Cuba the Isle of the Caiman: Cuban history, music, and culture

The Cuban capital resonates with the salsa of its "campesinos". You have to see these octogenarian musicians bustling to the rhythms of guajira to believe it. Indeed, Nick Golf and Ry Cooder quickly understand that this pre-revolution Cuban music must be recorded before it vanishes along with its protagonists. It will be the Buena Vista Social Club album named after the place where they performed. To immortalize their tour, Wim Wenders decides to follow the troupe. Thus, a documentary film is born in 1999, a thrilling road trip. The director adds poignant interviews during which the protagonists recount an entire era: Americans descending into the luxury hotels of Havana, the beautiful automobiles: Plymouth, Pontiac... These cars, they pass them down from father to son since importing a car remains an unattainable luxury on the island due to exorbitant taxes! 

When does the history of Cuba date back to? It begins with the conquest of America! The island has been successively under American tutelage, the Batista era, the Castro regime, and finally the transition. After freeing itself from Spanish domination, Cuba maintained ambiguous relations with the United States. Just imagine, a communist regime located just 367 KM away as the crow flies from the Keys islands! Cuba tried to group the non-aligned by forming privileged ties with South American countries. Lastly, the island unsuccessfully attempted to export its revolution to Africa. The recent years have been marked by the accession of Raul Castro, the actual brother of the lider maximo who held Cuba in an iron grip for 49 years.  

From the moment Columbus set foot on the soil of Cuba, the fate of the island was sealed as the indigenous population sharply declined. Soon, Cuba transformed into a forward base for the conquest of America, with its capital, Havana, located at the entrance of the Caribbean Sea. The Spanish fleet would stop there to resupply. Additionally, it chose to introduce sugarcane cultivation, which thrived in the 18th century, overtaking Saint Domingue. Despite the establishment of a republic and the abolition of slavery, the Spanish colony endured. In 1898, the Americans challenged the Spaniards for control of the sugarcane market and seized this resource during the Treaty of Paris. 

The relations that Cuba maintains with its American neighbor are ambivalent. On the one hand, Uncle Sam guides the island towards democracy and ensures economic outlets for its sugar industry. However, the American presence is oppressive. Cuba now lives exclusively off sugarcane in addition to livestock farming. World War I led to a period of instability and a dictatorship was established with General Machado at the helm. Resentment towards the big American brother grew. Following the depression of 1929, the government was overthrown by a military man, Sergeant Batista. 

Fulgencio Batista, a military man, dominated the political scene in the 40s and 50s. He enjoyed the support of the Americans but his regime was highly corrupt. He could not suppress the rebellion that took place on July 26, 1953 in Santiago de Cuba. It was orchestrated by Fidel Castro Ruiz who led the urban resistance. The trained lawyer attempted to take power. He was then imprisoned, pardoned, and found refuge in Mexico. He was supported by his followers including Che Guevara, an Argentine Marxist-Leninist internationalist revolutionary. Fidel occupied the Sierra Maestra and led the resistance for 2 years. In January 1959 Batista was finally deposed and the United States immediately recognized the new regime.

The Castro regime organized itself, it was a dictatorship: a single party, the ministry of revolutionary armed forces at the head of which was Raul Castro. Soon reforms were voted on such as the agrarian reform, refineries were nationalized, beaches were made public, rents capped, begging and prostitution swept away... It must be recognized that the education level is excellent and Cubans train numerous doctors. However, the United States saw their interests threatened and reacted with aggressive protectionist measures. They decreed an embargo on imports and exports with Cuba and repealed the famous Sugar Act. 

It was in this context that on April 2, 1961, an American offensive took place in the Bay of Pigs. Planned under Eisenhower and supported by the CIA, the operation was endorsed by JF Kennedy. On April 17, 1961, some 1400 Cuban exiles recruited and trained by the United States landed on Cuban soil. Their objective was to depose Castro who had dangerously approached the Soviet Union. Due to Cuban resistance and unpreparedness, the attack resulted in a dismal failure, a real rebuff - the first of his term for the American president. 

In the midst of the Cold War, the Cuban missile crisis emerged. When a US U2 photographed SS-4 nuclear warheads pointed towards the USA  on October 14, 1962, there was no longer any doubt. The Soviet Union was preparing for a nuclear war. Nikita Khrushchev and JFK then began a 15-day standoff. They narrowly avoided a conflict by agreeing on mutual disarmament. From that moment, the hotline was set up which allows the heads of state to communicate directly! The regime became increasingly radicalized and Cubans exiled themselves to Florida.

The détente that had begun - the European Union had lifted the embargo towards Cuba, accelerated with Raul Castro's accession to power in 2006. The economy was liberated, access to bank credit, or property was made possible. In the absence of a threat to the USA, Barack Obama, eased sanctions against Cuba. Although diplomatic relations were restored between the two neighbors, the arrival of Donald Trump in power challenged this normalization. In 2016 Fidel passed away and his brother Raul temporarily replaced him and then remained at the head of the communist party until 2021. These last three years have been marked in Cuba by the pandemic. Without solid financial reserves, the country could only import half of the planned food and fuel. The United States reopened their consulate in 2023 in Cuba, a sign of a normalization of relations between the two countries. In addition to this, visa issuance for Cubans wishing to emigrate to the United States has been restored in recent weeks.

Because you're eager to know a little more about a taboo in Cuba...

Initially, there was a meeting in New York between a Russian Jew escaping pogroms and a Sicilian Catholic fleeing famine. They struggled to assimilate into the Protestant American population. They only had eyes for Al Capone. The Mafiosi got involved in the trade of prostitution, gambling, drugs, and alcohol during the full swing of prohibition. In Cuba, a local traffic of rum was established. Additionally, Cuba had another advantage, gambling was legal there. Indeed, in terms of gambling, they were knowledgeable as they cut their teeth in Vegas by surrounding themselves with “specialists”.

Gradually, they transformed the mafia into an extremely profitable organized society. In order not to be hindered in their enterprise, they beheaded the Cosa Nostra. Their power was such that they might have influenced certain American elections like those of Hoover or Roosevelt. One could imagine that the CIA well knew that Cuba was a hub for all these traffics but let it happen because they feared Communism above all! On the island, they generated tourism, an American elite eager to have fun, whom they compromised and blackmailed. 

If you go to Havana, visit the National, one of the legendary hotels where politicians, celebrities, and shady businessmen mixed. It also hosted the Mafia world conference in 1946! On site, a poster shows the gathered mobsters: Lansky, Luciano, Costello, Barletta, Anastasia… It was in this hotel that Meyer Lansky met Batista. The Mafia also had its quarters at Sloppy Joe's which has reopened its doors after 50 years of closure. Among others, Hemingway or Ava Gardner stayed there; you will be transported….

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