-old brother, Raul Castro.

Last year, Castro temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul and has not been seen in public since. Although he has raised the possibility that he may never return to the presidency, Fidel remains on the ballot in parliamentary elections taking place January 20, 2008. Currently the head of Cuba’s Council of State, re-election to parliament is essential for the older Castro to retain his post.

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U.N. Calls for an End to Embargo

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for a end to the economic embargo on Cuba under Fidel Castro’s rule. The Assembly voted 184 to 4 to lift the American embargo, which has been part of Washington’s policy since the Eisenhower Administration. Allies of the U.S., from Canada to Western Europe and Japan, united in voting to lift the crippling economic sanctions on Cuba’s communist regime.

At the end of October 2007, President George W. Bush again tightened economic and financial sanctions on Cuba in an attempt to force political change on the communist island. The U.N. expressed feelings that “the embargo had caused a high degree of economic and financial damage that had impacted the well-being of the Cuban people.” Venezuela's Deputy Foreign Minister proclaimed that the “embargo against Cuba was genocidal and unilateral ... and an anachronism of failed imperial policies.”

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Celebrating Che

Cuba celebrated the 40th anniversary of guerrilla leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara's capture and killing by Bolivian troops, 9th October 1967. A ceremony was held at the mausoleum in Santa Clara where Guevara's remains were placed. Many inhabitants (workers and students), wearing shirts and hats with the legendary guerrilla leader's portraits, sang and danced to commemorate his life.

Defense Minister Raul Castro led the event and presented a bouquet to the bronze statute of Guevara. Supporters read out a newspaper column by President Fidel Castro, who fought alongside Guevara in the 1959 Cuban revolution, but was too ill to make the trek. Communications Minister Ramiro Valdes said in a key speech that "Che's ideas and the legacy of his comrades ... are a living element that should remain present in our daily tasks."

Born in 1928 in Argentina, Guevara was one of Cuban leader Fidel Castro's most important commanders during Cuba's 1959 revolution. Later he gave up his high position in Cuba to become a guerrilla fighter in Bolivia. The CIA helped launch a Bolivian military operation in 1967 in which Guevara was captured and executed. Guevara was 39. His remains were dug up from an unmarked Bolivian grave in 1997 and placed in the Santa Clara mausoleum.

The celebration in Cuba was one of several held around the Americas, where many revere Guevara as a freedom fighter. But, in the same respect, he is despised by exiled Cubans and other anti-communists who remember his role in Marxist-style purge trials and executions of police and army officials linked to the regime of Fulgencio Batista, which was overthrown by guerrilla forces under the leadership of Che and Fidel.
Guevara's widow Aleida March, along with his four children and relatives of his comrades, also attended the event.

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Cubans mourn the passing of the island's First Lady

Vilma Espin Guillois, wife of acting President Raul Castro and one of the most politically powerful women in Cuba, died June 18, 2007. Although a Castro by marriage, her death heralds the end of an era in Cuba. Espin was 77 years old.

Born in the city of Santiago, Espin was the daughter of a middle-class Cuban lawyer for the Bacardi Rum company and a French mother, Espin was still a student training to become a chemical engineer at the Massachusetts Institue of Technology in the US when she took up arms in Fidel Castro's guerrilla movement to overthrow Cuba's dictator Fulgencio Batista. It was during time in the underground movement hiding out in the Sierra Maestra mountains that "Deborah," Espin's revolution codename, met Raul Castro. They married in January 1959, shortly after the guerrillas' victory in the revolution which propelled Fidel Castro to power.

While Fidel's second wife and mother of five of his sons has remained out of the limelight, Espin embraced politics, thus becoming Cuba's de facto first lady. She was beloved by all, a "heroine of the underground, an outstanding fighter of the rebel army and a tireless struggler for the emancipation of women and the defense of rights of the child."

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Cuban tourists search for the Buena Vista Social Club

Tourism is Cuba's leading source of income, generating more than $2 billion a year. With many international travelers complaining that Cuba has become too expensive, the number of visitors to the island dropped last year about 100,000 to 2.2 million. The government plans to spend around $185 million over the next three years to upgrade resorts, golf courses, marinas, and other facilities. But the joke among tourism workers is that Cuba's government is counting on the popularity of the Buena Vista Social Club to save the revolution.

"People come from all over the world looking for the Buena Vista originals," says Julienne Oviedo, who was part of the original soundtrack recording as a teenager. Even though five key members of the group have died over the last four years, tourists will pay $50 a head in an Old Havana establishment just too see one original member perform. These musical genius gentlemen have quite a following.

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Books rival the sun in Cuba

A summer reading campaign, beginning this summer by the Havana Cuba Book Institute, will bring a "new bohemia or useful break for Havana residents." Books and reading are part of the strategy of Cuban cultural institutions, therefore libraries and bookshops plan to make their books available to passersby in the central Vedado neighborhood in Havana. Already a usual recreation place for families at this time of year - home to cinemas, the Coppelia ice cream parlor, galleries, theaters, parks, and the famous Malecon seawall - the Vedado neighborhood will now have books.

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A little Cuba in midtown America

Miami has Little Havana, but Kansas City has Cafe Cuba. Cuba is still off-limits to most Americans, save journalists, politicians, and daring individuals, so how wonderful this little eatery is to provide food for wanderlust feelings of the ordinary folk & a homesickness cure for the displaced Cubans.

The food is of simple Caribbean flair, like the sort of dishes straight out of a Cuban grandmother's kitchen. But the best thing on the menu is the coffee, with caramel-colored creme and as thick as runny syrup. one sip and you are in Havana.

Hopefully Cafe Cuba in midtown America will live as long and be as resilient as its namesake island & the fiesty man with a cigar who looks over his country.

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Last signer of Cuba's 1940 constitution has died

Emilio Ochoa, who is believed to be the last remaining signer of Cuba's 1940 constitution, died at his home in Miami on June 27, 2007 at the age of 99. He will be remembered as one of the most admired Cubans in history.

Ochoa fled Cuba in 1960, but with hope that the 1940 constitution would be revived after the Bay of Pigs invasion, he returned to the island a year later. His stay home was not for long as he left Cuba for good in the early 1960's.

"He was a man who only thought about his country and fought all his life for Democracy and honesty," his son-in-law said. "He has been in every cause for the liberty of Cuba."

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The world-renowned Swiss photographer Rene Burri opened his largest exhibit in Cuba on April 6, 2007, displaying images of Argentina-born revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara and Cuban president Fidel Castro. The showing at the Havana Fine Arts Museum is dedicated to Che on the 40th anniversary of his death. The collection comprises 200 photos, objects, illustrated books, and Che's portraits of the time when he was Cuba's Minister of Industry.

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Russian dancer and choreographer Mijail Baryshnikov was recently in Cuba to attend the 14th Ballet Teaching Academies event. Baryshnikov, considered to be one of the best classical dancers of the 20th century, praised the Cuba National Ballet School and compared it with those of France and Russia.

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Actor Andy Garcia, born in Cuba in 1956 and fleeing to America in 1961, produced, directed, and starred in The Lost City, his 16-year project about Havana in the 1950's. Garcia felt an obligation to tell the story of a way of life which no longer exists in Cuba since the Revolution. He feels the music, the soul of Cuba, along with the island's culture and traditions, lives on in America. It was this love of music that drove his desire in the making of The Lost City. The soundtrack, an outstanding collection of 45 songs and star of the film, was partially composed by Garcia and recently released on CD.