Life in Cuba today

[Karabin]

I am aware that 99% of people here probably have never been to Cuba, but I am still curious about the living standard and benefits that the average Cuban citizen gets. How well off are the Cuban proletariat in terms of living standard, healthcare, employment, education etc. when compared to other Latin American countries? To what extent are private enterprises active within Cuba, and are they a prominent part of the economy? Is the Cuban government an oppressive one, or have they allowed Cuba to grow as a more open society since the collapse of The Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact?

[tuwix]

From what I know, private enterprises aren't significant part of economy. It's quite small business or petty bourgeoisie. There is free education even in university level and free health care. The level of health care is estimated as the best in Latin America.
There is no unemployment. But salary that you get is only to fulfill basic needs. If you want more, you must trade or panhandle from foreign tourists. There are two currencies. The one (el peso cubano) which is paid by state enterprises that is to fulfill basic needs because you can get in shops only basic products, and second one (el peso convertible) for foreign tourists which you can buy almost everything. The second currency you can only legally get by converting Western currencies. The most popular is Euro.
The Cuban government is more oppressive that so-called 'Western democracies' with en exception to the USA. In the case of the USA, I don't really know who is more oppressive Cuba o the USA... It is definitely not an open society. The elections there is even greater farce than in so-called 'bourgeois democracy'. The party decides who will be parliament. The people may only accept it but it is irrelevant. Even the people weren't accept them, the elections would be falsified.
Propaganda is in soviet style. When I hear their “Radio Reloj” which gives only news and time, it reminds me what I heard when Poland was Stalinist or post-Stalinist country.

[Dave B]

I went there in March 2011 it seems, as we where then when the Japanese tsunami thing happened.

Everybody seemed to be using the convertible currency, in the major towns etc except on buses and things like that, you had to be out into the country to find them using the other one.

There were quite a few internet café’s which were affordable and townie Cubans seemed to be freely using them.

I logged onto several sites from one, including this one and successfully posted onto the one I tried.

I also went to Eastern Europe ie Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland in the 1990’s; there stilled seemed then to be some kind of police state bureaucratic form filling hangover then, for western tourists anyway.

And they weren’t as jolly as the Cubans seemed to be.

Even when staying in Bed and Breakfast type places in Hungary etc you had to fill out a questionaire about what you where doing and where you had been and going next etc.

Although there was a bit of madness in Cuba; we got the Mantaza to Havana on the 'Hershey' train which requires a short ferry trip across a bay to Havana at the end.

Before getting on the ferry they searched our bags in case we had malign intentions of high-jacking it and taking it Florida, as if.

Waving our English passports about and telling them that the US sucks; and we were English Marxists, Trotskyists and Anarchists didn’t seem to cut any ice.

There would have been a bit of rough and tumble I think;

As; “English Leftists retake Hijacked Ferry and take it back to Cuba”.

It is probably not a good idea to swan around like a rich tourists, as the street sellers of cigars etc would even lock onto us when their was nothing more likely wandering around.

[ellipsis]

I was there in 2002 or 2003. It is pretty unique in a lot of ways, due to their history. A good example is we went to stay at a beach side "resort", that was probably built in the soviet era. We had to wait hella long to check in, the problem was that their washing facilities broke and hadn't been repaired, so they drove 2 hours to the next nearest washing facility.

also the menu at almost every restaurant is the same.

police repression is very visible. since they have a national ID systems, the police can and do stop people any where for whatever reason to run their IDs. I remember seeing the cops come onto the beach to run the ID of two young women sun bathing.

But things there seem to be way better than in other parts of latin america in terms of standard of living, no shanty towns for example.

today i dunno, but ten years ago i enjoyed it.

[brigadista]

was there in 2009 posted on the other thread called What is Cuba Like?

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

police repression is very visible. since they have a national ID systems, the police can and do stop people any where for whatever reason to run their IDs. I remember seeing the cops come onto the beach to run the ID of two young women sun bathing.


I didn't experience this. Perhaps as you were staying in a resort with rich gringos there, the police presence was higher and less friendly?

Certainly in Havana city the police were present but in, shall we say, a friendly manner, rather than an oppressive way.

