He cannot go to the beaches either, he is a pilot for American Airlines. He is not allowed to leave the airport. He sees the resorts from the air and talks to people coming and going. He also flies with some guys who have gone. All he flies is Central America, South America and the Caribbean so I take him at his word on his knowledge of those areas.
20 years ago? Looks like the Canadians recently did some major work at Havana’s airport. South Africa appears to be ginning up projects there. 16 new golf courses are being built in 2011. Qatar is building a 5 star resort there. US hotel companies have been meeting with the Cubans as well.
The Cuba for tourists and the Cuba for Cubans is vastly different, I agree. With the money pouring in there at increasing levels for tourism, the Cubans will toss the Marxists, imho.
The beach there is 20km. Spain has owned a large portion of it since about 1990, along with major hotels in Havana and a lot of other beachfront property all over the island. There have been billions of dollarsinvested in tourism for the past two decades - the profits go to prop up the huge military. No one has been overthrown and no one will be — your second hand fly over analysis is a projection of your own responses, and fails to grasp the concentration camp mentality of the population of a totalitarian society.