5. Castro Banned the Beatles
Fidel Castro felt the the shallow mania surrounding the Fab Four was incompatible with his vision for Communist Cuba. In 1964 he declared a ban of Beatles music (no doubt igniting a thriving black market of contraband tunes). Fast forward a few decades and Castro himself presided over a ceremony to dedicate a bronze statue of John Lennon in a Havana park, now aptly named John Lennon Park. Apparently he had a lot of respect for the slain Beatle’s thinking. In his dedication speech Castro drew parallels between Lennon and himself as mutual dreamers. The statue’s iconic glasses have been snatched so many times, a guard is now employed to hold the circular specs and place them on John’s nose when visitors come by.
6. Columbus Thought Cuba was China
On his first voyage across the pond in 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in Bariay near the eastern tip of Cuba. He mistakenly thought he was in China on his quest to find a passage to India. He sent his interpreters to go find the Emperor which, of course, they didn’t. They did, however, stumble upon a native Taíno village where they first observed the smoking of tobacco and promptly picked up the bad habit themselves. Columbus was disappointed to find no great riches in Cuba. Unbeknownst to him this tobacco discovery was ultimately worth more than most treasures.
