A Cuban Affair

And it is the older, wealthy western woman who has first dibs on him. ``I got sick of being asked for my phone number by blokes half my age,'' one woman friend who recently visited Cuba told me. ``Apparently if you are older, they think you have more money.''

Another friend told me she was proposed to three times while standing in a street corner waiting for her husband. But I say rush to Cuba because that country's self-appointed Jefe Supremo, Fidel Castro or ``El Senor'' as locals call him, is approaching 80 years of age. And while his stamina to deliver five-hour long political speeches has not abated, he may only have 30 _ or 40 years at the most _ left in him a stop dog. The problem with this, purely from the view point of an admirer of male beauty, is that the qualities that make the Cuban male so appealing to western women could begin to erode as the country inevitably returns to capitalism.

What will happen, for example, to the Cuban sense of defiance when the billboards featuring that god of revolution, Che Guevara, are replaced by advertisements for fried chicken and underwear? Che Guevara and his inspiring slogans are everywhere in Cuba today. He is the Virgin Mary of Cuba, its spiritual leader. ``Es mejor morir de pie que vivir de rodillas'' (It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees) screams one Che Guevara billboard. Che's assassination in Bolivia in 1967 at the age of 39 provided Cuba with an instant martyr. It didn't hurt that he was young and good looking. On the rare occasions that Che does not loom larger than life on a billboard, he is replaced by another ``barbudo'' (bearded) revolutionary hero. Jose Marti or even Castro himself, although not as good looking as Che, appear with a similar message of defiance: ``Socialismo o muerte'' (Socialism or death) or ``Los pueblos dispuestos a pelear no seran vencidos'' (People willing to fight will never be defeated).

The 1959 revolution in Cuba which deposited Castro as leader, and for a time, Che as Minister of Industries, brought sweeping changes to the social and economic structures of the country. Once considered a decadent playground for wealthy foreigners, with prostitution and gambling surging as major industries, the new socialist regime began implementing its promise to ``return Cuba to the Cubans.''

It confiscated assets belonging foreigners, closed down brothels, casinos and gambling houses. Time stood still for Cuban materialism and today the Chevys and Buicks of the 1950s have become an icon, a symbol of time that stood still. In health, education and housing, the revolution benefited many poorer Cubans. Education was made free and accessible to the whole population and today, Cuba leads the region _ and much of the world _ with literacy rates of 98 per cent. Workers in factories are kept abreast of the news by having the national newspaper _ Granma _ read to them twice a day while they work.

Cuba is a world leader in medical and scientific research and has more doctors per capita of population than any of its Latin American neighbours. It is involved in training doctors throughout the region and sends medical teams to help out in Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Venezuela, Gambia and Equatorial Guinea. The revolution gave Cubans pride, a sense that they were standing strong against the aggressor _ the US. They defeated the US in the 1950s and again in 1961during the Bay of Pigs. For the US, Castro proved difficult to eliminate, despite repeated attempts on his life _ 660 to date according to Cubans _ and the socialist regime is still surviving in the face of the US's very long and nasty embargo. And although Castro was unable to evict the US out of Guantanamo Bay, a US naval base since 1903, he cut off water and electricity to the facility and prohibited US soldiers on leave from stepping on Cuban soil. In return, the US has encircled the base, laying 75,000 mines in 22 areas and creating the largest minefield in the western hemisphere. But in true Cuban style, the Cubans responded by building a look-out, complete with telescope, where tourists can check out the facility from afar. On arrival they are given a cocktail and, until recently, they were also able to inspect a large scale model of the base. Guantanamo Bay, according to the Cubans, symbolises all they have been saying about the Americans for the past 50 years; that it is they who are the real terrorists.

But not all is well in revolutionary Cuba and despite the government rhetoric, potentially lethal cracks are beginning to appear behind the mantle of socialism. While the state-owned radio stations blare out the conquests of the revolution in the 1950s pretending it is fresh news, the black market is thriving in the streets. The dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1989 had a crippling effect on the Cuban economy, an effect the country has not been able to overcome. This is being seriously aggravated by the 44-year-old US embargo against Cuba, which according to the American Association for World Health, ``has dramatically harmed the health and nutrition of large numbers of ordinary Cuban citizens...and has caused a significant rise in suffering and even deaths in Cuba.''

So while Cuba has one of the highest per capita number of doctors in the world, the lack of medicines and hospital supplies means people still suffer Third World conditions. They die waiting for medicines, transplants and treatment. The majestic buildings of Havana are crumbling and falling down _ 300 buildings are said to fall each year in Havana alone _ while the hurricane-wrecked roads remain impassable. The US embargo, and the puzzling absence of European investment, leaves Cuba with few alternatives to help fix its economy. One course it has recently taken to extracting as much of the tourist dollar as possible. The country recently introduced a convertible peso for tourists worth 24 times the local peso as well as a 10per cent surcharge on US dollar exchange rates. One of the consequences of this policy is that Cubans are flocking to service tourists. Fully qualified doctors, architects, dentists and teachers are giving up their profession to work as tour guides or drive tourists around in taxis. Given that most Cubans earn US$10-US$15 a month, regardless of occupation, it stands to reason their salary could never compete with what tourists pay through convertible dollars.

The increasingly intrusive regulations aim to control where tourists spend their money. The government wants tourists to stay in expensive hotels, eat in equally expensive restaurants and buy goods only from (the very few) official retail outlets. But in effect they are speeding up the growth of the black market. If you stay at a ``casa particular'' (a private roomin a house), for example, a a much cheaper alternative than a hotel, you are not allowed to eat certain foods like beef, lobster or shrimp. Locals who run the ``casa particular'' or their restaurant equivalent the ``paladares'' (private restaurants) are forbidden from selling tourists such delicacies. Nor are locals allowed to sell cigars or paintings or any other item to tourists. Guide books warn tourists not to buy from street vendors because anything without an official receipt will be confiscated at the airport. In reality these restrictions are driving business dealings underground and helping to boost the black market.

Walk down just about any street in Cuba and before long someone will whisper in your ear:``You like lobster? You want to buy cheap cigars? Need a taxi?''

Everyone is out to complement their meagre earnings with black market deals. Even Che Guevara has become a marketable commodity. There are dozens of black and white photos and postcards of Che lighting his cigar, smoking his cigar, playing golf, speaking at public gatherings, taking photographs. There are hats with his image for sale, caps,towels, t-shirts, posters, curtains, flags. So much merchandise in fact to make Che _ who dedicated his life to liberating the poor from the oppression of the materially-obsessed _turn in his grave.

But more serious are the signs that the country is reverting back to its pre-revolution role as a decadent playground for the wealthy. Prostitution has returned to the Malecon (the main seaside avenue in Havana), locals will tell you.And they watch helplessly as white middle-aged men arrive in droves searching for adolescent girls keen to please _ for a few convertible dollars. This time, however, the services once available only to men, are also available to wealthy, white women.