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MARIO J. TORRES
Who are we?
Cuba is the biggest island in the
Caribbean sea; having the Bahamas Islands, the Atlantic Ocean, the Strait of
Florida and Florida State on the North, the Caribbean Sea and the island of
Jamaica on the South, the Gulf of Mexico and Yucatan, Mexico on the West and
Haiti and the Dominican Republic on the East.
Cuba, first called Juana, was discovered in 1492 by the Italian sailor,
Christopher Columbus at the service of the Spanish Crown and the island
later became one of the many Spanish colonies in America.
The Flag of Cuba was designed in 1850 by rebels that wanted independence
from Spain. The 3 blue stripes represent the divisions of the Island at the
time, while the white stripes represent freedom. The equilateral triangle
stands for freedom, equality and brotherhood. The red color represents the
bloodstain necessary to achieve independence. The star represents absolute
freedom of the people. The Cuban Coat of Arms is another national symbol
that represents the Island and its people. The heart shaped form is divided
into three sections. The top horizontal section depicts the geographic
location of the Island in the Gulf of Mexico, between North and South
America. The white and blue stripes symbolize the departmental status of
Cuba in the colonial days. The final section stands for the Cuban people and
their unyielding nature. This is accomplished by showing the country's
landscape with the sturdy royal palm in the center. The country's national
anthem, a battle song inspired amidst the independence war against the
Spanish colonialists, was composed by Don Perucho Figueredo.
Cuba has been a communist country with no democratic elections and with only
one leader since January 1st, 1959, when Fidel Castro took the power after a
revolutionary civil war and instituted a totalitarian regime in the nation
depriving nationals from many rights such as liberty of expression, free
elections and free religious practice among many others.
Cuba is 90 miles away from US mainland and it is its third closest neighbor
after Canada and Mexico. The island, which has the shape of an alligator,
has a contrast of mountainous and plain regions, it has a lot of fertile
land, abundant vegetation and palm trees, symbol of the island as well as
rivers and basically beautiful beaches. Its territorial extension is 42,400
sq. miles (109,800 sq. km) and its population is 11,184,919 people which are
mostly made up by a black and white mix called mulatto due to the fact that
most Indians were exterminated by the Spanish colonists and the latter
related themselves with female black slaves. During Castro's rule the
country was divided into 14 provinces and these are also subdivided into
municipalities with one special municipality in the Isle of Pines, a small
island south of Havana. Cuba's national language is Spanish. Before Castro
there were only 6 bigger provinces. The country has two national TV channels
and several regional channels located in some of its provincial capitals.
There are 3 national radio stations and every province has its own radio
network. The same distribution is seen in newspapers; GRANMA being the most
important and national newspaper and at the same time the voice of the only
party in the island: the communist party. All these TV channels, radio
stations and newspapers air and publish directed and digested information
defending the interests on the ruling communist party, system with the power
in the island since January 1st, 1959.
The Cuban culture is a rich mixture of African and Caribbean values
expressed in the peoples' religious creed on saints, spirits (Santeria) and
ancient African rituals where sacred saints like Yemaya, Obatala, Eshu,
Chango, Elegua, Ochun etc are invoked for healing people from diseases,
scare evil or bad influences or pave the way for personal progress, even
though the Catholic Church is also very strong as a Spanish inheritance and
has equivalences of some of these saints. These religions still keep strong
roots among the population in spite of Castro's policy of restraining the
practice of religious beliefs.
Also music keeps the African drums mixed with trumpets creating an appealing
fast dance music called SON or SALSA by others, although the DANZON, slower
and rhythmic, is the official national dance. Cuban ballet is also famous
around the world. In spite of the politicization of art by the system, Cuba
has had many outstanding singers, artists and writers like Benny More
(popular singer), Alejo Carpentier (famous writer) and others. Most Cubans
like to drink, sing, dance and party and they are also very friendly and
communicative. They like to argue on many subjects, basically about baseball
and love to tell jokes and smile even in their worst moments. which have
been many in the last 40 years.
Cubans have yearly carnivals in every city where people drink and dance in
the streets and their favorite food nationwide is pork meat basically
roasted and it is the ever-present dish in important celebrations like
Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve apart from the fact that Christmas
celebrations have not been official in the island for many years.
Also, among other types of food, rice and beans in a mixture called CONGRI,
a bean soup called POTAJE and fried plantain (TOSTONES) are very popular in
the island. Drinking black and strong coffee is a tradition and a mandatory
offer to any visitor. In their spare time, people go to beaches, to
movie-theaters but many prefer to walk in parks, which are many in the
island where young people usually meet on weekends.
Sports has a king in the island and it is BASEBALL. People "eat, drink and
breathe" baseball. Kids' favorite toys are a ball and a glove and it is
played in every field, street or alley of every city. It is the country's
passion and a lot of famous players have come from the island and many of
them have defected to play in the Major Leagues in the US.
Out of the 2 TV channels the country has, one is exclusively devoted to this
sport. Boxing is the second most popular sport and Cubans are also good at
volleyball, track and field and chess. Cuba's main product is sugar, with
many sugar cane plantations all over its territory, followed by tobacco,
coffee, beans, citrus fruits, fish, potatoes and nickel. Cuban cigars are
famous all over the world for their quality. Tourism has recently become an
important factor that supports the practically dead economy of the island;
thus making use of the country's many beautiful and sunny beaches, where the
average Cuban can't go because they are only open for tourists.
