Vintage Photos From Robert McCabe's Trip To Cuba (PHOTOS)

American Robert McCabe has long been a fixture on the photography scene. His photos of Antarctica, taken in 1959, were turned into a book entitled Deep Freeze!

A random, last-minute trip to Cuba in 1998 (when McCabe had to use his daughter's camera since he didn't bring his own) was turned into a stunning book called A Weekend In Havana.

America's foreign policy towards Cuba has long been debated and considered, and seeing photos of such a stunning place might make you want to visit even more.

Here are a selection of scenes from Havana from 12 years ago. The colors and vibrancy of the culture is so apparent even from the photos.

Have you been to Havana? Send us your photos!

 

Been to Cuba? Send us your photos!

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Old Havana

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Comments

[negotiatethis]

04:23 PM on 01/26/2011

Some great shots. A beautiful place! http://talkingcubawordpress.com/

[RobertoAlba]

01:29 AM on 01/21/2011

I harbor the hope that one day I will be able to return to a free Cuba. I went back for the first time in 19 years last summer and saw my family. Very emotional and spiritual experience to finally see my country again... It will always be my home - no matter how long I spend away from it.

[Dantee]

05:42 PM on 12/25/2010

VIVA FIDEL!! VIVA CHE!! How AMAZING that Fidel has kept this tiny Island Nation alive for half a century under the harsh sanctions of the US. And with shortages of foods and medicines and many other things, all of his citizens are guaranteed healthcare and education. Amazing!

[steamboat]

07:40 PM on 12/02/2010

All you folks who've been to Havana and thinks it wonderful, how come all the people always try to flee in rafts, boats, intertubes, etc.? Wouldn't you think its the other way around by all your glowing reports.?

[Pierogi kid]

04:27 PM on 11/29/2010

In all fairness, I can't say it is exactly the same as I have never been to Cuba, but this reminds me in a small way of how it was visiting my relatives under the old iron curtain in the former Czechoslovakia. There was this quant somewhat round down old town that tourist found charming for its "authenticity" and lack of western commercialism and how great it was that the lack of capitalist development allowed for the preservation of this old architecture. Meanwhile 90% of the people lived in huge stalin like apartment blocks outside the center that were akin to prisons, or henhouses that somehow did not make it on the tourist must see list.

[CANTHATBE]

10:48 AM on 11/29/2010

I see no difference between corrupt capitalism and corrupt communism. Happiness is not living within 5 miles of a Wal-Mart either.

[mercedes45]

10:56 AM on 11/29/2010

Sorry but yes there is. In capitalism you have free press, free travel, opposing political parties plus all the rights the constitution guarantees its citizens. In communism you are a property of the slave master...in Cuba, the Castro brothers.

[Totto]

11:26 AM on 11/29/2010

Free press? Opposing political parties? Ever watch Fox for truth? Too bad!

[Dantee]

05:44 PM on 12/25/2010

Free press? Look at the Wikileaks case! Free travel? Try making a trip to Cuba! Learn to read instead of having Glen Beck do it for you!

[mrh85]

12:00 PM on 11/29/2010

Another example of people not knowing the difference between communism and socialism.

[Dantee]

06:01 PM on 12/25/2010

I wish Americans would study their history before making comments based only on what they have heard and repeated their entire lives. Fidel and Che led a ragtag army of citizens who's land and homes had been stolen from them by an evil dictator and American investors and mafia bosses. They didn't sit back like America's 'leaders' in cozy offices and send young kids to fight. They led the charge. Wake up!

[HeadlessHessian]

10:45 AM on 11/29/2010

One of the billboard pictures shows Dubyah....and calls him an assasin!
A case of the Pot and the Kettle.

[steamboat]

09:09 AM on 12/03/2010

Too bad they washed-off the graffiti from that sign that said "Socialism or Death".

Some brave (probably deceased now) Cuban citizen wrote underneath, "What's the difference"

[Dan Stewart]

10:28 AM on 11/29/2010

American are frequently compared as free relative to Cubans, but are ironically barred by US law from going to Cuba, among other countries.

[mercedes45]

10:51 AM on 11/29/2010

Please educate yourself. There is no comparison. Americans ARE FREE. Cubans are subjects of a dictatorship state.

[Totto]

11:46 AM on 11/29/2010

Mercedes, you are demonstrating your ignorance. Canada, Scandinavia, France, Germany, UK have much more freedom and a press with actual journalists reporting facts about the whole world. Come out of your cocoon!

[katrinanyc]

12:15 AM on 11/30/2010

No, Mercedes, we are not free. Our personal liberties have been straitjacketed for years, and we are prevented from traveling to Cuba, the largest country in the Caribbean. Please note that we could travel to the U.S.S.R. (when Russia was Soviet), and every other Soviet bloc country, and today we can travel to China (which has a horrible human rights record) and North Korea as long as we apply for visas. It is one thing to have a travel advisory for my safety but quite another to have a law in place that prevents Americans from traveling to a country for ideological reasons. As an American who *should* be free, I resent it. And you should, too.

