The Real Cuba of 1990

Recently we have witnessed several testimonies for and comparisons between some of the surviving socialist (communist) regimes and the western countries. Leonidas has visited at least a score of countries and found that the most fascinating such visit was a 5 week cruise of the North coast of Cuba during the early 1990’s aboard his 34' sail boat. A reasonable command of the Spanishh language was extremely useful in avoiding reliance on government “guides” and translators.

Contrary to widely held belief, Cuba welcomes ALL foreign visitors warmly and they are free to travel wherever they wish. Travel to Cuba by those subject to U.S. law is not prohibited, however “trading” with Cuba is forbiden. This includes spending any currency in that country. The U.S. does prosecute violators of this proscription, so ordinary U.S. tourists are virtually non existent there. The begging and aggressive peddlers so pervasive in most of the other islands and countries in the region are totally absent in Cuba. The beaches, cayos and countryside are mostly unspoiled and definitely uncrowded. The beaches outside the tourist areas are closely watched from government guard towers and patrol boats, apparently to discourage emigration but we thoroughly enjoyed the friendly and charming people of Cuba both bureaucrats and others.

We notified the Cuban port authority via side band radio from the Dry Tortugas of an e.t.a. of 72 hrs. for 1 U.S. and 1 Canadian sail boat and were instructed to enter at Marina Hemingway 7 nautical miles west of Havana. Upon arrival, the harbor entrance was in the opinion of the two sailboat skippers unsafe due to adverse weather conditions and so advised the Cuban coast guard. A motor launch was sent out and led us safely inside the marina where we tied up to the customs dock and cleared into the country. The officials were courteous but spoke no English. After completing the paper work the boats were led to a dock in the mostly empty marina. Our companion boat was Canadian and from this time forward we were officially “guests “ of the Canadian couple on that boat.

The marina management brought welcoming gifts of Cuban rum and baskets of fruit for both vessels and insisted over our protests that we enjoy the "free telephone service" offered by the marina. During our stay we always placed the telephone on the dock when we wished to converse privately. This was especially true when we entertained the U.S. interests officer and his wife for dinner aboard. An interesting social event indeed.

The land trip from Marina Hemingway to Havana was a 30 minute bus ride from the stop in front of the Communist Party high school across from the marina. The Buses were usually crowded with people getting on and off mostly not depositing any fare in the crude wooden box provided. We had no Cuban coins but gave them 5 Swedish kroners.

Havana is a charming city which has seen no paint on its buildings since 1960. We were warned to not expect to be able to obtain food in Havana and thus brought snacks from the boat. We attempted to hail several taxis but as we were obviously foreigners they were not allowed to pick us up. Only special tourist taxis authorized to transport those with hard currency are allowed to pick up foreigners. The few cafes that were open had long lines waiting to be served. The menus, though having several options listed, invariably offered only one item. Most of the locals recognizing us as foreigners were surprised to learn Leonidas spoke Spanish instead of Russian. This resulted in lots of smiles and good cheer.

A shop at the marina selling items such as imported beer and canned goods to foreigners for hard currency had some lettuce which they refused to sell us saying that the scale to weigh it was broken. I estimated that the weight was 1 kilo and offered to buy it for the price of 2 kilos and this was refused. We returned on each of the next 2 days to buy the lettuce which was beginning to wilt. On the 3rd day with the scale still not repaired I asked to negotiate with the manager. Two phone calls were made to Havana and the merchant finally obtained permission to sell the head of lettuce for the 2 kilo price. No tomatoes were available in spite of viewing fields of ripe tomatoes on the TV. I asked why, and was advised that the tomatoes were rotting in the fields as the Russians had failed to send the wood necessary to make shipping crates. An apparently insoluable problem to the party leaders. When I advised that I had seen tomatoes transported in California in dump trucks and other tublike containers the informant looked at me as if I were insane.