The weather is very hot almost all year round. Winters are very mild and
summers unbearably hot with a rain season and a dry season. People go to
beaches and rivers to relieve the heat. The island is often hit by
hurricanes that produce lots of material losses as well as deaths.
The largest city is the capital HAVANA CITY in the northwestern part of the
island with a population of 2,391,272. The second largest is SANTIAGO DE
CUBA in the southeastern side of the country with (451,244), followed by
CAMAGUEY(308,519), HOLGUIN (253,754), SANTA CLARA in the very center of the
island (226,283), CIENFUEGOS (136,266), PINAR DEL RIO (134,767) and MATANZAS
(128,497).
The official national currency is the Cuban peso but at the beginning of the
decade of the 90's, Castro instituted as an alternative currency, the use of
the dollar in the island in order to support the country's weak economy
after the collapse of the communist field that kept him afloat which brought
about an unbelievably awful economical situation and living conditions as if
going back centuries in time in the island. The dictator then created many
shops in the country that sold (and still do) first need products in dollars
even though the population is paid in pesos and the dollar=peso rate is
between 25 and 30 pesos for 1 dollar. Castro has always wanted to prove that
life before 1959 was like hell in the island and that life standard
improvement started when he took the power, trying to confuse the people
with the idea that progress is not brought by modern times but by his
revolution. If the system that prevailed up to 1959 had continued, many more
goals in technical and economical progress and advance in all fields of life
would have been achieved than the ones Castro claims to have obtained also
at the high price of his dictatorship, so here the evil leader wisely takes
advantage of a principle that many Cuban have not realized and it is that
the passing of time is proportionally direct with mankind progress.
The following data proves that the reasons for Castro's revolution and its
acceptance by the people were, by no means by economical reasons, but were
simply due to the propitious historical stage of the nation at that moment
in which Fulgencio Batista wanted to impose his government to the people, in
a second term, with antecedents of a coup d'etat and violence for mere
political motives.
This is the real Cuba: In 1958, Cuba was a prosperous country with a solid
economy. It was the third country in gold reserve in Latin America and the
value of its currency equaled the American dollar at a 1 to 1 ratio. Its
inflation rate was the lowest in Latin America with 1.4%. The island was
fourth in the world in greater employees' and workers' salary payment. The
Caribbean country with 0.86 cattle heads per inhabitant, ranked 8th in Latin
America and was 3rd in meat production in the same area. As to mineral
production, Cuba was the first in the world in cobalt production, second in
nickel, eighth in manganese and eleventh in copper production. Regarding
consumption of calories, Cuba was 3rd in Latin America and first in fresh
fish consumption.
In that very year, Cuba was 3rd in Latin America with 28 inhabitants per
telephone and 27.3 inhabitants per automobile. The island was also second in
inhabitant per radio set ratio with 5.0 and first in inhabitant per TV set
ratio with 1 TV set for 18 inhabitants.
Cuba was the third country with the largest number of radio stations (160)
and television transmission stations with 23 in Latin America. In relation
to its population, Cuba was second with 60016 movie-theaters and also second
in newspaper distribution with 588.0 inhabitants per newspaper. In 1958,
there were 97 hospitals and 21,141 beds at the service of the people and
6,4231 doctors and the inhabitant=doctor ratio was 980 inhabitants per
doctor where Cuba ranked second in Latin America whereas in inhabitant per
dentist ratio Cuba ranked third with 2,978 inhabitants per dentist. Besides,
children mortality rate in the island was the lowest in Latin America at
that time with a 37.6 % deaths per thousand children born alive and the
general mortality rate was 5.8 % per thousand; being first in America and
third in the world.
The country had 13 universities at that time apart from institutes, Schools
of Commerce. Technical and Pedagogical Schools. Illiteracy rate was 25 % and
the island was fourth in illiterate per inhabitant in Latin America and it
was the country that devoted more budget expenses to Public Education with a
23% out of 273 inhabitants, one was a college student and 45% were female
In Cuba, there was 1 km of railway line every 8.08 km2
Also, daily average salary for agricultural workers in 1958 was $3.00 (7th
in the world) and $6.00 for industrial workers where the island ranked 8th
worldwide. Cuban workers had a daily 8 hour shift system and worked 44 hours
a week. They were paid 48 hours a week and were entitled to a one-month paid
vacation yearly and in summer months many shops and stores were closed at
1PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays so that workers could enjoy the hot and
beautiful Cuban beaches, which at that time were open for everyone and not
for tourists or for the new ruling class as they are now.
This may measure how much the Cuban people lost with Castro 's revolution
and how unnecessary it really was. Castro now purposely adjudicates to his
system his contradictory "achievements" (if there was really any) which are
anyhow the result of the progress that the passing of time brings about in
countries, societies and civilizations but in the island's case, progress
was definitely stopped when he took the power and what is more, if Castro
had not existed, Cuba would now be a paradise on Earth and not the half a
century swindle that has ruined the island.
MARIO J TORRES
MAY 2004
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