A Most Unexpected Visit to Cuba

One of my favorite Spanish songs is “Guantanamera”, a Cuban song. The composer is Jose Fernandez Dias (1908-1979) and the lyrics, nobly dignified, is dedicated to Jose Marti (1853-1895) to honor his life and efforts to liberate Cuba from Spain.

Guantanamera

Guajira Guantanamera
Yo soy un hombre sincero (I am a truthful man)
De no me crecen los palma (from the land of palm)
Yo soy un hombre sincero (I am a truthful man)
De no me crece los palma (from the land of palm)
Y antes de morir yo quiero (Before dying, I want to)
Echar mis versos del alma (share these poems of my soul)

Probably I was one of the rare Japanese who got to visit Havana, Cuba in December of 1961, soon after the Cuban Revolution. Cuba was not originally in my travel plans. I delegated the task to a Japanese measurement instrument manufacturer to visit Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, where area sales to governments and industries were gradually increasing through local representation. While in Mexico, I came to learn that the Cuban Government was interested in the so-called AC Network Analyzer, an analog electrical distribution analyzer such as the one my employer made.

Luckily, Mexico was then the only country where I could obtain a Cuban visa. With the help of Mitsui Trading Company in Mexico, I submitted my visa request and commuted daily to the Cuban Consulate there. My visa was granted for 4 days, from December 4th to the 8th. I reserved flight tickets right away on Cubana de Aviacion.

Capri was the Havana Hotel where I stayed, (6 Dollars a night, less than one Dollar but more than one Peso at the time), guarded by a soldier with a machine gun.

In Havana, I visited Campana Cubana de Electricidad. The engineers I met there were Stanford University graduates.

They seemed to be conducted a comparative analysis of our product against counterparts of GE, Westinghouse and others. They showed me a room where the instruments were to be installed. The power requirements were 120/240V, 60Hz. I made the rounds to the various Ministries accompanied by Mitsui Trading. The talks, however, did not pan out even with the option to barter with sugar as far as I know. My gut observation was that Cuban people were short of daily necessities and medicines in particular. How do you value an instrument or an engineers’ toy versus food?

The highlight of my Cuban visit was a drive out to Ernest Hemingway’s "Old Man and the Sea" beach and a dinner reception hosted by the Japanese Ambassador Tsumura. Besides me, two other Shosha men stationed there were also invited. Ambassador Tsumura (who was stationed there without his family) welcomed me to his empty official residence. I learned that most Japanese expatriates and families were evacuated earlier, leaving only the Ambassador and two Shosha men there in Havana.