After a week at the Marina Hemmingway we obtained a “Despacho” (cruising permit) to continue sailing eastward along the Cuban north coast with stops at various anchorages. Most countries require “despachos” to keep track of foreign cruising boats along their coasts and this includes the U.S. We left for the first leg late in the afternoon to take advantage of the lighter trade winds which blow from the east during the night. The distance to Varadero was 65 nautical miles. We were constantly shadowed by a mysterious darkened motor vessel and entered Marina Chapelin the next day about noon after being escorted in by a motor launch sent out by the marina. The employees of the marina were extremely helpful and friendly even to inviting us to a “night club” performance at one of the nearby tourist hotels as well as a Cuban ice cream parlor. Afterwards we decided to dine out and got in the long line at the only restaurant that was open. After several minutes the management, discovering that we were foreigners escorted us past the line of waiting Cubans to a table. We were embarrassed by this treatment in the “workers paradise” but no one seemed disturbed.

We found the Cuban people including the military to be extremely helpful and friendly. Every facet of life in Cuba is rigidly controlled and the citizens require ration books to purchase most food items even though the countryside is obviously extremely fertile. The entire island seems to be completely supplied with electrical power and television sets down to the smallest rural hut and we learned the reason for this. All Cuban television broadcasting was overridden on a daily basis by Communist Party officials’ (usually Castro) 2 to 4 hour speeches during prime time.

Due to the U.S. trade embargo the pre-revolutionary (1961 and earlier) US manufactured vehicles have not been replaced and consequently many classic old cars and trucks are seen on the streets in various states of repair. No US produced replacement parts are available. The Cubans seem quite resourceful in keeping them running by fabricating parts and adapting components from Russian and Eastern European cars.

Tourists are able to rent Asian manufactured cars that display distinctive license plates, enabling them, with the use of special permits to obtain gasoline which is in very short supply and extremely difficult for ordinary Cubans to buy. This situation may recently have been amieliorated, though I doubt it, with the help of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Cuba has some oil fields along its north central coast but appears to have difficulty operating them. The Russian equipment in the fields is poorly maintained and considerable crude oil is spilled, polluting the nearby streams and coast line. No one seems to be concerned with this situation. I suspect that environmentalists are not as influential in Cuba as in the “western world”.

The ordinary Cuban people we met were very curious about North America and this suggests that the official portrayal of the U.S. as oppressive, bigoted and racist is not as widely accepted as their Communist leaders would wish. The ordinary citizens for the most part do not have access to many basic items such as toilet paper, tooth brushes, matches, tooth paste, coffee etc. but are skilled at making substitutes. Communist Party officials and tourists with foreign hard currency are able to shop in special "convertible currency" shops that deny access to ordinary citizens without "convertible currency". The shops and stores allowing access to ordinary citizens are for the most part empty. When some items do appear in them long waiting lines are generated.

From Varadero we continued eastward anchoring at several beautiful and deserted coves and arrived at Puerto Padre, anchoring near the commercial dock to check in with the port captain. We noticed that the local ferry was traveling more than a mile from its route in order for the passengers to view the “strange blue sail boat” flying the U.S. flag and its Canadian companion. No one had seen a U.S. flag vessel in Puerto Padre in living memory.

The bus trip to the town of Puerto Padre was about 30 min. and gave us the opportunity to meet many friendly and curious Cubans including one old man at the bus station who refused to believe that I was in fact an American. I produced my Los Angeles County Sheriff's retirement ID and he simply shook his head and walked away muttering “why would you want to visit Cuba?”.

We continued eastward to the village of Puerto Samá where we anchored 300 meters east of the municipal pier. From this point we intended to turn northward to sail to the Bahamas. I launched the dinghy and rowed the local commissar and a soldier out to the anchored boats to examine our paper work. Upon coming aboard he insisted that I take down the US flag which flew from the staff on the stern. I refused and indicated the Cuban courtesy flag that was flying from the ensign halyard on the starboard spreader. He examined all the papers and found them in order but again ordered me to take down the American flag. I emphatically refused and at this time the soldier interrupted stating that it was the ships flag and displaying it was indeed proper. This seemed to settle the issue and I returned them ashore. The next morning at dawn we weighed anchor, waived farewell to the local guard tower and sailed due North 70 miles to the Bahamas. This last out of the way village was the only occasion where the official representative was less than friendly. For the most part the officials bent over backwards to be helpful. In one anchorage the crew of one patrol boat gave us gifts of fish and fruit.