Posted
on July 25, 2016
According
to a popular Cuban song, "The 26th [of July] is the
happiest day in history!"
Actually,
the group of revolutionaries who attacked the Moncada Barracks in
Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 1953, were defeated – but this defeat
paved the way for the eventual revolution that succeeded. The
insurrection was led by Fidel Castro, and on the same date another
group attacked barracks in the city of Bayamo. Together, the attacks
are considered the small engine that ignited the big engine of the
Revolution.
(You
may wonder why Cuba celebrates on July 25 for an anniversary of a
July 26 event. Well, the commemoration is so important, it is spread
out over three days, from July 25 to July 27!)
Of
course, many people in Cuba were terribly upset by the communist
revolution that took over their nation in 1959. Many people fled to
other nations, including the United States. A lot of the Cubans who
came here were the rich people who feared losing – or actually lost
– much of their wealth in the Revolution. Some people were fleeing
imprisonment, torture, or other horrors.
Since
the time of the Revolution until the present, Cuba has been a set of
contractions:
Cuba
has been an enemy of the U.S. – and it conspired with America's
greatest enemy (the Soviet Union), at times; but the two nations are
only 90 miles apart.
Cuba
has had a bad reputation for human rights abuses and arbitrary
imprisonment (in other words, people were imprisoned without good
reason), but it has a high ranking in health care and education.
Cuba
was off limits to most travelers and had good relationships only with
Soviet-bloc nations, for years, but since the collapse of the Soviet
Union has cooperated with many nations and has begun to encourage
tourism. In 2009 President Obama said that the United States “seeks
a new beginning with Cuba,” and in 2014 an agreement called “the
Cuban Thaw” restored international relations between the two close
neighbors. Obama himself traveled to Cuba in March of this year!
Now the world can flock to Cuba...
Cuba
is the largest of the Caribbean islands, so of course it has some
beautiful beaches.
And
the occasional iguana-infested beach!
Cuba
has some great waterfalls...
...amazing
diving...
...breathtaking
landscapes...
...and
colorful culture!
Also
on this date:
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