ONCE SHE held an important position in Fidel Castro's government. Working for his comrade-in-arms, Che Guevara, she is "proud to have given the best years of her life" to the Cuban revolution which overthrew Fulgencio Batista, the US-backed former army officer whose shady business dealings with the mafia gave Havana a reputation for licentiousness unmatched in the Caribbean.

Almost half a century later, while many others who later felt compelled to leave the Caribbean's largest island - most of them to seek a new life in the US - would disagree, she insists without a flicker of hesitation, that all the sacrifices were worth it.

Now in her 70s, she still speaks clearly and forcefully. And she is still striking with an elfin face and large eyes - but her limbs are weak. She gave her youth, her strength and possibly her marriage to the idea of a better world, a world which today she remains isolated from, now that she is a pensioner and can rarely leave the tiny sitting room of the small apartment that the state allocated when she was younger and could climb the stairs with ease.

A few years ago, when she had a serious accident, the doctors who treated her, were, she recalls, "excellent".

"They couldn't have done any more than they did." She remembers how the highly trained medics employed all their skill to get her back on her feet. But they were too late. Not because of a medical bungle, but because she didn't have the $10 it would have cost to pay for a taxi to take her to the hospital. She had to wait almost seven hours for an ambulance. "I think if I had got there earlier they could have saved my legs", she says matter-of-factly. "But we didn't have the money, the hard currency which everybody needs as wages and pensions here just aren't enough to live on."

Like many others on the island, including many who feel that the revolution has done little to improve their lives and does not offer them the chance to be the architects of their own future, she lives every day with the effects of the 47-year-old US embargo which has effectively prevented Cuba from selling anything - such as sugar and nickel - to the country that was once its main trading partner.

It also means that US companies are, with few exceptions - those involved in food for cash being the main one - forbidden to sell to Cuba; or more correctly to the Cuban state which controls all businesses on the island in some way, either through a majority stake or via the permits that individuals need to operate bed and breakfasts or small restaurants known as paladars.

She also feels keenly the distance between her and the few close family members who live abroad. Once, "it seems like a long time ago but I'll never forget it", she even went to Scotland - and fell in love with the place. "It is a wonderful country, wonderful, warm, kind people. It's my dream to go back one day." But even if she was well enough to travel, her flying days are over. The cost would be prohibitive.

And for those with family in the US, the challenges are even greater. US citizens with close relatives in Cuba are permitted to travel to the island which lies just 90 miles from southern Florida .

But, points out Stephen Wilkinson, assistant director of the Institute for Cuban Studies in London, ordinary US citizens are banned from visiting the island and another act penalises companies - both US and foreign ones such as Aberdeen-based PSL Energy (which now forms part of the Halliburton organisation) who do business with Cuba Cuban doctors take part in Operacion Milagro - a state-sponsored initiative to provide healthcare to thousands of other Latin Americans.

A few years ago, doctors from Operacion Milagro restored the sight of the Bolivian soldier who shot Guevara who had left Cuba by then to work with guerrilla fighters in the Andes. "They didn't discriminate," she says of the doctors, while remembering that Che had "such soft skin and beautiful hair."

She adds: "They just asked themselves, What would Che have done?' But I wouldn't have helped the man who shot him. I would have gouged out his eyes."

For centuries the thick wall that two million Habaneros, the inhabitants of Havana, Cuba's capital, call the Malecon, has served as a bulwark, protecting the coastal road and its once elegant buildings from invaders; the sea, the salt - and English pirates. It is now more than 300 years since the British briefly occupied Havana harbour. And the Malecon is no longer able to keep the sea at bay. In 2005, Hurricane Wilma lashed the seafront, destroying buildings and making a mockery of the seawall that is still a favourite gathering place, especially in the evenings. Lovers, fisherman, musicians and gay men (and a few women) congregate at various points to look out across the Florida straits.

