> I do look forward to going back to Cuba some day, and hope that Americans, as they discover more about this society, are respectful of their history and culture and contribute to the next phase of this awesome island.
His next sentence explains his point - the food you get at Cuban restaurants is nothing like the food you actually get in Cuba. Most of the food in Cuba is simple and quite bland
I wonder if the Cuban food in the U.S. is the authentic version, imported by those who were able to flee the revolution, while the food found in Cuba today is the result of fifty years of poverty.
This absolutely true and I've heard it discussed in cooking shows about Miami. Thousands of cubans fled to Florida and started mom and pop restaurants, the people who stayed had to make due with meager rations and the culinary culture died.
Impossible to get steady ingredients due to the embargo and low incomes, most restaurants I ate at there would make do with whatever they could secure for that week.
I had delicious food in Cuba, which was quite a surprise after reading so much about how uninspired it is. The liberalization of the restaurant scene has quickly had an impact at the tourist-friendly private restaurants.
Cuba is hell for locals but not bad for tourists. Average earnings are 5 cents an hour but of course some earn far less. Pensioners are expected to survive on 10CUC a month!!! There are constant shortages of water, toilet paper, cooking oil and personal hygiene products. Hospital conditions are disgusting. Many products cost more than they do in the first world. A chicken is about 7CUC and never has a sell by date. Suncream costs about 10CUC. A nasty chinese suitcase (the wheels drop off within a week) about 65CUC. See here for more: https://uk.pinterest.com/Incognitoxxx/cuba-the-reality/
So a guy goes abroad and finds a wonderful culture, and immediately thinks of ways to destroy its culture with useless crap like the internet. Perhaps he can also import rampant inequality, junk food, greed, limitless porn, cars with designed obsolescence etc until everyone is as damaged and atomised as the average American.
Yes. Cuba, like every other modern State this side of Oz, has some human rights issues. And yes, Cuba is probably worse than average, though you would need to present some references to make a compelling case that it is anywhere near the bottom 10% or so.
That does not make the experience of the article's author any less real. Or the culture he discovered any less valuable.
It can be even argued that some of those virtues do exist today not in spite, but thanks to the human rights issues. Normal people want to do selfish and/or stupid things all the time; and in a democratic society you let them get away with all but the most destructive of those behaviors as the cost of preserving those human rights. It is a trade-off.
On the other hand, Cuba is an example of a different society that chose a different, not necessarily worse or better, trade-off. As a matter of fact, given that this little island was geopolitically isolated at the fall of the USSR, you may even dare to call that tradeoff successful.
Did you watch those videos? Because I'm curious how anyone can watch those videos and call what the police did, "brutality".
I've seen more police "brutality" in the suburbs of Canada when the bar closes...
BTW, brutality is in quotations because no one can possibly watch those actual videos and call the police actions anything close. The protester (singular) who was arrested, was not only twice the size of the fat, out of shape police officers, but there was barely a scuffle.
The author fails to mention that the reason the internet is not available to most people in Cuba is because private internet access is illegal in Cuba. The public internet (internet cafes, etc.), including social media, is monitored by the Cuban secret police. Political dissenters, or anyone criticizing the Castros or their cronies, are harshly punished, usually without a trial. Censorship is strict. So, good luck with it, Netflix.
We also shouldn't forget that a dictatorship doesn't imply a regressive and authoritarian (in daily life) government. See Singapore, for instance, which is effectively a single-party state but helped to install gigabit internet access for residents.
Yeah, except Raul Castro, you know, the dictator of Cuba is well known as a murderous thug. Please study history before dancing on the graves of his victims.
By gum! Still with that story about the Cuban secret police in 2016...
I'm Cuban and I'm now in Cuba, university professor, not affiliated to any political organization, and I check HN almost all days and personally I do not feel limited in any way, only by its high cost. In the same way private internet access is not illegal, is just nonexistent as option because most Cubans cannot afford the current costs of Internet infrastructure at home.
