Cuba

Over the last fifty years, Sydney and Anna Higgins have had published over 60 successful, non-fiction books. They have travelled extensively and have lived for long periods in Uganda and and Belize. Without doubt, the country they enjoyed visiting most was Cuba. They were enchanted not by the sights or the scenery but by the Cuban people. For centuries, they had been under the yoke of brutal occupiers from Spain and the USA. When at last they appeared to have achieved independence, they were stamped upon by Batista, a vicious dictator. It was only when he was overthrown by Fidel Castro that Cuba changed. Of course, it had become a Communist state and, therefore, was decried by many countries, especially the USA. Most of the rich Cubans hurriedly ran away and there was a general belief outside Cuba that Castro would fail - but he had the support of the ordinary people and things rapidly began to change. The interviews in this book help to explain how it happened. All were recorded early in 1987, during the authors' three-month stay in Cuba.