“Australians like Cuba and Cubans like Australia,” the Ambassador of Cuba, José Manuel Galego Montano, said at a reception in Canberra last night for Cuba National Day. Yes, indeed we do. I’m sure there are many Aussies like me who are keen to visit Cuba before the floodgates open and McDonald’s comes to the streets of Havana.
Food Wine Travel was honoured to share in a toast on the occasion of Cuba’s National Day, which also marked the 56th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.
Mr Galego Montano (pictured below) spoke passionately on a wide range of topics, but at the heart of his address was a call for the United States to end its blockade of Cuba, hand back Guantanamo Bay and remove Cuba from its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. He welcomed US President Barack Obama’s decision to resume relations with Cuba but said there was still much to be done before relations would be normalised.
Let’s hope his call is answered and Cuba is soon out of the wilderness. Mr Galego Montano indicated that he would like to see travel between Australia and Cuba stepped up. It would certainly be great if it wasn’t so difficult and expensive for Aussies to get there. But selfishly, I hope to get there before it changes too much.
I’m with you Chris – I’d love to go to Cuba; and easier routes to get there would be better for increasing Australian travel there. And the US should do the right thing and end its occupation of Guantanamo.
A great evening of celebrations and perhaps one day there will be a Cubana flight from Sydney to Havana!! A good report on the day’s events.
Please take me with you? John and I went to Cuba about 8 years ago and it was my all-time favourite holiday. We met a horse carriage driver who took us through old Havana and he had lunch with us. We hired him as our guide for the week and we went everywhere. He even invited us to his house for dinner one night. Think Santeria. 🙂 It was an experience I will never ever forget.
What a fabulous trip, Maureen. It sounds amazing! Hope we are lucky enough to experience similar hospitality.