The math is simple, the Cuban average salary is around $20/month, current public internet rate is $2/hour. So, at least you receive an extra money, either from a family remittance, personal business or in my case from working as a freelance (BTW using Internet), you can't pay for much access time.
"Secret police" may have been the wrong term. The point is that the society is closely monitored by the authoritarian government and there is "widespread abuses of political rights and civil liberties". You and the author seem to imply that the problem is they need to lay more pipe, when the real problem is the authoritarian government is forbidding internet access in order prevent an Arab Spring in their country. This is a perfect example of why Obama's Cuba policy is such a fail. He could have easily negotiated freer internet access in exchange for U.S. trade agreements, but he did not, and the Cuban people are suffering as a result.
Given that freer internet access could be highly politically destabilising for the current regime I seriously doubt that Obama could "have easily negotiated freer internet access". The opposite would seem far more likely.
The Cuban people were already suffering - the US' new policy can start to change that. Nothing else will.
What is a "secret police?" Doesn't the USA have "Secret Police" (NSA) monitoring web traffic for things they don't like ("threats to national security")?
> I had never felt safer in any city around the world, including my own. While many buildings were falling down and their inhabitants living in near poverty, their spirit seemed unbreakable. We may not agree with their economic or social policy, but the people here seem genuinely happy.
> I had never felt safer in any city around the world, including my own. While many buildings were falling down and their inhabitants living in near poverty, their spirit seemed unbreakable. We may not agree with their economic or social policy, but the people here seem genuinely happy.
Interestingly enough, you can say this about most places you visit for a short period of time. As a tourist you typically get a surface feel for the place. After spending a measurable amount of time (9 months+) in a Similar place (the dominican republic) with friends who said similar things after short visits, I can say much of this is attributed to seeing people in nice, quaint, sanitized parts of life you see as a tourist rather than an accurate description of what's actually happening culturally.
That's to say that you don't really get into interpersonal relationships when you're in a place for a week. People seem generally happy because most people are friendly - specifically to strangers - especially when those strangers mean revenue or money for themselves, their business or their community - especially on the first pass. After spending time and living there - there's many of the human emotions you're familiar with stateside including contentment, joy, but also anger, sadness, jealousy (and yes) unhappiness too (gasp) - it's just that you don't see the negative emotions when you're only there for a week.
It's always a little disingenuous or a little naive when people come back saying "they have so little, but are so happy." It is true on one level, but also is conveniently dismissive of recognizing that you only experienced a sliver of their actual lives.
That was obviously not the intent of the author's statement- to suggest that "they have so little, but are so happy." Rather, it is a common observation that the Cubans are a "confident, and undefeated" people despite years of propaganda and other measures meant to bring them to their knees.
Guevarra was politically naive and made many awful decisions w/r/t ideals, strategy, and tactics, with in some cases disastrous results. I think heroizing or canonizing him is a poor choice. But calling him a “mass murderer” robs that label of meaning. By any standard which you might consider him a mass murderer, most US presidents of the past 80 years would equally qualify.
The fact that you quote "Che" and described him as inspiring is disgusting. Learn history you sheltered kid. Che Guevara was an enforcer for people that believed in the ideals of Mao Zedong. If you own land, or own a business, Che would have killed you. The fact that most of you live in modern western worlds is enough for somebody like Che Guevara to hate and kill you.
> The fact that you quote "Che" and described him as inspiring is disgusting. Learn history you sheltered kid. Che Guevara was an enforcer for people that believed in the ideals of Mao Zedong. If you own land, or own a business, Che would have killed you. The fact that most of you live in modern western worlds is enough for somebody like Che Guevara to hate and kill you.
This might or might not be true, but you're missing the historical context in which he lived. This was a time of military dictatorships all over Latin America (backed by the USA, of course) and communism provided one of the few ideological vehicles to fight it. You can criticize what he did and what he thought, but I think he was trying to make the world a better place (even though he might have done more harm than good).
