Cuba Begins to Go…

This is almost too much for those Boomers at the table to comprehend. With an average age spanning 70 to 85, they bring long memories to the 4th Floor Conference Room at the Socotra House Creative Section. Somewhere deep in their collective recollections was being a teenager when the evil dictator Batista—whose two periods of power on the island began nearly a century ago—still ruled Cuba.

In his first stretch in power, he modernized education and medicine and helped bring the island into the 20th century. When he returned, he was less pleasant and had some friends in New York and Miami you would not leave your children with.

Then there was a cigar-chomping young revolutionary who swore to bring Freedom in 1959 and instead delivered terror, imprisonment, and a thorough system of oppression managed from Moscow.

So imagine our surprise when the first mug of Flat Yank coffee was served around the table this morning.

“They sent Ratcliffe? The Director of National Intelligence to talk to Fidel’s grandson? You have to be kidding me!”

That was from Splash, age 78, who did not use exactly that word to describe what had been done to him.

“Too soon to tell. We are only being told ‘The Fact Of’ this morning. It is quite an interesting development. First, the disintegrating government down there asked for someone to come, and DC sent the Head Spy. Apparently it was a bit of a warning to get things moving so we can move in and help. And the fact that the offer came not from Trump or Rubio, but from Ratcliffe, is as significant as the rest of this interesting start to the weekend.”

“Of course, it could all just be a matter of schedules and timing, since everyone else is in Beijing this week.”

That provided an additional sheaf of speculative topics. The tone of the Summit was positive, the fringes lined with children waving US and CCP flags and great food served over red lines in a waterway between Beijing and Taipei not much wider than Hormuz.

There is still a 747 flying in across the Pacific with some of those answers aboard, though they probably won’t be provided until everyone gets some sleep. We marveled again at the familiar 12-hour time difference. We were just starting on Deirdre’s sausage rolls and Keith’s bagel delivery. Rocket added some croissants from the Whole Foods down on the corner.

“So when is Cuba going to change?” Holly frowned, clearly thinking about how little time it might take before luxury condos started appearing on pristine beaches filled with people in very small swimsuits.

“It might not. Batista took over in the 1930s with a bunch of pissed-off Army sergeants. That was what they called the rebellion—the Revolt of the Non-Commissioned Officers.”

“Isn’t that when our ally Chiang Kai-shek took over China with his Army pals? And then got pushed out by Mao in 1949?”

Miles smiled.

“This is actually good news for the news business. There is going to be plenty to talk about in the days to come. Cuba could break quickly and blossom like a flower, with overseas Cubans coming home and an influx of tourists throwing cash into the glorious sea breezes.”

Rocket laughed.

“That would be the exact opposite of the economy in Iran. The Revolutionary Guard fanatics who are running the country think death is actually a pathway straight to heaven festooned with virgins. They may be like Cuba at the moment, but what happens next is not going to be nearly as much fun as reopening the Floridita Bar where Ernie invented his brand of daiquiri. They are still selling them, I hear, though I have only been to GTMO a couple times. Drinks were cheap, but there was no virginity festooned anywhere.”

“The best way would be a cruise boat from Miami to start. But imagine a port visit in Old Havana!”

Miles clicked his remote to change the graphics on the screen.

“I think this is going to be an interesting summer,” he said with a grin. “And think of all the stories that started a hundred years ago all getting resolved at the same time.”

“Or,” Splash muttered, “if history is any guide, they won’t get resolved at all. They will just lurch into some new arrangement like a ’57 Chevy with the trunk lid pulled down over the cash with a rope.”

Vic laughed.

“There are all kinds of things you can do with rope.”

Not everyone laughed, though some were already looking at Viking cruise ads on their smart phones. And hardware stores.