A new bar is opening in DC, called “Hemingway’s Bar”, in the invite only Cuban Interests Section. This is vastly better public diplomacy than the US-Cuba tit-for-tat shenanigans of the past.
Small scoop, but on October 6th, the Cuban Interests Section (aka, the Cuban Embassy if we ever get back to normalizing relations) will launch a clever bit of public diplomacy by opening “Hemingway’s Bar.”
Of course, one has to be invited as the bar is on Cuba’s side of the line inside its sort-of-embassy, and my hunch is that some will make the list and others won’t. Sorry Ileana (and Mario).
And as commerce can’t change hands between Americans and Cubans — the drinks will be free. I plan to go and will want a “Hemingway Daiquiri” — double the rum, and no sugar.
And what is as interesting is that the Cuban national historical landmark, the Finca Vigia, which was the Havana hills home built by Ernest Hemingway and his third wife, journalist Martha Gellhorn,
will be providing educational and cultural exhibits and material about
Hemingway’s work and life during his two decades living in Cuba.
Compare this kind of diplomacy to how the Americans and Cubans used to harass each other in the past.
According to a good roundup of tit-for-tat propaganda, Cuba first had a small billboard facing the US Interests Section in Havana (yes, our Embassy by any other account) that displayed:
a cartoon revolutionary shouting to Uncle Sam “Se
