Life in Cuba?

[IHateCorporations]

I have inquired about conditions in Cuba before on this website. Before, I got information about the bias of Cuban exiles and the healthcare inside the country. Now I am more interested in the day-to-day life of an average Cuban citizen. I expecially value the opinions of those who lived in Cuba.

Also, is it possible for a US citizen to move to Cuba?

Thanks

[Luisrah]

I'm sure you won't like this answer.

But the best I can tell you is that you will only find out the truth if you go there.

Some will say it's a hellhole, others will say it's not that bad for a country in an embargo, others will say it's a paradise, some that it is socialist, others that it is state capitalist, some will say it's oppressive, others won't.

If you go there, there is 100% chance you will get the right impression.

[Black Sheep]

If you go there, there is 100% chance you will get the right impression.
And why?

[Fulanito de Tal]

If you go there, there is 100% chance you will get the right impression.

I do not agree with this. Cubans have learned that if they present a sob story, they receive money and gifts from foreigners. Going on your own will lead to Cubans possibly exaggerating their misfortunes or the government providing you lovely presentations, both of which is done to get your money. From what I have personally discovered, the best way (so far) to learn what Cuban life is like is to know someone well enough in Cuba that will tell you what they really feel.

Cuban daily life, like in almost any other country, is different depending on where you live. There are rural and urban communities. Rural and urban communities also differ from each other. Therefore, going to Havana and generalizing your observations to the entire country would not produce a valid illustration of other communities. It would be like visiting Washington DC or New York City and thinking that people in Omaha, NE or Palatka, FL have similar daily lives.

Other factors to consider are age, race, political views, and FE (familia en el extrangero [family in a foreign country]).

I have never lived in Cuba, but I have been there many times and stay with family always. The purpose of my post was to give you some tools and direction as to how to conduct your research.

I will consider this topic next time I go to Cuba. Maybe I can even bring some stories back on video and post them so you can hear it straight from the Cuban.

Yours truly,
Dougal

[Sixiang]

Cuban daily life, like in almost any other country, is different depending on where you live. There are rural and urban communities. Rural and urban communities also differ from each other. Therefore, going to Havana and generalizing your observations to the entire country would not produce a valid illustration of other communities. It would be like visiting Washington DC or New York City and thinking that people in Omaha, NE or Palatka, FL have similar daily lives.

Other factors to consider are age, race, political views, and FE (familia en el extrangero [family in a foreign country]).

I absolutely agree with this. You could spend your life studying what life is like in any country because there are so many different people with different situations and circumstances.

[MarxistMan]

Dear friends many people in USA judge people or nations by the wealth they got. So according to that logic US government more democratic than the government of Costa Rica. But we all know that US government is more fascist and more immoral than the Costa Rica government because it invades other nations, bombs people, tortures people and kills people, not to mention all the dirty tricks it does like the 9-11 inside job.

What i mean is that just because Cuba is poor, it doesn't mean that their poverty has been created by their welfare nationalist state-capitalist system. Haiti, Colombia, Honduras, Panama and Nigeria are poors, and they have a free market.

The poverty of poor nations in the first place has been really created by European Empires and by US empires all dating back to 1400s. So poverty of poor nations is really caused by rich big nations, stealing the resources of poor countries. (That's one factor and cause of the poverty of poor countries and Cuba. not the sole cause, bad weather, government corruption, and other causes are to blame)

Another cause of the poverty of Cuban citizens is caused the embargo, and also the state-capitalist system. However state-capitalism is better than Neoliberal-Capitalism of Mexico.

And in state-capitalist systems the wealth of the nation might be spread out to the masses, but a workers-state would be better than a state-capitalist system for Cuba. But Socialism in 1, 2 or 3 countries do not work. So Cuban authorities would have to wait for socialist parties to rise to power in most nations and install a workers-state, so that Cuban rulers can change the country from a state-capitalist country to a workers-state country. So that when USA gets a workers-state, that would lead to canceling the ecomomic-block against Cuba and the workers-state of Cuba itself would lead to more democratization of wealth for all Cuban citizens of the island.

Thanxxx



I have inquired about conditions in Cuba before on this website. Before, I got information about the bias of Cuban exiles and the healthcare inside the country. Now I am more interested in the day-to-day life of an average Cuban citizen. I expecially value the opinions of those who lived in Cuba.

Also, is it possible for a US citizen to move to Cuba?

Thanks

[☭The Revolution☭]

Are any communist nations really as bad as the capitalist media makes it out to be?

[Kalifornia]

Cuba is a revisionist deformed workers state, it is very near to a restoration of capitalism and has a class of beauracrats and is bringing in reforms every couple of years.

However, like the DPRK, if you compare Cuba to what it would be like if it had never had its revolution, then you can look at Haiti for an example.

Cuba can bost amazing healthcare and doctors and scientists who have recently come up with the worlds first theraputic lung cancer vacine.

It is said that even the prostitutes in Havana have degrees, and even students from the USA go to Cuba to study medicine, which they are allowed to do for free.

Cuba's economic model is the same as it was since it was a lackey of the revisionist USSR, it used to sell its sugar and rum and fruit off to them, but since the restoration of capitalism in the soviet republics, it has been forced to look to the markets and tourism to avoid its people straving.

Cuba has not got a very good LGBT rights record, yet things are slowly changing, yet no where near fast enough for my liking.

[Red Rebel]

Several links that might interest you on first hand accounts from Cuba from Here: (http://www.soviet-empire.com/ussr/viewtopic.php?f=132&t=44613)

Biking in Cuba (http://www.bicyclingcuba.com/)
Cuba, An Island of Paradoxes (http://www.wumingfoundation.com/english/outtakes/paradoxical_cuba.htm)
Daily Life (http://library.thinkquest.org/18355/daily_life.html)

As previously said, if you want a first hand account go there yourself.

[Fulanito de Tal]

Cuba, An Island of Paradoxes (http://www.wumingfoundation.com/english/outtakes/paradoxical_cuba.htm)

That was a good read. I started off by skimming it to find its intentions, but I couldn't stop reading. It shows the unstated contradictions that are created when people start criticizing Cuba. Plus, it does so in a nice way. I felt I was fishing with Felix, too. Thanks for posting it.