TCTI: Too Crazy Too Ignore
 Dave Ross

My Week With Fidel & Ernest

BY Dave Ross  on March 19, 2013 @ 4:56 pm (Updated: 8:14 am - 3/20/13 )

We're back in Miami after 8 days in Cuba - a vacation my wife and I chose because a) it's warm, b) we've never been there, c) the US government somehow feels threatened by the cigars, so we had to see them for ourselves.

To travel legally to Cuba, the US government insists that Americans be part of a cultural exchange licensed by the Treasury Department, and board an unmarked chartered flight from Miami...

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...in a special aircraft that takes you 90 miles and about 55 years from Florida. (Which may explain why the flight is $220 per person each way.)

Cuba is a hardcore socialist country - the government owns almost everything, and most workers are paid between $25-$30 a month. Which is why almost every "spontaneous" conversation that people strike up with you on the street here in Havana ("Hello, where are you from?) usually ends with a request for money "to buy milk for the kids." And it's not the Cuban peso they want but the special money only tourists carry (called CUC's) which is what you need to buy the good stuff.

So life is tough. And except for a few historic preservation projects, Havana looks like it hasn't seen a coat of paint since 1959!

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But it's not a prison. You don't see military checkpoints, and no, they don't all want to float to Miami.

Why not? Because while the accommodations are definitely rustic, a lot of stuff is free, including all education from grade school.

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...through graduate school, and of course, health care.

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That includes electrified acupuncture. It does not include privacy, however. I hesitated when I saw this fellow, but our host motioned for me to snap at will. The patient didn't seem to care -- nothing like electrified needles to take the edge off your day.

How about this treatment:

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...all free of charge.

Music is a big deal too.

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Every restaurant, hotel and public square has a band. Favorite songs: Besame Mucho & Guantanamera.

The other thing you'll find everywhere:

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Che Guevara. He gets more face time than Fidel.

Cuba is also the place where your Dad's (or Granddad's) car is living out its golden years.

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Havana is a year-round antique car meet. Some of these have been carefully restored and passed down as the family business. Tourists pay hard currency to be driven around in them.

Here's the old Soviet embassy:

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It exudes a kind of Stalinist warmth. Unfortunately for Cuba it no longer exudes foreign aid. The revolution now has to pay for itself, and that requires a "We're all in this together" mindset:

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That one I agree with. It would remove one more excuse for why the economy doesn't work, because it certainly isn't working the way Cubans expected. It's a patchwork of basic state services and private improvisation. I thought this shot captured the reality pretty well:

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The lights stay on -- but it ain't pretty.

The system was opened up to allow small private businesses in 2011. This is a privately-run tourist restaurant in Trinidad.

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To be legal, it must be operated in the owner's home. But is the bed really used ("Please, take your time, just wake us when you're ready for dessert...") or is it only there for the inspector?


Cubans seem free to speak their minds, and admit the obvious -- that life here isn't easy and the parts of Havana look like they could crumble into the sea at any moment. But they also think socialism is better than the kind of exploitation that preceded it.


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They still seem to believe that it's wrong to get rich, because the only way that can happen is for someone else to get poor. Their priority is to guarantee a basic allotment of food, education, and health care, even if it's at the cost of living in a tiny, poorly maintained apartment building.

Even in Cuba there are those little luxuries.

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Notice she is well within 25 feet of the doorway. (We learned that the secret to proper cigar smoking is never inhale; sip Havana Rum between puffs, and stop when the ash reaches the band.)

In the neighborhoods where the tourist money flows, life, at least on the outside, is like a postcard.

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That's the main square in Trinidad, on the Caribbean coast, about as it was in the 1800's.

This was my first Caribbean experience -- broad sandy beaches, warm breezes, cheap rum.

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Just the occasional botched invasion. Welcome to Bahia de Cochinos, the Bay of Pigs, where we stopped for lunch! I ordered the pork.

When we got to our hotel in Trinidad at Playa Ancon -- this was the view 100 feet from our door:

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Our group of 18 came from all over the country, Mississippi, New Mexico, Tennessee, Chicago, Texas, Virginia, New York City. And I think we're agreed that socialism or not, Americans ought to be able to travel freely here, instead of this charade of booking specially licensed educational tours and flying across the Florida Strait in unmarked chartered planes.

We ought to be able to fly directly to Havana, spread our capitalist propaganda, and then take a red 1961 Thunderbird to the "Floridita" where the daiquiris kept Hemingway reliably intoxicated as he was writing "The Old Man And The Sea."

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I tried one, forgot all my troubles, and we became instant friends.

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By the way, the customs agent scolded me at the Miami airport, but he let me keep my six cigars. Nice of my own government to let me keep my own property.

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
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Comments (76)


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  • mnpat wrote...
    Another historical footnote prior to the revolution and so eerily similar to what is going on in todays America.
    March 20, 2013 8:07 am
    With Batista at the helm and prior to Castro there was stagnation and dissatisfaction in Cuba, however, the United States, rather than Latin America, was the frame of reference for educated Cubans. Cubans travelled to the United States, read US newspapers, listened to US radio, watched US television, and were attracted to US culture. Middle-class Cubans grew frustrated at the economic gap between Cuba and the US. The middle class became increasingly dissatisfied with the administration, while labor unions supported Batista until the very end. Large income disparities arose due to the extensive privileges enjoyed by Cuba's unionized workers. (Sound familiar) Cuban labor unions had established limitations on mechanization and even banned dismissals in some factories. The labor unions' privileges were obtained in large measure "at the cost of the unemployed and the peasants". Cuba's labor regulations ultimately caused economic stagnation. Hugh Thomas asserts that "militant unions succeeded in maintaining the position of unionized workers and, consequently, made it difficult for capital to improve efficiency." Between 1933 and 1958, Cuba increased economic regulation enormously. The regulation led to declining investment. The World Bank also complained that the Batista administration raised the tax burden without assessing its impact. Unemployment was high; many university graduates could not find jobs. After its earlier meteoric rise, the Cuban gross domestic product grew at only 1% annually on average between 1950 and 1958.
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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    mnpat: Most of the labor union excesses in Batista's Cuba
    March 20, 2013 8:30 am
    were the result of organized crime controlling the union movement. We had similar problems in the US.

