A few years ago, before his passing, my father came over to my little hole of an office all excited.  He said that a bird had gotten into the house and was flying around the living room.  That bird turned out to be a bat.  A little brown bat to be exact.

How this little creature got inside the house is still a mystery.  But here’s the thing.  The other night I was watching some late night Hulu TV from my now well worn easy chair.  The house was dark except for the light being emitted from the TV screen.  It was hot, and the huge AC in the dinning room was not helping.  So Barney (my dog) and the boys (my two cats) were just laying on the cool stone tiles by the front door.

As usual, my stereo was pumping out the volume on the TV. Above the din I heard or felt a whisp of air.  I looked up and there it was.  A bat was flying in my living room again.  Barney and the boys heard it as well and instantly went into action.  Somehow one of the cats leaped up and brought the little bat down.  Barney and the other cat quickly surrounded the little creature.

Before the boys could do any harm, I quickly grabbed a towel from the bathroom and tossed it on the bat.  I picked up the little bundle and with the boys in tow I went out to the deck and shook the towel furiously.  The bat disappeared into the night.

So I’ll bet your asking yourself what does bats have to do with Cuba, right?  Well I’m always digging for information about Cuban Things and as it so happens I came across some very interesting information regarding the Cuban Bat Thing.

Bats are by far the most numerous of all mammals.  There are over 27 species in Cuba alone.  The many caves of Cuba are home to many of these bats.  One can come across some species hanging from trees or in old abandoned structures during the day.  As amatter of fact, the logo for Bacardi rum is a bat.  The reason being that the first building where the rum was distilled was filled with bats.

There are no vampire bats in Cuba. Most of the Cuban species are frutivores or insectivores.
The best known Cuban bat, found in the area near Baracoa is the Butterfly bat. They belong to the Vespertilionidae family or evening bats.  They have a wingspan of just 5 inches and have an average weight of 3 grams. At one time it was thought to be the world’s smallest bat until recently when the Phillipine Bamboo Bat was discovered weighing in at 1.5 grams.

It seems that many of Cuba’s animals have evolved into the smallest species in the world.  There is the “pájaro mosca” the smallest known bird, the sapito, the smallest known amphibian and the Bee Hummingbird is the smallest bird in the world. This is attributed to the islands size and distance from other countries in the region.

I never found out how these bats got into the house, but I found a great site about bats and their environment called Bat Houses For Sale.  So I got a bat house and attached it to my garage.  I hope that this will keep the liitle critters out of the house and in theirs.  So far I haven’t seen any, but it does take a while.  Hopefully by next summer I will have a nice size colony and an insect free yard.

Rum is an alcoholic beverage derived from sugar.  Its historical origins go back to ancient India and China.  During the European colonization of the Western Hemisphere, rum became a much sought after commodity among pirates and English privateers due to the production of by products from the sugarcane harvests in the West Indies.  The distilling of the fermented sugarcane juice makes both dark and light rums and there just as many brands as there are islands in the Caribean.   Bacardi is by far the most popular.

Don Facundo Barcardi i Masso and his brother bought an old distillery in  Santiago de Cuba and began making rum in 1862.  At that time rum was not considered to be a refined spirit and was not sold in any of the established taverns.  Through a process of coal filtering and by using only the finest ingredients, the Bacardi brothers set the standard of quality for making superior rum.

In 1898 the battleship Maine was mysteriously sunk in Havana Harbor and the Spanish American War ensued.  The cry of “Cuba Libre” was heard throughout the land by Cubans who wanted freedom from Spain.  The war was quickly won by the United States and the Treaty of Paris was signed giving the US temporary control of Cuba.  For the next several years many US troops visited the island enoying its finer pleasures including Bacardi rum.

It’s not sure how it happened but around 1900 a group of US soldiers were in a bar in Havana. One of the soldiers ordered Bacardi rum mixed with Coca-Cola. This caused an interest among the other soldiers and they had the bartender prepare the same drink for them.  After several rounds of this new concoction, one of the soldiers suggested a toast to “Cuba Libre” in celebration of the newly freed Cuba. And thus Bacardi rum and Coke became known as Cuba Libre.

