AAEC - Editorial Cartoon News
| Click Here to View List of News Articles |
|
July 16, 2001
CUBA REDUX -- Beck and Fell Get Back to the Island
By CHIP BECKAs editorial cartoonists, we comment on history in the making, and record its events graphically, long before those daily news items make it into the text books. But it is rare for us to sort of step back in time, and mingle with those who made history, in the way that Paul Fell and I were fortunate enough to do last March and April.
As the 40th Anniversary of the Bay of Pigs (ﾓPlaya Gironﾔ as the Cubans call it) geared up in Cuba, Paul and I made our third and fourth trip to the island, respectively. We had several reasons for going. One was to visit with our Cuban cartoonist colleagues during the Biennial Cartoon Festival that took place in San Antonio de los Banos and Havana. The second was to cover the Bay of Pigs event as journalists and artists. The third was to investigate progress on some POW-MIA cases and other stories, and the fourth was to restock our supply of Havana Club Rum.
Regarding the Bay of Pigs, Paul and I ended up riding down to the famous invasion beach site sitting next to JFKﾒs former senior advisor, Arthur Schlesinger and his wife, as well as the Presidentﾒs sister, Jean Kennedy Smith and her son, Dr. Will Smith. In the middle of the bus were two of my old CIA colleagues who played key roles in the invasion planning, Sam Halperin and Bob Reynolds. Along with them were five veterans from Brigade 2506, the invasion force that landed at Playa Giron and Playa Largo. This was the first time that members of the ﾓcounterrevolutionaryﾔ force had participated in remembering the event and those who died on both sides.
The trip to the Bay of Pigs was the second for Paul and me, but never before in such ﾓillustriousﾔ company that included some key players and participants from both sides. At the end of the day, however, when everyone else had returned to Havana, Paul, myself, and our documentary cameraman, Canadian Don North, spent the night at the low-key resort that now resides on the famous invasion beach at Giron. We were told that the cost was $49 each for a cabana, all food, and ﾗ get this ﾗ all drinks! When I asked in Spanish if there was a ﾓCIA discount for us Yanquis,ﾔ the receptionist laughed at our joke ... and then took off another six bucks!
Paul and I were in hog heaven. We explored the invasion beach and old pillboxes with Don, snorkeled for a couple of hours on the reef just off the beach, drank muchas cervezas and mojitos, and spent the evening with German and Canadian tourists as young Cuban entertainers sang and danced to American show tunes such as ﾓWest Side Story.ﾔ We particularly marvelled at the gusto with which the troupe belted out the phrase about what it was like ﾓto leeve een Amer-icaaaaa!ﾔ
We also were witness to the migration of 70 million love-starved crabs across the lone road leading down to the Bay of Pigs, which caused no end of tire punctures from nail-hard little claw tips. Two of them got our taxi on the way back. The first flat occurred right in front of a repair shop. The second one got us in the middle of nowhere, so we got to watch the sunset from a hill about 20 miles east of Havana while our driver walked all over the countryside (Sunday) looking for help with a tire on his shoulder.
We stayed in Old Havana, at the Ambos Mundos, which many of our AAEC colleagues will remember from the 1999 visit. However, we located some additional, more folkloric, and less expensive digs in the side streets nearby that we want to try during our next trip.
On the cartoonist side, we met with a couple dozen of our cartoonist pals at a little reception and then again at some private parties, and festival events. It was terrific seeing Garrincha, Laz, Blanquito, Tomy, Roseno, and so many others again. Tomy hosted a party for some of the international cartoonists at his apartment, and Paul and I reciprocated with a small dinner for 10 at one of the ﾓpaladares,ﾔ or private-home restaurants in Vedado district. We had a feast for a total of about $100.
The friendship and professional ties with the Cuban cartoonists are things that Paul and I hope to nurture in the future, and we may be planning another trip for interested AAEC members in 2002.
On the more serious side of our visit, we opened up some new doors on the POW-MIA issue, in terms of research and assistance, and even learned some stunning news about what happened to the remains of the U-2 pilot shot down during the Cuban missile crisis. If you saw the movie 13 Days or are old enough to remember the real event, you know it was a pretty dramatic incident. As to the ﾓrest of the storyﾔ on this one, youﾒll have to wait for our book to come out, or ply Paul with lots of drinks in Toronto. ﾕ