The only sign of police repression I saw was that there was a police/other guard on the beach in the Playas del Este where I was staying, presumably to stop people from leaving for Florida (which you can see in the distance, so it's not that far away). However, to be fair, I and other Cubanos could walk around the beach totally freely. I could even walk round the deserted/derelict areas of the beach/town (think it had been destroyed by hurricane) and there was nobody really trying to stop me/hide anything.

[bricolage]

When I was in Havana the police would always move us along when we were drinking by the Malecon with Cuban friends, they were generally under the impression that they were trying to rob us which seems to be the approach the police take to all Cuban/non-Cuban relationships.

[ellipsis]

No I was in habana most of the time. Said beach incident was in Cienfuegos iirc, on a random non gringo beach.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

wow, that's strange. It must have been kinda peaceful when I was there. I spent a day with a cubano and we went everywhere, drinking etc. The malecon looked kinda quiet almost all the time I was there, too, which I thought was weird cos the weather was incredible.

[bricolage]

wow, that's strange. It must have been kinda peaceful when I was there. I spent a day with a cubano and we went everywhere, drinking etc. The malecon looked kinda quiet almost all the time I was there, too, which I thought was weird cos the weather was incredible.
yeah it was a cool place to hang out when I was there, people would roll up with beers or guitars and hang out.
I mean the police could have been a lot worse, they didn't arrest anyone just keep checking what was going on and moving us along.

[freeform23]

I've been to Cuba 4 times, the last being in Dec 2011, where I stayed with a consular, which allowed me to have a unique perspective I had not got on my previous trips.

In general, I would say that the Cuban people are still quite poor because the state is quite poor. 80% of the products are imported because they have still been unsuccessful in changing their economy from an export based one set up to supply the soviet bloc. This means there are quite frequently shortages, any many products that you can't get unless you can earn extra money likes the examples stated by previous posters.

They call the period after the collapse of the soviet union the special period, for the economy went into a downturn. This seems to have been a central event in present day Cuba. For example, if you were to visit the Museum of the Revolution, you'll notice the history stops in 1990. But this period also brought about some interesting changes. For example, without the Soviets to supply petro-chemicals to the country, they were forced to return to wide-spread organic farming, as well as rooftop gardening. The average Cuban lost 30 pounds, but their life expectancy went up by 2 years, bringing it above the USA. Other changes were a law that made it illegal not to pick up high-hikers. (We rented a car on my last trip, and picked up people almost every where we went - it seems to be the main way of getting around)

Having said that, the Castro's have been slowly but surely opening up the economy, for example, they now allow for limited private ownership of farm land that cannot be sold, but can be passed down. They've also allowed for private B & B's and restaurants, which have allowed people who are granted permission to prosper. Possibly the biggest change is their migration reform which they started this year. I think it's still too early to tell what effect this will have, and how much the government will truly allow, but there is no doubt about the fact that the country is changing.

In terms of repression, I would say the Cuban government is still very active in trying to control the communist message. They routinely jail people who are critical of the government, and use television and the radio to propagandize against both real and mythical imperialist threats. When we were there, our host was certain his house was bugged, and that we were being followed (a fact he demonstrated quite well), and while the government probably was correct in assuming he was working to undermind them, his mission was solely to support human rights groups.

[ILikeRevolution]

Well healthcare is free of course, and of probably the best quality in Latin America. (Out of many countries to choose from, Hugo Chavez chose to receive healthcare in Cuba). Education is free at any level, and accessible to all. Cuba is tied with 5 other countries for the highest literacy rate in the world. There's no homelessness. Out of about 25, there are ranked second for most daily calorie intake per person, meaning they eat very well. In fact, they eat more than Spain, the Netherlands, and Finland to name a few Western countries. Standard of living is also one of the best in Latin America and the Caribbean, ranking 4th. All statistics from the United Nations.

And on a personal note, I know a few Cubans... like the ones that actually live in Cuba, not Miami-based Cuban-Americans... and they unanimously agree that the majority of people in Cuba admire Fidel, the revolution, and socialism. Don't believe? Visit Cuba. Or find a comrade that has. They'll echo this view.