Richard Grenier.WorldNetDaily.com.
Saturday May 19, 2001
Fidel must be feeling in a pretty good mood right now as he studies the big
beautiful June issue of Cigar Aficionado. There it is on the cover set against a
splendid blue sky, white beach, trim, tanned back of a blond young woman the big
letters: "Cuba The Best Resort Hotels Nightclubs Restaurants and Much More."
A little lower in bright blue against the white sand: "Plus: Travel to Cuba
How to Get There How to Invest." He's probably thinking what medal to pin
on the member of his staff who helped this issue come to fruition.
The magazine, whose subhead reads "The Good Life Magazine for Men,"
is unabashedly devoted to cigars. Its glossy covers have borne the likeness of
many a celebrity -- usually but not always -- clutching a lit cigar: Denzel
Washington, Pierce Brosnan, John Travolta, Chuck Norris, Gene Hackman, the male
cast of "The Sopranos," Kevin Costner (the latter having recently
spent some face time with the Bearded One himself, showing Castro his "Thirteen
Days" on the Cuban missile crisis).
Back in May-June 1999, the cover displayed photographs of Clinton and Castro
between the full-sized query in red: "Cuba: Is It Time to End the Embargo?"
and in smaller type face: "Plus a Complete Travel Guide for Americans."
You might just get the idea the magazine had some vested interest in Fidel's
little island. Advertisers in the publication, by the way, are about as top
drawer as a magazine can get: Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, Hyatt Hotels, Virgin
Atlantic, Cartier, Palm, Bombay Sapphire, The Plaza. Needless to say, the bulk
of the ads in the magazine are for various brands of quality cigars -- many
bearing the warning from the Surgeon General to the effect that: "Cigars
are not a safe alternative to cigarettes."
The special section on Cuba opens with a double-page spread of the cover
model still with her back to camera facing white sand and dwarf palm trees. The
text reads: "Dreaming of Cuba," "The fabled island begins to
offer choices for sophisticated travelers" by James Suckling, a writer
identified as the magazine's European editor and Cuba expert, who "has
visited Cuba repeatedly over the past few years, and spent time in the fields
with tobacco growers and some of the most respected people in Cuba's cigar
business." That there are a number of detailed articles on Cuban cigars
should then come as no surprise.
Do you get any real feel of what life in Havana is like? Well, take the
piece on "Havana Nights" by George Brightman that begins: "Havana
by night isn't what it used to be. The streets are usually quite empty and the
lights are dim, giving it an air of a place out of history." And after a
rundown of places like the Macumba, "one of La Havana's largest, and right
now, hottest [nightclubs],"we end up with "A glass of rum, a good
cigar and sweet music. What more could you ask? Just a few more Havana nights."
No mention of the teenage hookers working likely tourist hangouts.
Suckling writes on restaurants, noting "securing a table in one of the
few good restaurants in Cuba is difficult these days." And goes on to
mention the top places to eat in Havana may represent only a couple of hundred
seats. He informs potential tourists there is a growing middle class on the
island -- without backing it up in any way -- but tells us "most
restaurants, especially tourist places, are far too expensive for locals."
When I visited Cuba a few years back, no ordinary Cuban was allowed to set his
foot inside a tourist restaurant, money or no money.
There is an article on "Getting to Cuba: "How does an American
travel to the forbidden island?" To be fair, it explains pretty accurately
the complications and legalities of an American getting there, but points out in
1999 (last year for which there are statistics) 22,000 Americans went to Cuba
without authorization, "though some experts estimate the total was much
higher." About 82,000 that same year went legally on charter flights
originating in New York and Miami.
(In the interests of full disclosure, I went to Cuba as a member of an
official delegation from the Screenwriters Guild -- 12 fidelistas plus my wife
Cynthia and myself as members, you might say, of the opposition.)
The article on investing in Cuba is perhaps the most interesting in the
special section. By Sebastiaan Berger, identified as a Dutch-trained lawyer with
his partner Cameron Young, identified as being admitted to the bar in Canada and
receiving a master of law degree from Duke University, note that Cuba has become
one of the world's fastest growing tourism destinations in the Caribbean, and
talk encouragingly of how Cuba is establishing a streamlined administrative
process for foreign investments.
Basically, except for a little quick once over of Castro's coming to power,
you might think this whole special section was devoted to some charming,
somewhat undeveloped Third World country. The lot of the ordinary Cuban and the
daily restrictions on his life is not of concern to the editors, or presumably
the readers. And, yes, you won't be surprised they would like to see the
American embargo lifted so one and all can enjoy the potential golden
opportunities that lie 90 miles off our shore.
For what it's worth, down in the left hand corner of the cover along with
the bar code, you find the magazine costs $4.95 in the U.S., $5.95 in Canada, 5
pounds in the U.K. and $6 in Cuba. Interesting, in that Americans can't bring
dollars into Cuba -- or spend them there. Regulations used to be pretty strict
about Cubans possessing any U.S. money.
Richard Grenier is a novelist and journalist. His latest work is
'Capturing the Culture.'
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