A buddy of mine lived and worked in Cuba for many years.
While the place is not perfect, he had many great things to say about it. About how family and connections are more important than material possessions, about how healthcare and education are rights that everyone has and doesn't think about, and about how the purpose of life is not just to go to work more and earn more money.
My friend is Canadian, and he genuinely loved living in Cuba, which tells me a lot.
It's funny, when the news got out that the US is normalizing relations, the first thing all my friends and family remarked is that now Cuba will be 'spoiled', and we'd better get in our vacations while we still can, before Cuba's overrun with Americans.
On a serious note, everyone I know that's been has loved their time in Cuba. Most seem to think it's better than Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and so on (except for the food). Certainly safer.
I haven't been to Cuba myself, but I've been to my wife's country which is less developed, much more violent and unequal. It was still nice (apart from AK-47 wielding bandits, corrupt police and the fact that everyone wants to rob you because they think white people are made of money). Minus the safety concerns, I'd be OK with the level of development and living there.
The fact is, there's nothing wrong with 'poor' countries. Having a car and technology isn't all that. Having a decent house is important in Canada, but near the equator I'm OK with a shack. As long as basic needs are met, life isn't that bad.
Which is why so many Canadians (I certainly know quite a few) 'exit' the system and live in 'poor' countries.
Hmmm. That does not quite explain the exodus of people or the people who desire to leave.
I understand the universal education and healthcare, but that does not go very far when on average your take home is about 100 bucks a month.
And I don't see Mexicans (who have good relations, or Dominicans or Venezuelans for that matter) getting on boats and hoping for a better life in Cuba.
One thing, among others, Cuba does offer is a kind of time warp porn which some people find compelling, yet, day to day life, I imagine many Cubans would trade for an economy which was not ruled so much by decree and doctrine. They have had to live in that imagined idyll where humans have not been despoiled by money...
Rather because they have so few material possessions they have no choice but to enjoy the few things they can count on in life.
> And I don't see Mexicans (who have good relations, or Dominicans or Venezuelans for that matter) getting on boats and hoping for a better life in Cuba.
Well, people DO leave their countries to Cuba. You just don't see that (and probably also don't believe it). Of course, they don't need boats to do that, because that's really risky...
OTOH, Mexicans, Dominicans and Venezuelans (and people from many, many other countries) DO risk their lives trying to enter the US, even if that means that, if they manage to escape all sorts of risks, they will be illegal aliens there (as opposed to the Cubans who touch US soil: they are, in practice, given a new life, for free.)
Some people will always leave for what they perceive as 'greener' pastures.
My wife's family, for instance, are immigrants, and we know many people who came from her country (their population actually shrinks YoY because of the mass exodus). An interesting phenomenon is also that many of them are disillusioned with life in Canada, having left to become 'rich', only to be very poor and overworked, and unable to go home because of the stigma about people who 'wasted time' (ie. immigrated then went back).
You even see it within countries - Canadians from the east coast who go west. And often you see it go 2 directions - many people immigrate from North America and Britain to France to live an 'idyllic' lifestyle, and there's an equal amount of French people going the other direction for 'economic opportunity'.
The existence of people who desire to leave isn't necessarily indicative of it's quality of life... Hell, I don't even plan on staying in Canada forever, but I'm well aware of its benefits.
You make it sound like there isn't a repressive regime in power that brooks no decent and certainly doesn't allow anyone to voice an opinion contrary to the establishment.
I prefer to think that sounds like the average Cuban citizen is more interested in a quiet life and improving their standard of living more than complaining about political issues.
Please note in case you haven't been never in Cuba that Cubans are known for always says aloud what we thinks in any corner either in political or any other matters.
Yeah, I'm sure this puff piece about the island nation ruled by a murderous dictator will do nicely in helping people know how to "think" about Cuba. Do some research on Raul Castro.
