The Spirit of Meyer Lansky©

In the mid 1950s $3 million dollars were deposited in a numbered bank account of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista as down payment for a deal that assured him 50% of the profits of legal gambling in Cuba. The architect and negotiator for the agreement was Meyer Lansky, the “Little Man” of the US organized crime syndicate. From that point on he had Batista and Cuban authorities “eating out of his hand” and was able to turn gambling profits from Cuba into the mafia’s principal source of income.

Lansky’s bribing the Cuban government at the highest level, and therefore subverting the rule of law in Cuba became the most grotesque illustration of Cubans kowtowing to the americanos (the term gringo is not commonly used in Cuba), although it was not the sole example. Americans’ sense of superiority was evident in the influence that US ambassadors had on Cuban affairs, in the condescending way US citizens on the island treated their Cuban hosts, and in the way tourists disregarded manners and decorum they most surely showed in their own home towns. The most offensive example of Americans’ obnoxious behavior and Cuba’s tolerance of it was the photo of the sailor in full US Navy uniform, peeing on the statute of José Martí, the Republic’s most revered founding father.

Fast forward to 2004 and a similar scenario is already developing despite the much publicized hostility towards the United States, the ‘battle of ideas’ that Cuban government rhetoric promotes, and its claims of total independence from any foreign influence.

The spirit of Meyer Lansky is alive and well in Havana.

You can see it in the behavior of American businessmen visiting Cuba. Clearly, the visible vulgarity of Italian, Mexican and Spanish visitors overshadows that of Americans, just based on sheer numbers. But not to be excelled, US visitors can be seen in situations they would most likely avoid if they were at home.

The sight of a European or Latin American male visitor with a jinetera (Cuba’s euphemism for whore) in expensive stores and in fancy restaurants is commonplace in Cuba. It is offensive to most Cubans (whether visiting or living on the island), but it doesn’t seem to offend government officials, who at the very highest level, have bragged that “Cuba has the most educated prostitutes”.

Just like in the fifties, when US tourists and sailors did their best to represent their country badly while insulting Cubans, the Ugly American has landed on Cuban shores.

While at one of Havana’s better paladares (moniker for a privately owned restaurant, as opposed to the unbelievably bad government-owned ones) one night, a gang of four or five American participants at the Havana Fair arrived with their dates in tow. These were girls who manned the Americans’ booths during the day and who doubled as escorts in the evening. The ensuing scene begged the question: Were these guys so horny that they couldn’t wait until they got to their rooms to start the ass grabbing and groping? For Pete’s sake, they were at a respectable restaurant! It was later said they continued their “show” at the gardens at the El Nacional, Havana’s most fashionable hotel. Would they have behaved the same way had they been back home in Tampa?

But distasteful behavior is a two way street, and Cubans can be particularly good at it.

Clearly, the award for the most notorious American ass kisser goes to Alimport’s president Pedro Alvarez. (Note that in the previous sentence, the word American modifies ‘ass’, and not ‘ass kisser’.) Whether it is with a Cuban abrazo, a bottle of ‘Havana Club 15 Años’ and a box of Cohibas, or by laying it thick with accolades on certain American visitors, Pedro has shown exquisite technique in the art of debasing oneself. But his art is reserved for only a few Americans worthy of such rear-end treatment. These are the top dogs of major American companies selling their wares to Cuba, and politicians and assorted public servants who Cuba believes can promote their interests with the U.S. Congress and U.S. public opinion in general. And then again, some of these, specially drunk, female U.S. elected officials may get a real ass grabbing, as rumors have it took place during the April 2004 negotiations event.

For “lesser” Americans, particularly Cuban-Americans, he is particularly adept in showing a very cold shoulder.

Kowtowing doesn’t stop with Pedro, of course. During the recent Feria de la Habana one of Alimport’s directors was heard saying he was very irritated with the chief of Cuba’s veterinary inspection services because “he lied to me in front of an American”. And it sounded so natural when he said it! He really felt offended not because the man had lied to him, but because he had done it in front of an American!

The truth is that Castro is a failure and he needs Ghostbusters. For as much as he has claimed Cuba no longer suffers its ills of the fifties, for all his ranting and raving against the US, the ghost of Meyer Lansky reincarnated many times over has come back to haunt him.

Yes, the spirit of Meyer Lansky is alive and well in Havana.