Cuba is one of the few truly socialist countries remaining in the world today. We went to Cuba not for vacation, but to explore socialism. The reason being that our parents had to live in communist Czechoslovakia… For us to understand what they went through, we had to go down to Cuba. Here’s my take on what I could see and experience in the country during our 3 week visit.
Pretend everything is ok
Nothing really works in Cuba, yet they keep it going. Transportation sucks, the country doesn’t have enough buses, nor trains or cars. The workaround that? To get more buses, they converted animal carriage trucks into passenger carriage trucks. Not enough trains? No problem, let’s cut the train service to every 4 days. How come you can spot beautiful American classic cars around every corner? It’s because there are none or few new cars available (it seems they can now buy crappy Chinese cars!) and for this reason, they still fix up cars from the 1950s, costing over $20-30k!! Trying to get around the country like locals, transportation points out how crazy this country really is.
Infrastructure is deteriorated, buildings are collapsing, but no one cares because it’s more important to celebrate the revolution. Fidel, Che Guevara, Raúl or even Hugo Chavez have their faces everywhere, they keep on watching you like big brother. You should celebrate. Their birthday, heroism and courage. You should work and study hard to make Fidel happy. But money is lacking pretty much everywhere, salaries are extremely low and the state lacks funds for maintenance, building are falling down. The agony of the socialist dream.
Try to do some shopping, that’s interesting too. Not only have you got no real choice, but very often, the stuff is just sold out. The shops are empty. I mean the country basic food and supplies are there, but there’s lack in choice. The limited offer looks like this - one kind of cheese, ham and sausages, milk only in powder.. The shops’ stock is planned and if something sells out, it’s sold out - it might not become available again for weeks. A lot of Cubans know this and therefore queue up in the early morning hours to buy what they need. So shops are there, products are there as well, yet there’s something missing out. You can even buy foreign food (cereal, cacao, biscuits) but you pay about a 200% premium for this over regular US/EU prices.
The country lacks in availability of construction materials, white goods, cars, electronics including cell phones and branded clothing. If you wanna buy a house, it might take you months to queue up trying to buy construction materials. Car dealerships were empty while stores with electronics/white appliances were full of products but empty otherwise as no one was inside shopping. When you go to casas particulares to sleep, you realize all the stuff Cubans have at their homes is heavily fought for - it was either sent in from abroad, received as a gift from relatives or involved extremely long queues. I’m not saying consumerism is the way to do it, but this is just so strange..
Keeping people “happy”
The government is using certain products as happiness devices. What does it mean? The state is boss and has freedom to plan your life. On top of basic provision products, the government absurdely subsidizes what could be called “pleasure products”, which include tobacco, alcohol, condoms (read sex) and sweets. It seems this pleasure-giving stuff is the fuel to Cuban happiness. Effectively, the regime wants people to get drunk, smoke, have sex and put a little sugar in their otherwise chained life.
Living or surviving?
While Cubans can technically have all the pleasures life offers, the reality is a little different. The regime plans your consumption, leisure and pleasure. For example, you can get so much ice cream for cheap, there are no flavours to be chosen, but hey, you’ve got ice cream. You can go on a nice family vacation to the beach, the only problem is that the average Cuban cannot afford it. You might study and get a degree, but the qualified job only pays from 12 to 40 dollars a month. In short 3 weeks I learned I cannot live a life planned by somebody else, feels like prison.
For official salaries being extremely low, people have to work something aside to survive. We were living on luxurious $15 a day, which is what Cubans make in a month! The locals make more money selling sandwiches in the street than what their regular job earns them. The latter is there to provide Cubans with working class benefits (even more freebies). This system is pathetic and just wrong.
Moreover, there is great emphasis on family time and relationships. People work, but not too much and as a result, they have as much time as they want. Time and effort have very little monetary value. Cuba is a complete opposite to workaholic western world, everyone here is just chilling and living today, careless about tomorrow.
Using the system
In Cuba, the economy is divided into national and convertible (dollar) money. The first currency was designed mainly for locals to buy basic or nationally produced goods that include food, clothing, pleasure products or transportation. The second currency is meant for luxury goods and tourists - water, soda, high-end alcohol, cigars, tourist accommodation and transportation..
