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Perhaps you have heard about some countries in the world who are under economic sanctions and because of that reason, citizens belonging to those countries are not allowed to do “certain things” other people are indeed allowed to do...common things may i say, like access to some websites on the Internet or using credit and debit cards issued by banks in the USA and other countries.

Those countries are widely known as “Embargoed Countries” because they are under economical sanctions and aren't allowed to trade with companies belonging to the imposing country. By definition an embargo in terms of economical effects is “a government ban on moving commercial ships in and out of certain ports, or a restriction of trade for a specific product or with a specific country.”

Some countries like Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria are examples of embargoed countries by USA government while Crimea(a region of Ukraine) is embargoed and sanctioned by Russia. Not everyone can impose sanctions against another country: only a few powerful economical countries(like USA, Russia and China) and some International Organizations like UN(United Nations) can effectively impose some kind of economical embargo.

The method used does not vary too much from country to country: export restrictions are imposed by law and economical sanctions prohibit companies in the imposing country from trading with the target country under penalty of a large fine. The imposing country may lose markets and investment opportunities to competing countries but target country is usually the most affected one given his poor social and economical condition, because mostly, the embargoes happen from a powerful country to a weak one.

Citizens of seized countries, as you can imagine, do not have the same way of life than citizens who live in countries with no economical restrictions...but they have a life indeed, a modified life full of needs and restrictions but, miraculously, those people have adapted to live under those conditions...and somehow...live happily! :)

Before speaking about the Cuban case, regarding how's to live in an embargoed country, i think i need to quickly step into why some countries are sanctioned, because, let's be fair, it is a question that many people ask themselves when listening for the first time those facts: *country A is sanctioning country B...damn...*why??

Why...?

Two quick answers:

...because they can and want and

...because it is believed by imposing country, that target country has violated some “international rules”, like being an international sponsor of terrorism or because target country has violated basic human rights against its own population...so basically the embargo is a punishment measure.

Those “corrective measures” are applied on behalf of humanity...or at least the imposing country(or its government) believe that, althoug, paradoxically, the people who lives in target countries think those measures are a crime against humanity itself because the consequences of the embargo are suffered by the population and not by the countries leaders(or rulers :) ) so, the lack of food, as an example, will put a whole country population in a hurry but not their leaders, who will continue living at people´s expenses...nothing change, nothing happens, and the embargo becomes a vicious circle for a life.

All over the years we can find many examples showing us an embargo imposed by one country to another, some of them last few months or years while others have entire generations living under some kind of restrictions, so you can born and die without knowing nothing more than needs :(

Cuban Embargo(which cubans prefer to call “the blockade” or “el bloqueo”, in spanish) is known as the “longest and cruellest embargo in human history” because it lasts for more than 60 years by now and have three different edges to cover, which makes it a really complete embargo: it´s a commercial, economic, and financial embargo, that´s why cubans call it “the blockade”...nothing in, nothing out...

We cubans have adapted to live in a country full of needs and no matter the reason we have been imposed an embargo(political differences, everyone knows that :) ) we have a life. We born, raise and die living our lifes in a beautiful country and, with some changes, we have managed ourselves to live our own peculiar way of life.

Living under an embargo: reinventing ourselves!

To live in a seized country has many drawbacks but it gave cubans the possibility to reinvent themselves and the economy as well. Due to economical effects of a long lasting blockade cubans have been forced to be extremely creatives: from alternative products replacing well known and widely used international products to create jobs in trades that do not exist in other parts of the world...let´s see some peculiar aspects of a real cuban way of life!! **:)**

*❶* We do not have Coca-Cola...so we made our own Coca!

As Coca-Cola is a product licensed in the USA, Cuba is not allowed to import it from nowhere. That´s why Cuba make its own Coca-Cola replacement, curiously named TuKola.

Fig 1. *A cuban repaclement for Coca-Cola: TuKola. In the picture we have a regular TuKola and a diet version of the same drink(the white can) (https://www.todocuba.org)*

*❷* We have Internet access through a single submarine cable.

Early´s 2000, Cuba had only access to satellital connections to the World Wide Web(slow and quite expensive). Despite many submarine cables passed near the island, Cuba was not allowed to use any of them, because of the embargo. So Cuba and Venezuela were given the task of build a submarine cable connecting the island to the main South American network infraestructure.

It was more expensive than connecting Cuba to one of those near cables owned by USA institutions but at the end the new millennium welcomed Cuba to the world of fastest and cheapest Internet connections!

Fig 2. *ALBA-1(in red) the submarine cable linking Cuba with Venezuela. Ready for Service in 2012. (https://www.submarinecablemap.com)*

We must note that there are two more cables linking Cuba with Puerto Rico and even the USA, but those cables only serve conectivity to the USA Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay.

*❸* Ration book...what a heck is that?! **:o**

Ohh yes!!! In Cuba, given the weak economy and the restrictions imposed on commerce and international financial transactions the internal retail commerce has been affected heavily. Due to slow wages and that imported things are expensive, cuban government has imposed subsidized food rationing and to register and control the whole process each cuban family is given a “ration book” which is plain and simple a small notebook where each month is annotated the food ration each family corresponds(sugar, coffee, rice, beans, cooking oil,...)

Fig 3. *A typical cuban ration book (https://oncubanews.com)*

Ration books are not new in human history. Their typical use case is in war situation where the whole economy crash or a blockade is imposed over a given country and then ration books came to save the day allowing a parity in the distribution of the little food that still exists in that country. USA as an example, used ration books during WWII...but that time was war time...today in Cuba there is not a war but still have our ration books. :)

Fig 4. *A typical cuban ration book...showing the page dedicated to meat and chicken deliveries (https://oncubanews.com)*

*❹* We have our own Pay-Per-View service...Welcome to a weird Cuban Netfilx and a World Wide Web at cuban style!!!

Weird isn´t? But in Cuba most citizens do not have access to services like Pay-Per-View TV or Netflix. So seizing the opportunity of the recently opened Internet service for all cubans, many people(with a higher money average than the media) has invented our own “internal network” and in parallel, our internally distributed Pay-Per-View service.

Using thousands of Wireless devices like Ubiquiti NanoStation M2 or M5 and MikroTik SXT or LHG5 and more specifically Gigabyte LAN Switches and thousands of meters of LAN UTP cables, cubans have made an internal and community network allowing them to chat, play, mount specialized sales websites and even stream pay content previously downloaded(and pirated :) ) from the Internet.

The network is called: SNet(...from Street Net) and has many services like the real Internet: classified information sites, virtual stores, BattleNet servers, chatting servers, internal email servers and so on...

Fig 5. *A screenshot of SNet logo, the cuban internal Internet!! (http://falcowebb.com)*

You can find even streaming services. The most popular is one called “El Paquete”, or “The Package”, in english. It is a compilation of TV shows, Youtubers shows, PC programs databank, cartoons, manga anime, comic books and films; everything ordered and categorized and distributed sometimes in external HDDs or streamed directly from a server in one residing “node” of that networks.