It's been under ruthless attack by the world's most militant nation, which forces Guantanamo Bay there and demands other nations besiege it with sanctions. Due to its disobedience, it nevertheless does unusually well all things considered.
Attacking someone about their country like that is a particularly distasteful breach of civility on Hacker News. It's for Cubans (as for the people of any other nation) to decide the nature of their government; it's certainly not for us to harangue them about it.
Moreover, assuming that what you're saying is true, you're putting the person you're talking to at risk if they answer freely. That's not a fair argument to have and certainly not for fake internet points.
So you're saying refuting someone who claims there is no danger to speaking your mind in Cuba by posting a link to people arrested for speaking their mind in Cuba, isn't a conversation, but an attack. And furthermore I shouldn't engage with anyone over the internet because they might be from Cuba and I might endanger them?
And further I shouldn't even be talking about it, because if, for the sake of argument, Cuba has a repressive secret police that throws people in jail for speaking about unapproved ideas, I shouldn't say anything about it because it's Cuba's business?
Using that philosophy no one should have spoken out about S. Africa's apartheid because they might get someone in trouble and it's S. Africa's business anyways.
When I saw this picture[0] I instinctively reacted with: "Ew. What's wrong with their tomatoes?"
Then I remembered that that's how all tomatoes used to look originally[1], and that their tomatoes probably taste way better than the neon-red freaks that I buy at the supermarket.
Not sure about the choice you typically get in a US supermarket, but speaking from experience living in Europe, it's really best to turn your intuitions upside down. Most vegetables and fruit just taste way better, the further they are from their common variant, since there was less chance to select taste out of them. So, for example with tomatoes go dark, yellow, oval shaped, 'deformed' ('oxen hearts' a.k.a. cuoro di bue). With carrots go yellow or dark.
I also recently had the chance to visit Cuba. Incidentally, I was there the day Alan Gross was exchanged for the last of the Cuban Five and the announcement of detente was made. I've been to 39 countries by last count, and this trip was among my favorite.
One of the most radical things about my experience was that I traveled directly from San Francisco, and the two places could hardly feel more different. Walking down Market Street, the full breadth of American inequality is on display like nowhere else. As poor as Central Havana is, you simply don't observe the same level of open desperation. One might say their government makes this so, but it's actually our government that imprisons the largest percentage of its citizens of any country in the world. Look, I'm not saying I would live in Cuba over the USA, but I do think we should be doing a far better job caring for our most vulnerable.
I also went to Cuba. I really enjoyed the trip and found the people super nice. Well, except for the touts, who were super aggressive. But otherwise a great trip.
I also found it a complete repudiation of socialism. Seriously, if you are a fan of socialism, go to Cuba and you will get that fixed in a hurry. Houses are literally collapsing because they are not being repaired while what seems like half the city sits around on the street waiting for a ration book. Stores that take the local currency are empty. Its like the Soviet Union in the 80s.
It's also amazing how much has stood still. Its like you went back in time to the 1950s and the Cuban missile crisis was yesterday. The cars, the propaganda, the buildings, broken political and economic systems, all of it.
[To the down votes: Sorry if that is not a message you wanted to hear about Socialism. You shouldn't take my word for it. You should go see it yourself.]
Firstly, communism != socialism != social democrat.
Secondly, 50 years of trade embargo probably has a lot to do with the decay and lack of availability of goods. America tried hard to ensure that Communist Cuba would fail and collapse, and it didn't.
It might be fairer to compare Cuba with other agricultural-exploitation countries like hyper-capitalist Honduras.
This is funny. The latin american left always complains that "USA imperialism" is what prevents their countries from being fully developed nations. Cuba is free of that imperialism and then people complain the embargo is the problem... You can't have it both ways.
By the way, Cuba has always been free to trade with every other country apart from the USA...
