Cubans are a jovial people who love music and dancing."

I am sure you all have such an image. I had such an image as well, but now I have experienced it firsthand. It was truly a culture shock. I was so shocked by the joyousness of it all that I fell down.

The deciding factor was a sudden decision to take private salsa lessons. I am not very good at cheerful things, but I never thought it would turn out like that...

Cuba is a cheerful Latin people.

As I have told you, Castro, the leader of the Cuban Revolution, was also a bottomless source of optimism.

Cubans are just cheerful, singing, dancing, and enjoying life. Various books have described the Cuban temperament in this way.

But I honestly thought in my heart: "I'm not going to be able to do this.

Is that really the case? Not everyone is like that. It is an exaggerated image created by foreigners, isn't it?

So I boldly asked Daniel, our local guide who accompanied us on our walk in Havana, about it.

We decided to stay in the old part of Havana, called Old Havana.

This is a World Heritage-listed city, and you can still feel the atmosphere of old Cuba.

On this day, we will take a leisurely stroll through Old Town Havana with a local guide.

Cuba is all about music.

Musicians are playing everywhere in the city.

As you wander around town, you can hear the typical Cuban sounds coming out of nowhere.

It was a moment that made me feel that this is Cuba.

After paying my respects at the Che Guevara mausoleum, my next stop was the center of Santa Clara.

Arriving in downtown Santa Clara, one gets a sense of Cubanness from the colorful buildings that are showing their age.

Wander through the city and walk to the nearby Armored Train Assault Monument. The victory here in Santa Clara was decisive for the revolutionary forces in the Cuban Revolution. I came here because the battle that triggered it took place right here.

As I mentioned in my previous article, "Revolutionary Regime and Missile Crisis - Cuban History Explained (3) Cuba Part 4," in 1962, the world managed to stay just short of ruin in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The U.S. cancelled plans for a military invasion of Cuba, and the Soviet Union quickly followed through on an agreement to remove its missile bases.

The rest of the world has just breathed a sigh of relief, but from Cuba's point of view, there is something left to simmer in our hearts. In this article, we will discuss the subsequent developments in Cuba.

This article will give a brief history of Cuba from just after the Cuban Revolution.

Of course, a revolution does not end with the overthrow of a regime. The regime that has been seized must now be maintained and managed. The leader Castro was suddenly placed in a difficult position.

The result is that Cuban crisis. In this article, we will look at the process leading up to that Cuban crisis.

In the previous article, "The Establishment of Cuba and the Period of Spanish Rule - A Brief History of Cuba (1) Cuba (2)," we discussed the point where Cuba gained independence from Spain in 1902, but became a semi-colony of the United States.

In this article, I will discuss the history of Cuba from there until Cuba fought the United States and achieved true independence.

What kind of image does Cuba conjure up in your mind?

Perhaps socialism, the Cuban Missile Crisis, or Castro's dictatorship bring to mind the image of a rather scary country.

I too had that image until I learned about the country. However, the image of Cuba as a dangerous country is not exactly correct. The image of Cuba as a dangerous dictatorship is just that, an image.

Its real image is quite different from the one we have.

In this article, I will try to get a real picture of Cuba based on its history, albeit a rough one.