Fig 6. The “Package” is distributes sometimes in external storage devices like this shown in the photo.( *https://www.cibercuba.com*)

Subscription cost is about 50 cuban pesos($2 USD) on a monthly basis and updates to the package are added on a daily basis(incremental updates)...nothing bad for not having Netflix isn´t?

*❺* Lacking job opportunities? ...let´s invent new jobs!

Due to the negative effects of the embargo the cuban economy has poorly developed over years, although diversified, the internal commerce is not a high level commerce and the wages perceived by cubans who work directly for government owned institutions do not earn more than 40 USD a month which is low not to speak about the inflation levels. That´s why many cubans opt for small jobs created mostly by creative minds trying to solve some problems underlying in the cuban society.

Have you ever heard about “lighter refiller”...as a daily job for anyone?

If you walk through any Cuban market or city parks you´ll be aware that almost in every corner there is a man sitting down in a tiny chair with a tiny table full of lighters...Those men are lighter refillers...

Fig 7. A typical cuban lighter refiller working on the streets.

*(https://walterlippmann.com)*

The lack of new jobs opening have forced the cubans to invent new job positions like this peculiar profession which try to reuse disposable lighters that otherwise would have been thrown away at the end of their useful life...an example of a clean and clever recicling technique.

Final thougths...by now

As you can see dear reader, living under an economical and financial embargo has forced cubans to “reinvent the wheel”. I am sure life in other embargoed countries do not differ too much from the normal cuban way of life but we have some specificities due to we are a communist country and cubans are innovative by nature.

If you come to Cuba sometime, make sure to sharpen your eyes because you will find that living in an embargoed country has many disadvantages but people always try to bypass those difficulties being creative...and giving you something new to photograph and some interesting stories to tell to your grandchildrens. :)

If you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

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*✰* Jewelry on the road: cuban #vintage cars!

*✰* Concentration Camps: Nazis were not the first ones....

*✰* Cuba: through the #vintage glass – Intro

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⌛ Reading time: 9 minutes

Being a blogger for almost a year by now in a platform like Coil has make me wonder about some aspects of blogging i was not aware until few weeks ago...or maybe i was aware, but was not taking it into real consideration until few weeks ago.

Coil is much more than a platform for blogging: it´s a concept, a tool an idea come true....is a disruptive technology that will change (and is changing) the way we see and use the content or the information monetization all over the Internet. Coil has created an entirely new business model around micropayments using the Interledger Protocol(ILP) and as a platform, allows people to have their own automatically monetized blog...without the need of annoying ads **:)**

Inside Coil, users or bloggers(i like to call them “coilers” **:)** ) have the ability to write a completely public post or article, offer them only for subscribers or “split” the content of the article having a completely public section and a premium section only for subscribers, all in the same article...It is a cool idea but it is not something new on planet Earth: other platforms(like Flote App as an example) use the same concept of splitting content or hidding it behind a paywall...the cool thing about Coil is the micropayments part and a fixed rate in subscription tiers(by the way: there is only one tier at Coil)

Writing an article publicly visible(full free of charge) or only for subscribers is sometimes hard if you want to keep a nice combo of quality and quantity when mixing your words but it is easier than writing a “splitted article” because of the “premiun section”. When times come when we must choose what to put into that section sometimes there's a lag in our writing creating a struggle into our heads:

...what should i write?

...what should i offer to my readers they would consider really valuable?

...does it need to be related to the main content?

...if my subscribers do not find it useful...will i lost some of them? **:(**

Fig 1. Many questions, many answers....only one article...and only one head.

The problem is we do not know what to offer in that part of the article because, althought we have planned, before starting the article even, that the article will have a premiun section, we do not know only one things: what to put there in order to people find it relevant, special and even more important...valuable!!!

Premiun Content...what is it exactly and how can i offer it?

Without being an exact science people always tend to think in premium content as an exact thing, or at least, as an ideal workaround to get an exact result: the commitment of people paying for it.

All over the Internet we have several concepts regarding to what premium content is. Basically and summarizing, Premium Content(in digital world) is a content thay may be accesed for a fee, usually higher in quality and sometimes in quantity and more desirable than free content, in some cases it is harder to understand or consume because it is focused on a particular audience.

So, that is, in few words, what Premium Content is in the Digital World according to most sources consulted and if you go, dear reader, to make a Google search, you will realize that most concepts given are all around the same idea. :)

It is usual to ask for a fee in order to gave access to the content we offer as premium. The fee varies, but usually we can find flat and low fees in editorial and blogging worlds ranging from few cents to a couple of dollars a month. Once paid the user can enjoy the benefits of being a “Premium Member” accessing all the content: that one that was free and the paywalled content as well.

Fig 2. Paywalled content in Yalls.org: user must pay $0.01 USD(over Lightning Network in this case) to be able to access the rest of the article.

Above figure shows us an example of paywalled content where user paying to access the rest of the article expects to find something valuable in the part locked down...that´s one way to offer Premium Content where that content itself is part(a continuation) of the free content already provided. Another way is the “Coil way”, or the “100+20 rule for premium content” where you can provide a complete free article(the 100), beautifully designed and planned and then give some “extra and valuable info”(the 20) that could be or not related to the main content of the article, keeping the free part independently useful while the paid portion holds the value of a subscription fee you expect the user pays to access that valuable info and supports you.

There are several ways you can offer Premium Content, no matter if it is paywalled or following some rule like the “100+20” rule exposed here. But at the end, all the problem content creators have regarding this is focused in only one thing: is my content “PREMIUM” for real?

The REAL Premium Content!

Most content creators are somehow worried about what they should offer as paid or premium content so the user base they are responding to finds something really valuable in exchange for their money. The problem is that bloggers and writers sometimes do not know what to offer because one single and tiny fact: all the readers inside user base are different, so each one of them or at least batches of them expects different things in exchange for their money...what someone finds really useful another one finds it extremely unusable.

So how to overcome this situation? :o

There´s no a simple answer to that question but, if i were to give an answer, i will tell you that you always need to trust your gut! That´s it!!! At the end it is a matter of a personal choice if you want to provide premium content or not and if provided, what´s gonna be offered it´s a matter of personal choices too, because, let´s be fair: there´s no way you can fulfill the expectations of a wider audience because as writers we need to think of the whole but at the end we are individually assessed...it means that every user following you expects something different in exchange for what they´re paying.

Fig 3. “It's all a matter of personal choice”

If you always write for a single niche(let´s say that you write always about Crytocurrency World or only about Photographic Advices) your job on selecting Premiun Content is somehow easier, because you know beforehand the audience will respond mostly positive to everthing you provide as paid content as long as the content is related to the main topic of you blog and writings. This happens because as you write for a centered topic you know your audience is, mostly, interested in that concrete topic you write about: you know your user base wishes and preferences.

