Che's Chevrolet, Fidel Castro's Oldsmobile: On the Road in Cuba, by Richard Schweid (HC, 2004, ex-lib, $2)
"Packard, Studebaker, Edsel, De Soto- cars long extinct in the United States can be seen at work every day on Cuba's streets. Havana and Santiago de Cuba today are home to some 60,000 North American cars, all dating back to at least 1959, the year the Cuban Revolution prevailed. Though few new parts have arrived in Cuba since 1960, the cars are still on the road, held together with mechanical ingenuity and willpower."
Schweid traveled through Cuba to research the story of motor vehicles in Cuba today. Along the way he tells the story of the Cuban people. What disturbed me the most wa learning of the "Special Period", the period after 1990 when the USSR disintegrated and ceased sending aid to Cuba. Food, soap and gas were scarce. Currency was scarcer. Individuals were allowed 10 gallons of gas a month, made their own soap if they could get the ingredients, and ate mashed banana peels.
People also bought bicycles. Che had started the first bicycle factory, but in 1990 it only produced 5,000 bikes a year. After the Special Period more factories were built, so by 1994, 200,000 Cuban-made bikes were going into circulation yearly, as well as the same number from China. Bikes were even used as taxis! Even in 2004 most people still used animals or bicycles to get around.
On the other hand, Cuba has universal health, and more than 67,000 doctors. Infant mortality is less than in the States, and life expectancy is just as long.
Do I sound un-patriotic if I doubt Americans could have coped so well, or for so long? Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 1/7. (later: the Cuban section)