One such exile is JoAnne Deborah Byron better known as Assata Olugbala Shakur.  Assata Shakur, an African American, has been indicted for murder, armed robbery and kidnapping.  She was convicted in 1977 for the murder of a New Jersey State Trooper.  She was involved in a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in which Trooper Werner Foerster was shot and killed.

Born in Queens, New York Shakur had a somewhat restless youth.  She graduated from The Community College Of New York (CCNY) where she joined the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army. She was involved in numerous criminal activities and became involved in an FBI manhunt in 1972, which eventually led to the incident on the New Jersey Turnpike.

After her conviction for first degree murder, Shakur was incarcerated in the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey.  Her treatment was criticized by human rights groups.  However in 1979 she escaped and eventually made her way to Cuba in 1984 where she sought political asylum.  The FBI has declared her to be a domestic terrorist and has offered a million dollars as reward for her capture.  All attempts to extradite her, including letters to the Pope, have failed.

While in exile in Cuba Shakur wrote a book called “Assata: In Her Own Words” in which she expresses her political views.  She claims to be an escaped slave of the political repression imposed by the US government towards people of color.  Her life has also been portrayed in literature, film, and song and as a side note, she is the step-aunt of the deceased hip hop artist Tupac Shakur.

Unlike the Cuban exiles in this country who yearn to someday return to the land of their birth, there is no such consolation for those that escape criminal prosecution.  All they will ever have is the sad existence of being a fugitive on the run.  For those seeking exile in Cuba as an alternative, they are only trading one prison for another.

Recently there was the case of Colton A. Harris-Moore, the “Barefoot Bandit.” “Colt,” as he was known by the followers of his exploits, was a teenager who committed numerous burglaries while being barefoot.  He was arrested in The Bahamas this past July after crash landing a plane he had stolen.  If he had only known about the Cuban Exile In Reverse Thing he would still be at large today.  Quite frankly I think he is better off

You see I went to the doctor the other day for my six month physical.  I don’t like going to the doctor especially when there is nothing wrong with me.  Because I have high blood pressure I have to be on medication.  So every time my prescriptions run out I have to go back and visit the doctor.

Anyway at this visit my doctor tells me that everything is fine but he is concerned about my blood’s sugar level.  According to the lab report it was at .6  four points below the danger mark.  Since my mother died from complications from diabetes, my doctor was concerned.

After reading me the riot act.  I went home rather upset because I try to be very careful about what I eat.  Unfortunately like most latins I eat my share of starches which unfortunately break down into sugar.  And I have to admit that I have somewhat of a sweet tooth.   Now don’t get me wrong I’m not a candy freak and I don’t take five spoonfuls of sugar with my coffee either, but I love my cookies, cakes and ice cream.  Which started me thinking.  How and where did I acquire this desire for sugar?

The first memories that I have  for quenching my sweet tooth was when I raided my grandmothers cub board.  As I have mentioned previously somewhere in another post, both my parents came from small towns known as “centrales” where refineries processed the sugar cane to produce sugar.  Well my grandmother kept a can of sugar up on the top self of a cabinet.  Now this wasn’t the white granulated sugar one buys in the store today.  This was unrefined rock hard brown sugar.   I would climb up on the counter to grab a handful of that delicious sweet concoction that would melt in your mouth.

I also remember exploring the railroad yards  by the “ingenio,” or refinery, and watch box car after box car get filled with the processed brown sugar.  You could smell the sweetness.  As a matter of fact the whole “central” would always have a sweet smell to it.

Besides the sugar refineries there was the  candy companies to deal with.  I had an uncle who worked in a Nestles plant near the  town of Banes.  Every time he would come to visit he would bring one of my favorite sugar concoctions – “leche condensada” – condensed milk.  Cubans use condensed milk to make such things as flan and crema de vie.  But me being a sugar conousieur,  I would pour it on almost anything.  I would even eat it straight out of the can.  I didn’t realize it then, but I had a problem.  The situation got worse when I came to the US.  My best friend’s family owned a Cuban bakery.  I would hang out there after school and on weekends having my fill of pasteles de guayaba and other pastries.

