Doug Casey on Cuba

Editor’s Note: Fidel Castro, the longtime Cuban politician and revolutionary, recently passed away. Doug Casey had the chance to meet the Cuban leader back in 1994. Here is an article Doug wrote about Cuba and his encounters with Fidel. It was written in the 1990s, but it’s still as relevant as ever.
Half the fun of Cuba is getting there.
I was there in the 1990s with about a dozen financiers from Europe. The contingent from England, Norway, and Switzerland came over together from London, changing planes in Miami for Panama. When an impertinent customs clerk asked one of them where he was going, he innocently responded ‘Cuba.’ All six men were hustled into a locked room, with all kinds of armed and uniformed types milling about, and were detained there for two hours while agents ran background checks on them. The government couldn’t have cared less if they missed their connection. Your tax dollars at work, winning friends and influencing people for America.
It used to be there were no restaurants, no shops, no cars, and few hotels in Cuba. People were malnourished, and even at a couple of official receptions the staples were olives and Spam, because that was what they were able to barter for.

This post was published at International Man