For any tourist coming to Cuba for vacation, this isn’t easy to understand. The Cubans, however, use this setup to scam tourists. Instead of charging them in local money, they give the price in dollars (25x more). We learned this is very systematic. Since regular jobs pay close to nothing, tourists represent a real fortune. For example, anyone who brings tourists to a business (restaurant, accommodation, taxi, sweet shop) receives a commission. Those are the smiling Cubans who scam you and the regime created them. We hated this because we couldn’t ask the locals for any recommendations for food, drinks or transport - we’d be immediately taken to the most expensive place with the highest commission. We ended up building a strong apathy against Cubans.
The hot climate has also an effect on the people - they don’t wanna work and would tell you stories about how their relatives went off living to the United States, but came back to Cuba to live their chill “tranquilo” life. The system doesn’t make people strive for the best, it makes them drunk, settle down and do nothing. As a country, Cuba is not going anywhere, it’s been stagnant since the revolution.
Government’s freebies as fuel
One of the most obvious benefits Cubans enjoy are free healthcare and education. Propaganda taken aside, the country has one of the highest literacy rates (surpassing the USA) and life expectancy on par with the USA. This, the regime is very good at, the population is healthy and lots of people know at least one foreign language.
On top of this, every citizen receives food aid from the government - these food rations can be used to buy basic food including baked goods, rice and beans, sugar, flour or meat. There are special shops that accept the food coupons and people wait in long queues to get what they need. The locals are literally willing to waste their time, they are used to queueing up for everything and would probably win the world queueing championship if there was one. We learned time has very little value in Cuba.
Another part of the economy is hugely subsidized by the state, like the public transportation, basic food and utility products. You would use national money to buy these and it was shocking how much you can get for one dollar!
Last, people don’t pay too much tax if they own a small business. It’s true tax heaven, where tax is around 5-10% (it’s rather a fixed fee amount). For example, the casa particular owners pay $35 tax plus $2 social security insurance per month, however, they make about $20 a night per room. These people are the emerging rich people of Cuba.
Smart propaganda
We were actually surprised most Cubans we spoke with liked Cuba and defended the communist regime. They would say they don’t mind not having the right to vote - they are just happy for the government to provide for them so well (see gov freebies). The government knows this and keeps people happy with the right mix of propaganda. Only a handful of people were complaining or really dissatisfied with their life in Cuba.
People are free to enjoy anything on the internet, however, there are two BUTs. First, internet is only available in public places through wifi (no home internet). Second, it’s mad expensive (we paid $1,5/hr of surfing) even though the locals probably pay a little less. So Cubans are effectively able to scout for information, but the government makes it hard argumenting that “due to the US embargo, we cannot fully expand the broadband because the Venezuela’s cable wouldn’t be able to support it”.
Therefore, television, radio and newspaper are still important instruments in manipulating people. The news that come in from abroad are usually negative (terrorist attacks, violence, narco traffic, homelessness etc.) whereas the national news are rather positive celebrating healthcare improvements, productivity gains, sports achievements, investments or increased tourism. Cubans believe they live in a great country free from violence, drugs or social problems. For this reason, they are willing to trade their freedom for safety and security the regime offers.
Is it changing at all?
Yes and no, slowly. There are many changes being implemented, but their main goal is to keep people satisfied and the regime in place.
People are now able to open up small businesses and operate them from their house. This movement is very positive. Some people opened up restaurants offering excellent home-cooked dishes while others became computer specialists or games/music dealers. You can see a major difference in quality between these “private” and state-owned businesses whether it means better service, tastier food or whatever else.
Almost everyone has Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media. Airbnb is in the country as well, only Uber is still missing. This is something new, but not revolutionary due to limited access to the online world.
It seems it’s also easier for people to travel. However, there’s need for an invitation letter, bank account statement and several other documents.. This makes travel complicated and limited to rich Cubans only.
Young people are definitely up to date with the rest of the world. Everyone listens to the same reggaeton hits as the rest of South America. There’s a ton of skateboarders. Every youngster has a smartphone.
Before going to the country, I expected lots of changes and development. This isn’t really the case, the changes are being implemented slow and do not have enough magnitude to truly revolutionize the country. Cuba is gonna continue being a socialist conserve, even though the recipe will slightly change to fit 21st century. We were truly shocked by going to the country and think it’s a must to go there for it’s a really important experience - especially for communist voters. We are so lucky to live in a free country, freedom shouldn’t be taken for granted, it’s a luxury.
