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struggles in Africa, the revolution in Algeria, and the Turcios Lima 
guerrillas in Guatemala or Peruvian peasants in arms. The 1 million 
Indonesian communists massacred in 1964 outraged political leaders in Havana 
and left them with no patience while the revolutionary regime battled the 
growing internal bureaucracy..

The escalation of the war in Vietnam (1965), the rift between the Soviet 
Union and the People's Republic of China (1963-1966) did not leave much room 
for music appreciation with help from Liverpool. Moreover, American 
teenagers were becoming a mass market for "I Saw Her Standing There" while 
in Havana people discussed how to take a country out of underdevelopment. 
Then there was also the problem of defeating 600 guerrilla groups armed by 
the Central Intelligence Agency and operating in the Escambray Mountains. In 
New York DJs spoke of "Golden Hits" but in the Dominican Republic US Marines 
were landing and hitting towns with their overwhelming fire power. And the 
US air force had just begun bombing North Vietnam.

Cubans were baffled when the Queen of England appointed the Beatles "Members 
of the Order of the British Empire" circa June 1965; by then Che had begun 
the efforts to spark continental revolutions in Africa and Latin America 
began to confront a wave of military coup d'etats.

In those days, the Americans certainly could not lecture the Cubans about 
matters of music appreciation. When the Beatles finally began to address the 
necessity of giving "peace a chance" [a Plastic One Band project] and even 
criticized  US policy in Southeast Asia, criticism of them began in the 
United States. When Lennon made the passing remark that they were more 
popular than Jesus, the Bible belt reacted. Radio stations classified the 
Beatles as anti-American and a boycott ensued. The Beatles had to choose
between sales and political convictions. They ended up apologizing for their 
views on politics and religion to the American rightwing. The Cubans found 
the whole matter disconcerting.

Granted, by 1966, the Beatles had turned against US interventionism. The 
Beatles were not a phenomenon that had a popular impact on Cuba, then.  Yet, 
Silvio Rodríguez in the late 1960s had a TV program called 'Mientras Tanto' 
where he actually defended the Beatles' music and songs. Silvio was 
criticized and lost his TV spot. [3]

The Beatles'  transcendentalism and Eastern mysticism (circa 1968) alienated 
Cuban radicals and revolutionaries as well. However, Cuban musicians were 
impressed by their freedom of composition. But in those days, Cubans had 
more serious concerns than imagining a yellow submarine when the real ones 
were just 12 miles away, and the only "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" they 
knew were the U-2s and Blackbirds that entered their air space in order to 
clock the Cuban Air command and control structures.

Granted, the Beatles musical contributions, then, ought to have been judged 
by the Cuban public, without any political litmus test attached. Moreover, 
there was a lack of sophistication in the making of cultural policy and a 
facile identification of North American and British pop culture with 
ideological diversionism. The political and ideological shortcomings were 
exacerbated by a surrounded fortress mentality. But, cultural and political 
nationalism also shapes the history of countries. The student revolts in 
1968 in Mexico and Paris were  not identified with the music of the times, 
but with the death of Che.

At play, during those years, was the concerted effort to construct a 
revolutionary ethic of hard work and sacrifice. The Cuban political, 
economic and cultural leaderships assumed that in order to overcome 
underdevelopment it was imperative to foster an ideology that would be the 
revolutionary equivalent of the Protestant ethic. Work hard, consume little,
defer gratification, invest in further development. The early stages of mass 
consumerism was considered an external threat. The Beatles were perceived as 
the vanguard of selfish consumerism and not as revolutionaries who were 
musicians. Or as Ned Sublette has noted in a comment about this article, 
"while anglo-americans were pretending that singers were revolutionaries, 
real revolutionaries were facing challenges of basic survival." [4]

Despite the imposed restrictions the Beatles had an impact on Cuban music 
then.  (Juan Formell , Silvio Rodríguez and others have acknowledged  as 
much). [5] Today, the Beatles' influence is found everywhere in Cuba. Havana 
has a park remembering John Lennon, there is also La Caverna de los Beatles 
in the city of Holguin where old timers reminisce about the group, listen 
and sing. Abel Prieto,  Minister of Culture, has written a novel "El vuelo 
del gato" where the presence of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, 
Janis Joplin and Simon and Garfunkel appear in numerous pages. Prieto has 
done, as well, a drawing of John Lennon.

What was forbidden then is now promoted. [6] Videos of Beatles' concerts are 
presently shown on prime time Cuban television. In June 2006, a Cuban 
musical group performed "Hey Jude" in London to the sound of Conga 
percussion. There is an extraordinary album made with all Cuban artists 
singing Beatle's songs but with Cuban rhythms. [7]

On December 8, 2000, Fidel Castro unveiled a bronze statue of John Lennon 
sitting on a bench at a Havana park while the background music played 
Lennon's rendition of "All You Need Is Love."

In fact, the Beatles have been thoroughly appropriated and cubanized even by 
children.  Last August at the Karl Marx Theater the children's company La 
Colmenita performed Sleeping Beauty to the music of the Beatles. The same 
group will perform at the 10th Festival of Children's Theater in Moscow. The 
festival has been organized by UNICEF. Children from five continents will 
participate. The Cuban children will perform in Spanish, English and Russian 
a work entitled:  “Cinderella... according to the Beatles. ” [8]

-----------------------

[1] 02/17/08 - Washington Post -  As Fidel Fades From the Scene [by Tom 
Miller]

[2] The Beatles were not the only ones not allowed in Cuba then. One could 
add other groups as well such as the Rolling Stones, or Cuban musicians who 
left Cuba.

[3] The banning of the Beatles has been attributed to Papito Serguera who 
headed the Instituto Cubano de Radio Television. However, there were others 
in positions of authority and power who considered English language music a 
form of ideological diversionism. See: Ernesto Juan Castellanos, John Lennon 
en La Habana with a little help from my friends.Ediciones Unión, 2005 [See 
the section Papito Serguera - ”Los Beatles no estuvieron prohibidos en 
 Cuba”].  A portion of the chapter can be found at: 
http://puntocubano.wordpress.com/2007/01/29/entrevista-de-ernesto-juan-a-papito-serguera/

[4] Email from Ned Sublette to Nelson Valdés, February 19, 2008 8:57 AM

[5] Domingo Amuchastegui has written a balanced assessment of those days. 
See: 08/26/07 - Cuba-L Analysis (Albuquerque)  - NI QUINQUENIO GRIS NI 
DECENIO NEGRO, SINO INTERMINABLE LUCHA DE IDEAS Y DIVERSIDAD EN LA CUBA 
REVOLUCIONARIA

[6] 01/25/08 - Juventud Rebelde (Habana) - Los Van Van’s Juan Formell Still 
Has the Last Word; 03/12/05 - La Jiribilla - Conversando con Silvio 
Rodríguez [by  Marta Valdés]

[7] See: "Here Comes... el Son: Songs of the Beatles with a Cuban Twist, 
reviewed by Jacira Castro - 
http://www.salsapower.com/cdreviews/cuban_beatles.htm

[8] 03/27/08 - Juventud Rebelde (Habana) - La Colmenita to Participate in 
World Festival of Children's Theatre

I would like to acknowledge the comments and suggestions provided by Jacira 
Castro, Louis Head, Robert  Sandels, John Kirk, Domingo Amuchastegui and Ned 
Sublette. Of course, any errors are my own.