Journalist Eric Umansky is running his Cuba diaries over at Slate. A fresh-eyed look at the harshness and desperation underneath the languid, tropical veneer:

. . . I go to see a foreign correspondent in Havana with whom I had gotten in touch before arriving. I'll call him Dennis Hopper. We go out to the hallway to speak, since Hopper and his colleague say their place is bugged. "Man," says Hopper, "this place is so fucked up. You think it's just another Third World getaway spot with nice beaches, because it's hot here and people complain about the economy. But underneath, man, it's fucking East Germany. I know, you don't think like that. You won't think like that. It took me a long time and I was burnt. But trust no one here, man. No one."

I temporarily postpone my search for dissidents. . .

Go read.

Posted by Laura at August 3, 2004 10:35 PM