And the tourists come too. The British along with the Dutch, the Germans, the Irish and the Italians. According to figures from the Cuban tourist office, this year's figures are expected to pass the one million mark. The state tourism infrastructure which is controlled by the military works with several British companies who give employment to Cubans, but whose wages are paid to the Cuban government. Several hotels are managed by British companies. UK business links with Cuba are slowly increasing. There would be even more investment, one British investor says, if the baffling amounts of red tape could be negotiated more easily.

Other visitors come as part of work brigades organised by trade unions or groups such as the Cuba Solidarity Campaign to meet government officials and help with agricultural projects. And the links don't stop there. In 2002, Glasgow City Council signed a twinning agreement with Havana. However, little has been done in recent years to promote the link and not a single person in the capital appeared to be aware of the arrangement when asked - although they all agreed that it was a good idea. In a country where baseball reigns supreme, the responses were sometimes surprising. "Glasgow? Glasgow Rangers and Celtic? Cool. Tell them to come here."

Neither the Cuban embassy in London nor the city council were able to make anyone available to discuss the arrangement or how much Glasgow has spent on the visits that officials and at least one delegation have made to Havana. In a statement, a spokesman for Glasgow said that "Glasgow's twinning with Havana has proven to be worthwhile for both cities", but admitted that "it has been some time since any formal visits. We are looking into developing our friendship with Havana in the near future."

But such development is exactly what the US Department of State is actively seeking to prevent. Following meetings with senior members of the Foreign Office last year, Caleb McGarry, the head of the US State Department's Commission for Assistance for a Free Cuba, told the Sunday Herald that he believed that the US and the UK had "a shared vision".

McGarry has spent much of the past few months encouraging nations - particularly in the former Soviet bloc - to take a stand against the Castro government. But he was nowhere to be seen when at the end of last month, President Bush surprised many US commentators who have been advocating a lifting of the embargo and a relaxation of the harsh travel restrictions when he called on Cubans to take the initiative and bring an end to the Castro family's dominance of Cuban politics.

While it may have played well to voters from the Cuban exile community in Miami in the run up to an election year, Bush's ill-timed speech - which was witnessed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was widely seen as a move to get a word in before last week's UN vote. For the 16th year running, a motion calling on the US to end the embargo as soon as possible was passed with 184 countries voting in favour and four against.

The vote comes at a particularly busy time for Cuba, which is currently midway through a round of local elections. They follow hard on the heels of a visit by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, whose visit last month coincided with the 40th anniversary of the death of Che Guevara. After meeting Fidel Castro, he gave a long address and even suggested to the crowds gathered in the town of Santa Clara that should Cuba need him in a political capacity, he would be happy to oblige - a hint, no more, but enough to send the diplomats at the US Special Interests Section scurrying to their phones.

Chavez also gave his mentor a picture that he had painted. It is not known if Castro who has been recovering from surgery for more than a year now and who handed day-to-day control to his brother Raul, gave his guest a copy of his autobiography, in reality a weighty tome of Q&As based on a series of interviews with Ignacio Ramonet, and which is published in the UK this week.

As for Chavez's visit, it was widely covered in the only two printed newspapers that are widely available, the state-controlled Gramna and Juventud Rebelde. But other issues, such as the burning question of whether Fidel will seek another term - technically he is required to hold on to his seat in order to retain his position as head of state - are not debated in the media and this is reflected in people's conversation, which often focuses on how to get hold of goods such as extra food and decent toiletries.

If, as planned, Glasgow continues to build on its burgeoning relationship with Havana, it could do a lot worse than send out a consignment of football strips and shampoo, the commodity most requested - other than money - by Cubans from Havana to Guantanamo, almost 500 miles away at the other end of the island.

Here, in this dusty, quiet corner of the country, security concerns over the nearby US base mean that almost before leaving the town a military policeman stops and turns back all those not carrying special permits. He seems almost apologetic as he explains that the road - and the lookout over the base that was once a popular attraction - are no longer open.

It seems a shame, as the revenue generated would go someway to making up for the money lost since, according to rumours, Fidel Castro stopped cashing the US rent cheques several decades ago.