Cuba, Si! Err, No. Well, Maybe
by Doug Dosdall in Caribbean , Cuba
Photo by Leszek Majkowski.
Cuba produced a lot of different reactions in me and I saw it through a lot of different eyes. As I review my journal entries, my opinion of the place seemed to swing from wildly positive to darkly negative. I was always learning something though, always being surprised for good or bad.
Havana immediately struck me as much more livable than other Latin American cities I've visited--there wasn't the same level of frenetic activity and noise, traffic was manageable and bicycles were an integral part of the transportation and the people were friendly, educated and interesting.
Cuba was the first Latin American country I visited where I was able to speak some Spanish. I started studying on my own seriously in the Dominican Republic but in Cuba I had 4 hours per day of group instruction--not enough to watch a TV program or keep up with a conversation between 2 native speakers but enough to get around and to have 1 on 1 conversations. The program I took also included many talks and outings--journalists, women and youth representatives, doctors, architects, farmers, etc.
The post-1993 crisis (when the Russian economic support ended) economy is truly bizarre--it took me several weeks to really understand how the system works, I still don't understand why it works. Here are a few facts that may help put one part of in perspective (from a talk by journalist Jorge Miyares and other sources): While I was there the exchange rate was 22 pesos to 1 US dollar to put the facts below in perspective. A few years back it was 130 to 1. The top salary for a Cuban, e.g. a neurosurgeon or a leading researcher, is about 500 pesos monthly while someone working selling vegetables in the farmers market may make that same amount each day. The people we met tended to make between 100-200 pesos per month (yes $5 -10 US monthly). Each Cuban is supplied with a ration card and all the items on the ration card are purchasable at very low pricesófor instance 20 centavos for a pound of rice (whereas it is 4 pesos per pound in the farmer's market). During the eighties, all a person's necessities were supplied by the ration card. Now, with shortages, the ration card does not supply adequate amounts of goods to survive. For example, a ration card has perhaps 6 pounds of rice per month, 6 pounds of sugar pm, 8-10 lbs of vegetables pm, 17 eggs pm when no production problems, meat is very rare (perhaps 3-4 times per year) as is soap, cooking oil. Other items, e.g. milk, are for children only. Due to this discrepancy between salaries/rations and necessities, almost all Cubans must have some dollar source of income. Jorge did translations for example. Meanwhile, his neighbor received a small amount of money monthly from a relative in the US and was able to not work at all and yet live more comfortably than Jorge. The government has set up an extensive network of foreign currency stores and restaurants to get this critically needed foreign exchange. Some things are only available at these stores (for example, gasoline at $0.75US per liter, most household goods, anything beyond basic foodstuffs really) and other things are available there when you can get no more at the peso/ration prices. Cubans can not only hold foreign currency now but the government even prints bills and mints coins called pesos convertible which are freely convertible with the US dollar.
The pyramid of reward is reversed from the Western model with the top earners being artists & craftspeople (with Cuban customers generally not just tourists), those with the luck of US relatives or those whose homes happened to be in convenient locations for running a private restaurant out of. Doctors have one of the worst income potentials as they are prohibited from private work unlike a appliance repairman or a carpenter. Despite this, the prestige of being a doctor and the pride in their medical system means there is still fierce competition for the medical school spots.
I tried to understand what keeps a Cuban going to work everyday. There was the doctor we met who drove a cab after hours and a biochemist who had quit to make crafts at home--why was the latter atypical? Why should I work 40 hours per week at a job that pays me far less than what I do in a little bit of spare time? Wouldn't human nature be naturally to put more and more energy into the rewarding activity and less and less (or none) into the otheróthereby destroying the economy and perpetuating the problem. A Cuban journalist's answer was simply that the vast majority of Cubans fervently believed in the revolution and that they know that their effort is required. It is somewhat hard to believe but the fact indicate that it is workingóthings have improved rather dramatically in the last 4 years. If you were under 40 you don't remember Cuba before the revolution--but you do remember Cuba when times were better 5 years ago. I met no one who was particularly at the politics of Cuba but many people who felt they could do better in the US or Canada. They may have been better off than in another 3rd world country but they didn't feel like residents of the 3rd world (to them or to me) and so compared their plights with what they could have in Miami. These attitudes just makes the successes of Cuba even more astounding since it must require an immense commitment from those who remain committed.