But if you write about several topics(take me as an example **:)** ) choosing Premium Content becomes a nightmare because there´s no way to know beforehand your followers preferences due to over time, your different articles about different topics have brought to you different readers with different interests...a loooooot of “different” here **:)**

So the paid content you offer in an article related to topic A is viewed as valuable for, let´s say 50% of your user base while the other 50% blames you because they have paid for a content “not interesting or valuable at all”.

That's why you should always think that “everything could be Premium Content”. In fact, anything you want to offer as paid or subscriber content IS Premium Content; it depends on you to provide it for your users and it is up to your users to evaluate it and find some useful value: you will always have supporters and detractors!!!

Fig 4. *From my point of view everything could be Premium Content(https://meedia.de)*

But wait...Is there any CATCH here?

No, there's no any catch, plain and simple: everything is valuable, from a discount coupon to a simple advice or from promoting a given product to give referral links to access some products. There's gonna be always people finding some source of usability from what you give: it depends on them to assess what you offer and keep paying for it...or not....

There's no any catch, but there's a simple rule you need to follow when offering something as premium: do not give empty, garbage and nonsense content as premium...from my point of view this does not fit in the “ALL” category. (!)

You can offer anything as premium but you need to be aware that people is paying and money has a value so, people expect to receive something comparable in exchange. If they find an empty block of text or some nonsense you will loose forever those hard earned subscribers and the money will go away with them as well as

social recognition of a job well done: you will find yourself covered on dust on social media...Your best destiny will be: oblivion... **:o**

You should always think before you offer. The worst case that could be presented to us is when content creators or bloggers belong to a given platform: you can have 999 of them offering real content as premium and only 1 offering nonsense writings...for subscriber community the platform will suck and it will be a complete disaster. One bad apple doesn't spoil the others in short time, but it covers them with its stench!!!

Final thougths...by now

I am somehow reluctant to give advices, but will answer for myself the questions given at the beginning of the present article: take it as an advice or not, as i said, it depends on you(personal choices **:)** )

...what should i write?: write whatever you want, offer whatever you want to offer as long as it is not empty, offensive, garbage or nonsense content and offer it in a polite way.

...what should i offer to my readers they would consider really valuable?: everything that meets the above *☝☝☝* will be found some value by some people, it doesn't matter if it's just one: you will have his attention for sure.

...does it need to be related to the main content?: not necessarily, could be or could be not related to the main content but things related to the main topic covered by your article will be better accepted by your readers as premium, after all they “land” in a given article following a topic, so they expect to get as much info as they can about this topic for free or paid.

...if my subscribers do not find it useful...will i lost some of them?: sure you will!! You cannot fulfill everyone's hope and cover everyone's wishes so you need to be aware that offering Premiun Content will bring you followers and detractors as well....free content does the same, so, there's nothing bad in offering something that's not for free!!!

*✰* Remember:

- seek support in a fair way...

- offer whatever you want: but follow the rule...

- be polite and try to know your user base preferences as much as you can if you can...

- ... and never stop writing because haters they will return at some point in the future as loyal followers and supporters because people do not know what they want till they see it, it depends on you, on your personal choices to bring them back!!!

*☝☝☝* Advices, be careful with those **:)** *☝☝☝*

If you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

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✰ Increasing engagement with content..not only for Coil

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⌛ Reading time: 6 minutes

#Coronavirus and #COVID-19 are both, sadly, trending hashtags in every social media site the Internet have today. Every person from every corner of the planet Earth knows what Coronavirus is. This devastating virus has come to transform the life of thousands of people around the world: deaths, quarantines, complete lockdowns of whole countries...economy crash. :(

Today, when almost whole humanity suffers from the devastating effects of this pandemic, someone could think it is difficult to find any positive aspect linked to the effects of this disease...but nothing could be further from the truth.

It happens that Coronavirus itself is truly devastating in terms of human lives and economical aspects but recent studies have shown that there are some “hidden” positive effects derived from this global epidemic.

Positive effects...must be joking, aren´t you?

Well...No... **:o**

Despite Covid-19 being a nasty and terrible pandemic for humanity it seems like there's an unlikely beneficiary of its effects: The Planet Earth.

China, the epicenter of the pandemic, has shown reduced levels of air pollution due to factories being shuttered and because of streets were cleared across China's Hubei province as authorities ordered residents to stay home to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.

According to some news given by China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the average number of “good quality air days” increased 21.5% in February, compared to the same period last year. It has been observed a dramatic reduction in nitrogen dioxide emissions(NO2) as well as carbon dioxide (CO2). If we have in count that China is one of the world's biggest polluter contributing with 30% of the world's CO2 emissions annually, we can realize that the impact of this kind of drop is huge, even over a short period of time.

Fig 1. *Nitrogen dioxide emissions are reducing over whole China(https://cnn.com)*

In the case of Venice, Italy the water looks clearer in its world-famous canals and NASA images show how pollution is dropping rapidly in several cities across the entire country and even the entire globe.

While some news about swans and dolphins swimming in the now clear waters of the canals of Venice are a more wishful thinking than reality, the truth is that the water at the canals is more clear and transparent and the levels of environmental pollution were reduced considerably not only in Venice but in several cities across Italy.

Fig 2. *Nitrogen dioxide levels across Italy and the rest of Europe in early January(https://happymag.tv)*

Fig 3. *Nitrogen dioxide levels across Italy and the rest of Europe in early March(https://happymag.tv)*

There are some reports too about wildlife trying to take back some space we humans have taken away over the years. While is quite difficult to prove the veracity of some of those images and news, it is not so hard to imagine that somewhere out there, there might be some wild animals approaching to nearby areas in closed cities because people are not there to disturb their peaceful life.

According to the magazine “politico.com” there´s even 1 positive economical impact of the Coronavirus pandemic: Refinancing boom.

“The plunge in government bond yields — Treasuries have fallen to record lows as investors seek a haven from a whipsawing stock market — led to a 26 percent jump in refinance applications last week alone” – says a report from politico.com online magazine

The good news for homeowners comes as companies consider shutting factories and recommend people to start working from home avoiding crowds. Lower mortgage rates could mitigate at least some of the damage for many families due to economical uncertainty and given the oil issue on top of that, there’s definitely room for mortgage rates to go even lower.

Another hidden effect of lockdowns due to Coronavirus pandemic is more people are adopting shelter animals. Many animal shelters have been forced to close to new applicants due to lack of space for newcomers and as part of the community efforts to slow the spread of the Coronavirus.

While some communities are being completely indifferents to the problem the vast majority have responded with a high percent of their residents adopting a pet. Animal shelters have used their social media channels to ask for help, trying to commit communities to foster pets until the pandemic is over.

