Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 76

D'dvfe fSi i if iftf II dDun WaceattnciDm How It Is On Tour in Cuba Today 17 the American trade embargo only food and medicine can be sent legally to Cuba) On a hangar are wood carvings of a worker and peasant with pistols raised into the air And on the airport building are the three revolutionary slogans seen everywhere They read: Territorio Libre de America (Cuba free territory of America) Patria Muerte (fatherland or death) and Venceremos (we will conquer) As you step down Hie ramp three balladiers two with guitars and one with maracas serenade you with a pachanga while a beautiful Negro girl from INIT the government tourist bureau leads you inside the terminal Looking at the skirt drawn tightly over her posterior you know you are truly in Cuba Outside the airport as you leave after a routine customs check and money change are the everpresent militi-anos (the revolutionarv militia) usually carrying machine pistols sitting on chairs in the shade to escape the summer sun They are on just about every street corner and in front of every office building Coca-Cola Signs Are Gone Hie trip from the airport to Havana about 15 miles provides an interesting half-hour study of how things have changed Billboards which once lauded the qualities of Coca-Cola or General Electric products show President Kennedy with a spear through his head or Uncle Sam in a garbage can As you watch the rebel youth busily sweeping the sidewalks the driver of the air-conditioned Cadillac limousine (probably one of the few left in Cuba) offers you a Cuban cigar and asks for an American cigarct in return The hotels of modem Havana look very much the same although the carpets are perhaps a bit frayed The most popular are still the Capri the Havana Libre (nee Hilton) the Riviera and the Nacional And true to the spirit of the revolution the prices are strictly Socialist a' maximum $6 a day set by the government The lobbies which once echoed with American slang are now filled with Russians Czechs and Poles some of the thousands of technicians who are performing unrevealed tasks in Cuba or who work as advisers to numerous government ministries Amid the clatter of Russian on an elevator the operator looked at an American raised his eyebrows and shook his head When they left the elevator he thumbed his nose at them after the doors were closed and asked: have chcedets (chewing gun the official government symbol of American imperialism) The night life is gay though perhaps subdued and Newsday staff correspondent John Cummings returned recently from a three-week tour of Cuba from one end of the island to the other Here is his report on what it would be h'ke if Americans were able to travel in Castro's Cuba today By John Cummings Newsday Staff Correspondent Key West Ha A trip to Cuba used to be the easiest chore for an American tourist who wanted a foreign vacation He needed no passport no visa no vaccinations only a ticket money and a landing card that could be filled out in five minutes Today getting there is far from half the fun of political the guidebooks sav to Cuba is not advised Americans wishing to go to Cuba must secure special permission from the State For an American newsman this special stamp of approval for his passport is relatively easy to get For the average American it is difficult at best And without it the Czechoslovakian Embassy in Washington which handles Cuban affairs in the United States will not even process a visa application for Cuba These restrictions plus the reluctance of Americans to tempt fate have cut off the flow of US tourists and the 60000000 Yankee dollars that more than 500000 of them used to spend in Cuba each year Because so many Americans have been there at least to Havana anyway a Yankee returning from revolutionary Cuba is constantly asked: is it like over It isn't an easy question to answer in a few words Tourism like everything else there what it used to be Havana where just about everything used to be legal is without its gambling casinos and the notorious bawdy houses have been dosed But for those who wanted tliere are still cockfights and the race track and small-time gambling operators who can supply you with a roll of the dice and occasionally a little roulette Most of the night clubs arc still open and the shows are still big and gaudy although not up to what they were in prerevolutionary days A government official sitting at a ringside table with an American reporter at the famed Tropicana night club said after watching the floor show: Cuba still is a land of contrasts Arrival at Jose Marti Airport provides just the first of many (Air travel from Miami is still available Pan American has two flights daily and KLM two a week although the seats are either empty going over or loaded with food packages sent to Cubans by relatives in the United States Since Signs all over Cube spread tha Communist word This largo postor which interrupts tho tropical baauty of Havana's Central Park shows tho arm of tha revolution smashing the the counterrevolutionary rj offers a variety For those who csclicw political floor shows the gaudy Tropicana offers the best with a big chorus a male quartet which copies the American High-Lows or the Four Freshmen and numerous female singers who stick to popular Cuban rhythms Not long ago a big chorus number centered on a song in which the chorus sang: while the audience was supposed to echo After the audience failed to respond the number was dropped The Rivjera provides the most lavish show now centering on nationalism and praise for tlic new Communist bloc friends There is a Russian dance a heavy Chinese number and a tribute to the Poles consisting of a well-dressed man sitting at a piano sipping champagne and playing Chopin At the end a voluptuous young lady flings herself into the arms for a passionate kiss A Pole watching it remarked: us Decadent to the endl" For just plain unabashed aiiti-Yankecisin the floor show at the Nacional is the thing Like it or not its heavy-handed huriior is funnv in spots although an American was about the only one in the audience who laughed The whole show is a skit about a Cuban family who goes to Miami It begins with a chorus number in which Uncle Sam painted with a grotesque face enters stage center cackling and rubbing his hands together Following him are his minions a chorus composed of three Kin Klux Klansmcn a man dressed in a Nazi general's uniform another dressed as a Marine and a girl with a chain around her neck She represents the Organization of American States They all shout mid go into their dance The villains are a fat man wearing a gold satin jacket (he is the imperialist Central Intelligence Agent v) and another dressed like a Damon Runyon character (lie represents the FBI) The Cuban exile who looks much like the French comedian Femandcl is told that be iv filing to be in the invasion of Cuba going to Guatemala and we will give you a machine tlic FBI character tells him When he refuses they knock Imn to the ground a he remarks later cry-time a missile fizzles our taxes go Fiiuly I dl comes to a happy ending when unable to stjna it juy longer they swim back to happy Havana at cum tiud When the show ended the cabaret was as quiet as tomb tWmsJai notes tgr QnMrims) Tall modern building on Havana's Malecon Sea Drive houses students Next to'it is the old Maine Monument which once was a symbol of friendship to tho US An American eagle was blasted off the top of tho monument 9 -rj Tuesday September 11 1942.