Canadian born and raised.
OK, That now makes sense. US citizens are not allowed travel to Cuba except for humanitarian reasons.
::: Soapbox Warning :::
I was put aside by how much the general public of Cuba still very much hates Americans. For over half a century, the current dictatorial Castro regime has blamed America for all of the shortfalls experienced by their general population.
Hungry? blame America.
Poor? blame America.
Have to wait 2 days to see a Cuban doctor? blame America.
Have no access to clothes or other needed goods? blame America.
I have a number of stories about Cuba, and I hope you do not mid that I share...
Donations
When we went to Cuba, we brought down loads of over-the-counter medicines, used clothes, etc. to donate to an elementary school. Typical of a communist society, our plans were changed in the 11th hour when someone realized that it would not look good to receive charity from a bunch of Americans. Instead, we were instructed to drop our goods off at a local Masonic lodge for "distribution to other, poorer countries".
Now the government operated stores that they have (non-convertible currency only) were always void of all goods except on Tuesdays. Why these stores were even open, having absolutely nothing to sell, is beyond me. A few days after we dropped off our goods, we saw them in the local store. Over the counter medicine and used clothes (tee shirts and blue jeans) were the only thing on sale that Saturday. My wife saw this, pointed to the bin of clothes, and said.. "look familiar"? They did not even bother to change the box we had the clothes pack in. All I could say to my wife was "SHHHHHH".
So their government was taking our charity and selling it back to their own people. My wife was shocked by this corruption, but having spent too much time in communist countries, I was used to it.
This was only on scenario of the impossibility of it all to those that know better. The only problem is that the Cuban people do not know any better, so they will suffer, uncomplaining, in silence and continue to hate America.
Cigars
As I mentioned above, the 11th hour change of plans is a typical trait of a communist country.
We were scheduled to visit a cigar factory, and in the 11th hour, the plans changed. Instead we got to spend the evening hearing about how wonderful the government of Cuba is by an "Artist" who's only distinction was that we once shook hands with Picasso. Not wanting to be rude, we sat through the whole torturous ordeal.
After returning to the hotel, while still in the hall, I whispered to my wife "follow my lead". As soon as we entered our room, and the door closed behind us, I exclaimed loudly to my wife...
"Can you believe that we came all the way to Cuba and don't get a chance to try one of their fine cigars?"
My wife chimed in with "Yea, and how disappointing that I never got to see that factory".
We kept this up for several minutes, ending the conversation with "well let's go down and have some dinner." and did precisely that.
When we returned to the room, there on the pillow of the bed was a nice bunch of cigars. It is important to note that we were the only members of our party to receive this gift.
Later, when we were outside, my wife asked "do you really think that our room is bugged?? I just looked at her and held back a chuckle. "You are so cute" was all that I said to her.
Yes, we were being bugged. As part of the first group of Americans to visit Cuba in over 11 months, you bet we were being bugged.
Going off the Itinerary
We were finally flying home. Unfortunately, our plan was delayed waiting to be fueled up (did I mention that this was a communist operation?). To avoid having us wait for many hours and this very small, crowded, run down airport, our guide (aka handler), decided to make an unscheduled stop at the statue that overlooks Havana harbor. The problem is that it was unscheduled..
We arrived at the statue and got off the bus to enjoy the nice overlook and stretch our legs. We were there for a matter of only 1 or 2 minutes before about a dozen cars came screeching up to the bus. Out came dozens of men all dressed in blue blazers, each having an earphone in one ear.
Not surprised, but enjoying the state of shock my wife was going through, I asked my wife if these men "looked familiar?". After she though about it for a while, she realized that there were always men dressed like this everywhere we went. She had no idea that we were being watched at all times.
