LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT CUBA

CUBAN CITIZENS WERE NOT ALLOWED TO USE

OR OWN CELL PHONES UNTIL 2008

CUBA IS THE ONLY COUNTRY THAT AMERICANS NEED

GOVERNMENT PERMISSION TO VISIT. THAT IS, OF

COURSE, BECAUSE THEY CAN’T VISIT

NORTH KOREA AT ALL

HOWEVER, HEMINGWAY WAS ONE AMERICAN WHO

DARED TO LOVE AND VISIT CUBA FREQUENTLY. FOR

THAT MATTER, HE WROTE THE OLD MAN AND THE

SEA AND FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS

WHILE LIVING IN CUBA

UNTIL 1997 CONTACT BETWEEN TOURISTS AND

CUBANS WAS OUTLAWED BY THE COMMUNIST

REGIME IN FEAR THAT THE FOREIGNERS WOULD

PRESENT A DIFFERENT REALITY TO THE LOCALS

FROM THE ONE THE MEDIA HAS BEEN SHOWING

THEM. IN THE PAST NINETEEN YEARS THINGS

HAVE CHANGED FOR THE BETTER

NEARLY 70 PERCENT OF THE 2 MILLION CUBANS

AND CUBAN AMERICANS WHO LIVE IN AMERICA

RESIDE IN FLORIDA

JUST A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO BARACK OBAMA

BECAME THE FIRST SITTING US PRESIDENT TO

VISIT CUBA IN NEARLY A CENTURY, AND THE FIRST

SINCE CASTRO’S REVOLUTION TOPPLED A

US-BACKED STRONGMAN IN 1959

MATIAS PEREZ, A PORTUGUESE MAN WHO LIVED IN

CUBA AND STARTED A CANOPY BUSINESS IN HAVANA,

WAS AN ADVENTURER AND BALLOON PILOT WHO

DISAPPEARED WHILE ATTEMPTING AN AEROSTATIC

FLIGHT FROM THE PLAZA PARQUE CENTRAL ON

JUNE 28, 1856. HIS DISAPPEARANCE HAD SUCH AN

IMPACT ON CUBAN CULTURE THAT WHENEVER

SOMETHING DISAPPEARS INTO THIN AIR CUBANS

SAY, “IT FLEW AWAY LIKE MATIAS PEREZ.”

DESPITE THE FEW POLITICAL ANALYSTS WHO CLAIM

THAT COMMUNISM HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN CUBA

AND THAT MOST CITIZENS ARE HAPPY WITH IT,

THE TRUTH IS CUBA IS ONE OF THE POOREST

COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD, WITH THE AVERAGE

MONTHLY INCOME BEING A DEPRESSING £15

AT AN ASTONISHING 99.8 PERCENT, CUBA HAS ONE

OF THE HIGHEST LITERACY RATES IN THE WORLD