33 in Cuba
- Started
- Last post
- 12 Responses
- rafalski
From another thread:
i really suggest you go there sometime soon rafalski, It's not like you think it is [..]
bolus
(Dec 26 06, 23:23)Just came back yesterday, thanks so much bolus for inspiration and para for valuable tips!
Obviously I could only touch the surface in a 10 days trip, but saw a lot, talked to people and know a bit more than I used to.
From a country that was doing absolutely nothing for 40 years, but spending soviet money sent in to build a demo commie heaven at USA's doorstep, Cuba turned into a tourism-funded commie heaven. It felt weird, as a tourist I had more rights there than Cubans. Modern apartheid, if you like.
A lot of absurdities I saw reminded me of commie Poland I grew up in. It felt somewhat familiar.
I have plenty of pictures I still have to dig through and publish, lots of memories and a nice tan.
Unless you call random dancing on the streets (rare, but not unlikely to be seen) a sign of happiness, Cubans seemed unhappy and stripped off dignity. The only genuinely happy locals were children, too young to understand what's going around.
Tourist industry and Chavez sponsorship will keep the utopia running, that's for sure.
Quite a lot of the money is leaking to the people through all holes, because of omnipresent corruption. I saw people steal it on the way from tourists to the system all the time. On one hand it is good for the people, on the other living in theft does nothing good to a nation's morale. Actually, corrupting people's minds is about the worst thing communism does imo.I wanted to go see Cuba before it changes, before Fidel dies. It was my hipocrisy, just like so many people from "capitalist" world I wanted to see "real Cuba", which basically is "how poor people live like in a zoo with no dignity, rolling cigars". I saw that for sure.
Some people say "real Cuba" will be gone when it gets macdonalds and so on, so this should be prevented. They are wrong and I was late. Cuba has already changed, it is getting now the worst of both worlds, with the US or without it.
It was a really good trip, but I am not sure if I want to go back there soon. Need some time to digest what I saw.I turned 33 last Sunday, still in Havana, which was kind of cool. After all not everyone gets to smoke a Cohiba on the Malecon on their birthday :)
- blastofv0
sounds like an amazing trip – I remember a quote from someone who traveled to Cuba and asked a young girl what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she said 'a tourist'. they are an oppressed people in subtle and not-so-subtle ways – the tourists that come through seem like rock stars to them.
I'd like to visit before the Castros are history as well – the change will be dramatic over the next 10 years.
- blastofv0
and happy birthday!
- grunttt0
sounds like a fascinating trip, raf.
oh, and happy birthday. I'll be 33 on thursday... sans cuban cigar.
- soda0
nice work. I turned 33 in The Gambia last month..
- bolus0
congrats rafalski (b-day) and so good of you to go there
I'm sorry it didn't change your mind a bit, but of course what you say makes sense as well
haven't got time for a discussion or anything, i'm glad you went to see for yourself
- rafalski0
There has been a great change in Cuba already, they let western tourists in and let Cubans smell the $. There are many opinions as to what will change when Castro dies. His cult is live. The guy just kept wearing green uniform, talking bullshit for hours and they loved him. A taxi driver told me that Raul doesn't have Fidel's honesty and is more prone to be corrupt by power, because he likes wearing suits.. Excuse me, but they're the same twat dictators to me, it's just Fidel knows better how to put on a show. Castro family have lots of property around the world, some have Spanish passports. Escape routes Batista-style have been ready for years, but I doubt they will be ever used.
Cubans don't seem to want to rise against their system. A lot of them believe in achievements of the revolution. There is "equality", meaning nobody has anything, ie you own your house but cannot sell it. Free healthcare - well, not really free, because they're ripped off their money in the first place: people earn $15 monthly. Well.. handful of nt-ers could fund a decent hospital if doctors were paid $20/month. You still have to bribe in Cuba in order to avail of medical service, otherwise you have to wait for your turn. Free education - like in many EU countries, just more capitalist: if you have a foreign sponsor who wants to help you out of the country, you have to work for the revolution for 2 years to pay for your school. Cuba is relatively safe, but any country would be if there were police on every corner and they could do what they wanted to to the baddies. A municipal guard in Trinidad told me they regularly kicked the shit out of troublemakers who posed threat to tourists. He also offered me blackmarket cigars and a ride to the station - he worked as a bicitaxi driver off-duty. He did not seem to care about the fact that bicitaxis cannot transport foreigners, only state taxis can. Actually, bicitaxis take tourists almost exclusively, because they can afford the rides. That's how the country works.
I saw a street roasted peanut dealer bribe a cop with a ballpoint so she could sell her illegal nuts!
Many Cubans still believe that American embargo is the reason they've been poor for years. Who could blame them, plenty of Europeans believe it too.I think nothing will happen when Fidel dies - they will get a tad more economic liberty just to keep quiet, but that's about it.
They see foreigners with their cameras, ipods, wallets.. They talk to them and really seem to want a change, but they want things to happen themselves - they will not do anything to help it other than blatantly steal from the state.Thanks guys for the wishes!
Bolus, thanks again for sending me there :) and don't think my views haven't changed. I believe going there and spending money, talking to people might be good even if it preserves the system. Maybe it is a way for Cuba to slowly change, possibly a better one than proper system bankruptcy in eastern-block fashion :)
- CP120
I would love to go see a Fidel speech. Anyone have footage?
- rafalski0
We're in a taxi, an old Russian Lada. I look at the street and spot a new shiny black Mercedes. Nothing fancy, just a C sedan, but stands out like hell. "Whose can it be?" I ask. The driver, with smile: "gobierno" and then adds "o artista, por ejemplo un cantante".
He said then that Fidel likes to promote Cuban culture by making some musicians rich.
Obviously, some animals are more equal than others :)
- paraselene0
happy birthday, rafalski!
glad you enjoyed cuba, and by 'enjoyed' i mean glad you got a chance to see how complex the issues are. it's a very difficult situation, and even more so when you start taking the miami lobbyists into account.
we shall see, i suppose...
- robotron3k0
Happy B-day as well, sounds like you were very fortunate to see a different culture on an entirely economic and political level as well... people really hate on Cuba on this board pretty hard, but poverty, hardships and depression are univeral bro, they still have some privleges and many other latin american countries are way worse off. you are very lucky to have had such a memorable b-day.
- rafalski0
Thanks! And I got a nice wooden box of counterfeit Cohibas, just in order to fund some underground factory rather than the state. They look 96% original, the difference is they have this natural French village smell originals don't have :)
They're Cuban enough for me, I don't think they're Chinese fakes..
- Point50
wow, what a scene. sounds like a great/horrible experience at the same time.
happy b-day rski!