[Dan Stewart]

10:25 AM on 11/29/2010

Sadly, the US harbors many Cuban terrorists who have perpetrated number brutal terrorist attacks targeting innocent civilians in Cuba.  These terroists, like Luis Posada Carriles, who are fugitives with valid international arrest warrants against them, live openly in Miami.

[charlygardel]

12:07 PM on 11/30/2010

The whole Posada Carriles case is shameful for the US, and the fact that he isn't being prosecuted by the whole 'war on terror' apparatus is stomach-churning.

[steamboat]

09:13 AM on 12/03/2010

I've always wished for a trade: Carriles in exchange for Asaka Shakur and Phil Agee....Your thoughts?

[Spiral Architect]

10:20 AM on 11/29/2010

This is the equivalent of taking pictures of desolate streets full of crack dens and homeless people in Detroit and claiming it to be "steeped in culture".

I'm Cuban, and I can tell you that Communism is ugly. The crumbling streets, the car's from the 50's, the depravity of it all...is nothing to cheer about. There aren't any people on rafts leaving Key West to get to Cuba, thats' for sure.

[CANTHATBE]

10:40 AM on 11/29/2010

That is way off with the crack den remark. You lost your whole argument.

[Dantee]

05:54 PM on 12/25/2010

The only thing wrong with your beloved Island Nation is the 50+ years of harsh sanctions by the US because of childish anger from corrupt US officials, mafia bosses and corporate execs who were in bed with Batista!

[Dan Stewart]

10:19 AM on 11/29/2010

Lift the embargo!

[Big-Boy]

10:18 AM on 11/29/2010

I'm very torn on this topic as a Cuban born and now and American citizen. The US/Cuba relations have been like a Bobby Brown Whitney Huston marriage. Torrid love affair with nothing good in the end for either side. Cuba is the only country allowed someone coming via boat setting foot on American soil to stay... marked difference from what we'd do to a boat load of Haitians.

Old Cuba had corruption and political strife but was the Riviera of the Caribbean. It offered opportunity to those willing to work for it. It is large enough not to rely on tourism alone, it has phenomenal farming potential and the cigar and cane industry alone would have supported the island, the tourism and casinos would have only strengthened the economy.

America's failed embargo and destructive policy as well as it's uninformed leadership is partly at fault, but no one shares more of the fault than Fidel Castro. Power corrupts, and he's had absolute power which corrupts absolutely. Cuba spent all of the money and resources afforded to it while it was under the USSR's wing sponsoring and fighting wars throughout Africa and other locations trying to spread communism around the world, at the expense of the Cuban people's financial progress. There is NO freedom for the Cuban people, only a fear that someone living in the USA could never understand. Hopelessness, hunger, and alcoholism, a bottle of rum costs less than a can of Coca Cola...

[uglycanadian]

10:27 AM on 11/29/2010

I have had the pleasure of meeting many Cubans - expat and resident - over the years. Many of them express the pain and confusion your post speaks to. Your homeland is a beautiful and vibrant place despite years of being pulled this way and that by many competing players, and being mired in the futile and seemingly-vindictive embargo.

Your post makes many salient points, and I thank you for your input.

[katrinanyc]

12:33 AM on 11/30/2010

I went on a licensed flight to Cuba this year and kissed the ground when I returned home to the States. That alone was worth something. It is time to lift the travel embargo.

[IntellectuallyHonest]

09:59 AM on 11/29/2010

A walk that is streng verboten for American citizens because of a handful of tyrannts in powerful positions bitterly clinging to the past.

[CubaCultureClub]

09:55 AM on 11/29/2010

Excellent photo shoots! Honestly, a weekend is not enough time. Havana alone can occupy weeks and perhaps months or more to really get to know. Havana is steeped in culture and the sights will mesmerize you. I have taken hundreds of photos also and, when I am back in a week's time, will make what I hope to be an exhaustive study of the casas particulares in Havana. Some photos appear on our website at http://clubforleisure.com.

[Spiral Architect]

10:17 AM on 11/29/2010

Enjoy other people's misery huh?

[CubaCultureClub]

11:55 AM on 11/29/2010

No, on the contrary, you miss the point completely! One has a choice to make in how one views a neighbour. Be a friend and help or stay away and pretend that all is well or fall prey to and join the mindless and clueless observations levied by armchair critics who have never studied firsthand what the neighbour's life is really like. My purpose and that of many good people I have come to know is to help their neighbour and not through handouts either. We do not frequent the resorts but immerse ourselves in the lives of the ordinary Cubans and help where and when we can in whatever way we can by being first and foremost a friend.

[Sean Kerwin]

09:14 AM on 11/29/2010

The irony is that a repressive dictatorship and a (misguided in my opinion) economic embargo on this country is exactly what has allowed beautiful old architecture like this to thrive and survive. When capitalism sweeps in, an Island of "old city" will be maintained and the rest turned into high rise office buildings, tourist resorts and suburbs. The cost of freedom and prosperity, I guess.