A TRAIL OF broken promises stretches more than fifty years from the time that Fidel Castro picked up the reins of power in Cuba. He envisioned the island becoming an industrial giant rivaling America. He published cookbooks to help Cuban housewives cope with the glut of locally grown food that he promised would be the harvest of his agricultural initiatives. He warned his citizens to temper their consumption of beef or they might suffer gout when beef became cheaply available under his agrarian reforms. He promised that he would force the imperialists in America to pay their debts and that Cuba would become the wealthiest of nations. None of this came to pass. Yet, thousands still assemble to cheer his latest vision for their nation. These long suffering Cubans are immutable proof that, as Alexander Pope said, “Hope springs eternal...”

Unfortunately, so long as Castro lives, there is no hope. It is now safe to say that he is the seed of a delusion that his people nurture daily. Those who failed to embrace it have left for more prosperous shores, carrying with them an unshakeable distaste for Communism. It is interesting that these expatriates have not been able to share that vision with their fellow Hispanic-Americans. Whereas the Cuban-American community is fiercely conservative, casting their lot with political forces that eschew collectivism, most other Hispanic-Americans seek entitlements by supporting progressive politicians. One must wonder if their attitudes would change if they were exposed to the harsh realities of life in a society dominated by an economy driven by central planning such as exists in Castro's Cuba.

Will life soften in Cuba once Castro is gone? It is doubtful. A bureaucracy has grown to perpetuate his vision and style. Dictators may be overthrown and pedagogues may die, but bureaucracies are forever, and they're virtually impossible to redirect. Neither Fidel nor Raul appear to direct the day-to-day operations of the secret police and yet the human rights violations perpetrated by this force continues relentlessly. 

One might think that I am too harsh in my judgments of Fidel and the government he has spawned. Possibly. However, people who empower themselves to micro-manage the lives of other people must be prepared for such criticism. The simple fact is that centralized government exaggerates the effects of bad decision making. Errors in judgment are felt at all levels of a communal society such as the one Castro inspired in Cuba. However, societies in which people are trusted to make their own decisions rarely feel the adverse effects of bad decisions by individuals.

The Cuban people – at least those who have allowed Castro and his government to remain in power – also must share the blame for their plight. Ultimately, as we declared our independence, our nation proved that governments exist at the consent of the governed, and that people have the right to abolish them and form new ones, if they are destructive to the people's life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Fortunately for those who escaped tyranny in Cuba and unfortunately for Cuba that a haven was so near to its shores, those who might have brought down Fidel are now basking in liberty on these shores. As their generation dies, the hope that they might return fades, and their children, raised as Americans, evince little inclination to fulfill their parent's dreams.

Ultimately, beyond Castro's broken promises to his people, the Cubans suffer most from failing to take the reins of their own destiny. How many times must he break his promises before they wake up to this fact? 

DON'T GO RACING for your passports yet, but restrictions on travel to Cuba have been eased, a little. Permission will be granted in certain narrow circumstances: travel for medical or agricultural business sectors, or education and religious purposes may be allowed. More importantly, you be able to fly there directly from New Orleans International Airport. It's not much, but it's a crack in the wall.

For me, it's time to get the book ready for publication. No more fussing with the details. That's the problem with perfectionists. It's never good enough. That's the way I've always been with writing projects. I just won't let them go until someone drags them out of my hands. Well, someone has gotten a good hold and is dragging this one away.
I'm guessing that any major change in U.S.-Cuban relations will have a marketing impact on Rebels on the Mountain. I have dreams of people reading it while sitting on the beaches in Cuba or cruising the Caribbean just as they read Michener's Hawaii on the beaches of Waikiki.

I've promised the publisher that I'll have the manuscript in his hands next week. Of course, if it isn't there, I'll blame the delay on my wife. She's now editing it.

AS I RESEARCHED Cuba in preparation of writing Rebels on the Mountain, I was reminded of the general lack of interest in Latin America evinced among Americans. Indeed, had I not studied Spanish in high school, I expect that the area south of the United States would have remained terra incognita to me. I suspect that my lack of knowledge was not unusual among my countrymen except for those of Hispanic origins. The lack of congeniality between North America and its Latin neighbors attests to a similar ignorance among those representing the United States, especially the U.S. State Department.

