A Cuba Americans Don't Know

And Are NOT SUPPOSED to Know!!
{Friday, March 23rd, 2018}

     The Associated Press and the Jamaica Observer this week both featured major articles about Cuba opening its first wholesale market, another sign of the changing commerce on the island. The market is selling beans, beer, sugar, cigars, and many other goods for up to 30% less than similar products sold in state-owned stores. But at least initially only cooperative workers can utilize the popular experiment but the plan is to gradually expand it across the island.  Prior to the Counter Revolutionary Trump administration in Washington, during the 8 years of the friendly and non-punitive Obama presidency Cuba had opened up 500,000 private enterprises. The market experiment above is one way Cuba is trying to adjust to the belligerency emanating from the Trump administration and Miami-Cubans in the U. S. Congress. 

     At age 62 Chris Baker is generally recognized as the world's greatest Travel Writer-Photographer. That's why he has had top-rated Travel Shows on the BBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, CCTV America, MSNBC, National Geographic Channel, and other networks. Being British, Baker doesn't have to ask Counter Revolutionaries like Marco Rubio what to say about Cuba, one of Mr. Baker's very favorite stops.

      Knowing Cuba like the back of his hand, one of Chris Baker's famous Moon books is about the Caribbean's largest, most beautiful, and certainly the most intriguing island. While the mainstream U. S. media is obliged to report only what revengeful Counter Revolutions like Rubio say about Cuba, the Brit Chris Baker is not so restrained, meaning he can tell & show the truth. For example, a few weeks ago -- hiding behind the Trump administration and the cowardly U. S. media -- Senator Rubio, speaking for the U.S.-Trump government, warned Americans not to visit Cuba because it was "unsafe," a ploy to hurt Cuba's vital tourism industry. That very same week the widely respected International Tourism Fair in Madrid named Cuba "the safest nation in the world for tourists." Well, Chris Baker, the world's top Travel expert, seconded that motion. In other words, someone is lying and it appears, as uusual, that it's the self-serving Counter Revolutionaries in the United States.

      And this week -- March 19th, 2018 -- Ann Lee, another renowned Travel Writer, penned an internationally published article entitled: "Why Cuba's Colourful Capital of Havana Should Be Your Next City Break." Like Chris Baker and the International Tourist Fair in Madrid, it is obvious that Ann Lee didn't ask Marco Rubio for permission to write her article about Cuba. That means Americans who have never been to Cuba should dial up Ann Lee's insightful article to learn a few things about Cuba that Rubio and his ilk don't want Americans to know and that explains why, for six decades, everyday Americans have been the only people in the world without the easy freedom to visit Cuba.

     This week Ann Lee's article about Cuba features Getty Images photos to take her readers around Cuba. She calls Havana, "One of the most fascinating cities in the world," pointing out that its U.S.-imposed "isolation" only adds to its fascination.

     Travel Writer Ann Lee, for example, was quite fascinated with Havana's Gran Teatro de La Habana -- the Grand Theater of Havana. It is the world-famed home of the National Ballet of Cuba as well as music-dance concerts. Visitors to Havana, including those who can't get tickets to the Gran Teatro, can hear music and dancing out on the streets or from the apartments at all hours of the days and nights in Havana, Cuba.

      Ann Lee used this photo of Playa de Este, a beach just outside Havana, and wrote: "Most people coming to Cuba head to the resort of Varadero but Playa de Este is just as beautiful." When I was in Cuba I drove the one-hour down the coastal highway to Varadero, which has been named the most beautiful beach in the world, but at the time I didn't know about Playa de Este. Ann Lee raved about its "soft white sand, dazzling blue sea, and palm trees swaying gently in the tropical breeze."

      Travel Writer Ann Lee was totally mesmerized by the unique beauty of Vinales. She wrote: "If you only have time for a one-day trip from Havana, make it Vinales -- a two-and-one-half hour drive away. The beautiful terrain of mountains, caves, and valleys makes it one of the most stunning landscapes in Cuba...and in the world."

     Even little towns like Vinales, like in Havana, have casa particulars, which are private rooms to sleep, with paladars, which are nice places to eat in private homes.

     If you want to stay at a 5-star hotel in Havana, Ann Lee suggests the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski. She says, "The rooms are huge but the real showstopper is the rooftop bar and pool." Ann Lee said that sipping a mojito and lounging poolside atop the Kempinski is the best way to see scintillating sunsets or sunrises in Havana.

    The photo above, courtesy of Intrepid Travel, is one Marco Rubio doesn't want to see. It shows tourists, including Americans, in Havana. For six decades Counter Revolutionary Cuban-Americans, who have been allowed to dictate America's Cuban narrative and policies, have insisted that everyday Americans are the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba. That has a two-fold purpose: {1} To destroy Revolutionary Cuba's economy; and {2} to make sure Americans can't visit Cuba because, if so, they could judge it for themselves. Unfortunately, all Republican administrations as well as the intimidated mainstream media perpetuate the Counter Revolutionary lies about Cuba. And that's why, I believe, those of us Americans who have visited the island agree with the way it is depicted by great Travel Writers like Chris Baker and Ann Lee as well as by non-intimidated tourist advisers such as the International Tourism Fair in Madrid. To believe what America's Counter Revolutionaries like Senator Rubio say about Cuba is to be gullible, stupid, or afraid.

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