Tag: Cuba stamp

A Cuban revolutionary general falls in battle before he can disappoint in office, So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to today’s offering from The Philatelist.

The stamp today features a Latin American General and was issued in 1910. From that you can visualize what the stamp looks like. Now look at the stamp in the picture. Pretty close to what you imagined, correct? The generic aspect of such stamp issues makes you wonder how like minded rulers of the time really were.

Todays stamp is issue A26, a 50 centavo stamp issued by the Cuban republic on February 1st, 1910. The stamp displays Cuban revolutionary General Antonio Maceo. It was part of an 8 stamp issue in various denominations that celebrated heroes of the revolution against Spanish rule in the 19th century. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.90 mint.

Antonio Maceo was born to a Venezuelan father and a mixed race mother of Dominican roots. That of course is not very Cuban and also unlike the vast bulk of the ruling class of Cuba, he had dark skin. Cuba contained more Spanish colonists than many places in Latin America, but also many of African slave roots. Slavery lasted in Cuba until 1886 and Spanish rule lasted until 1898. This did not mean there was not a series of uprisings against slavery and Spain in 19th century Cuba.

From an early age, Maceo was part of the resistance to Spain. He fought in over 50 battles and rose to second in command of the revolutionary force. His dark skin and tall height earned him the nickname, El titan de bronce. After a failed 10 year war against Spain, he was banished to Costa Rica. After that war Spain finally ended slavery and initiated economic reforms. This proved not enough and in 1895 there was a new rebellion with Maceo back from exile to help lead it. The rebellion was of mixed success with the rebels controlling the countryside and Spain the cities. A Spanish politician quipped that we have sent 200,000 troops and don’t control much more land than we are standing on.

Spain changed tacks then with some success. Those in the countryside were ordered into concentration camps in the cities where many died. This then allowed the army to go hard after the rebels and many fell in battle, including General Maceo.

America had been watching the carnage and sympathizing with the rebels. After the incident with the battleship Maine in Cuba, America invaded and quickly defeated a battle weary Spain. Though there was an American military occupation and some thought of annexation, Cuba was soon turned over to the leaders of the failed revolution. They proved to be bickering and incompetent.

Interestingly, General Maceo was asked what he thought of being annexed by the USA. He replied that on this one issue, his sword would be with Spain. None of his fellow revolutionaries sided with Spain when the USA invaded. They were too busy fighting for personal power.

Well my drink is empty and one wonders of an accounting of the costs on both sides in Cuba would have let people to come to a different end. Spain surely would have said good riddance long before and one might not see statues to Maceo still in Cuba. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018

Seeing this Cuban stamp from the early days of Fidel Castro. I assumed this would be a story of Cuba fighting to stay part of regional organizations against American wishes. Instead the story is how precarious such organizations are. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp is from the first year of the American embargo on the sale of mint Cuban stamps. The embargo never applied to used stamps which this is. The exemption would prevent American collectors from being penalized from keeping a stamp they may have received in the mail. The embargo is still in effect. All that said, this stamp is not much to look at. This is reflective of how tenuous the games were.

Todays stamp is issue A258, a three centavo stamp issued on August 27th, 1962 by Cuba. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations celebrating sports of the 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games, in this case baseball. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused. The catalog does list values for stamps covered by the embargo, which seems to have no effect on the low values.

This stamp celebrates the 9th holding of the games that year in Kingston, Jamaica. The first games were in the 1930s and still continue, making the games second only to the Olympics in longevity. They are open to Central American countries, the countries on the north shore of South America and the Caribbean island nations and colonies. They occur every four years on the even off years between Olympics. The hope was to help the area field more competitive teams in the Olympics.

The 1962 Games were especially tenuous. There were initially no bids at all from cities to host the games. The governing body then voted to give the games to San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was against the vote of the sole Puerto Rican representative. They should have listened to him. The Puerto Rican government then announced that they were refusing to host the games. After much additional deliberation, it was decided to award the games to Kingston, Jamaica. Jamaica accepted. The choice however was complicated by Jamaica only receiving independence a few days before the 1962 games. It was also the first times the games were held in a country for whom Spanish was not the native tongue. The games did come off though. 16 countries and territories sent over 1500 athletes. That year a sailing competition was new but gymnastics were discontinued.

So who did the best at the games? Mexico as per the usual had the highest medal count. This reflects the population of Mexico compared to other competitors. Cuba had the highest gold medal count and no other country came close in the medal count.

Well my drink is empty so I will pour another to toast the CASCO organization for keeping the Games going on for so long. The 1962 games shows how difficult it is to make them happen. The next games will come to Panama City, Panama in April 2022. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Cuba was the only country in the Americas to go full bore Marxist Leninist. The USA did not like that and decided to end all trade even postage stamps. That does not mean that farm out stamps were not being produced for the international collector. The stamps now get out and we can see some of our fears reflected. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp shows a Cuban participant in the sport of shooting in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Some of the Olympic sports like competitive shooting arise from the nineteenth century skills of a gentleman soldier. Today the sport still exists but is the province of Middle Eastern petro states. So where does that leave Cuba. The rich quickly left after the revolution and the remaining worker class is not allowed guns. The exception of course was the greatly expanded Cuban Army. This is where the team came from.

Todays stamp is issue A618, a 2 Centavo stamp issued by Cuba on February 20th, 1980. It was part of a six stamp issue in various denominations that celebrated Cuban participation in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. There was also a higher denomination single stamp souvenir stamp released. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or cancelled to order.

The Cuban revolution occurred in 1959. Pre 1959 Cuba was typical of Latin America. There was some prosperity in the capital but much poverty in the countryside. The revolution started in the countryside but was coopted by urban Marxists as was typical of the era. Part of the change in government was grudge settling with the previous hierarchy and this lead to the emigration in mass of the upper class. For example, over half of the doctors left for Miami.

The Marxists somewhat succeeded in Cuba at least in terms of the lower classes. Food was cheap and plentiful and rents were token. The Soviets invested much aid in Cuba and education increased, soon Cuba had amongst the highest rate of doctors.

There was a price for this aid. The Army was greatly expanded. Expeditions of Cuban troops were sent to Africa to fight in favor of Soviet client states such as Angola and Ethiopia. They were functioning almost as colonial half black Askari troops where deployments of Soviet white troops were not justified. In Angola they came up against the apartheid era South African Army and were much bloodied. The all too serious theory at the time at the time was one Cuban soldier in Africa was worth 5 African soldiers. One white South African soldier was worth 10 Africans. Not sure when the Cuban people signed up for that. Indeed the communist Cubans have never been able to provide much more than basic subsistence, especially after the end of Soviet aid. The people have voted with their feet and over 10% of the population has emigrated to the USA. That is about average for a Caribbean country, but before the revolution Cuba was better off than the black Caribbean, and communism was to make it better still.

We can see how this stamp plays into then USA fears over Cuban militarism. In 1984, the movie “Red Dawn” prophesized a Soviet invasion of the USA using mainly Cuban troops. Cuba did have many troops relative to its population but the movie failed to recognize that if one arms embargo addled South African soldier was worth 2 Cubans, how many Cubans would be needed to match up to the USA army.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Soviets. If their investment in Cuba had gone better, the country really might have been a model for South America, with all its inequality and migrant caravans. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.