Yeah, baby

It’s taken the best part of 40 years but The Beatles have finally arrived in the part of Cuba where I grew up. Officially, that is.

According to this article in the Buenos Aires daily La Nacion, a replica of the tavern where the Beatles first found fame has opened up in the city of Holguin, on the eastern side of the island.

It’s quite a development.

As I recount in Child of the Revolution: Growing up in Castro’s Cuba (available now at all good bookshops, etc, etc), the Fab Four were banned from Cuban radio by Fidel Castro for years.

At the time, we were told that such capitalist tunes as I want to hold your hand, A hard day's night, and Love me do, were far too decadent and subversive for revolutionary Cuba.

The manager of the replica tavern, identified as Xiomara Escalona, told the paper that the idea for the venue had been put forward by none other than the head of the provincial Communist Party, who had seen photographs of the original on the Internet.

How the worm turns ...