Cuba Witness

Hello, and welcome to a special edition of Witness, coming from

Cuba. I am Will Grant, and I will be taking you on a journey to meet some

of the people who have helped make history here in Cuba. We will hear

from the Buena Vista Social Club about the album that changed Cuba

forever. The minister who broke the mould in the island, and playing

baseball against the old enemy before relations with the United

States began to thaw. And the woman who put Cuban ballet on the map,

94-year-old Alicia Alonso. We began in 1959 as bearded revolutionaries

led by Fidel Castro marched triumphant through the streets of

Havana. It marked the success of the Cuban revolution. Our witness

remembers where he was on the day that he saw history being made. On

January eight, 1959, I was standing at this corner as hundreds of Cubans

were welcoming Fidel Castro. And I was very excited, very optimistic. I

thought these guys really were going to change Cuba in a positive way.

But he dominated Cuban politics from 1933 to more or less 1958. He was

considered the guy who really enforce the law for the benefit of

American companies. He and his Cabinet received $2000 each month

from the mafia to let them do whatever he wanted to do in Cuba,

about casinos, prostitution. My father was a well-known politician

who had opposed Batista from the beginning and I was a young high

school student, influenced by my father's ideas. At that time, the

Batista police could easily kill you for something as simple as

participating in a strike. In 1958, I remember following the advanced of

the revolutionaries forces on shortwave radio.

At the end of 1958, the revolutionaries movement called for

some sort of strike. So it was a very bad Christmas in Cuba. Because

there were no celebrations. Nobody was going out, there were no

parties. So on December 31, we went to bed early. We didn't even wait

for the new year. And sometime around 3am or 4am in the morning, I

heard the phone ringing. My father worked up, and he said... He spoke,

obviously, and then he turned to all of us who had woken up, and said

Batista has left. With Batista in flight to the Dominican Republic,

the celebrating soon turns to mob action and looting. Gambling

machines get the axe. Rebel fighters, fresh from the battlefield

in central Cuba, pour into the capital to impose martial law and

quell the rioting. Most of the military installations, facilities,

in Havana were taken over without a shot. The guys surrendered. Fidel

Castro took eight days to arrive in Havana. He arrived in Havana on

January eight. Some of my friends started to criticise the

revolution, that it was too radical. They started to criticise

the presence of the communists. Between 1959 and 1961, all my

friends at school, all my cousins, all my uncles and aunts, left. You

know, my sense in those years, when the revolution took over, initially

I expected things to go well. I didn't expect the United States to

take such a hard line on Cuba. I knew there was going to be a

negative reaction. What -- but I didn't expect things to turn around

so badly. Although much of his family did leave Cuba, Carlos

stayed. Today he lives here in Havana where he is a writer and

academic. Next we are taking you back to 1996 when a group of veteran

Cuban musicians recorded an album that became an overnight sensation.

The musicians and their traditional Cuban songs have been virtually

forgotten but the album made them unlikely global superstars. Our next

witness is one of the original members of Buena Vista Social Club.

And now, please welcome, from Havana, it is the Buena Vista Social

Club! APPLAUSE

Our third witness this month is Juan Carlo Montez. Juan Carlo Montez is

something of a pioneer. In 1993 he defied the Communist authorities to

open one of the first-ever privately owned restaurants in Cuba. The time

massive Soviet aid to the island had dried up and Cubans were forced to

find new ways to make a living. Juan Carlos Montes, speaking to us

from his home in Havana, where he now rents rooms to tourists.

Remember, you can watch our round-up of history every month on the BBC

News Channel or scroll through outback catalogue of radio

programmes at our online archive. Just go to the website. These days,

relations have thawed between the old atmospherics, Cuba and the

United States. And the sight of Americans on the streets of Havana

doesn't attract much attention. But back in the late 1990s, a baseball

game between the Cuban national side and the US major league team was a

huge event. Our next witness, Enrique Diaz, played in that match.

Another example of the power of soft diplomacy through sport. Bringing

together old foes. And finally to the elegant world of ballet. In

recent years some the most exciting dancers have come from Cuba, and

that is largely down to the work of the remarkable work of Alysia

Alonso. She said at the company over 60 years ago and spoke to us from

her beautiful office in her 60 years ago and spoke to us from

her beautiful office in -- Havana. Immediately following the revolution

in 1959, Alicia Alonso and her first husband, were given the money and

support to fund a national ballet company of Cuba.

That magnificent prima ballerina still very much a dancer at heart.

That is if this special edition of witness coming from Cuba. Remember

to watch Tanya Beckett next month and she will be back in the British

library in London bringing you fight for witnesses and more history

through the eyes of the people who were there. From me, will grant in

her -- Havana, goodbye.