Today is Fidel Castro’s birthday.
Love him or hate him, the resilient bastard has thumbed his nose at nine American presidents during his tenure and continues to rule the island nation with an iron fist. Sure, brother Raúl might be stepping in to help out now that the octogenarian is wavering in health, but this is still Castro’s Cuba. His stamp of authoritarianism is all over the island, hermitically sealing it in a bygone era of socialist slogans and hammer and sickles.
The clock is ticking, however; Fidel doesn’t have too much more time left on this planet. Raúl may take over, but he will not be able to continue suppressing the people with the same overpowering strength as his older brother. Something will have to give. Civil war, peaceful revolution, abdication; in some manner or another, Cuba is going to implode, explode or roll over and expire. And then Cuba will no longer be Cuba–or, perhaps more accurately, it will no longer be Castro’s Cuba. This Caribbean time machine will quickly be overrun by developers, casinos, McDonalds, and every manner of western consumerism imaginable.
So, take advantage of Fidel’s waning longevity and pop on over to the island before el jefe goes belly-up and the whole place becomes a Starbucks-infused mini-mall.