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It's an interesting project from a heritage point of view, but it feels like a throwback from when Havana was simply the playground of rich Americans. I wonder
by jnty 7y ago
It's an interesting project from a heritage point of view, but it feels like a throwback from when Havana was simply the playground of rich Americans. I wonder if this is a history residents really want to go back to? Having said that, I suppose a lot of retro fashions call back to a past that was darker in some respect, but people rarely care.
- yardie 7y agoIt's not like the revolutionaries made a policy to tear down the neon after the revolution. The America gov't instituted an embargo. Being in the tropics, the electric signs broke down, and it was hard to get replacement parts. Almost every negative event in Cuban history can be traced back to some misguided American policy.
- osmay88 7y agoActually they destroy then directly and indirectly. The goverment closed all the casinos and nationalized all hotels and small business main users of neon lights. Once every little business was taken over by the government, no one really cared anymore since they belonged to no one so they slowy broke and no one cared to fix them. This a reallity for Cubans living in Cuba right now(I'm a Cuban myself but I do not live in Cuba anymore) with many other things like buildings, roads, artworks, no just neon lights. And of courses suporters of the regime will blame the US for it like with everything else.
- jnty 7y agoIt seems an odd thing to get hung up on, really. I'd rather have universal healthcare than lots of neon lights.
- osmay88 7y agoDude, the reality of Cuban healthcare it's very different of what you see in the news. Foreign people are banned to enter the hospitals used by the regular people. There are special hospitals for foreigners, and Cubans cannot go there unless you have very good connections or you pay an insane amount of cash under the table(keep in mind that the average wage in Cuba is about 25$ a month and with food prices quite similar than the US). On regular people's hospitals there are shortages of meds quite often, with people having to go to the back market to get the meds they need. Take for example here: (You can use google translate) https://www.periodicocubano.com/pedazo-de-techo-del-hospital-de-diez-de-octubre-cae-sobre-la-cama-de-un-paciente/ https://www.periodicocubano.com/pedazo-de-techo-del-hospital...
- gattilorenz 7y agois the shortage of meds due to the embargo, or to a general disastrous state of the economy?
- emptyfile 7y agoYou didn't care to read the comment till the end? >This a reallity for Cubans living in Cuba right now(I'm a Cuban myself but I do not live in Cuba anymore) with many other things like buildings, roads, artworks, no just neon lights. >with many other things like buildings, roads, artworks, no just neon lights.
- alexcabrera 7y agoI can't wait for the HN comments telling you you're wrong even though it's lived experience because they want a place where they can spend their tech windfall before it's "ruined" by Americans.
- lamg 7y ago"playground of rich Americans": certainly a fallacious reduction of Cuban history. "The America gov't instituted an embargo. Being in the tropics, the electric signs broke down": you're seriously underestimating the destructive force of communism. osmay88: thanks!.
- yardie 7y agoLook around you and you’ll find at least 40 things that are made in CCP controlled China.
- lamg 7y agoSubstitute "communism" by "centrally planed economy". China abandoned it decades ago. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_market_economy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_market_economy
- alexcabrera 7y agoYeah, simply the playground of rich Americans instead of a piggy-bank for a corrupt government that executed political opponents and routinely jails dissidents. But yeah, it was a darker time in the 50s.