Fig 4. *Photos like this one from the Humane Society of Harlingen, Texas have helped some animals to get a home in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic.(https://www.npr.org)*

As more and more people are required to stay at home due to lockdowns, many animal lovers choose to adopt a pet from some near shelter because, as one proud pet owner said to a local magazine: “Play with our new adopted pet while staying at home is more funny than the 2,000 piece jigsaw puzzle on our dining table.” :)

And last but no least, another effect Coronavirus have brought to us is to have more time to share with our family. This effect is viewed as positive for one people while seen as negative for others. The reasons vary, and experts in human behaviour just couldn't agree if this is positive or negative for family social health.

There are several stories of compulsory isolation or self-isolation due to the pandemic spread, some with devastating effects on people's psyches, while others show an improvement in family relationships over time.

Fig 5. Staying at home with family could be the best thing that has happened to you in a long time (Photo by Elly Fairytale from Pexels)

The truth is that staying long periods of time not only in home but in any other closed place, can be overwhelming for most people, even if they are sharing the same space with others, whether they are familiar or not. For many people being lock down by two or more days could be something really crazy but for others this could be a bless.

The Guardian Newspaper gives some advices for people who has been forced to stay at home long periods of time due to the effects of Coronavirus pandemic, so the quarantine time could be more profitable and positive and less stressful.

Some advices are, among others: to savour the small moments like a morning coffee cup with family without having no rush to make it early to the daily job, strengthen family connections spending quality time with kids and trying to look for the good in others while helping the most needed even through the Internet.

Final thougths...by now

To be clear, the coronavirus pandemic is a tragedy no matter what. It is not my intention to minimize the disastrous effects it has in human life and the global economy. But this global crisis is also an inflection point for that others global crisis we have for quite some time right now.

Positive effects in environmental matters and family relationships could not be denied as well as teachings this situation has to offer in matters of social education we, as humans, must have in order to subsist as a species when we face other pandemics in the future; because let´s face it: this is not the first pandemic humanity has faced but it will be not the last one for sure...when next one comes, we will be more ready and more strong!!!

So if you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

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✰ Ancient Pandemics: their effects on the prevailing World order

✰ Patient Zero: the beginnig of different Pandemics.

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⌛ Reading time: 11 minutes

All good stories begin with “Once upon a time...” and all deadly pandemics start somewhere, somehow and with somebody behind scenes. Pandemics and diseases are as old as humanity itself and every deadly epidemic through history, have had an epicenter, a central point from which the disaster is set in motion. In the case of an epidemic or a pandemic, the central point is a person and that person is known as Patient Zero.

History collects a series of deadly epidemics from ancient days, where keeping a daily record of sick persons and deaths was a really hard task, to present ones where technology and the Internet have made possible to track and keep those records in a more easy and organized way. Sometimes you can digg in those records and try to find who started the disease but it is not an easy task as some people could imagine. Diseases are so easily transmitted that find the epicenter only by digging in the patients records is, at least, an impossible task for mere mortals. :)

But scientific community, with the intention of appeasing the desire and curiosity of people to know who started it all, sometimes put some efforts into searching who was the epicenter of a given pandemic, because curiosity, as all other things in the world, prevails even in desperate situations.

Following the information flow regarding Coronavirus Pandemic in present days, let me introduce you, dear reader who were different Patients Zero that had the nothing proud pleasure of spread and being the epicenter of some deadliest diseases in the course of human history.

❶ Private Albert Gitchell – The Spanish Flu

Fig 1. War Hospital in the USA during the strike of the Spanish Flu.(https://www.dailysignal.com)

Albert Gitchell, was a cook at Camp Funston (or Fort Riley), Kansas, who fell ill on March 4, 1918 and reported to the infirmary first thing, followed shortly by others, and then a hundred, all with the same complaints of fever, lassitude and headaches... all of them in few days.

Private Gitchell was from Haskell County, Kansas. Some records indicate that the disease was first observed by a local doctor named Loring Miner in January 1918 and that he warned the US Public Health Service by that time but he was not listened. It is supposed to Albert Gitchell got the disease in his hometown back in Kansas and then developed maybe a rare strain with which he later infected his war mates.

Little or nothing else is known about Gitchell's destiny after he gets sick that day at Camp Fuston. In a book wrote back in 1960 decade covering some aspects about the Spanish Flu, the author gives a detailed account of the March 4 outbreak at Camp Funston based on the admission book from the hospital, or some other list with comments, or actual medical charts he was able to gather and analyze.

I this book the author notes that Albert Gitchell went sick to the camp's infirmary and he was the first registered case with a disease presenting those symptoms but...nothing else....

Fig 2. Front cover of the book: The Great Epidemic: When the Spanish Influenza Struck by A. A. Hoehling -Boston: Little, Brown & Co, 1961 (http://spanishfluvictoriabc.com)

The truth is that there is a halo of mystery that covers the whole story and several candidates have appeared claiming the seat of the first Spanish Flu patient or being the real Albert Gitchell. In fact some investigations have revealed several Albert Gitchell by that time involved in a disease spread on a war trainig camp.

Albert Martin Gitchell is one of those candidates, differing from the mythical Gitchell in some proven facts like the birth place(South Dakota) or the job(self-employed butcher) he had before War. If this Mr. Martin Gitchell is our real Patient Zero for the Spanish Flu, well... he lived a long and beautiful life with his wife and relatives(he had no children), dying in 1968.

Fig 3. *Mr. and Mrs. Albert Gitchell resting in their suite in 1958, South Dakota (http://spanishfluvictoriabc.com)*

No matter how many Gitchells were by that time, the truth is the Spanish Flu took the life of almost 50 millions people and it is remembered as one of the deadliest diseases and biggest pandemic the World had to face.

❷ Gaetan Dugas – HIV/AIDS epidemic

This is really a hard case among all diseases presented here because HIV is well know disease but a shocking one even in present days.

Its beginnings are historically rare and the virus itself is presented as a medical enigma even nowaday.

There was a great deal of conjecture in the late 1980's about HIV Patient Zero, identified as Gaetan Dugas – a Canadian gay flight attendant who purportedly knowingly infected as many as 250 men a year on both sides of the Atlantic – said to have singlehandedly started the epidemic, but most of this is now largely discredited.

Fig 4. *Most known photo of Gaetan Dugas, the man who supposedly spread by himself the HIV pandemic(http://theoutfront.com)*

According to The Guardian Newspaper some computer models have estimated that the first human infection occurred about 1930, give or take 20 years and the earliest known infection of an identified human being dates back to 1959, found in a plasma sample taken from an adult male living in the Belgian Congo (later Zaire and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

As to how, most of the loose talk on the street seems to assume sex between a human and a chimp, as the HIV-1 virus is almost identical to a simian virus found in chimpanzees. A human eating a chimp seems just as likely, and some evidence suggests that it may have occurred iatrogenically when chimps were used in developing a polio vaccine for humans.

