Old Cars in Havana
Photo Feature by Ernesto Gonzalez
HAVANA TIMES – At the beginning of the 90s, when the only expectation that Cuba generated towards the world, was to see how long the socialist regime lasted, a friend told me that Havana was known as the rolling museum, referring to the number of US-made cars prior to 1959 that were still operating in the city.
Almost thirty years later, those same cars, still roll down the streets of the Cuban capital and in the rest of the country, to the point that they have already become an identity symbol of the city.
Many of these cars are kept in an excellent state and are used by their owners as taxis mainly for tourists, who appreciate the ride on these as if they were a time machine. Others that are less conserved are used as collective taxis for the capital’s population.
The truth is that in one or another function, these cars have also become a symbol of the ingenuity and ability of Cubans to repair, innovate and invent.
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This is an article about the still existing old cars in Cuba, so why must the anti-socialists post irrelevant criticisms?
As an old American whose first car was a 1930 Ford Model A roadster and my second was a 1936 Ford Business Coup and my 3rd car was a great black and yellow 1940 Mercury convertible, it hurts me to see these old cars in such need of parts and repair. So here’s an idea, why not add to your photos the make, year and model and a list of parts each one needs? These details might inspire Yankee lovers of old cars to volunteer to bring some parts and loving attention to resurrect one of these Almendróns.
Free markets, property rights, and liberty is the only chance Cuba has, if they can catch Spain in per capita GDP in a generation it will be spectacular. Doubtful they will, to much corruption, no respect for property, and limited rule of law will keep them down. But no worries, they’ll always have the US to blame for their own incompetence. After all, it isn’t an island filled with Scandinavians.
They wont last long and they will never be remembered, for history would not waste its pages to record their unrecordable behaviour. When there is nothing worthwhile to record, why waste the in and the electricity?
Due to the 1959 revolution, Cuba became truly independent and free from US economic and political control; after the Castro brothers are gone, it is up to the Cubans themselves to make the necessary changes that may eventually evolve into a social democracy to improve their lives for the benefit of all while they maintain their independence from foreign influence. While I lived in Africa, Cuban music was/is extremely popular throughout the continent. Trump and his minions, including little Marco, won’t last long!
The 1959 Revolution has ingrained in the Cuban people the will to survive and to use whatever they have to survive. Nothing bad ever happens to us in life; we just have to look for and learn the lessons from the rough seas we encountered. The resourcefulness, the inventiveness, the will to survive of the Cuban people is manifested in the way they have kept those vehicle running on the roads smoothly. I had the privilege of driving in a Chevrolet and I enjoyed it. The only people who can keep the Cuban people down and defeat their Triumphant Revolution, are the Cuban People themselves. No economic, terrorist embargo can destroy their Revolution unless they want it to be destroyed, and they have endured over fifty years of it and have survived! The world over has tremendous respect for this country which received its real Independence in 1959. Its Medical Brigades are world renowned. in their dedication to visiting any part of the world where natural disasters occur and rendering assistance to the affected inhabitants.
There are Cuban Doctors and Teachers in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil rendering medical attention in the remotest areas to inhabitants who have never seen a Doctor in their lives; Cuban teachers are erasing illiteracy from these countries, for, you cannot keep a people subjugated and oppressed when you have lifted the scales of ignorance from their eyes through education! The Cubans liberated Angola and Namibia from the tentacles of the South African Apartheid System and, in the process, liberated Nelson Mandela from prison February 11th, 1990, after spending 27 years.The USA and the rest of the Western World branded him a terrorist for fighting the system to liberate his Black Brothers and sisters from the inhumane re-enslavement of his people.
The Cuban people are a show case to the world that, if you want to be free, no powere on earth can keep you from enjoying that freedom, that new found liberty! Long Live The 1959 Cuban Revolution! Long Live Its Leaders!