It seems however that most Cubans have this fascination with sugar.  Its more than a fascination.  Its an addiction that has been nurtured since childhood.  Just how many teaspoons of sugar does a Cuban put in his coffee is a perfect example of my dilemma.

So as I sit here sipping my coffee with one sugar, I’ve come to realize that there is no easy solution to my problem.  This Cuban thing I have with sugar is going to require some kind of intervention or support.  I wonder if there are Cuban sugar support groups?

Marti spent 15 years of his exile living in New York where incidentally  there is another statue  of him, also in Central Park.  I remember first seeing this statue as a kid when my father took me to see a Thanksgiving Day parade.  It’s located just a few blocks east of Columbus Circle on Central Park South.  This impressive statue of Marti riding a galloping horse was created for the City of New York by sculptor Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington in the early 1950′s.

Just across the Hudson River in New Jersey there are two busts of the Cuban hero.  One is located in West New York, which boasts one of the largest Cuban populations in the US next to Miami.  This statue was created by Manuel  Rudolfo Tardo who was a native of Matanzas, Cuba.

I discovered the other bust of Marti while having lunch in The Ironbound section of Newark.  This one can be found in a small triangular park directly across from Newark Penn Station.  What is interesting about this small statue is its location.  The neighborhood is not Cuban but Portuguese and Brazilian.  Also no one knows who the sculptor is.

Of course there are many statues of Marti in Cuba.  One of which is over a hundred years old. There are about a dozen here in the States.  So what is so fascinating about this man to Americans?  Martí dedicated his life to the cause of Cuban independence and perhaps it was his belief in the pursuit of freedom, liberty, and democracy, that are so prominent in his works, that also inspires Americans.  He was killed at the battle of “Dos Rios” on May 19, 1895.

Here’s a little bit of trivia regarding Jose Marti: From one of his poems was adapted to the song, “Guantanamera,” which became the definitive patriotic song of Cuba.  His grandson was the actor Cesar Romero best known as the “Joker” in the TV series Batman.

Unlike most of the harrowing stories one reads about Cuban refugees that come to this country, mine was somewhat uneventful.  I was four years old when I left Cuba  with my mother in 1955.  We flew “Cubana de Aviacion” from Havana into Idlewilde Airport (JFK) on a very cold November night.  My father, who had come several months before, met us and took us to our new home. My father had rented a room from a nice Puerto Rican lady who owned this  huge apartmment on Riverside Drive.

We eventually moved into our own apartment on 135th. Street (highlighted on the left.)  I remember that my parents worked very hard  and saved their money so that we could go back to Cuba each year.  At the beginning of each summer my mother would take me to Cuba so that I could spend time with my grandparents. My father would then come at the end of summer to bring me home.

I remember that there were a few mishapps on those trips.  For one thing my grandparents lived in a small town in Oriente Province, which was a good 12 hour bus ride from Havana.  On one of those trips the bus was involved in an accident in which I ended up losing my two top front teeth.  On another occasion on our plane ride down to Cuba our plane had to make an emergency landing in Miami because one of our engines had caught fire.

After 1960 relations between Cuba and the United States quickly disintegrated.  In April of the following year the botched invasion of the Bay Of Pigs occurred and then came the Cuban Missle Crisis in 1962.  My parents, like so many other Cubans in the US at the time, managed to return to Cuba to bring their families much needed necessaties, but I never returned.  As a matter of fact, I never saw my grandparents or other family members again.

Well this coming summer all that will change.  You see my daughter has always dreamed of visiting the land where her father came from. So last year we started thinking about actually making the trip.  Currently my daughter is attending graduate school at Ohio State and as it so happens, she applied for a study abroad grant in Cuba to study dance.  Since President Obama relaxed the travel restrictions to Cuba last April, we thought that this would be a perfect  opportunity for us to reconnect with our Cuban Thing.

