Feature


Hugo Chávez did not have to complain of a whiff of sulphur in Havana. The United States, (led, Mr Chávez, believes, by the devil incarnate) declined to send even a low-level observer delegation to the 14th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, held this year in Havana. But for anyone who is anyone in the developing world, the city was the place to be that September weekend. 56 heads of state and government attended. The NH Parque Central Hotel can now boast that 19 Prime Ministers and Presidents stayed there at the same time. The NAM cast list includes some of the least popular men in Washington. As Presidents Ahmadinejad of Iran, Chávez of Venezuela, Lukashenko of Belarus and Mugabe of Zimbabwe gathered for the final group photo, plenty of US commentators were already dismissing the meeting as nothing more than a gallery of rogues… read the full article in the print version ….

Visitors to the Cuban capital frequently remark on how busy the city seems to be, how the life of the city is inescapable and either delightful or irritating, depending on their disposition and expectations as a tourist in a socialist Caribbean island. The fabric of the city is often crumbling, yet Cuban life goes on with a kind of cheerful self-absorption and confidence despite (or because of?) the lack of material trappings and 'advances' that we are used to in western cities.

The very fabric of Havana within a socialist state is a paradox. How can a city that is so spectacularly stocked with rich architectural examples from the 16th century onwards, built with the fruits of Spanish colonialism, Cuban capitalism and then an insidious new form of American economic colonization, become part of the new socialist order?. . . How can the modern habaneros inhabit the city so blithely and embrace it with such confidence and affection?

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…Hemingway ended up staying in Cuba for twenty-two years, keeping Pilar at Cojímar, a small fishing village east of Havana. . . It was from Cojímar that he sailed daily with Gregorio Fuentes, who looked after his boat. The saltiest of Old Salts, Fuentes lived to the age of 2004, fascinating visitors to Cojímar with tales of accompanying Hemingway on all his adventures, from hunting German submarines in Cuban coastal waters during the second World War, to battling with giant fish, to holding court with admirers in his favorite haunts…

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		The restoration of Old Havana is internationally acclaimed as one of the world's most innovative and exciting projects of urban renaissance. Catapulted overnight from relative obscurity amongst his dusty tomes into the public eye, Leal effectively became over the next few years Chief Executive of Habaguanex, a holding company to which belong all Old Havana’s hotels, restaurants, and other properties. …. read the full article in the print version