No matter what or how Gaetan Dugas earned the the infamous title

of being the first HIV infected person on the world. It’s not exactly clear how Dugas came to be known as Patient Zero, some people think that journalist Randy Shilts’s 1987 book “And the Band Played On” may have inadvertently blamed Mr. Dugas for spreading the infection. In that book, Shilts wrote that:

...there’s no doubt that Gaetan played a key role in spreading the new virus from one end of the United States to the other...

...so once the book went on sale all people buying the book blame Mr. Dugas of being Patien Zero of HIV infection...the rest is history... :(

Later, influential newspapers like The Times and the New York Post claimed rather straightforwardly that Dugas had triggered the epidemic; the latter even went so far as to publish a headline that screamed “THE MAN WHO GAVE US AIDS”, referring to Mr Dugas.

To be honest and and true to the truth, some recent studies have shed light on blurred past events that discard Mr. Dugas as being Patien Zero on HIV but the social imaginary still remembers him as such. Gaetan Dugas died on March 30, 1984 (aged 31) in Quebec City due to a kidney failure because of the effects of HIV.

❸ Mary Mallon() – Typhoid Fever

According to the Center for Disease Control of USA, Typhoid Fever is a serious disease spread by contaminated food and water. Symptoms of typhoid include lasting high fevers, weakness, stomach pains, headache, and loss of appetite. Some patients have constipation, and some have a rash. Internal bleeding and death can occur but are rare.....are rare nowadays, but in the beginnings of XX century Typhoid Fever took the life of more than 600 people only in New York City, the epicenter of the epidemic.

Fig 5. *Mary Mallon was accused of spreading the Typhoid Fever among members of wealthy families for whom she worked as a cook(https://www.theridgefieldpress.com)*

By that time an irish woman named Mary Mallon(later known as “Typhoid Mary” ) was accused of spreading the disease. It turns out that Mrs Mallon was an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen causing the disease so, she did not know that she was spreading the bacteria everywhere she went...although she may have suspected it. :o

She worked as a cook for many wealthy families in New York City and Connecticut in the beginnings of 1900's. Soon (and maybe wrongly) identified as the Patient Zero for this disease, she was imprisoned two times spending the last 23 years of her life as a virtual prisoner in forced isolation, adding to the three years from her first stint on North Brother Island(the first place where she was imprisoned).

Fig 6. *Mary Mallon depicted spitting skulls in a skillet (https://thedailyhang.com)*

Although hundreds, if not thousands, of asymptomatic carriers who had been identified walked the sidewalks of New York freely, Typhoid Mary alone lived in exile in large part due to the public opinion that turned firmly against her after her failure to stay out of the kitchen (when she was released the first time she was told to keep away from kitchens but she was not able to to fulfill that promise). She was fated to cook only for herself until her death on November 11, 1938.

As happened with Mr Gaetan Dugas in the case of HIV, Mary Mallon was a person of interest by her time mainly because the

the news and newspapers paid more attention to her than other candidates to “Patients Zero” because, due to her poor hygiene in the kitchen, she infected prominent people in New York high society...a victim of the press, we can say.

❹ Goodwoman Phillips – The Great Plague of London(Bubonic Plague)

The 1665 outbreak of Bubonic Plague – the “Great Plague” – killed at least 70000 people in London, and possibly as many as 100000. Bubonic Plague was diagnosed by painful swellings or buboes in the groin or armpit. It is now known to be caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, in turn generally transmitted by the bite of an infected rat-flea, quite common in several countries of the european continent by that time.

Fig 6. A poster depicting the effects of the bubonic plague in London with the famous phrase “Lord, have mercy....” (https://lostcityoflondon.co.uk)

A woman named Goodwoman Phillips is commonly recognized as the Patient Zero for this epidemic because she was found dead in a remote, squalid precinct of St. Giles-in-the-Fields outside the city wall. Searchers found giveaway “buboes” on her skin and she was declared dead of the plague. Her house was locked up and, the now famous phrase, “Lord Have Mercy On Us” was painted on the door in red.

Whilst the death would be of concern to the immediate neighbours of Goodwoman Phillips it would not raise concerns with officials, as it was not uncommon for the occasional death from plague to appear on a “Bill of Mortality” (a printed plague material that counted weekly deaths by the plague).

Fig 7. *An original cover book of “The Bills of Mortality” that chronicled the Great Plague’s death counts (1665) (https://hyperallergic.com)*

Old women, known as “Searchers”, were usually paid pennies by the Parish authorities to determine the cause of death of ordinary people and, with no training, they could be unreliable. That was why maybe, the death of Goodwoman Phillips by the Bubonic Plague, was not having in count so seriously by local authorities although it was the first one recorded in an official way.

❺ UNKNOWN – Covid-19

It is the end of the year 2019 and the world is hit by an unexpected epidemic caused by a virus undetected till that date in human beings...it all started in China.

Nowadays advances in genetic analysis make it possible to trace back the lineage of a virus through those it has infected. But sometimes is harder than expected to get a reliable result... Do we know who Patient Zero is in the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak that started in China?

The short answer is – NO. **:(**

Fig 8. Electron microscopy photo of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The virus owe their name to the crown like projections that encircle the capsid(https://thespinoff.co.nz)

Chinese authorities originally reported that the first coronavirus case was on December 31 however, a study by Chinese researchers published in the Lancet medical journal, claimed the first person to be diagnosed with Covid-19, was on December 1st, 2019 (a lot of earlier). He is supposed to be an elderly man (55 years old) who suffered from Alzheimer's disease living in Hubei province.

Other studies assure that the first case of someone suffering from Covid-19 can be traced back to 17 November, according to media reports on unpublished Chinese government data.

The truth is that there is a halo of mystery regarding this information because the chinese government is supposed to withhold information on the subject and it's not even clear that the 55-year-old man is the right the person introducing the Coronavirus causing the Covid-19 disease among us, because it is supposed the epicenter of the epidemic was an animal market but the old man told authorities he was never in that market.

No matter what authorities are still looking for Covid-19 Patient Zero trying to find an answer to several questions given by the most recent pandemic hitting our long-suffering world.

Final thougths...by now

The struggle to find Patients Zero for some diseases is understood if we have in count that finding the source of a disease helps in most cases to find its cure or at least help scientists to understand better that particular disease.

It is hard, even with current scientific advances, to trace some epidemics back to their origins and most cases commonly accepted are not the real Patients Zero for every disease. Some people just have the bad luck of being among the first ones and catch a streak of bad press in the heat of current events...in most cases history takes the responsability to amend them sooner or later.

There has always been Patients Zero, and there always will be.

We can only trust in science to identify them correctly and hope that, finding the origins, we will be able to put an end to those deadly epidemics that plague humanity.