Hyper-capitalist Honduras?! The 113th country in the Economic Freedom Index now qualifies as "hyper-capitalist"?
I've found that there's a number people who are afraid to come out and say they didn't like Cuba, it's a very unpopular opinion. I spent two weeks there as part of a 6 month trip through North and Central America, and before I went, everyone said they loved it. Since then I've found I've spoken to two or three people who have said they were glad I told them I didn't like Cuba because they didn't either, but everyone else loves it. Obviously this is a small sample size, but I found it interesting.
Personally I thought that Viñales particularly, and Havana to a lesser extent, to be the most touristy places I've ever been. Of the three main streets in Viñales, almost every building was either a Casa Particular or a restaurant catering to tourists. In downtown Havana, the number of Canadians/Australias/Kiwi's/Europeans was incredible, more so than anywhere else I went in Central America.
Almost every daily activity was more difficult in Cuba than anywhere else I went (probably because of the embargo) - restaurants and supermarkets were constantly out of stock, exchanging money was an hour long ordeal...
That being said, if I had my time again, there's nothing I'd change, it was definitely a unique experience
I've visited several countries where that's true - but none of the locals responded anything like this article describes. Don't underestimate the power of culture.
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[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 148 ms ] threadDream on ...
What? Cuban food is well-known all over the US.
You think the US is more unequal than Cuba? I'd love to see what the Castros are worth vs. the lowest paid Cuban.
And in my books, being thrown in prison because you express a viewpoint counter the gov't is pretty damn unequal.
It would be more interesting to see the differences between two typical families in the 10% and 90% of income.
I'm dying xD
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cuban-agents-brutalize-democracy-...
That does not make the experience of the article's author any less real. Or the culture he discovered any less valuable.
It can be even argued that some of those virtues do exist today not in spite, but thanks to the human rights issues. Normal people want to do selfish and/or stupid things all the time; and in a democratic society you let them get away with all but the most destructive of those behaviors as the cost of preserving those human rights. It is a trade-off.
On the other hand, Cuba is an example of a different society that chose a different, not necessarily worse or better, trade-off. As a matter of fact, given that this little island was geopolitically isolated at the fall of the USSR, you may even dare to call that tradeoff successful.
I've seen more police "brutality" in the suburbs of Canada when the bar closes...
BTW, brutality is in quotations because no one can possibly watch those actual videos and call the police actions anything close. The protester (singular) who was arrested, was not only twice the size of the fat, out of shape police officers, but there was barely a scuffle.
Here's a good picture of the police brutality from your link: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ceaq1QXWsAIOVNu.jpg
and here as well: https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/hfg17gfMjN_RcKbCTm1hPw--/Y...
So brutal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_Cuba
I'm Cuban and I'm now in Cuba, university professor, not affiliated to any political organization, and I check HN almost all days and personally I do not feel limited in any way, only by its high cost. In the same way private internet access is not illegal, is just nonexistent as option because most Cubans cannot afford the current costs of Internet infrastructure at home.
(Honest question: When I was there this seemed to be a thing?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Cuba#Contempor...
The Cuban people were already suffering - the US' new policy can start to change that. Nothing else will.
Going to wrap up my medium article soon.
People say the same about North Korea.
Interestingly enough, you can say this about most places you visit for a short period of time. As a tourist you typically get a surface feel for the place. After spending a measurable amount of time (9 months+) in a Similar place (the dominican republic) with friends who said similar things after short visits, I can say much of this is attributed to seeing people in nice, quaint, sanitized parts of life you see as a tourist rather than an accurate description of what's actually happening culturally.
That's to say that you don't really get into interpersonal relationships when you're in a place for a week. People seem generally happy because most people are friendly - specifically to strangers - especially when those strangers mean revenue or money for themselves, their business or their community - especially on the first pass. After spending time and living there - there's many of the human emotions you're familiar with stateside including contentment, joy, but also anger, sadness, jealousy (and yes) unhappiness too (gasp) - it's just that you don't see the negative emotions when you're only there for a week.
