> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://ktna.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Susitna Writer's Voice--Journey to the Forbidden Isle #2, by Tony Martin - URL: https://ktna.org/susitna-writers-voice-journey-to-the-forbidden-isle-2-by-tony-martin/ - Published: 2015-06-15T08:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2017-10-23T06:24:38.000Z - Description: When it became possible for residents of this country to travel to Cuba, Talkeetna resident Tony Martin wasted no time getting there. He wanted to share his experience, and knowledge - Author: KTNA Staff - Tags: Susitna Writer's Voice, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 01:28 ![Cuba22](https://ktna.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Cuba22.jpg)When it became possible for residents of this country to travel to Cuba, Talkeetna resident Tony Martin wasted no time getting there. He wanted to share his experience, and knowledge gained, with others. Here’s the second of three parts of his story: I recently had the opportunity to visit Cuba. I wrote down my impressions in a short piece, which I have titled: “A Journey to the Forbidden Isle.” Hopefully, this travelogue will provide an insight into the history, politics, economics, and the people of an incredibly diverse and complicated country. The opinions expressed are my own. I’d like to thank KTNA for the opportunity to share my composition with their listeners. Now to continue with Part II: Che and The Sugar Train. Our guide Yanna was 26 and was college educated. She could converse knowledgeably in Spanish, English, and French. In between tours, she would study German. In a worldly way, she advised our group: “In Cuba, anything is possible”. Photos and text follow: My fellow travelers were from Australia and New Zealand. We left Havana in a min-van. Enroute to Playa Giron, Yanna related the story of the Invasion at the Bay of Pigs. She hesitated while looking at me not wanting to cause offense. There was a mutual pause. From the Cuban perspective the assault was supported by the USA-CIA in a move against the newly won independence of Cuba. She continued. The amphibious assault failed because the CIA underestimated the will of the Cuban people for the Revolution and the lack of support by President Kennedy for the invasion. She finished with: “This was the first defeat of USA imperialism in the Western Hemisphere”. And then she asked me if this was what US students were taught. Afloat between Playa Giron and Playa Larga, the temperature of the water was ideal, it’s taste somewhat salty, and the feel buoyant. The sky above was a pale blue with a few wispy clouds. The smell of the air was fresh. Below was a clear view of the bottom with a solitary red crab and a few dark fish darting about. A gentle breeze caused the waves against the limestone bank to make a gurgling sound. Across the turquoise blue water was the flat outline of the Zapata swamp. Christopher Columbus said about Cuba: “the most beautiful land human eyes have ever beheld”. It was hard to believe, half a century ago at this peaceful spot, an event happened that caused a collision of great magnitude. Like the shifting of the tectonic plates below, above, the faded Spanish Empire, the USA Imperium, The Soviet Union, and the Revolution of Fidel & Che impacted, one upon the other. Every country has its national heroes. And Cuba, for such a small country has built large monuments to honor hers. The mausoleum and statue of Che Guevara at Santa Clara was sacred ground for Cuba. Che, hailing from Argentina, was a polymath, a doctor by training, a guerrilla warrior by trade. In the eyes of the CIA, he was a dangerous man, an antagonist to US economic interests in South America and Africa. His assassination established the man as myth, legend, and superstar. Yanna said that Cuban children are taught to be like Che, a term meaning something akin to trusted friend and bonded brother. Located on a small hill overlooking the area surrounding Santa Clara, the large statue stood atop a mausoleum and museum. Walking into an underground vault, the feeling was solemn and reverent. The floors were marble, the ceiling was made of blocks of reddish wood arranged wavelike to look like an undulating forest canopy. At one end, a number of plants were growing. On top of a small mound, an eternal flame burned On the wall of the crypt were vaults with the remains of the heroes of the revolution, each marked with a small raised fresco type portrait and a red carnation. Che’s was differentiated by a small illuminated white star, similar to the one on the Cuban flag which signified unity. Outside, the national banner fluttered. It displayed a red triangle with blue and white stripes: the color red signified the sacrifice of blood and the sides of the equilateral triangle signified equality, liberty, and fraternity. A white star was set inside the triangle. The national motto of Cuba is “fatherland or death, we will will”. The fervor of Revolutions is similar: New Hampshire’s State Motto became: “Live free or die”. The flag of Texas, has a Lone Star , not in a red triangle , but in a blue rectangle. In another room, there was a museum tracing the life of Che. A couple of displays caught my attention. In one were the tools of a revolutionary: a radio, a watch, a pistol, and a rifle. In another there was an obscure photo of Che with his head shaved clean, Yanna said: “like a