After my father’s death I had rummaged through his personal items and came across the email address of a cousin of mine in Cuba.  This cousin is a retired doctor in Havana who apparently has the benefit of having computer access.  So I sent him an email telling him about our plan to visit Cuba this coming year.  He was ecstatic to hear from me and in the several emails that we have exchanged

The course that my daughter will be attending will last about a month.  During that time I plan to go into the interior of the country and visit the towns where my father and mother came from.  My cousin will accompany me on this journey and hopefully I will find some relatives and friends along the way.  It should prove to be quite an adventure.

I just finished watching the latest episode of “Castle” which I found appropriate to mention on My Cuban Thing because it actually had to do with Cuba.  For those who are not familiar with the program  it’s just a typical police/drama murder investigation type TV show.  I enjoy it because of it’s a light heartedness and the inter-relationship between the two main characters (Nathan Fillion from “Firefly” and Stana Katic.)

As far as I can remember the last time a TV program had a plot that had anything to do with Cuba was “I Love Lucy.”.  This episode of “Castle” had to do with the murder of an exiled Cuban baseball player.  It took place in the Spanish Harlem section of New York City, which incidentally is not a “Cuban” neighborhood, and the run down of the usual “Cuban” suspects which had non-Cuban accents.  Though the story line and its  characters were somewhat superficial and can be easily opened to criticism, it was interesting to see a topic dealing with “Cuba” appearing on a prime time TV show.

There are many troublesome situations in the world today, the tragic earthquake in Haiti being one of them.  TV programs often portray many of these problems in their story lines to stay in touch with reality.  However the US embargo on Cuba has been an issue that has been going on for more than fifty years.  As light as it may have been, the “Castle” episode at least brought Cuba to Prime Time.

Since President Obama took office last year some changes have taken place.  Today Cuban Americans can travel to Cuba to visit their families, but more needs to be done.  Hopefully “Prime Time” television will bring this issue to light.  The embargo must end.

It seems that back in 1960 Fidel came to New York to attend the opening session of the United Nations.  He stayed at the Hotel Theresa, which is located in Harlem.  I remember this because, as a young boy, my father had taken me to 125th. Street in hopes of maybe getting a glimpse at the Cuban revolutionary.  I can still remmember the crowds and how they converged on the hotel.  But we never got to see Castro.

After he spoke at the UN  and before heading back to Cuba, Fidel made a few stops.  One was to the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ where he came to give another speech.  All my friend can remember from that day, he was only about eight or nine years old at the time, was how the school rolled out a red carpet and how Fidel threw a lit cigar on the carpet and then crushed it with his boot, as he stepped out of the car.  At least my friend got to see Castro.  All I saw was a window of a hotel room in Harlem where supposedly Fidel Castro was staying,  but after speaking with my friend I was reminded of another “Almost  Castro” situation I had.

A few years ago I worked as a consultant to the Port Authority of NY & NJ.  There were several Cubans who worked on my floor.  One of them was an older gentleman named Frank, who I would have lunch with on occasion.  Frank was a tall, slender person in his mid to late 60′s.  He would always talk about his planned retirement or his home in Westchester.  But what I found slightly strange was that he almost never mentioned Cuba, except that he was from Oriente Province.

One day I happened to mention to my dad, who was living with me at the time,  that I had lunch with a fellow Cuban from Oriente.  My father’s curiousity was aroused.  He asked me several questions about my friend Frank which I couldn’t answer.  The only thing that I knew was that his last name was Diaz- Balart.  My father’s jaw dropped.  He looked at me and asked “your friend’s name is Frank Diaz-Balart?  Do you know who your friend is?  Your friend is Fidel Castro’s ex father-in-law”?

The next day I asked Frank about my father’s revelation.  All he said was “there just are somethings that a man does not talk about”.  But my dad was wrong, for Frank went on to explain that he was not Fidel’s father in-law.  He was the brother of Mirta Diaz-Balart Fidel Castros first wife.  I kept having lunch with my friend and every once in a while he would bring in some old newspaper clippings and photographs from Mirta’s wedding to Fidel and from the baptism of his nephew Fidelito.

