By Bob Van Leer

  (HAVANA, CUBA, November 6, 1992) - Betty and I arrived in Havana today along with a party of 35 small town journalists from across the United States.

  The trip was sponsored by the National Newspaper Association, an organization of small daily and weekly newspapers.

  In our first day here we were able to see the hostility between the U.S. and Cuban governments. Our party is here on a 10-day study mission to see for ourselves what is happening in Cuba.

By Bob Van Leer

  (VARADERO BEACH, CUBA, November 7, 1992) - This is Cuba's finest beach resort area according to our guides. Our hotel, the Hotel Paradiso, lives up to the billing.

  Our hotel of last, and future, nights in Havana, the Riviera, is crumbling. The Riviera is a 35-year-old former Hilton Hotel which is being badly maintained. 

  The Paradiso was built last year and is a fine hotel. But our room already shows signs of lack of maintenance.

  Betty and I are on the seventh floor with a little balcony and the surf just a few yards from the hotel.

By Bob Van Leer

  (HAVANA, CUBA - Sunday, November 8, 1992) - Today was a day of mostly leisure. Our bus took us from the hotel Paradiso to the Gaviota docks where we boarded a 30 foot cabin cruiser for a cruise through barrier islands.

  Our party needed two boats to hold us all. The boat threaded its way between islands before reaching the open sea. 

  Out at sea was a strange complex, a sort of bunkhouse-living quarters for employee recreation for Gaviota employees and two houses.

  The three were connected by walkways. The strange part was that there is no land. The sea bottom is only about 6-7 feet deep and the three buildings are on pilings.

  The other two buildings are for rent for tourists who want to really get away from it all. The buildings have been there about four years.

By Bob Van Leer

  (HAVANA, CUBA, November 10, 1992) - Finally today a Cuban government official admitted that lifting of the U.S. embargo against Cuba would not solve all of this island nation's problems. Mario A. Travieso Garcia, vice president of the Economic Collaboration Committee, said, " Lifting the embargo would not solve Cuba's problems".

  He said it would be easier for Cuba but is not a solution. "The final effort depends on us".

  Cuba is starved for cash. Something like half of Cuba's imports were subsidized by the former Communist Eastern Bloc. 

  The bloc collapsed and left Cuba high and dry. Travieso said a number of projects stopped because of the collapse. Around Cuba we saw several freeway interchanges to nowhere and a new rail station with no roof rusting away.

  He said Cuba has skilled labor and modern facilities but lacks capital and raw materials.

  Lack of fuel is one of the worst problems. Cuba consumes 13 million tons of oil and produces 900,000.

  Now Cuba can only afford to import 6 million tons, 50% of demand.

By Bob Van Leer

  (HAVANA, CUBA November 12, 1992) - Our plane has just taken off from Jose' Marti' Airport for the 750 kilometer hour and 50 minute flight to Santiago de Cuba.

  Our plane is an Ilyushin 62, a Russian-built jet with four engines. We flew on one of these planes from Leningrad to Warsaw three years ago on LOT, The Polish airline. This plane is better fitted inside than the Polish plane.

  To catch this flight we were called at 4:30 a.m. Yesterday we started the morning touring a day-care center and a huge hospital.

By Bob Van Leer

  (SANTIAGO, CUBA, November 12, 1992) - We landed in Santiago just after 9 a.m. at Antonio Macheo Airport after our short flight from Havana.

  Santiago is Cuba's second largest city with a population of about a half million. It is on the southeast coast west of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

  This is site of the most of Fidel Castro's revolutionary campaign centered in the nearby Sierra Maestra, a mountain range just outside of town.

By Bob Van Leer

  (SANTIAGO, CUBA, Nov. 13, 1992) - Our first stop this morning was at Revolucion Square which is a typical example of Russian heroic art.

  There is a huge statue of Gen. Antonio Macheo, a hero of the 1898 war against Spain. Macheo is on a horse, of course.

  This is accompanied by huge steel structures, which we were told were to give the impression of cane knives used to fight the war.

  In a sweltering conference room under the art we met with Santiago Cuban officials. The air conditioning was off, blamed of course on the embargo. 

Politbureau Members

  Estaban Lazo is the secretary of the Santiago Communist Party and a member of the Cuban Politbureau, the ruling organization of the country.

  He is probably the most influential person to meet with us. Lazo is a huge black man who looks like a football linebacker.

  He has what the military calls "command presence"; he looks like he should be in charge.

  We were told there are no precise figures but blacks probably make up more than half of the Cuban population.

By Bob Van Leer

  (HAVANA, CUBA, November 14, 1992) - This afternoon we returned to Havana on a Cubana Air Russian propjet, an Antonev 24. The plane was old and had the standard Cuban curse, poor maintenance. But the engines ran flawlessly and the pilot set us down smoothly at Havana. We had planned a late morning departure but Nancy Matthews, our tour leader, said the Cubans seemed put out because we had seen so little of Santiago. So we got up two hours earlier to visit the Jose' Marti' tomb and tour the old Morro Castle at the entrance to the harbor.

By Bob Van Leer

  (MIAMI, FL, November 15, 1992) - A Bolivian plane today brought us from Havana to Miami. We are now in the airport Ramada Inn and the contrast in accommodations is dramatic. In our 10 day visit to Cuba we were getting somewhat used to the privations and now we have a full range of services available, heightening the comparison with Havana. The TV set works. No great chunks of anything are peeling from the bathroom walls. We can change the setting of the air conditioner. The plumbing works. And the whole hotel is clean.