[Marxism] CubaNews Notes from Las Tunas

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

CUBANEWS NOTES FROM LAS TUNAS
by Walter Lippmann, December 13, 2004

This is the fourth day of my trip to Eastern Cuba and all has gone
well so far. Here are a few of the highlights of what I've seen and
done so far. I'm now in the city of Las Tunas and, thanks to the
helpful technical support staff of ETECSA, the Cuban telephone
company and the island's principal internet service provider, I've
got a working dialup connection to the internet in the very nice
casa particular in which I have been staying since last evening.

On Friday last week I rented a mid-sized car in Havana for $65.00
per day for five days. It's now starting to look like I'll need to
rent it for more time, but since I'm here in Las Tunas and not in
a big hurry to move on to further destinations. Taking a slow and
not quite defined tour of some parts of the eastern side of the
country was the goal, and that goal is being accomplished. I'm in
the company of two Cuban friends who hail from the small Eastern
city of Bartolome Maso in Granma province.

The roads in Cuba, outside of the capital city, Havana, at least the
ones on both the major public highways, like the National Autopista
and the Carretera Central all seem to be in fine shape. None of the
big potholes I'm used to seeing on residential side streets in the
Cuban capital. The most challenging aspect of the National Autopista,
which is a four-lane superhighway, is that there aren't many road
signs and there are virtually no night lights at all. This makes for
challenging driving. Fortunately, the highway isn't mobbed with
traffic, and it wasn't as difficult as one might imagine.

We started out from Havana going east on the northern-most road and
went past the Eastern suburbs of the capital city through the major
resort community of Varadero. From there we looked in at Cardenas,
the small city from Elian Gonzalez was spirited in late November at
about the time I was making my first visit to Cuba as an adult. We
looked in a one local museum for a moment, but the special museum
which was built to commemorate the battle for Elian and the Battle
of Ideas which came out of that struggle was closed for the day.

We drove on through a raft of smaller cities and got off of the
main highways. There were, of course, numerous small towns along
the way. One of these, Jovellanes, featured extensive orange groves
which form an important source of international hard currency sales
to the island. Through all of these cities, in better or less good
states of repair, we saw signs of the Revolution both everywhere,
yet by not means with an overwhelming presence. Posters as one is
entering and leaving larger cities tell something about the local
history, people who fought in its battles, going back through the
independence struggles of the 19th century and up trough the
Revolutionary struggles of the present.

It's winter here in Cuba and while it may be warm during the day
it's pleasingly cool at night in many places, even here in Eastern
Cuba where the hot weather has brought a serious drought into effect.

Though the daylight had shifted to the night, we continued to drive
until we arrived in Santa Clara. There, as in each of the three
cities we've visited so far, someone came up to us and let us know
they'd be willing to help us find accommodations for the night and
all three we've had so far have been very nice. These are the casas
particulares which are available by Cubans licensed to rent out a
room or two in their private homes to visitors. Most of the casas
particulares I've stayed in during my visits to Cuba have featured
clean and pleasant accommodations, hot water for showers and other
modern conveniences. Some offer meal service, other's done, and
most feature pleasant people who are sharing parts of their homes
and making some good money. Rents have been in the $20-$25 range
per night. Meals have cost $3.00-$4.00 per person and have been
pleasant and tasty everywhere.

>From Santa Clara we drove on to Ciego de Avila, further east.
Ciego means blind and as we entered the city we found that there
was a blackout going on. Blackouts are common occurrences here in
Cuba, so much so that they're part of the culture. Many people
have rechargeable flashlights, and some have backup electrical
systems, as did our hosts in Ciego de Avila. They only have a
single room to rent out, but it's very pleasantly decorated with
tile flooring through the main room and bathroom and has hot water
as well. We just opened the windows before going to sleep for the
night.

>From Ciego de Avila we drove north an stopped at an inexpensive
resort hotel. While the cities seem crowded with tourists, this
hotel, Costa Blanca (White Coast), seemed mostly deserted and it
was a bargain, with room renting from $22 to $30 a night. From
there we drove on trough another raft of small cities using the
Carretera Central until we arrived here in Las Tunas, where we
spend the night, once again in a lovely home with a single room
rented out to us.

THIS WEEK: NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS EXERCISES BEING HELD IN CUBA
This week, starting today, Cuba is beginning a major series of
military preparedness exercises called BASTION 2004. They are
both military and political in nature and their goal is both to
demonstrate and to sharpen the nation's defenses, and to make it
clear that to engage such a nation would involve major cost. In
Las Tunas today I haven't seen evidence of this, but then I have
not gone out of the house and it's afternoon already. Most Cubans
are quietly going about their daily lives, going to school or to
work or whatever, as normal. But this readiness activity, which
is being conducted under the leadership of Cuba's Commander-in-
Chief, will in one or another way involve or affect everyone.

You can read a good introduction to the goals of Bastion 2004:
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/diciembre/mier8/50bastion-i.html

With US Interests Section Chief James Cason and others once again
holding provocative events at Cason's residence, bring together
more opponents of the Cuban government in demonstrations against
Cuba and declarations that the Revolution's time is coming to an
end, these preparedness exercises are entirely appropriate here.

Curiously, while all this is going on, clinical trials are soon
to begin in the United States of the new cancer vaccine produced
here in Cuba's biotech laboratories, the same ones which the US
would destroy if it could get its hands on the island. See:
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/diciembre/vier10/51canvax.html

WORK BEING DONE AND NOT BEING DONE...
It's very nice for now not to be collecting, analyzing and making
comments about the poor quality of the coverage in the US and other
foreign capitalist media. This could get habit-forming and so I'm
particularly grateful to NY Transfer News and Kathleen Kelly for
the work of sending along the important materials from Cuba's
National News Agency (AIN) and Prensa Latina (PL) and other sources,
as well as moderating the list during the time I'm away from Havana.

My mission, which I've chosen to assign to myself is to see more of
the country, to draw portraits of what I see to share with readers,
and work toward a better understanding of Cuba's process of social
evolution and development which I am sharing with you through such
reports as these. I hope and trust you're finding them informative.

Here in Las Tunas, as elsewhere, I hope to get to look at some used
bookstores, and from here we'll take a look at Holguin and from there
go to Bayamo, Bartolome Maso, and then Santo Domingo. In the last two
places where digitization of the phone system. We'll see then and will
let you know once I know something more definitive.


Walter Lippmann, CubaNews
http://www.walterlippmann.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/




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