The name of Diaz-Balart was a name well known in Cuban politics.  Rafael Diaz-Balart was elected to the Cuban House of Representatives in 1936.  He died in Key Biscayne, Florida in 2005. He was the father of Rafael Lincoln Díaz-Balart y Gutiérrez (a Majority Leader of the Cuban House of Representatives), Frank Diaz-Balar (my friend) and Mirta Diaz- Balart (Castro’s former wife) . Today Licoln Diaz-Balart, his grandson, is a United States Congressman from Florida.

I no longer work with the PA and Frank finally retired, sold his house in Westchester and moved to Florida to be closer to his family in Florida.  It’s the Cuban Thing to do.

There was no Christmas Eve in Cuba and there was no opening or giving of presents.  At least not on that day.  The night of December 24th. is known as “Noche Buena” or the good night.  It is the celebration of the birth of Christ.  The celebration consisted of large quantities of food and drink with the main course being the “pernil,” or pork.

Today most Cuban-American households prepare a pork roast as the “pernil” main course, but to do it the traditional way a fully dressed pig would be used.  The pig would be prepared then placed in a pit for cooking.  A China box is the most convenient way of cooking a full pig today, though there are many other imaginative ways of doing it.  Once cooked  the outer skin layer would have a rather crispy texture.

There was always plenty food to go around, but what I remember from those days was the “flan“ and the “crema de vie.“  Everyone is familiar with flan. Crema de vie is a concoction made with condensed milk, eggs and rum. In Puerto Rico it is called “coquito” but Cubans don’t use the coconut. It’s a pretty potent drink.

Speaking of rum.  When it comes to celebrating no one can celebrate like a Cuban.  Cubans are party animals to the bone and will find any reason to party.  And the there cannot be a Cuban celebration without Bacardi Cuban Rum.  Yes that’s right before Bacardi became Puerto Rican rum it was a Cuban Thing, but that’s another story.

Oh about the presents.  Christmas is all about presents.  But in Cuba and most Latin American countries the presents are not given out until January 6th.,  the day of the Epiphany.  This is the day that the three kings (los tres reyes magos) visited the new born Christ child and presented him with their gifts.

Feliz Navidad

The passengers, who were all Jewish, had been expelled from Germany.  They were allowed to board the St. Louis as a last ditch effort to escape Nazi tyranny.  Upon arrival in Havana Harbor, and after much negotiation, the passengers were not allowed to disembark.   Many other countries refused to accept the ship’s human cargo, including the United States.  No one is exactly sure what were Cuba’s true reasons for denying entry.  However, this denial gave Adolf Hitler the reason he needed to begin the extermination of the Jews of Europe.

Though there was much anti Semitism in the world at the time of this incident, there is no reason to believe that this was the case in Cuba. There had always been a large Jewish community in Cuba.  Jewish ancestry in Cuba goes back to the late 15th. century, when they fled the Spanish Inquisition.  Their community grew and thrived on the island up until Castro’s take over.  At one time there were over 15,000 Jews and five synagogues in the city of Havana.  Today there is only one synagogue with no rabbi.

When Castro’s communist government nationalized the businesses in Cuba the majority of the Jewish population emmigrated to the United States or other Latin American countries.  South Miami Beach has a large Jewish community that is largely made up of Jewish Cubans, or as they like to be called Jewbanos.  Though Americans may consider it a derogatory name, the Cuban American Jews  use the term Jewbano as a form of identity, an identity that they are proud of.

The S.S. St. Louis incident left some deep scares in the American conciousness.  The purpose of the reunion at the Eden Roc was to comemorate the event that occurred 70 years ago by signing copies of Resolution 111.  This resolution, that was sponsored by Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin., acknowledges the suffering of the 938 passengers of the St. Louis that was caused by the refusal of the United States, Cuban, and Canadian governments to provide political asylum.