Cuba News and Information

On a recent trip to Manhattan, I went to Madame Tussaud’s wax museum in Times Square. It was actually more fun than I thought. Most of the figures are very life like. I had no idea that Fidel Castro would be there let alone in the same room with JFK along with other historic figures.

This is the exact inscription on the sign next to Castro:

Fidel Castro 1927 -

“A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is the struggle to the death between the future and the past.”

Fidel Castro - the Cuban revolutionary who led a successful rebellion against the government of Cuba - donated his entire costume when the Madame Tussaud’s team went to Havana Cuba for his sitting in May 1998.

Fidel - the bearded, fatigue-wearing cigar-smoking, baseball loving Communist dictator - assumed power in 1959.

On the other side of the room you’ll find this sign and the wax figure of Papa.. pay no attention to the fat guy leaning over his shoulder

Ernest Hemingway 1899 - 1961

The “Hemingway Code” reflected its author Ernest Hemingway, a man of great appetites and zest for living who was arguably the greatest American writer of the 20th century.

Frequently drawing upon his experiences in wartime in his novels and short stories, Hemingway’s spare, lean prose for Literature in 1954, and influenced a generation of writers.

Hemingway’s work includes The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea.

Here’s a couple other tidbits from the trip. This is the Cuban frog as seen at the Museum of Natural History.

It reads: Cuban Frog - Sminthillus limbatus

Many species of frogs measure less than an inch in maximum body length but this tiny one, less than 15 millimeters (about 1/2 inch) long, may be the world’s smallest.

In case you’re wondering, a dime is 5/8” wide so this frog can sit on a dime and not hang over the edge. That’s a SMALL frog!

and last but not least, we had a mojito at Havana Central just outside of Times Square.