mikeylikesit

There is an island off the coast of Florida that has been lost in our biased American eyes, a little place called Cuba. The island’s colorful cultural history and struggle for mere existence cannot be ignored, and needs to be preserved. In fact, aside from the Buena Vista Social Club, Fidel Castro, and Cohiba Cigars what do you really know about Cuba?

It has been a fascination of mine to explore Cuba for many years. When living in New York I planned on buying a sailboat with what little money I had from working as a videographer in Manhattan, and sail from Florida to Cuba. Reflecting on this moment I am grateful I was not one of the American’s who was killed amidst the political violence that has flared up again in recent years on the island.  With the recent fall of Fidel Castro that grim reality of never visiting Cuba has started to fade into a distant consciousness and Cuba has become my next destination. The question becomes if in Fidel’s place his younger brother Raul will open the flood gates of trade that have been in a stalemate since the embargo acts of the 1960’s where the United States ceased trade with the Cuba and forced many of it’s other trading partners to do the same. Raul lead the military under his older brother Fidel, and to some people is seen as more ruthless, but to others a hope to finally free the Country. The ambiguous nature of this perception will be contested over the coming years when Cuba becomes a primary focus of our nation to reinitiate trade with this lost valued resource.

Cuba was originally inhabited by it’s own people and culture called Guanajatabeyes. The name Cuba was derived from their dialect. It is believed that these people originally migrated from South America and grew their society around the tobacco crop (hmm sounds like an early model for the Jamestown colony in VA). The crop would later be referred to as Cohiba, which is now the most sought after Cuban import cigar. The successful culture of Guanajatabeyes was soon under conquest as was much of the Americas by none other than the Spanish conquistadors at the behest of Christopher Columbus circa 1492.

The island became an object of obsession for other European powers due to its valuable tobacco crop. The French and then later the British would attempt to conquer the island throughout the 17th century. It wasn’t until the bold claim by none other than our own US of A who determined that the geographic location of Cuba, being so close to America, was actually a part of the Americas, which was boldly declared to the rest of the world in the 1820’s. Time travel to the early part of the 20th century and the United States controlled over 80% of Cuba’s main exports and many of their sugar cane and tobacco factories. Under the constant threat of regime change between the power struggles of the Europeans and the Americans a growing sense of rebellion developed inside the people of Cuba. Not soon after a mutiny took place lead by Fulgencio Batista a young soldier who actually held a military post operating a telegraph. Sure, he oversaw a limited amount of communication, but the oppression that had manifested itself for the last century inspired Batista to form a revolution and ultimately seized power in a coup d’etat. Although Batsista was successful at returning power to the people of Cuba and severing trade with many of its valuable partners including the U.S., the country did not flourish as expected. They constantly struggled against impressing world powers such as Russia, Britain, and of course the United States that sought to regain control of the island as witnessed in the Bay of Pigs and the embargo acts. The U.S. was not willing to give up this valuable resource; especially considering half of the politicians had become indulgent in hand-rolled Cuban cigars and rum.

The revolutionary spirit was in the air, and an influential free media press campaign against Batista in the 1950’s inspired arguably the most infamous revolutionary icon of the the 20th Century, Fidel Castro. I won’t fill you in on his dictatorship and rule of Cuba as I am sure you have seen a movie or biopic on the History Channel in the last week in wake of his recent terminal condition. The person that needs to be examined is his brother Raul, who most people believe will liberate Cuba from the isolationism it as experienced for the last fifty years. I myself see another power struggle in the near future of Cuba.

It is only a matter of time before America and the Russians start a bidding war to purchase control of the precious island. I know that my sailboat idea sounded risky, but as a modern day Cold War ensues, I will be negotiating for beach front real estate on the West of the island as it looks promising for a vacation rental.

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