Disinterest in Latin America does not appear to have historical precedent. One of America's earliest foreign policy statements, the Monroe Doctrine, established the premise that the United States had vital interests in all of the Americas and that it would consider any further attempt to colonize in the Western Hemisphere an act of aggression. 

Cuba, especially, has been on the American mind ever since the United States came into existence. References to it frequently appear in the writings of our founders. Not only was the island nation considered a valuable piece of real estate sitting on the front porch of North America, but also, it had great strategic value. Just as England served as the staging point for the invasion of Western Europe during World War II, Cuba is perfectly situated to support an attack on America's underbelly. Indeed, one is tempted to think our founding fathers prescient – could they have foreseen the island's strategic importance as a base for offensive missiles? 

Unfortunately, Anglo prejudices of racial and cultural superiority, especially vis-à-vis Hispanics and native American populations, has precluded congenial relations with Latin American nations in general. Its prejudices vis-à-vis those of African extraction has had an even more detrimental effect on relations with the Caribbean nations, especially Cuba, inasmuch as most of the population there has at least some black African ancestry. For example, Washington and Adams feared that Cuban independence would have a significant impact on the slave owning colonies of the American south, and they discouraged any such insurrection on the island. In the late 19th Century, an American army, including Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, usurped a native victory over the Spanish, believing that the Cubans were incapable of governing themselves. Then, in the mid 20th Century, as America wrestled with its own demons of racial bigotry and discrimination, Castro rose to lead a successful revolution against the puppet of American businessmen and mafioso who used their influence in Washington to insure continued support for their puppet Presidente, Fulgencio Batista. They seemed convinced that the corrupt dictator, himself a mulato, was easily managed and could help insure that the status quo would be maintained and their profit streams would continue uninterrupted. 

Thus, in writing Rebels on the Mountain, I had to confront these prejudices head on. It seemed to me that placing my protagonist in an interracial romance and marriage was the best literary device for accomplishing this.

Once upon a time, long ago, as a high school junior, I had the temerity to write an essay advocating the mongrelization of the races as a method of alleviating the pressures that led people to war. Actually, I not only proposed racial intermarriage, but also, intermarriage of people of different faiths and nationalities. I left no stone unturned in my proposal to create a new world order in which all people would be denied any source of social affront. In truth, I didn't use the word “mongrelization.” I wasn't aware that was the term that the Ku Klux Klan applied to my great idea long before I thought of it. Of course, they were adverse to mongrelization and would harry interracial couples mercilessly. Imagine, then, the reception I received when my 11th grade history teacher had me read my essay wherein I announced my proposal for an internationally accepted and enforced law that no two persons of the same race, religion, or nationality would be permitted to marry and bear children.

It was, of course, a childish idea, but the brouhaha that followed was not quickly forgotten or forgiven. My father was especially upset with me. 

Younger readers of Rebels on the Mountain may not get it – what is the big deal about interracial couples? Well, it was a very big deal in the mid 20th Century. Such couples were not tolerated anywhere in the United States, especially in the American South. I remember a young soldier from the church where my family worshiped, who returned from Japan with a war bride. They were fairly ostracized from the congregation though no overt harm was done. Had he returned with a black bride, I am not certain that they would have dared showed themselves in the church. Remember, we're talking about a church in Baltimore – not the deep South, but Maryland was a slave-owning, plantation state in its early history.

Interestingly, Fidel Castro and his most infamous commandante, Che Guevara, had no black African ancestry. However, they were idolized by their followers who were mostly black or mulato.They were well educated in a land of the illiterate. Both came from privileged families in a land of poverty. I worried over this relationship greatly while both researching and writing Rebels on the Mountain. In the end, I could find no definitive answer and had to speculate. What was the source of the visceral connection between Castro and the Cuban people that allowed him to succeed so quickly and completely?    

ANTHONY BOURDAIN VISITED Cuba in the most recent episode of his Travel Channel Series No Reservations and was treated to a grand tour of Havana by the Seguridad de Estado (SDE) – Cuba's Secret Police. 

