Republic of Cuba

The Caribbean island nation of Cuba is fascinating. It is a fraught with contradictions; a relatively good health care system (the infant mortality rate exceeds the U. S.), a 99% literacy rate, but rampantly gross human rights violations, and a repressive government which has crippled the economy of a nation which is rich in Caribbean culture.

Cuban culture is influenced by it's melting pot of cultures, especially Spanish and African. Cuban music, literature, and cuisine is rich, and the nation's passion is sports.

It is astounding to reflect on what might have been over the past 60 years in this nation of 11 million creative Latinos, a nation just 90 miles from Miami with the largest land mass of all Caribbean islands. As Cuban / American relations begin to normalize and with Castro officially out of power, the creativity and initiative of the people of this culturally rich island will at last hopefully be unleashed. The potential for a 21st century Cuban rebirth and renaissance is fascinating and exciting to contemplate. The keys will be thawing Cuban /American diplomatic relations, and a climate being created to attract private investment.

I would like very much to visit The Republic of Cuba some day. The images above give a flavor of Cuban life on the streets. Economic development has obviously been repressed.