So if you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

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✰ Ancient Pandemics: their effects on the prevailing World order

✰ Coronavirus Pandemic: the positive from the negative

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Today we're living in a world where medicine is as common as any other thing in the entire world, sometimes not fully accessible to everyone but we must agree it is a common thing as it wasn't in the past, where only wealthy families or the royalty had access to the few doctors practicing some “kind” of medicine by that times.

Today, despite medicine being quite advanced is a reality it is not fully accesible for some people around the world, mainly from people living in developing countries and for poor people living in wealthy countries as well. No matter what, diseases sometimes spread easily among the population no matter if you are wealthy or poor, everybody can caught one and no matter if you are a rich citizen living in a great city or a peasant, sometimes disease leads you to death equally.

*...spreading all over the world, deathly, unstoppable?*... this happens when a pandemics calls to our door, and as you will see, dear reader, pandemics are not a “thing” of our days: they're as old as humanity itself and it happens that during the development of humanity there have been some pandemics/epidemics that make pale those that happen in our days. Those pandemics were so bad that, in addition to eliminating entire populations, they ruined real empires of that time.

❶ The first one registered as truly mortal: ANTONINE PLAGUE (165 AD)

Also known as the Plague of Galen(from the name of the Greek physician living in the Roman Empire who described it), the Antonine Plague was an ancient pandemic that affected Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, and Italy and is thought to have been either Smallpox or Measles, though the true cause is still unknown.

We must say that before this plague there was another one named “The Plague of Athens” occurred in the city of Athens(430AD), and killed 75,000 to 100,000 people. This epidemic is thought to be the first form of the bubonic plague, but although numbers sound really high(if we compare with total population of Athens by that time), Antonine Plague was more deadly and last even more, so we include it here just as a reference :)

Fig 1. *An artistical representation of the Antonine Plague in action(https://alchetron.com)*

“Antonine Plague” was brought back to Rome by soldiers returning from Mesopotamia around 165AD; unknowingly, they had spread a disease which would end up killing over 5 million people and decimating the Roman army.

This went on for fifteen years, spreading by the entire Roman Empire

and their vassal nations. In some places, it wiped out entire towns. There was estimated at least 2,000 deaths per day in Rome at the height of the outbreak. Mortality rate for the infected was low at 25% according to recent studies, but death may have been the least of their concerns if someone contracted this plague.

Symptoms described by Galem included fever, diarrhea and pharyngitis. You may also have developed pustules, yellow-brown inflammations of pus from fungal infection. At that time there were no antibiotics, so your best bet for fighting the symptoms was magic. :(

The most important consequence of this plage for the Roman Empire as a powerful nation was the weakening of the army leading to manpower shortages especially along the German frontiers. The lack of available soldiers caused Marcus Aurelius(the Emperor by that time) to recruit any able-bodied man who could fight: freed slaves, Germans, criminals, and gladiators.

According to https://www.ancient.eu

“Depleting the supply of gladiators resulted in fewer games at home, which upset the Roman people who demanded more, not less, entertainment during a time of intense stress. The patchwork army failed in its duty: in 167 CE, Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine River for the first time in more than 200 years. The success of the external attacks, especially by the Germans, facilitated the decline of the Roman military, which, along with the economic disruptions, contributed ultimately to the decline and fall of the Empire.”

The lack of population led to Emperors to establish high taxes for those who remains alive to support the army and general goverment institutions which obviously became a general discontent among survivor population. This plague had a deep impact too in Roman religion and in the belief that the Roman people were superior to others because both romans and vassals get infected and died as well.

Some authors like Edward Gibbon’s in his book “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, consider the Antonine Plague as the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire.

❷ Another for the Romans, now Byzantines: THE PLAGUE OF JUSTINIAN (541-542)

By the time the Plague of Justinian struck the Byzantine Empire and the port cities of the Mediterranean, plagues were new and improved. This one wiped out somewhere between 25-50 million people, over 10% of the Earth’s population at the time.

The cause of all the chaos? A bacterium, the same one that caused the bubonic plague.

Thought to have killed perhaps half the population of Europe, the Plague of Justinian was an outbreak of the bubonic plague that afflicted mainly the Byzantine Empire. Generally regarded as the first recorded incident of the Bubonic Plague this pandemic devastated the city of Constantinople, where at its height it was killing an estimated 5,000 people per day and eventually resulting in the deaths of 40% of the city’s population.

Fig 2. Extract from the painting “Saint Sebastian Interceding for the Plague Stricken” *a painting referencing the Justinian Plague(The Walters Art Museum)*

The plague had a tremendous impact economically on the Byzantine Empire. For an empire that was still highly agrarian and depended heavily on taxation, one of the immediate effects from the plague was the loss of farmers.

With almost nobody to take care for crops and work lands, famines extended quickly for all over the empire. The diminished population also increased the financial hardships of an empire already paying heavily for the military campaigns, due to the loss of a larger taxpayer base. Although the army suffered the severe effects of the plague, Justinian manage himself to kept an army of at least 30 000 soldiers but, tired and sick too, they were defeated by a much smaller Persian force in 544 wich lead to the great Bizantine Empire to pay tribute to Persia.

The territorial empire created by Justinian barely outlasted him, and his dreams of reconquest were never fully realized. All the problems Bizantines had during this time-lapse stemmed from one major factor, and that is the loss of manpower caused by the plague. The famines and subsequent inflation that followed put the empire in trouble financially which also contributed to the shrinkage of the military force. Bizantines were able to recover from the plague years later and claim more land than before but the plague kept it from achieving greater glory.

❸ The deadliest: The Black Death(1346-1353)

The Black Death was a devastating global epidemic of bubonic plague that struck Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s. It begun by the Sicilian port of Messina when a group of 12 ships from the Black Sea docked at this port. Sailors were heavily infected by a disease wich caused them to get covered in black boils that oozed blood and pus...and this was only the beginning.

Fig 3. *Miniature out of the Toggenburg Bible (Switzerland) of 1411 showing the effects of The Black Death Plague(https://www.historytoday.com)*

The Black Death was terrifyingly, indiscriminately contagious: even touching a piece of clothes could get you infected. It was also terrifyingly efficient: people who were perfectly healthy when they went to bed at night could be dead by morning.

The bacillus causing the plague travels from person to person pneumonically, or through the air, as well as through the bite of infected fleas and rats. Both of these pests could be found almost everywhere in medieval Europe and given Europe by that time was not a really clean and pleasant place to live the plague extended very quickly...sadly, in a very efficient way. :(

People started moving from cities to countryside trying to avoid this disease but, unfortunately, they were not able to escape the consequences of this disease because it affected cows, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens as well as people. In fact, by that time was even a shortage of wool supply in whole Europe.

