Why is playing golf a revolutionary pursuit in Cuba?

The Economist explains



Why is playing golf a revolutionary pursuit in Cuba?

May 23rd 2013, 23:50 by T.W.



AFTER the 1959 revolution, Fidel Castro denounced golf as a "bourgeois"

hobby. Though he once played a round with Che Guevara, the comandante

preferred ordinary Cubans to participate in earthier sports, such as

baseball. Despite demand from visiting foreigners, no new golf course

has been built in Cuba since the revolution. The island has only one

rather shabby nine-hole course in Havana, as well as a full-size course

in Varadero, a tourist town. But the government has just given

developers permission to build an enormous new golf resort, promising "a

whole new policy to increase the presence of golf in Cuba". Why has the

frivolous hobby of the bourgeoisie suddenly become permissible to

revolutionaries?



Cuba has gradually come to accept various Western fads that were

previously outlawed for one reason or another. The Beatles were banned

in Cuba in their heyday; now a bronze statue of John Lennon sits on a

bench in a park in Havana. Nearby a nightclub called "Submarino

Amarillo" (Yellow Submarine) belts out Beatles covers. Even those

closest to the government have fallen for some Western pleasures:

Antonio Castro, one of Fidel's sons, won a golf tournament on the island

last month.



But the main reason for the sudden enthusiasm for pitching and putting

is a need to attract more tourists. The island pulled in 2.8m visitors

last year, far fewer than the 4.6m who flocked to the Dominican

Republic, its smaller neighbour. Cuba faces the disadvantage that

America, which lies only 100 miles away, makes it very difficult for its

own citizens to holiday on the island (try searching for flights to

Havana on an American website and you will have no luck, wherever you

are from). Now, unstable regional politics make it more crucial than

ever for Cuba to pep up income from tourism. Venezuela, whose

petrodollars have propped up the Cuban economy for years, is ploughing

into an economic crisis. Its new president, Nicolás Maduro, has pledged

loyalty to the Castros but is far less popular at home than his

predecessor, Hugo Chávez. Meanwhile, recent attempts to find oil in

Cuban waters have drawn a blank.



The revolution therefore needs golfers. The $350m Carbonera Club, to be

developed by Esencia, a British firm, is the first project to get the

go-ahead; another course is expected to be complete by the end of the

year. A 1,300-berth marina, the largest in the Caribbean, is to be built

in Varadero. And the island's airports are to be upgraded, with help

from Brazil's development bank. At the same time, the government has

signalled that several foreign businessmen who have been held on

suspicion of corruption for nearly two years will soon face trial. Their

hearings are due to begin this month, in what some believe may be a

first step towards eventually freeing them. Cuba's politics remain as

opaque as ever, but it looks as if the island is gradually opening for

business.



http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/05/economist-explains-revolutionary-golf-cuba-castro