Cuba Libre !! It all depends what exactly you mean by libre, or free. Certainly, in the 15 years since British holidaymakers started heading for Havana and beyond in significant numbers, more than one million of us have enjoyed the sense of liberation bestowed by travelling to a warm, welcoming and relaxed nation. We, of course, do not have to live there, and can enjoy free and easy travel around the Caribbean's largest and most beautiful island. Cuba combines natural beauty (in both her landscapes and her people) with a depth of culture unequalled elsewhere in the Caribbean.
In Cuba, summer and winter are barely discernable and, unless you are extremely unlucky, the weather will be hot and sunny throughout your visit. In the coolest months, from December to March, the average day hits an eminently tolerable high of 79F (26C), with six hours of sunshine. The sand is softer and whiter than snow, a broad, bright strand between a straggle of hotels and the Atlantic Ocean. The sea is improbably blue and calm, the power of the Gulf Stream tempered by a fringe of coral reefs. And for tourists who are seeking more prosaic rewards, Cuba has rum, cigars, and the best collection of 1950s American cars in the world. Indeed, you frequently sense that little has changed since the 1959 revolution swept Fidel Castro to power.
Now that the old dictator has found an alternative to "Socialism or Death", ie superannuation, plenty will change. As Castro retires, the world community is calling upon his brother and apparent heir, Raúl Castro, to reform the communist state where democracy is a sham and free speech is shackled. Within a year, I predict that the US embargo that stops Americans from vacationing in Cuba will end. Barack Obama has promised, if he wins the White House, to abolish the "Trading with the Enemy" rules that effectively ban US citizens from visiting Cuba. Once the brakes are off, you can expect Americans in their millions to be dancing in the calles of the de facto capital of the Caribbean. So, to enjoy the unique island in its entrancingly dilapidated condition, go now.
Fidel, Che Guevara and the rest of the revolutionaries started their struggle with the oppressive regime of Fulgencio Batista in the Sierra Maestra mountains of south-east Cuba. They won on New Year's Day 1959 – and since then Dr Castro has ruled the island with remarkable successes in the fields of health, education and not-being-bullied-by-the-US. His people, though, have had to endure severe economic privations and the absence of human rights, enforced by a highly efficient secret police force, modelled on the KGB, and supported by a web of Committees for the Defence of the Revolution, a kind of political Neighbourhood Watch scheme.
Sounds like a laugh a minute
Funnily enough, it is – at least for visitors. Despite occasional attempts to stop locals fraternising with tourists, you are likely to meet dozens of friendly, hospitable people who are immensely proud of their island despite the suppression of dissent and economic privations that they endure. Cuban culture has no equal: a blend of Spanish and West African blood, spiced up by numerous other nationalities, including some Chinese, and simmered for several centuries under the tropical sun to create everything from salsa to socialism. In this one-party state, life can seem like one long party – in spite of the Cuban Communist Party controlling much of day-to-day life.
An excellent place to witness this is Havana's Tropical club (also referred to as the Salon Rosada), an open-air nightspot in the Marianao district of the Cuban capital. It is open at weekends only, from around 9pm to midnight, but presents a far more realistic picture of the island than the nearby Tropicana, which hosted Sinatra before the revolution, and now appeals mainly to tourist groups and Party faithful. Instead, arrive at the Tropical in good time and be prepared to queue.