Three Nights In Havana

On January 26, 1976, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau became the first leader of a NATO country to visit Cuba since the crippling 1960 American economic embargo. Accompanied by his wife, Margaret, and baby Michel, Trudeau was greeted in Havana by 250,000 cheering Cubans and a 30-foot poster of himself. “Long live Prime Minister Fidel Castro!” Trudeau would famously shout at the love-in. In this fascinating portrait of an unusual relationship between two enigmatic world leaders, author and historian Robert Wright brings to life three days of Canadian politics played out on the international stage. In a revealing look at both leaders’ personalities and political ideologies, Wright shows how these two towering figures—despite their official positions as allies of rival empires—determinedly refused to exist merely as handmaidens to the United States and forged a long-lasting relationship.

In 1976, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau embarked on a three-day visit to Havana. He became the first leader of a NATO country to visit Cuba since the 1960 American economic embargo. The unusual relationship between the two world leaders is reflected in the three critical days when Canadian politics played on the international stage.

Penned during the transition of power from Fidel Castro to Raúl Castro, Our Place in the Sun explores the Canadian-Cuban relationship from 1959 to the present day. The essays in this volume reflect upon the past but also explore the internal issues and external forces that will continue to influence the Canada-Cuba association in the years to come. Many of this volume's contributors draw upon newly declassified sources and original interviews, providing unique insight into the historical, economic, and political realities affecting the Canada-Cuba connection. Featuring twelve original essays by a variety of scholars as well as a short memoir by former Canadian Ambassador to Cuba, Mark Entwistle, this important interdisciplinary collection calls into question past understandings of the Canadian-Cuban relationship. It is a must-read for anyone interested in Canadian and Cuban history of the last half-century, and the dynamics of North American politics more broadly.

In Three Nights in Havana and Our Man in Tehran, author and historian Robert Wright brings to life two key events that shaped Canada’s diplomatic psyche and forever changed how Canada was viewed by the rest of the world. On January 26, 1976, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau became the first leader of a NATO country to visit Cuba since the crippling 1960 American economic embargo. Three Nights in Havana is a fascinating portrait of an unusual relationship between two enigmatic world leaders, Pierre Trudeau and Fidel Castro. In a revealing look at both leaders’ personalities and political ideologies, Wright shows how these two towering figures—despite their official positions as allies of rival empires—determinedly refused to exist merely as handmaidens to the United States and forged a long-lasting relationship. The world watched with fear in November 1979 when Iranian students infiltrated and occupied the American embassy in Tehran. As the city exploded in a fury of revolution, few knew about the six American embassy staff who had escaped into hiding. In Our Man in Tehran, Robert Wright tells the story behind a major historical flashpoint, a story of cloak-and-dagger intrigue, the stuff of John le Carré and Frederick Forsyth made real.

Other Diplomacies, Other Ties explores Cuba-Canada relations following the revolution of 1959 and the major geopolitical and economic transformations that have occurred in recent years. Through the conceptual lens of "other diplomacies," which emphasizes interactions among non-state actors, the contributors challenge the conventional wisdom regarding the actions of diplomats, politicians, journalists, spies, and émigrés. Featuring both Cuban and Canadian contributors, the volume offers a diverse range of research methodologies including ethnography, archival work, and policy analysis to encourage critical examination about the problems, possibilities, and promise of the longstanding relationship between Canada and Cuba. All decades of the post-1959 relationship – from the dramatic early years during which the diplomatic and political relationship was negotiated through to contemporary education exchanges and the gradual formation of Cuban-Canadian diasporas, are critically reappraised. Other Diplomacies, Other Ties is a nuanced and unique volume that crucially gives voice to Cuban scholars' perspectives on the Canada-Cuba relationship.

Tia desperately needed a vacation from her stressful job in New York, and where better to practice her Spanish than in the sun and sand of Cuba. But curiousity and bad plumbing drew her out of her sea-kissed resort to the city of Havana. Expecting a dreamy postcard experience of classic cars and salsa in the forbidden country, she soon began to loathe everything about it: the smell, the hustlers, the noise and the lack of personal space...until she met Alejandro. 14 years her junior, she saw him as forbidden fruit, but he didn't see her that way.Part 1 of a 2 part short story series based on true events.

In 1976, with the US trade embargo against Cuba underway, Canada's Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau visited the island nation, befriended his counterpart, and exclaimed publicly "Long live Prime Minister Fidel Castro!" During the past half-century of communist rule in Cuba, Canada's policy of engagement with the country has contrasted sharply with the United States' policy of isolation. Based on a series of interviews conducted in Havana, Washington, and Ottawa, Perceptions of Cuba moves beyond traditional economic and political analyses to show that national identities distinct to each country contributed to the formation of their dissimilar foreign policies. Lana Wylie argues that Canadians and Americans perceive Cuba through different lenses rooted in their respective identities: American exceptionalism made Cuba the polar opposite of the United States, while Canada's self-image as a good international citizen and as 'not American' has allowed the country to engage with the Cuban government. By acknowledging that competing national identities, perceptions, and ideas play a major role in foreign policies, Perceptions of Cuba makes a significant contribution to our understanding of international relations.

A childhood in a privileged household in 1950s Havana was joyous and cruel, like any other-but with certain differences. The neighbour's monkey was liable to escape and run across your roof. Surfing was conducted by driving cars across the breakwater. Lizards and firecrackers made frequent contact. Carlos Eire's childhood was a little different from most. His father was convinced he had been Louis XVI in a past life. At school, classmates with fathers in the Batista government were attended by chauffeurs and bodyguards. At a home crammed with artifacts and paintings, portraits of Jesus spoke to him in dreams and nightmares. Then, in January 1959, the world changes: Batista is suddenly gone, a cigar-smoking guerrilla has taken his place, and Christmas is cancelled. The echo of firing squads is everywhere. And, one by one, the author's schoolmates begin to disappear-spirited away to the United States. Carlos will end up there himself, without his parents, never to see his father again. Narrated with the urgency of a confession, WAITING FOR SNOW IN HAVANA is both an ode to a paradise lost and an exorcism. More than that, it captures the terrible beauty of those times in our lives when we are certain we have died-and then are somehow, miraculously, reborn.