On this day and every day, especially on Fathers Day, I recall my dear old dad and how much he loved my mom, and his island in the sun. I have fond memories and wonderful recollections of living with my family in El Bosque de La Habana inside the Republic of Cuba.
One fateful day, my family decided to leave after Castro nationalized the banks. I was a a young boy then, and even though I had no idea what was happening, since then I have always wanted to return, but I have never been successful.
This island paradise in the Caribbean consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de Pinos, de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital.
Cuba has seen many years of hardships, including US sanctions, which were intended to topple the Castro government. Cuba defied predictions that it would not survive the collapse of its one-time supporter, the Soviet Union, now Russia.
Since the fall of Fulgencio Batista Cuba has been a one-party state since the 60's led by The infamous Castro Brothers. They have exercised control over virtually all aspects of Cuban life through the Communist Party and its affiliated mass organizations, the government bureaucracy and the state security apparatus.
My dad and mom have since passed on, but I would love to return to Cuba one day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_qPe_snpgY
I miss you, DaD, MoM and my paradise island of CUBA.
a quote from recent reading ...
“The first thing to define totalitarian society, whether of the Right or of the Left, is a single party, and the single party has no reason to destroy itself. This is why the only society capable of evolution and liberalization, the only one that deserves both our critical and our active support is the society that involves a plurality of parties as a part of its structure. It alone allows one to denounce, hence to correct, injustice and crime."
~ Albert Camus, “Kadar had his day of fear,”
in Resistance, Rebellion, and Death, (New York: Knopf, 1961) p. 161