The consequences of this truly devastating epidemic were tremendous: the plague ends population growth in Europe killing more than 20 million just in this continent. However, the lack of workforce lead to an increase in wages paid to workers because there was almost nobody capable to take care of the land, crops and animals left behind by those who succumbed to the disease. So, the few ones capable of taking care of those tasks were paid generously.

Many empires and kingdoms suffered and even dissapear because of the Black Death:

- The Golden Horde got divided into several small kingdoms after several civil wars and those small kingdoms suffered heavily the epidemic probably due to the fact that those kingdoms had a more urbanized population, and they were more susceptible to the plague. The Blue Horde, as an example, was never able to fully revive the kingdom’s former prosperity and the era of large cities and long distance trade came to an end.

- The population of the Chinese Empire was cut in half between 1200 and 1393 by the plague and even the first Ming Emperor lost both of his parents to the disease, that´s why historians think this may have intensified the strict Confucianism that characterized his reign

- The Delhi Sultanate dissapeared because of the weakening of the surrounding kingdoms and a sharp decline in trade because of the severe effects of the plague in the Indian region.

- A series of disasters in Egypt began with the Black Death that eventually plunged the Mamluk Sultanate into a general crisis from which they never fully recovered. The Egyptian peasants suffered not only from the plague but also from the death of draft animals and drought which increased the indebtedness and poverty of the peasantry.

- The Serbs, Turks and Bulgarians, unlike the highly urbanized Byzantines, were mostly spared from the worst of the plague, and this enabled them to firmly establish themselves within the boundaries of the Byzantine Empire and eventually to overrun it. While we cannot state that the Byzantine Empire was taken down by the plague we can assure that the adverse effects of this pandemic lead to this empire become a negligible power from small one that it was by that time.

❹ The Spanish Flu(1918)

In 1918 First World War was about to an end. Hostilities were declining while people started to feel save but then, suddenly, another war started.

Deadly silent a disease started to spread over the battlefields, trenches, cities and towns, a disease that almost last a couple of years(1918-1919) whose effects would be felt years later even. Worldwide and incorrectly known as The Spanish Flu, the influenza epidemic appeared between 1918-1919 was a devastating disease which caused millions of deaths and a turnover in WWI.

The Spanish Flu infected over a third of the world’s population and ended the lives of 20 – 50 million people. Of the 500 million people infected in the 1918 pandemic, the mortality rate was estimated at 10% to 20%, with up to 25 million deaths in the first 25 weeks alone. What separated the 1918 flu pandemic from other influenza outbreaks was the victims; where influenza had always previously only killed juveniles and the elderly or already weakened patients, it had begun striking down hardy and completely healthy young adults, while leaving children and those with weaker immune systems still alive.

Between 1889-1890 the first deadly know Influenza epidemic spread all over the world. Known as “Asiatic Flu” or “Russian Flu” it claims the lives of more than 1 million people, but mostly the people infected were juveniles and the elderly, differentiating it from the Spanish Flu which will come into a scene many years later and infected young and healthy people as well as infants and elderly.

Fig 4. *Victims of the Spanish Flu at a barracks hospital on the Campus of Colorado Agricultural College, USA, 1918(https://www.sfgate.com)*

How did it get it´s name? As belligerent countries were reluctant to spread news than could harm the war efforts, they impose a strict wartime censorship, but Spain, being not involved directly in the Great War, was more open to publish in national media any news coming from the front, including those ones about a flu epidemic spreading among fighting troops in the spring of 1918...soon people started to call that disease: The Spanish Flu, thinking that the disease started on Spain. :)

Over 1918 to 1919 the flu struck in 3 waves being the second one the deadliest of all. As the whole world was involved in a massive war this was not helpful to stop the spread of the flu but increased the chances of a wide spread of a disease which then, turned to be extremely contagious.

It´s impact was huge in terms of lost lives mainly in the fighting armies where the degree of mortality was exacerbated. In the American Army it was hugely significant: more American soldiers died of the influenza than died from German actions. The Spanish Flu didn't change the outcome, but it did eventually kill more people than the War did. No one can doubt that the influenza pandemic shortened The War by itself.

Sick soldiers can’t fight. American army did a better job of keeping healthy troops in the frontlines than the Germans, although mortality was high. The Base Hospitals of the American Army, far from the front but reached swiftly by special ambulance trains, had special wards for influenza patients and, with excellent nursing care, were able to return the majority of them to the front after brief periods of convalescence. By the end of 1918 summer, with the terrible toll of morbidity and mortality exacted by the influenza virus, the Allied forces attacked the dispirited German army in the Meuse-Argonne offensive and in the period of six weeks leading to the 11 November 1918 Armistice, overran the Germans, forcing them to sue for peace.

How Coronavirus(COVID-19) compares?

These pandemics seem like a “thing” of the past, but we, as humans, are exposed every day to thousands of germs, bacteria and viruses of all kinds. At the time of writing this article(2020) we are under the attack of a new virus called COVID-19, a variant of the influenza virus. It has proven to be extremely contagious and deadly. If you are a nowadays reader you know what are we talking about...if you are a reader from the future i suggest you to do a search on COVID-19.

The effects of COVID-19 on patients can vary from no symptoms at all, a shortness of breath and fatigue to a progression into pneumonia and multi-organ failure in the most vulnerable people.

Just over two months since its inception, COVID-19 has infected over 90,000 people in 80 countries on six continent, killing over 3,000 and for the moment vaccines are planned but it is not safe to trust on this assessment. By the time the Spanish Flu was striking world population several laboratories take in charge the duty of develop a vaccine against this disease but all failed in their efforts. The only thing left was to treat the effects and hope that the immune system of every sick person takes down the virus by its own.

Bubonic Plague will hardly ever be a plague in today's world because it was mainly due to insane and dirty life conditions that the plague spread out so quickly. Besides, today we have antibiotics which are effective in treating Bubonic Plague....but we have almost nothing for influenza contagious diseases.

According to National Center for Biotechnology Information(NCBI) ”...even with modern antiviral and antibacterial drugs, vaccines, and prevention knowledge, the return of a pandemic virus equivalent in pathogenicity to the virus of 1918 would likely kill >100 million people worldwide.”

Final thoughts...by now...

As you can see dear reader, we as humans are not free from a world pandemic right now and even in the future, no matter what, diseases are part of our lifes whether we want it or not. We can only rely on human inventiveness and the high capacity to face problems and overcome them effectively...STAY SAFE!!!

So if you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

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✰ Patient Zero: the beginnig of different Pandemics.

✰ Coronavirus Pandemic: the positive from the negative

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If you have been in Cuba sometime, you will have noticed that there are some things that distinguishes us from the rest of the world. Yes, we cubans are warm people, always laughing despite economical problems: we have several world famous cocktails like “El Mojito”, “Daiquiri, “Cuba Libre” or “Presidente”... we have the best tobacco of the entire world and several beautiful beaches spread over the whole country....But if when visiting Cuba you sharpened your eyes you will have noticed that we have another amazing thing that distinguishes us: Vintage Cars...a lot of them running down the streets!!!

