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Cuba In Culture
Cuba in history
My Life
For years people have tried to persuade the leader of the Cuban Revolution to tell his own life story. Here, finally, Ignacio Ramonet, well-known activist and editor of "Le Monde Diplomatique", has succeeded. For the first time, in a series of probing interviews, Fidel Castro describes his life, from the 1950s all the way up to the present day. He discusses his parents, his earliest influences, the beginnings of the revolution, his relationship with Che Guevara, the Bay of Pigs, the Carter years, Cuban migration to the US. And along the way, Ramonet challenges Castro to discuss his views on a number of controversial questions, from human rights and freedom of the press to the repression of homosexuality and the survival of the death penalty, and he gives his opinion of other leaders, alive and dead, including George Bush and Tony Blair.
Cuba in novels
Our Man in Havana
Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman, was short of money. His daughter had reached an expensive age - so he accepted Hawthorne's offer of $300-plus a month and became Agent 59200/5, MI6's man in Havana. To keep the job, Wormold pretends to recruit sub-agents and sends fake stories. Then the stories start coming disturbingly true...
Cuba in music
Cuba in film
Buena Vista Social Club
No one can recall exactly where the Buena Vista Social Club once stood in pre- revolutionary Havana but Wim Wender's documentary of a dozen legendary musicians resurrects the magnificent music of the era. Guitarist Ry Cooder assembled the aging singers and musicians for a series of recording sessions. The resulting 1997 album won a Grammy. The music performances are intercut with shots of the performers reminiscing in decaying Havana bars.
