Cuba has always been a mysterious, romantic and even forbidden place to those of us in the west that never understood the need of a people to control their own destiny.

We've always known about her beauty, her passion and the ingenuity of her people, but how many of us have seen Cuba's considerable `riches' first hand? Scott Stallard has, and he shared his experiences with a room full of curious capitalists at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute last Thursday evening. And I mean a room full! This particular slide show and talk was so popular that the organisers made a small mistake and sold fifteen more tickets than available seats, causing quite a few audience members to have to bring chairs into the theatre from outside. The show started a little late too, but we'll let that one slide (no pun intended).

The pictures for this quite fascinating presentation were taken during two trips to the land of sugar and tobacco, and featured shots from all over the island. Scott emphasised that even though these shots were taken in April and November of last year, there was really quite a lot in Cuba that hadn't changed a bit since the peoples' revolution way back in 1959.

He highlighted the people, their way of life -- especially street life, the old American cars that they have been driving for more than forty years and the colonial architecture that reminds you of Rome.

One picture that brought this sense of stagnation to a head was the shot of the supreme court in Havana, which still sports bullet holes from the fighting that broke out when Castro led his forces into the old capital all those decades ago.

The presentation was quite interesting in and of itself, but there were a few inconsistencies in Mr. Stallard's allegedly objective talk. Scott started off telling us about the beauty of the place, the warmth and kindness of the people and the overwhelming safety of the Havana streets.

Opening up a land of contrasts Scott repeatedly emphasised that the streets were very safe throughout the country.

Then he started to comment on the poverty that the people live in, and speculate that they were "not free'', using his taxi driver Mundy as an example. He told us of how Mundy, although quite happy, reflected that he might have wanted to be a computer technician had he been born in a "freer'' society.

There were pictures of derelict buildings that were falling apart, quite sturdy looking buildings that were standing empty and crowded city apartment buildings where the people lived in dire conditions. Then there were pictures of neatly dressed uniformed school children and Scott's adamant assertion that they were "very clean, happy and healthy children''.

Pictures of astounding artwork and proud street musicians were accompanied by commentary that there was so much "wasted talent'' and "potential'' there, while people lining up to get their bread and milk rations were photographed from a distance so as not to "humiliate'' them.

A lot of what was said sounded a bit condescending but there was also testimony that Cuba had actually been successful in eradicating racial discrimination, and seemingly won the war on drugs and crime.

So what were we to interpret from this? Is the trade off between individual freedom and collective security worth it or not? I still don't know.

The shots of the countryside were breathtaking at times, and a lot of what the people showed in their individual shots was pride, vitality, ingenuity and the kind of spirit that it would be very hard for anyone living in a capitalist society to understand. Scott talked about the strenuous rules and regulations that these people had to be "subjected to'', the freedoms that they were deprived of, and then he described the kind of society that most warm-blooded human beings would love to be a part of.

Unfulfilled dreams still exist in Cuba, but with free education up to whatever level that you can handle, a real chance to live out your life doing the one thing that you are best at and a national achievement level that is the envy of the world, I'd bet that the ratio of unfulfilled dreams to fulfilled dreams in Cuba is dramatically less drastic than the same ratio here (or in the States for that matter). Think about it ... there are ten million people in Cuba, they had a peoples revolution less than fifty years ago, they continue to revere and salute the heroes of the revolution. Castro is not holding these people hostage against their will people. It's time to admit it.