Why so many old cars in Cuba?...A little history

Vintage cars in Cuba are part of daily life with most classic cars being used as taxis. Some of them look brand new, painted in vivid colours and transport tourists around at prices beyond cubans reach. Those that are less well maintained are used as collective taxis or “taxi colectivos” as we cubans call them. Other classic American cars are preserved like museum pieces. These are the originals that are rarely seen out. Fan of classic cars? Cuba is the place to go. **:)**

There are places in Cuba looking like one big automobile show, where cars from the 1940s and 1950s(and sometimes lower in timeline) motor along the streets and highways. There are Chevrolets, Fords, Pontiacs, Buicks, Dodges, Plymouths, and Studebakers: a show for the eyes!!!

Cuba saw its first automobile in 1898. That car was a Parisienne, shipped from Paris where its new owner had gone to escape the War of Independence, it was a model people don’t hear about these days. :) In the following year, another French automobile made its way to Havana, a Rochet-Schneider from Lyons.

Fig 1. The first cuban car was an imported car from France: “La Parisienne”, model from 1898 (https://www.revistaexcelencias.com)

Fig 2. The second one was another imported car from France: “Rochet-Schneider”, model from 1898 (https://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au)

By the end of the Independence War, Cuba was closely related to USA more than to Spain or another country, so it was natural then that the United States soon became the main provider of cars for Cuba and cubans prefered the most modern technology of american cars compared with European ones, not to mention the price wich

was more affordable for the nascent cuban bourgeoisie. In 1919, the island was the top Latin American importer of US cars.

The first reliable car imported from the United States was the Ford T model. It was welcomed on the island and soon became the norm for that time in here. It was called the “fotingo”(Cuban slang) a common “cuban word” referring to the combined sound of the horn of the vehicle with the sound produced by the car when rolling through the stony streets of the time.

Fig 3. The Ford Car model T from 1908 was the first american car imported by Cuba in large quantity (http://www.cienciahistorica.com)

Shortly after 1908 state of the art establishments run by authorized dealers in Havana sold countless different car brands like Chevrolet, Ford, Cadillac, Dodge, Buick, Chrysler, Plymouth, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Mercury, Studebaker and Packard automobiles. Cuba was for that time a big bussines for several american brands and sometimes a new car model was sold in Cuba before being for sale in the States even, with Cuban roads used as a sort of test track for American car companies...something hard to believe today **;)**

By 1960 almost 100% of cars runnig down the cuban streets were from USA as well as spare parts were imported from the States too. Then a drastic turn came about with the Cuban Revolution in 1959; former business partners became enemies and Cuba classic cars were left stranded on one side of the Florida Straits, while the manufacturing plants kept functioning on the other.

By 1961 the economical embargo decreed by John F. Kennedy made it impossible to common cubans import spare parts or buy new or even used cars in the American market and with the association of Cuba and the former Soviet Union as the cuban goverment answer to USA embargo, the decline of American cars arrived and a whole stream of Soviet cars began arriving from this date onwards.

Fig 4. Lada 2105 model from 1980's... was the the most imported Soviet car in Cuba till 1990's (https://www.cogetucarro.com)

By the 90's almost all american vintage cars were not used at all mainly because spare parts were really hard to find and when some part was finnally found the price was extremely high in a poor economy where people tried to survive just to make ends meet **:(**

...it seems that cuban vintage cars had their days numbered.

Tourism comes to save those JEWELS!

By 1997 cuban goverment slowly tried to open the country for foreing visitors allowing people from other countries to visit Cuba and enjoy the sun and perfect beaches we have here in an attempt to attract foreign personnel who inject liquid dollars into the precarious Cuban economy.

From 1960 to early 90's Cuba was a closed country for almost everyone. Some foreing visitors came here between those years but not the enough to speak freely as open tourism...but for those first visitors back in 1997 expecting to find beautiful beaches, enjoy sun and eager to know how those strangers lived in a closed country for 30 years, a surprise was expecting...just around the corner: they saw a little emaciated but still alive, some vintage american cars that in their countries were considered classic, many of them valued ​​in hundreds of thousands of dollars!!!

...and that was the beginning of the awakening of the Cuban classics!!! :)

Fig 5. A restored American car running down the Malecón Avenue in Havana.

Soon people realize that from those old dishes you could get real money because tourists were willing to pay even to get photographed next to one of those cars...and the race begins!!!

Many people make investments(even foreigners) and specialized workshops began to open where welders, painters and skilled craftsmen combined their skills to bring back a myriad of those cars. So the Cuban decision to open doors to foreign tourism was the key factor that enabled bring back to life all those American cars who were forgotten by years.

As it was difficult to get spare parts from retailers outside Cuba, some of this cars where adapted to use engines from other car brands, even from Soviet brands like Lada or Moskovitch but there are several vintage cars still using their own engine to power up these precious jewels still running by cuban roads.

Fig 6. This 1951 Buick is still powered by its original engine—a 263.3-cubic-inch straight eight.(https://blog.consumerguide.com)

Now you can find in almost every city of Cuba and not only in Havana, tens of those restored cars running down the streets of a tired island, carrying passengers, usually tourists and almost every foreigner who lives in Cuba owns one of those cars. You can find even Classic Cars Clubs in every important city here like Havana Classic wich is the biggest one in the whole country.

Fig 7. An exhibition of Havana Classic Cars Club in Old Havana(Club de Autos Clasicos)

Finally i want to let you dear reader, with a small collection of photos of some cuban vintage cars that i am sure will make you wish come to Cuba once and for all!!

Fig 8. Classic cars in front of a Hotel in Havana City: owners wait for tourists to rent some of them.(Club de Autos Clasicos)

Fig 9. 1956 Chevy four-door sedan wears relatively new American Torq-Thrust-style 5-spoke wheels.(https://blog.consumerguide.com)

Fig 10. Buick never made a four-door convertible in 1951, but somewhere along the line this four-door sedan got converted into one.(https://blog.consumerguide.com)

Fig 11. 1956 Ford Fairlane Sunliner: owners are waiting for customers. (http://tykokihlstedt.com)

Fig 12. 1953 Chevrolet 210 Convertible near Hotel Nacional, Vedado, Havana, Cuba. (http://tykokihlstedt.com)

Fig 13. A pair of Model A Fords; from 1929 and 1930-1931 models: yep still rolling down cuban streets!!! (https://blog.consumerguide.com)

Final thoughts...by now...

As you can see dear reader, cuban vintage cars are still alive, some of them modernized because circumstances demand it but in their heart they're still classics after all!! Now you can know why there are so many classic cars rolling down cuban streets and based on their history and beauty, you will not want to miss a ride in one of those jewels the next time you visit us!! :)

So if you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

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