They’re not too hot on the Che image being used to sell vodka or cell phones, either, the AP reports. No word on their feelings about this.

Related on World Hum:
* Che Guevara: Revolutionary, Icon, ‘the Guy Who Intented Those Mojitos’?
* Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Che’: ‘Almost Unreleasable in its Current Form’
* Che and the Image Seen ‘Round the World

Uh, something like that. In Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, Ben Ehrenreich reflects on Che as pop icon, Steven Soderbergh’s Che and “Chevolution,” an intriguing new documentary about the famed Alberto Korda photo. 

Continue reading >>

That seems to be the consensus of those who saw the biopic at the Cannes Film Festival. While Benicio Del Toro (pictured) won the best actor award for his performance of the rebel who launched a million T-shirts, critics say Soderbergh’s highly anticipated biopic, which runs no less than four and a half hours, isn’t likely to find its way into theaters soon. The film was made in two parts, the first covering the revolution in Cuba, the second focusing on Guevara’s ill-fated adventures in Bolivia. It’s “almost unreleasable in its current form in any country in the world,” critic John Powers said yesterday on NPR’s Fresh Air. 

Continue reading >>

I spotted this black number for sale next to the usual guayaberas and baseball T’s at the Cuban Music Festival in Los Angeles’ Echo Park over the weekend. It was, not surprisingly, a particularly festive affair.

Related on World Hum:
* Adios Fidel, Hola Cuba*
* Hey, Let’s Turn Gitmo Into a Cruise Ship Terminal!
* R.I.P. Cachao

Photo by Jim Benning.

Will the” Eat, Pray, Love” madness never stop? Time magazine has selected Elizabeth Gilbert as one of its 100 World’s Most Influential People, along with the likes of Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama. Frankly, I was more interested in another Time pick: Yoani Sánchez, who works in Cuba’s tourism industry, once wrote a dissertation entitled “Dictatorships in Latin American Literature” and blogs about daily life in the country, apparently uncensored. If only I read Spanish.

Related on World Hum:
* One Man’s Odyssey Into ‘Eat, Pray, Love’
* Review: ‘Eat, Pray, Love’

Sad few days for Cuban music fans. Israel “Cachao” López died over the weekend at 89. He was a giant of Cuban music widely known as the creator of the mambo. “The springy mambo bass lines Cachao created in the late 1930’s—simultaneously driving and playful—became a foundation of modern Cuban music, of the salsa that grew out of it, and also of Latin-influenced rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm-and-blues,” the New York Times notes. “For much of the 20th century, Cachao’s innovations set the world dancing.” Here’s a video snippet from YouTube. If this doesn’t get you moving, nothing will:

Continue reading >>

You have to love all the rampant speculation and wild ideas floating around about Cuba tourism following news of Fidel Castro’s resignation this week. Take this USA Today report that ”Cruise lines are ready to pounce on Cuba.” Um, is there any sector of the U.S. travel industry that hasn’t been ready to “pounce on Cuba” for decades? It drew a number of comments, including one from someone claiming to be a former security officer at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Continue reading >>

What does today’s big news of Fidel Castro’s retirement mean for American travelers now barred from visiting Cuba? Likely very little in the short term, experts agree. But Reuters, among other outlets, is taking the opportunity to review the presidential candidates’ positions on Cuba. Who knows? They could actually be relevant now.

Continue reading >>

The cultural heart of Cuban life in Miami is, naturally, Little Havana. And in Little Havana, the main drag is Calle Ocho—8th Street. It’s on Calle Ocho where old men in elegant guayaberas gather to play dominoes, and it’s on Calle Ocho where a number of fine Cuban restaurants have been serving up strong espresso and garlic-infused fried pork for years. For Americans who want to experience authentic Cuban culture without violating U.S. laws with a clandestino trip to Havana, Miami’s Calle Ocho is the place to start. 

Continue reading >>

The former CIA agent, who died this morning in Havana following ulcer surgery, famously outed purported agency operatives in a book, but he also played an eccentric role in the world of travel: He established a travel Web site to help U.S. travelers visit Cuba in defiance of the government ban. He was 72.

Related on World Hum:
* Americans Defy Cuba Travel Ban Before ‘Other Americans...Ruin it All’

Forty years ago today, Che Guevara was killed by CIA-backed Bolivian soldiers, and the anniversary has prompted gatherings around the Latin world—Bolivian President Evo Morales, fresh off a visit to The Daily Show, choppered in for an event near the site where Che was killed. Predictably, media outlets have published a slew of stories about the man, the myth, the travelers on the “Che Trail” and the iconic image.

Continue reading >>

Yes, this is the peculiar form of national self loathing a number of Americans express in defying the Cuba travel ban. Just how many Americans visit Cuba without U.S. permission? Reliable numbers are hard to come by, but a new AP report citing Cuban government sources puts the number at close to 20,000 in the first half of this year alone. And according to the story, “many say being sneaky is part of the fun.”

Continue reading >>