The Cuban government is paranoid about the effects of the changes in the economy. Cuban society is the most egalitarian I have ever seen but each day it is getting less so with the changes in the economy. When a prostitute can makes in one night what a doctor makes in one year then the corrupting effect of money is clear even if there are many things you can't get with money (for example, you can trade a house but not buy one). The government's reaction to this is to try and keep tourists contained inside tourist complexes and to only accept tourism development that they consider helpful. This has angered many companies and countries with investment in Cuba--it is not clear whether their plans are being stymied by excessive bureaucracy or a selection process. The paranoia also manifests itself in darker manners. Cubans are prohibited from having access to the Internet, from foreign TV and periodicals (the latter restriction being more opportunistic and economic than an outright ban although the only US/Canadian periodicals I saw were People magazine and similar). There is also a bizarre law on the books which prohibits them from even talking to foreigners. When some Cuban friends of mine I was traveling wanted to go to a disco in a tourist zone hotel, they were stopped by the police and each given 100 peso fines for fraternizing with me. However, in Havana this law is almost never applied.
Cuba can be astonishly cheap. Reasonably current movies from all over the world (including US films) in large modern theaters were generally 1 peso (5 cents US). Concerts of nationally and internationally known artists were between 5 and 10 pesos. The ballet or the opera where similarly priced. I went to more such events in 6 weeks than I'd been to in 2 years. Food at a government run peso restaurant was 5 to 10 pesos and at a private restaurant could be had starting for about 20 pesos (the latter was better quality). On the flip side, the government run dollar restaurants were priced similarly to other Caribbean establishments (i.e. expensive, even in our terms) and the private restaurants could also be. Staying in a private home ran $5 - $20 per night although this was technically illegal. Just as for Cubans, some things were very cheap and other expensive--not much middle ground.
Health care and education are the sacred cows of the Cuban revolution. Education is still free although there are no longer spots for everyone who wants to attend. Their health care professionals are very well trained but don't always have the drugs and equipment necessary anymore. Despite this, medical care and general health appears to be far better than other places I have seen in the 3rd world.
Equal access to education and health have been incredibly successfully in erasing race, sex and class inequalities. Cuban are very conscious of race and sex and of the differences between people but this doesn't seem to manifest in inequalities of opportunities. 1959 Cuba was one of the most racist societies on earth--it was the last place where slavery was abolished and compared unfavorably to the Southern United States. Today, it is the most racially equal society I have seen. Unlike many other Latin American countries there is no remaining Indian population so it is a simple black/white division. Opportunities for women also seem to be better than other places despite a large dose of machismo and what would be considered sexual harassment in Canada or the US being common.
I don't think their system of government is the solution to everyone's problems. In fact, I can't imagine anything similar working in Canada or the US. However, it would also be a shame to see it disappear. It is a grand social experiment that has produced some amazing results as well as some ugly realities.
This is all very well and good but what's it like as a tourist you say? Well Cubans are friendly--but sometimes that friendliness is because someone wants something. In other parts of the 3rd world, you can usually tell right away when someone wants something from you and you can immediately categorize them in your mind--beggars and street vendors in Mexico for example are very direct. In Cuba, a well spoken, well educated, well dressed person can engage you in conversation for minutes or hours before finally getting to the pitch. This person is the minority but introduced a degree of paranoia into many of my friendships. If you just want a relaxing beach vacation I can't recommend Cuba--there are places which are cheaper, which are friendlier, where the service and facilities are better, with less crime. It is however a unique experience culturally that I haven't found other places and so despite the hassles (which I didn't really talk about) I can't dismiss it either.
