The Last Word

Cuba - a country which holds eternal fascination for so many

by Barrie Quappe
Host/producer for "Cayman Crosstalk with Barrie Quappe" on Rooster 101.9FM

Friday, May 7, 2004

Cuba and the Cubans hold the eternal fascination globally for a diversity of reasons.

They have “held their own” in the face of US embargos, they have high levels of education, they have an alternate economy that many would like to learn more about and they could rip the rug out of neighbouring country’s tourism markets should they open up again.

At a business conference earlier this year a Bahamian speaker suggested that the Cayman Islands align itself with Cuba for beneficial tourism packages to help prevent drastic reductions in tourists when Cuba opens up.

He compared this with how the Bahamas has created destination packages for visitors to Miami which include daytrips or more to the Bahamas.

Trouble is, doing business with the United States and doing business with Cuba are two different entities altogether.

Perhaps relations are already underway. We know that Minister McField and Minister Bush recently attended a tourism conference in Cuba and that Cuban bands have appeared in Cayman.

We have a memorandum of agreement regarding the repatriation of refugees from Cuba and Caymanians travel fairly frequently between the two countries.

However there are still many unknowns. Whatever happened to Caymanians who disappeared over Cuba years ago with no explanations to date of their disappearance? These Caymanian families live with this loss today.

What happens to the refugees when we send them back? No clear answer here although recently Chief Immigration Officer, Gerry McGuire said that Cayman has had the same male refugee return here three times after we sent him back.

Why is the United States still persisting in its trade embargo, the EU distanced and more recently why have Mexico and Peru recalled their ambassadors from Havana.

Recent events that may be contributors are stated in USA Today (13/8/2003): “Castro began losing some supporters this spring when his government launched a crackdown on the opposition, jailing 75 dissidents and sentencing them to prison terms of up to 28 years.

“It was the firing-squad executions of three convicted ferry hijackers during that same period that especially troubled some of Castro’s foreign supporters.

“Cuba later justified its use of the death penalty to halt a brewing emigration crisis.

“When the European Union expressed concern about the 11 April executions and the crackdown on dissidents, Castro mocked the prime ministers of Spain and Italy as “fascists” and led huge protests outside those countries’ embassies here.”

Historically speaking, we cannot forget that prior to Fidel Castro, the Batista Regime was brutal and according to media reports, connected to unsavoury businesses out of the US.

Relationships between the United States and Cuba have been a part of Cuba’s history for many years.

For example, it was the US government who intervened on behalf of the revolutionists in April 1898, precipitation the Spanish-American War.

Americans invested heavily in Cuba as allowed by Cuba’s leaders of the day, and when Fidel Castro seized power, an estimated $1 billion in US-owned properties were expropriated by Castro’s government.

In the early weeks of Castro’s regime 550 Cubans were executed, allegedly supporters of Batista’s regime.

Where is Cuba today? This can never truly be known by people on the outside as information on this mysterious and thus far tragic island is not forthcoming beyond its shores.

What we do know is that for many reasons, it bears watching and working with them needs to be considered in a global framework as far as relationships with other countries.

Contact Barrie Quappe “Newstalk” radio show, Rooster 101.9FM. E-mail barriequappe@hurleysgroup.com  

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