Discovering Cuba: Economics, Entrepreneurship, and the Future
brianmayer.com
brianmayer.com
"When I told people I was going to Cuba, the reaction was predictable. I was told I was lucky to witness Cuba because it was ‘”untouched.” I was told something along the lines of: “Oh, you get to see Cuba before Starbucks and McDonald’s go down and ruin it all.” I heard the same thing from some Americans I met at El Floridita. I confess part of me shared in this naive romanticism about Cuba, that somehow there is a ‘purity’ to Cuba that will soon be ‘corrupted.’ I was wrong about this. Not only because of my naiveté about the condition on the ground in Cuba, but because of the insidiousness such a belief implies about what the Cuban people want and deserve.
“Untouched” is a romantic way to look at the poverty that Cuba has become. There is nothing romantic about poverty. Poverty is sad. Poverty is sick children and malnourishment. Poverty is no books or school supplies. Poverty is no toilet paper, no soap, no toothpaste, no clean water, and unmet basic needs. Poverty is constant exposure to punishing heat and humidity. Poverty is torn up shoes and broken cars. Poverty is dangerous tools and equipment. Worst of all, poverty is wasted human capital: time spent waiting on lines for food instead of producing goods and services to better society. Poverty is unwritten literature, unsung music, unconducted experiments, undiscovered breakthroughs, and unfulfilled ambition."
Of course, it's also a political ideology that doesn't want to deal with reality
I've been to Cuba, off the beaten track, many times. Eaten home cooked meals in Cuban homes. Picked up hitchhikers and talked to the locals as best I could. etc. I've never seen anything there as sickeningly awful as the contrast between brutal Want and Decadence that characterizes the U.S.
Can't stand smug libertarians. Really can't.
Unless you consider of course the political elite, those who fight for the people while wearing Rolex watches and have them live on food rations. Then you'll see a lot of contrast.
One of the things that we talk among the people who keep going to Cuba or have relation with it is the fear of change to what the US capitalism will bring. Its sad to think about Havana with Mc Donals, Starbucks, H&M, Coca Cola ads everywhere and people just thinking about money and more money killing the amazing and unique culture they have.
Its sad that nowadays, no matter where you go, you find the same, same crapy food chains, same repetitive top40 music, same h&m aesthetics and the same boring hipster coffee culture... and not forget about hamburguers and bacon everywhere... the american dream!
Havana had all of those things you name. Havana was then a modern, stylish and clean city. A capital of the Americas. It was a city of culture and energy. It was a city of business, tourism, architecture, pleasure and work. Havana had more cars than any European city at the time. Havana had infrastructure, Havana was connected to the world. In 1849, newly developed communication devices were demonstrated in Havana. Today such actions are oppressed and could lead to imprisonment. In 1900 the first international phone call was made from Key West to Havana. Today Cuba ranks lowest in the Americas in telephone/internet penetration. Pre 59 Havana was a city rich in musical talent. Antonio Machin, Perez Prado, Beny More, Cuban contradanza, danzon, mambo, cha cha cha, were hugely popular and influential in the development of genres such as jazz and tango. Pre 59 Havana was a flow and ebb of musicians between Havana and New Orleans.
What you truly want is poverty and stagnation to prevail. Havana is not a zoo for you silly tourist to enjoy. Havana is a city inhabited by people VERY tired of bad roads, crumbling buildings, lack of essential products such as eggs, toilet paper, pencils, and what not.
Why do you hate hamburgers and bacon?
Cubans lacks some products but they are not poor. Poor is the people who beg for money, cannot shower, dont have a shelter and cannot access any health system. When I moved to the US, I was freaking out of how much inequality and poverty I saw.
I dont hate hamburgers and bacon, but I find the world's cuisine so rich that its a pity that certain food take over local just because big chains push markets with $$$. Humburguers it is in fact the king of this, not just because of the big chains but as well because of meat industry which is quite agresive
Here is the thing: Cuba used to be 'developed'. Pre 95 Cuban workers earned an average salary of $6, ranking number 8 in the world, just behind Norway ($6.10). Infant mortality was the lowest in the Americas. In fact, Cuba ranked third in the world. Public health was comparable to any considered developed country of the time (e.g one hospital bed per 190 inhabitants vs one per 200 inhabitants in the US).
Contrary to what many believe, Cuban industry was not controlled by US interests. Au contraire, only 14% of investments in Cuba came from the US. The vast majority of industry was owned by Cubans, that is the sugar, tobacco and rum industry.
These truths will become more evident with time as the romanticism surrounding Castro's revolution fades away and it's opponents get louder. When Fidel said 'History will absolve me', he was right. History will put him where he belongs: under the chapter 'Plague of Cuba'.
It is safe to believe that much of this can be attributed to what you refer to as 'US capitalism'. It was partly the idea of American-style economic development and democratic freedom that fueled Cuban independence from Spain. Spanish strict trade laws made life very difficult for Cubans, and this became specially evident under the short lived British rule of Havana, and later the evident advances in almost every aspect happening in North America.
> Cubans lacks some products but they are not poor
Yes, Cubans are poor. Why should they settle for merely enough to eat, when they should be eating hamburgers and bacon on a daily basis considering how fertile Cuban land is. Pre 59 Cuba had a meat consumption comparable to that of the US. Today cattle is so scarce it had to be imported to have any cattle population at all. In fact, you can get 10 years in prison for killing a caw in Cuba today.
> world's cuisine so rich that its a pity that certain food take over local
You can have any of the world's cuisine in the US. In fact, today, the best Cuban food is found in Florida. I was told by a NYC friend of mine that he had a Cuban-Chinese restaurant a few blocks away. In Cuba Cuban-Chinese food is nonexistent today. The scarcity created by socialism has changed Cuban cuisine significantly (in a bad direction). It is also safe to say that the best Italian and French food is made in the US (I can attest :-)).
This whole cuisine diversity argument is really insubstantial.
Cuba is 'Western'. Unless you are thinking in terms of first/third/developing countries. In that case, as I've suggested, Cuba was richer than Spain and Italy pre 59. Today that's not the case. Nevertheless, it is a really vague classification. I can arguably say that the French see the world at least slightly different from Americans.
'Marxism' is Western. As the Cuban poet Jose Marti said (this is my own broken translation): 'The socialist solutions, born of European ills, have nothing to cure in the Amazon.' (That is, socialism has nothing to do in the Americas).
Cubans have no goals different to what you consider 'western/us': Eat well, proper housing, transport, culture, education, and so on. And in this the Fidel revolution has completely failed. There are many indicators that suggest Cuba would have fared better without the intervention of Fidel's revolution. That's the whole point. The ruling regime is responsible for the terrible state of Cuban society and after so many years certainly illegitimate to continue in power.