CARISTAS

   Motorcycle cops on Yamaha Viragos are a regular presence on Cuban roads. The Virago, the first V-twin cruiser-style motorcycle from a Japanese manufacturer, was built from 1981 to 2007. It's a handsome bike.    Moto Guzzi and Jawa models are also said to have been used by the Cuban police. And those form-fitting, purplish uniforms? Well, they're distinctive.

   Another view of the trusty police Ladas. This is at a checkpoint between Matanzas and Havana provinces. Tourists roll right through, but Cuban citizens must stop and show a permit that allows them to travel to a different district. While two officers watch for cars, a third keeps busy shining patrulla unit No. 230.

   Cuba's longtime state police car, the I-am-my-own-cellblock Lada, is gradually giving way to the Geely CK, according to this Reuters report . No doubt the Cuban constabulary welcomes the air-conditioning, power steering and other amenities of the Chinese-made Geely (a Daewoo design with 1.5-litre Toyota engine). Bet they don't mind its (semi) modern styling, either.    But mark our words, officers. Just as your northern counterparts lament the loss of their foursquare Diplomats and Caprices, one day you'll admit how much you miss the sweet-and-simple Lada.

   This is a 1952 Chevrolet Styleline. Sometime in the last 57 years, it has lost the five ridges or teeth that were added that year to the centre horizontal member of the Chevy grille. Buyers in 1952 could choose from 26 exterior colours (single shades and two-tone combinations). Dunno if this light green was one of those original colours, but you have to admit, it's nice.

    That famous occupational holidayer would want to make Cuba a stop. On an island with spotty train service, limited in-country flights and low private car ownership, the bus is a transportation mainstay – so there are plenty to see.     But, as with Cuba’s automobile fleet, it’s the range of vintage and origin that really pulls the cord. In a day’s travel, our busman might come across a modern articulated urban carrier, an old GM Silverside, a repurposed Quebec yelllow bus still bearing its “Ecoliers” markings ... even a venerable Leyland Olympic. Apart from Havana’s municipal Yutongs, the new and shiny stuff is usually reserved for tourists and their convertible pesos. Cubans get the older machines.     These three veterans carry resort workers. Above is a Cuba-assembled   Girón , bu ilt under licence from Hungary’s Ikarus company. The yellow bus is a DAF from the Netherlands, which has sent many decommissioned buses to Cub...

    The Big Deal in the Cuban economy isn’t nickel or tourism (and certainly not sugar, tobacco or coffee). The Big Deal is petróleo . And not as export or other revenue-earner, but as money-costing import.    So why, at this point in the Oil Age, should Cuba be different than most other countries?    Cuba does produce oil, but the product of its offshore wells is heavily sulphurous, and even then not enough to meet its needs. The rest is supplied by Venezuela at below market rates (in exchange for Cuban medical missions and technical training), but the bill still adds to a trade deficit that in 2008 jumped by 65 per cent.     According to a report in The Economist , the addition of “thousands of thirsty diesel generators” – the Cuban government’s response to the island’s infamous power failures – is a big part of a sharp rise in demand for oil. To cut costs, the government ordered that air conditioning be restricted to the five hott...

    Photos of Fidel Castro looking fat ‘n’ sassy – or at least smiling, and appearing to have gained weight – surfaced last week on the retired (sort-of) leader’s 83rd birthday.     Their source? Not some Cuban government agency, but the U.S.-based Pastors for Peace , which in July met with Fidel and brother Raul on the arrival of the group’s latest caravan of embargo-defying aid.    The interdenominational group works for social justice throughout Latin America, and considers the U.S. restrictions on trade with Cuba “immoral and unjust.” Since 1992, it has delivered more than 3,000 tons of medical equipment, hurricane reconstruction supplies, powdered milk and other aid. Its caravans of brightly painted, decommissioned school buses – looking like stretched versions of ’60s-era hippy vans – wend through Canada and the United States before crossing the border to Mexico for eventual transfer to their destination.     The buses re...