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I actually went to Cuba on holiday, and I used the tourist dollars. It's incredible how this separates society into haves and have-nots. Basically everyone wan
by lordnacho 6y ago
I actually went to Cuba on holiday, and I used the tourist dollars.
It's incredible how this separates society into haves and have-nots. Basically everyone wants to be near the tourists. They'll invite you into their homes for food, they'll offer to take you around town, sell you some cigars, and so on.
Since you have tourist bucks, you also have access to the tourist nightclubs, where you run into some regional celebrities. Or you can find some nice rooftop bars to lounge in.
But walk around a bit, and you realise most of town is not like this. There's a lot of run-down places and a fair bit of desperation. Women will come offer themselves up.
Driving around it was apparent that most of the island is mired in poverty, with only a few places that are like a mediterranean club or hotel. Everywhere else is empty shelves and rudimentary technology. You'll see industrial trucks used as buses, for instance. And famously the cars tend to be really, really old.
- simonebrunozzi 6y agoThese buses are called Guagua. There's a simple reason why [0]. [0]: https://www.thecubanhistory.com/2016/09/origin-of-the-cuban-use-of-the-word-guagua-procedencia-cubana-de-la-palabra-guagua/ https://www.thecubanhistory.com/2016/09/origin-of-the-cuban-...
- graeme 6y agoNote that this separation is more due to the fact that you’re rich, than any formal currency arrangement. Foreigners in the 1990s got the same treatment, before any formal dollarization or dual currency system existed. Cubans who make their money only from official sources are desperately poor. Those with connections abroad, connections to tourism or to the black market are richer. The money difference merely makes it tangible. And the government goes a long way to try to separate tourists from the real society, though you can still get to it if you care to. Source: worked there for an ngo for a year >basically everyone wants to be near tourists This is actually just the surface veneer. Anyone who approaches you speaking english is a hustler and does it professionally. Cubans in wider society are interested, but also wary. The police arrest those who spend too much time with foreigners. The typical cuban keeps to themselves, but the typical tourist will meet endless, non-typical hustlers.
- smnrchrds 6y ago> The police arrest those who spend too much time with foreigners. This is news to me. Do you have a source for this claim?
- SiempreViernes 6y agoWell, a bit of hyperbole I guess. The police actually arrest anyone that opposes the regime too vigorously on such grounds as them being “antisocial” or “dangerous.”[1] With the current diplomatic relationship between the USA and Cuba, hanging around Americans too much is likely cause for suspicion. I imagine fraternizing with Maduro-Venezuelans is not cause for concern, nor Chinese. Not sure about North Koreans, I'd hope that North Koreans are always cause for concern for any secret service. [1]:https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/world/americas/cuba-judge.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/world/americas/cuba-judge...
- lordnacho 6y agoSeems plausible. Some guys offered to feed us lobster so we went to theirs, but they insisted on hiding the cars we'd rented. People seemed pretty careful about cops.
- bonzini 6y agoLobster is illegal to sell to tourists. Camarón (large shrimps) is also illegal but they can find it more easily on the black market.
- dogma1138 6y agoI thought it was the other way around, Lobsters and Shrimp could only be sold to tourists and for export in Cuba.
- bonzini 6y agoIndeed I wasn't accurate. The parent comment seemed to talk about a self-owned restaurant (paladar); since it is not legal for the owner to buy the lobster and shrimp in the first place, paladares and self-owned guestrooms cannot sell it to tourists either.
- trophycase 6y agoMost of central america and the caribbean is like this, from my experience. I'm not convinced that it has to do with the two separate currencies.
- 0x8BADF00D 6y agoIt is not politically correct to state the reasons for this. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_cultu... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Maya_culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Maya_cultur... Unfortunately, some cultures have this as a part of their history. They need to be taught a different path. Edit: In my other comment I was flagged, so I want to make sure I'm not misunderstood. I am not making a moral judgement here of any kind. I'm just trying to say, there are cultures out there that have no history of the Judeo-Christian faith, until much later when it was imposed by colonialists. I think this is a net benefit, because their cultural history before was to kill someone when it started raining or some other natural event.
- riffic 6y agothis is an extremely bad take.
- 0x8BADF00D 6y agoIt isn't. For example, in the Indian subcontinent, honor killing of the bride and practices like sati were widespread and culturally accepted. Only until the British colonized these countries were these types of practices stopped. There are still native tribes in many places on the earth that practice cannibalism; if you were to approach these tribes, they would capture you and cook you. We can all agree this is a backward practice.
- empath75 6y agoSeriously have you ever even met someone from Central America.
- riffic 6y ago> most of the island is mired in poverty the elephant in the room is the 60 year old embargo and its third-rail effect on American politics.
- VWWHFSfQ 6y agoThe actual elephant in the room is 60 years of brutal communist dictatorship.
- cptaj 6y agoThis right here. Cuba is under a DICTATORSHIP. Stop defending the damn thing. The embargo is NOT the reason they're poor. Ask any cuban. But PLEASE if you're not going to bother to listen to the people who actually live in the place, just be kind and shut up. Your support literally kills people over there.
- ethbro 6y agoI mean, the US embargo is a big cause of why they're poor. But the dictatorship is the cause of that embargo. If Cuba could trade freely with the US, their economy would be better. If Cuba were under a more free government, their economy would be better: also, they wouldn't be under a US embargo, and their economy would be even better. Whether an ideological stance is worth the economic collateral damage is a value judgement. But you can't say the embargo is not causal of Cuban poverty.
- pasquinelli 6y agoThe united states doesn't need to enforce a trade embargo. Cuba's government does not control the united states.
- kingkawn 6y agoPoor people all over the Caribbean living in all the destitution described here and then some
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- 0x8BADF00D 6y agoIt goes to show how sick and immoral a socialist system is. They have no religion or god to shame them of their immoral ways. It engenders a society of moral cripples. Colonialism is needed for godless natives, else they will revert back to cannibalism and human sacrifice. Numerous examples in history of this.
- empath75 6y agoEverywhere in the developing world is like that, regardless of the currency situation. When I was in El Salvador, a man that was probably close to 70 years old offered to pedal me on his bicycle to the hostel for the equivalent of 50 cents. I only wanted to know the direction.
- rapind 6y agoI wonder if 100+ millionaires think this as they walk around downtown anywhere in the US.
- Proven 6y ago> It's incredible how this separates society into haves and have-nots. It doesn't. It only highlights the poverty. If there were no tourists the poor would still be poor and the haves would still have (slightly less than now).