Couple see Cuba after honeymoon thwarted in 1959

Arizona Republic/ Luci Scott

In 1959, Dan and Marcia Cohen were booked on a honeymoon cruise to Havana. The day before they were to leave, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro rolled tanks into the city.

Fifty-three years later -- this summer -- they finally got their Cuba honeymoon by joining a tour sponsored by the Tempe Chamber of Commerce.

As newlyweds, the Cohens had been at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach, ready for a four-night cruise to Havana to visit casinos and see some shows.

"The day before the cruise, the Miami Herald headline said, 'Castro's tanks on outskirts of Havana,' " Dan Cohen said.

The San Tan Valley-area residents had not given up on one day making the trip and jumped at a rare chance to finally see Cuba on the tour, which was allowed under a people-to-people license issued by the U.S. government. Restrictions on travel to Cuba eased in 2011.

Cohen said a highlight of the trip was visiting the home of author Ernest Hemingway and seeing the patrol boat Hemmingway used to look for German submarines in World War II.

"It was magnificent grounds," Cohen said.

The Americans saw a lot of cars from the 1950s there, with their long-lasting diesel engines.

"At one of our stops by a cathedral, there was a beautifully maintained Chevy, a '55 or '56," Cohen said. "It had 450,000 miles."

Still, he said, a common mode of transportation was horse and buggy, often serving as crowded taxis.

Music was among the draws of Cuba, and it did not disappoint, Cohen said.

"And the laughter. The people ... didn't have much to enjoy, but they were making the most of it," he said. "At night, when we'd open the windows in the hotel, we heard nothing but music and dancing and singing."

Still, he was aware of repression by the Cuban government. Before he worked in security in Las Vegas, he had a career in counterespionage in the Air Force, so in Cuba, he said he recognized propaganda and discovered how Cubans are misled.

An American asked the Cuban guide what she thought of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, where the U.S. is holding terrorism suspects. From the guide's answer, the group surmised that the Cuban government had told its citizens that the photos of the abuse

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