It's always a little disingenuous or a little naive when people come back saying "they have so little, but are so happy." It is true on one level, but also is conveniently dismissive of recognizing that you only experienced a sliver of their actual lives.
"No hay tarea difícil, sino hombres incapaces" - Ernesto "Che" Guevara [1]
That would translate (i think, correct my english if i'm wrong) to: "There is no difficult task, but incapable men"
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara
Guevarra was politically naive and made many awful decisions w/r/t ideals, strategy, and tactics, with in some cases disastrous results. I think heroizing or canonizing him is a poor choice. But calling him a “mass murderer” robs that label of meaning. By any standard which you might consider him a mass murderer, most US presidents of the past 80 years would equally qualify.
With regards to all three of your claims, this seems like a fairly reasonable analysis: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1lt4rb/was_i...
This might or might not be true, but you're missing the historical context in which he lived. This was a time of military dictatorships all over Latin America (backed by the USA, of course) and communism provided one of the few ideological vehicles to fight it. You can criticize what he did and what he thought, but I think he was trying to make the world a better place (even though he might have done more harm than good).
Personal attacks are not welcome on Hacker News. Please don't do this again.
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11476347 and marked it off-topic.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/transcript-alan-gross-...
While the place is not perfect, he had many great things to say about it. About how family and connections are more important than material possessions, about how healthcare and education are rights that everyone has and doesn't think about, and about how the purpose of life is not just to go to work more and earn more money.
My friend is Canadian, and he genuinely loved living in Cuba, which tells me a lot.
It's funny, when the news got out that the US is normalizing relations, the first thing all my friends and family remarked is that now Cuba will be 'spoiled', and we'd better get in our vacations while we still can, before Cuba's overrun with Americans.
On a serious note, everyone I know that's been has loved their time in Cuba. Most seem to think it's better than Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and so on (except for the food). Certainly safer.
I haven't been to Cuba myself, but I've been to my wife's country which is less developed, much more violent and unequal. It was still nice (apart from AK-47 wielding bandits, corrupt police and the fact that everyone wants to rob you because they think white people are made of money). Minus the safety concerns, I'd be OK with the level of development and living there.
The fact is, there's nothing wrong with 'poor' countries. Having a car and technology isn't all that. Having a decent house is important in Canada, but near the equator I'm OK with a shack. As long as basic needs are met, life isn't that bad.
Which is why so many Canadians (I certainly know quite a few) 'exit' the system and live in 'poor' countries.
I understand the universal education and healthcare, but that does not go very far when on average your take home is about 100 bucks a month.
And I don't see Mexicans (who have good relations, or Dominicans or Venezuelans for that matter) getting on boats and hoping for a better life in Cuba.
One thing, among others, Cuba does offer is a kind of time warp porn which some people find compelling, yet, day to day life, I imagine many Cubans would trade for an economy which was not ruled so much by decree and doctrine. They have had to live in that imagined idyll where humans have not been despoiled by money...
Rather because they have so few material possessions they have no choice but to enjoy the few things they can count on in life.
Well, people DO leave their countries to Cuba. You just don't see that (and probably also don't believe it). Of course, they don't need boats to do that, because that's really risky...
OTOH, Mexicans, Dominicans and Venezuelans (and people from many, many other countries) DO risk their lives trying to enter the US, even if that means that, if they manage to escape all sorts of risks, they will be illegal aliens there (as opposed to the Cubans who touch US soil: they are, in practice, given a new life, for free.)
My wife's family, for instance, are immigrants, and we know many people who came from her country (their population actually shrinks YoY because of the mass exodus). An interesting phenomenon is also that many of them are disillusioned with life in Canada, having left to become 'rich', only to be very poor and overworked, and unable to go home because of the stigma about people who 'wasted time' (ie. immigrated then went back).