mango”, Cuban slang meaning ‘desirable person’. Che looked a doctor who had aged prematurely. He didn’t look imposing at all. Interestingly, there were no large memorials to Fidel in Cuba In Camaguey, Hugo, our guide would say that Castro was a big, physically imposing man, who also had that common touch. The guide said that Fidel, a lawyer by training, could talk knowledgeably on lots of subjects for hours but not come to a point. Whatever one thought of his policies, the guide said: “He commanded respect”. A person who started a revolution, survived countless attempts on his life, and had lived to old age was someone who could inspire both awe and fear. It will be interesting to see how he is honored in Cuba when he passes. (The Sugar Train) On board the narrow gauge steam train were tourists from Israel, Turkey, Denmark, & Japan. We departed Trinidad and headed for the Valle de Ingenios (Valley of the Sugar Mills). The depot, the three cars: an engine , a lounge , and a passenger, were out of “Back to the Future”. There was no glass to obstruct the view of the countryside and the clicking clack of steel on steel was to the beat of uno, dos, tres, cha cha cha. When Haiti became an independent republic in 1791, French farmers emigrated to Cuba and introduced expertise in growing sugar cane, tobacco, and coffee. Many became wealthy by the labor of people brought from Africa as slaves. By the 20th century, the USA had become the major buyer of sugar from Cuba, the world’s leading supplier. When Fidel evicted the ‘occupiers’ and introduced land reforms, he relied on the Soviets to buy Cuba’s major crop. He did not heed Che’s advice to diversify the economy. When the ‘Evil Empire’ collapsed, so did Cuba’s sugar market. And the country began to endure it’s “special period”. We reached an old sugar plantation at Iznaga . There was a tall rickety wooden watch tower which gave a view of the surrounding valley. Once, there were once 70 mills in this area. The Escambray Mountains formed the horizon. The two pillars of slavery are the fear of and the actuality of violence. The slave fears pain and deprivation. The slave holder fears rebellion and loss of position. In the Western Hemisphere, racism was introduced into the economic equation. And everywhere power has the capacity to corrupt . When Carlos Miguel de Cespedes freed his slaves in 1868, he set in motion the fight by all Cubans for their independence. Cespedes is considered a ‘founding father’ of modern Cuba. Earlier, when leaving DC for Havana… Baltimore, Maryland was burning…..our guide in Camaguey mentioned that he had difficulty dealing with the different interpretations of “political correctness” of various countries. Was it native or indigenous? Was it OK to use creole, mulatto, black, or white. In Cuba, idealistically, he said there were people of different shades, pale to dark, but there were no Spanish Cubans, Asian Cubans, European Cubans or African Cubans, just Cubans. Back in Trindad’s cobbled streets, Jesus, home-stay owner, bartender, chef, musician, dancer, family man, had all the enthusiasm and energy of an entrepreneur as he handled tourists coming and going and organized their meals, rooms, & activities. In between talking on the phone and directing traffic, the ‘mayor’ had time to play the bongos while his daughter knocked the clavels, and Yanna shook the maracas. It’s was difficult to understand the ownership of land and property in Cuba. Along the rail line there were many, what looked like subsistence farms in need of upgrade or repair. Elsewhere in Cuba one would see large state run farms with modern equipment or cooperatives run by local farmers. In any case, across Cuba , it was mentioned that the young people were migrating to the cities. Yanna had shown us the ‘libreta’, the ration book each Cuban family receives, and which allocates each household a minimum amount of food. At a local city market, a guide had explained, that in general, a farmer would have a contract with the government to buy 90% of his crop. The remaining 10%, the farmer could sell on his own. The guide said the system had its inefficiencies. There were 24 CUPS (Cuban Peso) to a CUP (Convertible Peso), which was based on the U.S. dollar. The guide, streetwise, said: “the CUP was socialism of the poor, by the poor, for the poor.” He added that some Cubans no longer used the libreta or CUPS. With international trade creating employment, people were able to buy flat screen TVs and motorbikes withs CUCS. The guide shrugged off my comment: “In the USA, socialism was of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich.” However many economies and currencies there were in Cuba, one thing was certain, the tourist trade was of a free wheeling small market type. One guide had said that education, health, & safe water were important to Cubans, but that an economy was needed to pay for them. The guide, echoing others, had been hopeful about restoring ‘good relations’ with the USA. Tourism, not sugar, was the new cash crop. Later, when back in DC, talking to a friend who works for the Census Bureau, my suggestion to him was that the classifications of state recognized persons needed to be simplified to: mortal human being without distinction, corporation, robot, and other. That and an embargo of Cuba made no sense. This concludes Part II of “Journey to the Forbidden Isle”. I would like to thank KTNA for allowing me to share this with their listeners.