24 years ago, this was the Cuba I knew
“It’s like a starving person buying a Cadillac,” one Cuban said about the 1991 Pan American Games.
Every day it seems another story comes out about Cuba — about its people, its economy, its politics and, most important, its future. Last week, the United States and Cuba announced they have agreed to open embassies in each other’s capitals.
To me, this is all more than just words and pictures about a once-forbidden island. To me, this is very real. I’ve been to Cuba. Though the trip was 24 years ago, the Cuban news ignites memories that pop through my mind like something on SnapChat.
In July 1991, I covered the Pan American Games, held the year before each Summer Olympics. Staged mainly around Havana, they were unremarkable for the competition, particularly from the U.S. perspective — but unforgettable for the images.
The indelible moment: Fidel Castro did the wave — twice.
With a big smile on his face, he threw his hands in the air and stood up at the proper moment along with all the other spectators. The first time I saw him was at an indoor event — boxing if I remember correctly — and the other was at the closing ceremonies. Dictator becomes fan boy. Toronto will host this year’s Pam Am Games July 10-26. Modern city. Modern amenities. Can’t be nearly as intriguing as Havana.
The organization I worked for then, Scripps Howard News Service, also sent our Pentagon reporter, who was fluent in Spanish and had been to Cuba. With so many media members there, we anticipated a certain amount of freedom. So one day he and I decided to walk through downtown Havana to see if we could talk to locals.
We first stopped at a store and bought several cans of beer and carried them in the open, kind of like bait. After a little while, my colleague noticed a few young men following us. So we stopped and offered them a drink. We were near the National Capitol Building, which was the seat of government before the revolution and bears an eerie resemblance to the U.S. Capitol.
We sat on the steps, drank and talked to the men about life in Cuba. I don’t remember much about the conversation, but I do remember this sobering scene: As we would finish a beer, young boys would come up and ask for the can. I soon noticed them rubbing those cans hard against the steps and ultimately prying off the tops. We asked one of the men with us what the kids were doing. We were told that families had so few cups and glasses, that they were turning the beer cans into drinking implements to take home. Among other memories:
The Hotel Habana Libre, the media housing, where I was one of the fortunate guests to have a seat on my toilet.
The Floridita, a bar in Havana credited as being the birthplace of the daiquiri, a favorite of Ernest Hemingway. I can’t say it was the best daiquiri I ever drank, but it certainly comes with the best story.
Making it to Catholic Mass, first in a neighborhood parish and then downtown, where another reporter and I tried to en- gage the priest afterward. He was polite but did not want to talk about politics or oppression.
Getting word from the states that some alternate who barely made the field had won the PGA Championship, a guy we never heard of named John Daly.
There are also memories of stores with barely anything on the shelves, of people with vacant looks sitting on balconies of apartment buildings, of Cubans who would not give their names but could not hide their resentment at the money being spent on a sporting event. “It’s like a starving person buying a Cadillac,” one man told me.
For whatever they cost, the Games did succeed at the venues. All were filled with fans. Cuba won the most gold medals with 140 and was second to the U.S. in overall medals out of 39 countries with 265.
Did the Games have lasting impact? I doubt it. I would love to see the condition of those venues today. And I’m not sure there is reason to think the quality of life has improved.
That could all be changing. We’ll see as this new approach from the U.S. evolves what the impact on the country will be. And then maybe I might just go back.