You even see it within countries - Canadians from the east coast who go west. And often you see it go 2 directions - many people immigrate from North America and Britain to France to live an 'idyllic' lifestyle, and there's an equal amount of French people going the other direction for 'economic opportunity'.
The existence of people who desire to leave isn't necessarily indicative of it's quality of life... Hell, I don't even plan on staying in Canada forever, but I'm well aware of its benefits.
Edit - stats on the Canadian diaspora: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_diaspora
With the amount of Canadians living abroad you'd swear it was literally Mordor...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/304-dissidents-arrested-...
Please note in case you haven't been never in Cuba that Cubans are known for always says aloud what we thinks in any corner either in political or any other matters.
Moreover, assuming that what you're saying is true, you're putting the person you're talking to at risk if they answer freely. That's not a fair argument to have and certainly not for fake internet points.
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11476566 and marked it off-topic.
And further I shouldn't even be talking about it, because if, for the sake of argument, Cuba has a repressive secret police that throws people in jail for speaking about unapproved ideas, I shouldn't say anything about it because it's Cuba's business?
Using that philosophy no one should have spoken out about S. Africa's apartheid because they might get someone in trouble and it's S. Africa's business anyways.
Anyways, good to know how hacker news works.
Then I remembered that that's how all tomatoes used to look originally[1], and that their tomatoes probably taste way better than the neon-red freaks that I buy at the supermarket.
[0] https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*yVBQ_1SeMOk4kcib-q...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Modern_commercial_varie...
One of the most radical things about my experience was that I traveled directly from San Francisco, and the two places could hardly feel more different. Walking down Market Street, the full breadth of American inequality is on display like nowhere else. As poor as Central Havana is, you simply don't observe the same level of open desperation. One might say their government makes this so, but it's actually our government that imprisons the largest percentage of its citizens of any country in the world. Look, I'm not saying I would live in Cuba over the USA, but I do think we should be doing a far better job caring for our most vulnerable.
Here's my reflection on the experience: https://alanjaytravel.wordpress.com/2015/12/31/cuba-go/
I also found it a complete repudiation of socialism. Seriously, if you are a fan of socialism, go to Cuba and you will get that fixed in a hurry. Houses are literally collapsing because they are not being repaired while what seems like half the city sits around on the street waiting for a ration book. Stores that take the local currency are empty. Its like the Soviet Union in the 80s.
It's also amazing how much has stood still. Its like you went back in time to the 1950s and the Cuban missile crisis was yesterday. The cars, the propaganda, the buildings, broken political and economic systems, all of it.
[To the down votes: Sorry if that is not a message you wanted to hear about Socialism. You shouldn't take my word for it. You should go see it yourself.]
Secondly, 50 years of trade embargo probably has a lot to do with the decay and lack of availability of goods. America tried hard to ensure that Communist Cuba would fail and collapse, and it didn't.
It might be fairer to compare Cuba with other agricultural-exploitation countries like hyper-capitalist Honduras.
By the way, Cuba has always been free to trade with every other country apart from the USA...
Hyper-capitalist Honduras?! The 113th country in the Economic Freedom Index now qualifies as "hyper-capitalist"?
Personally I thought that Viñales particularly, and Havana to a lesser extent, to be the most touristy places I've ever been. Of the three main streets in Viñales, almost every building was either a Casa Particular or a restaurant catering to tourists. In downtown Havana, the number of Canadians/Australias/Kiwi's/Europeans was incredible, more so than anywhere else I went in Central America.
Almost every daily activity was more difficult in Cuba than anywhere else I went (probably because of the embargo) - restaurants and supermarkets were constantly out of stock, exchanging money was an hour long ordeal...
That being said, if I had my time again, there's nothing I'd change, it was definitely a unique experience
It's all about the money. American dollars can buy luxuries the Cuban peso can't afford, and that's something anyone can get excited about.