Inasmuch as Americans have little experience with secret police I will pause here to offer a brief explanation. Ordinary police forces serve and protect citizens by investigating crimes and apprehending criminals. Secret police serve and protect political regimes and states. Their name derives from the fact that they operate in secrecy so that they may observe otherwise law-abiding citizens who may threaten the extant political power in thought or in word without actually breaking any codified law. Thus, the main difference between them lies in the fact that ordinary policemen are reactive to crime, while secret policemen are proactive in apprehending before they can imperil the state.

So, how did Bourdain get involved with a secret police force? The answer to that question is wrapped up in the fact that eighty percent of the income derived from tourism in Cuba is used to finance the SDE, and the major purpose of Bourdain's show is to promote tourism. Unfortunately, prior to Castro's rise to power, most of the tourist industry in Cuba was owned and operated by mafioso. Since the SDE is the closest thing they have to a mafia, it was only logical that they should take over. Thus, the SDE was very interested in making sure that he met plenty of smiling Cuban faces to photograph, visited markets brimming with fresh produce, and ate at their best restaurants. Interestingly, the only quality restaurant that he visited featured a Basque chef from Spain serving non-Cuban cuisine. 

Almost every episode of No Reservations depends on local contacts to steer the production team to places that typify the local cuisine. Most often these guides are chefs themselves or food critics or restaurant owners. However, in this episode, there was no attempt to pass off the Cuban guides as anyone connected to food. The hungry look in their eyes was more wolfish than epicurean. 

Bourdain's SDE handlers led him to a marketplace where he praised the people for the quantity and quality of locally grown produce. We could see for ourselves the source of this bounty as Bourdain strolled through city parks amid rows of corn growing in place of lawns. He never mentioned that Castro had personally banned all such urban gardens until he realized that a starving populace might nurture an anti-revolutionary movement. 

Much of Bourdain's non-food related travelogue related to Havana. He lauded Castro for not defiling the timeless beauty of the city by erecting the same kind of glass and steel monoliths that characterize so many other cities that previously fell under the Soviet sphere of influence. This observation would be laugh-out-loud funny if it weren't so tragically misguided. Castro had no choice. He had no economy to support any sort of development or re-development. What little free capital he could scrape together was spent on military adventures in Africa and Latin America. And, yes, the timeless beauty of the city can be seen if you use a lot of imagination and ignore gaping holes, cracking streets and sidewalks, and peeling paint on every wall.

Inasmuch as I was blessed with a remarkable ability to filter out political agendas like so much noisome static, I have been a fan of Bourdain's series for several seasons. I recognize that he is a undereducated though extremely literate chef. Thus, I accept his commentary on food while ignoring his political statements with ease in much the same manner that I can still watch Jane Fonda wiggle and writhe her obvious assets in Barbarella. I'm not fantasizing doing anything with her brain. Oh, and I'm not fantasizing doing anything with Anthony. 

Be sure to read Jack's novel, Rebels on the Mountain, available at all major eBook retailers. Click here for more information    

CNN AND OTHERS are reporting that Cuba's Fidel Castro has proclaimed that Bin Laden's killing was an assassination, a simple act of murder in front of the man's own family. Yes, that seems to cover the story pretty accurately and Fidel is right. 

So? Bin Laden inspired, financed, led, and later praised the assassination of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. This is not idle speculation. He claimed "credit" on many occasions. It seems equitable to me that U.S. armed forces should exact justice in this manner. Just what is Castro's problem?

Actually, his problem is his hatred of the United States. It drives him. It inspires him. It is his raison d'être. How sad. It's a shame that he lost his way apparently because President Eisenhower snubbed him. 
Fidel was not a communist in those days regardless of what he later claimed. He was a syndical-anarchist, and later embraced communism only to attract the sponsorship of the Soviet Union when the United States began sponsoring his opponents. 

Fidel Castro inspired the revolution in Cuba to depose the dictator, Fulgencio Batista, and restore the nation's constitution, not to launch a communist state. Unfortunately, he lacked respect for the fundamental right and ability of the Cuban people to govern themselves and used his popularity to assume the role of dictator.  His paternal instincts are similar to all who have subjugated a people while pretending to administer their lives for their own good. Yes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Now, after all of these years, condemning all actions of the United States has become as automatic as the patellar reflex that occurs when the doctor strikes your knee with his little rubber hammer. His once quick mind is now simply a morass of hate-filled utterances.

How sad...