Homeland And Life !

[UncleAng]

Having dual citizenship (US/Canada) I went for the first time to Cuba in Feb/2020 just before covid hit. My wife and I are 'culture' travelers so we ended up in a small hotel in downtown Santiago de Cuba not at a resort; ironically my wife has been to Cuba 14 years in a row but with her mother and at a resort in Varadero. My wife learned in one week what she hadn't learned in 14 years. 1. Food was way better in Santiago than on the resort. 2. Resort personnel are specifically trained to 'talk Cuba up' to tourists regardless of where they come from. 3. If you know the right people you can get anything from anywhere around the world - basically the whole country is an underground economy. Case in Point: my wife has had chicken many times in Cuba and it's never been too good, one evening we ordered chicken at small restaurant near Plaza de Marte... it was really good so we asked the proprietor where he gets his chickens. He said 'I can't tell you' but after a 20 minute chit chat he relaxed enough and said 'I get my chickens every 2 weeks from CANADA'. BTW town ran out of beer on the third day and out of gas on the 5th day of the week we were there. Even though Santiago is the second largest city in Cuba (after Havana of course) it's not high on the 'replenishment list' because it's not a major tourist destination.
Most Cuban revolutions started near or in Santiago including Jose Marti's which the OP quotes, and Marti is considered the soul of Cuba; venerated by all and an inspiration to Fidel's revolution which also started in Santiago on July 26th 1953