    Just might be that the problem isn't so much working people getting together to collectively request a say about wages and working conditions as it is or was criminals using the unions for their own purposes.

    Your description describes a society where workers were either corrupt and lazy or enslaved and exploited. Neither option is a recipe for economic success.

    As far as your comparison to the US today; it points out the urgency with which we should address preserving family wage jobs and the middle class.

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  • DesertRez wrote...
    Travel through Detroit sometime
    March 20, 2013 9:52 am
    The Cuban sister city without the nice weather or beaches.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    Detroit DOES have nice weather (except in the dead of winter) AND nice beaches.
    March 20, 2013 11:44 am
    Belle Isle and Metro Beach spring to mind (Detroit IS on the Detroit River), Plus there are maybe a hundred small lakes with beaches within 30 miles of downtown,

    .

    PLUS, most of the cars are under 10 years old.

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  • mnpat wrote...
    Chuck I concur with your statement about the coruption in the unions
    March 20, 2013 10:37 am
    While there is less organized crime today then in the past, it is still (In my opinion) being corrupted by political influence.The statement, "The World Bank also complained that the Batista administration raised the tax burden without assessing its impact. Unemployment was high; many university graduates could not find jobs. After its earlier meteoric rise, the Cuban gross domestic product grew at only 1% annually on average between 1950 and 1958", is what I find disturbing as it closely resembles what our current state of affairs are in this country.
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  • Zoeller wrote...
    The real question is -
    March 20, 2013 9:55 am
    Why didn’t Dave just become a permanent resident of Cuba?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • e233 wrote...
    This confirms Dave is a commie
    March 20, 2013 11:47 am
    Dave, It sounds to me like this is your dream model based on your socialist ideas and we should arriving there soon with Obama on-board. This way you won't have to travel far...
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  • mobeta wrote...
    Know that since the early 90's about Dave, Charles Manson look a like!
    March 20, 2013 12:51 pm
    Dave should go to Europe or Cuba and stay there. He would fit in quite nicely don't you think?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • don over taxed wrote...
    Cuba
    March 20, 2013 12:22 pm
    Dave ...please stay there and take Lowbank with you.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mobeta wrote...
    Looks like America in a few years!
    March 20, 2013 12:47 pm
    This is Dave's Utopia! BHO has us on this path.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cigarfan wrote...
    @mobeta
    March 20, 2013 1:15 pm
    President Obama, the executive -of our country is but a committee for managing the common affairs of US capitalism. Republican or Democrat executive candidates are not supported financially without corporate backing in the USA and auditioning for the ruling class. You have bought into the Coke/Pepsi game.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mobeta wrote...
    HUH? cigar dude!
    March 20, 2013 1:30 pm
    Capitalism, that is the same sentence of our dictator and chief doesn't fit. He hates capitalism and is a total Marxist more than anything and we are there too. We are now a socialist country. So sad. Bring us down to size. Producers now have little incentive that made us the greatest country in the world. No longer
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  • cigarfan wrote...
    @mobeta
    March 20, 2013 1:58 pm
    There is a game that is being played. It involves two teams that are corporate controlled -that give the illusion of choice. The game is rigged. -You should stop playing this game.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • notmygov1 wrote...
    Well Dave all i can say
    March 20, 2013 1:05 pm
    Is please stay there. We dont miss your winney tax loving voice.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Brian Oblivion wrote...
    Only a freedom hating fascist
    March 20, 2013 3:02 pm
    would travel to that island gulag and spend American dollars to benefit a regime of oppression, torture and murder. I recently read it's becoming the Bangkok of the Caribbean for pedophile sex tours, so they have that going for them.
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  • William Lawn wrote...
    Actually, Brian, that isn't Cuba, it is the Dominican Republic
    March 20, 2013 3:22 pm
    You know, the country where Rush got popped carrying someone else's Viagra.

    You remember that, don't you?

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  • Brian Oblivion wrote...
    I remember a democrat senator named Bob Menendez
    March 20, 2013 3:40 pm
    patronizing the youngest little girls he could get his greasy paws on in the Dominican Republic. However, Cuba is overtaking them for brothel tours because of the lower prices - even with Fidel and your heroes of the revolution getting their cut. If Rush and viagra are all you have in your holster, go sit at the ladies table and help with the quilt.
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  • William Lawn wrote...
    You also remember the ladies saying it wasn't true, don't you?
    March 20, 2013 4:07 pm
    They were paid to say he was a customer.

    Probably not.

    ILLEGAL Viagra, Mr. brian.

    ILLEGAL prescription drugs on our own little fat boy.

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  • gaymarriedchristianfromhollywood wrote...
    I really loved this story.
    March 20, 2013 5:26 pm
    We should lift the embargos. Capitalism rocks.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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