Quote:
Originally Posted by hkskyline
They seemed quite a happy bunch of people. They don't have to worry about working a few jobs to pay for a roof over their heads, and the government provides services for them like health care. I don't see beggars on the streets - the government probably takes care of people enough so they won't exist anyway. The streets are very safe. People don't get that rich, but they are saved from being dirt poor, so everyone gets by at minimum.
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I have family in Cuba who I have visited 16 times between 1988 and 2016. They live in Havana and in Camaguey (Ciego de Avila). I've been to every part of the country.
Daily life for the Cuban people is not what you might perceive it to be as an American or European tourist.
Anyone who thinks that the Cuban people are a "happy bunch" is simply unaware of the oppression that has broken a society down over the past 60 years, and the collective pain that exists. Daily life is a constant struggle, with no real reward for that struggle.
It's true that no one will be without a roof over their head and no one is going to starve to death. The very basics for survival will be provided. But that doesn't mean...
... that the concrete apartment building that you're living in couldn't collapse at any moment because it has been structurally unsound since 1995.
... that doesn't mean that your electricity will be shut off for a month and a half without any indication or reason. Or your water will be shut off every day at certain intervals for hours for unexplained reasons.
... that doesn't mean that you haven't eaten fresh fruits or vegetables that aren't rotten in years because even though you live on a tropical island covered with state-run farms, produce is prioritized for the resorts, then to other Caribbean nations, and then to its own Cuban cities... so by the time the entire completely inefficient process delivers produce to the store where you can get your ration of fruits and vegetables, they're rotten to the point that Americans or Europeans would deem them inedible. That is if the ration store even has anything on its shelves. Do you realize that the Cuban people have to carry around something called "la libreta" (a rations booklet) to the state-run store to get the meager allotment of monthly supplies (in amounts that no one can actually live on)?
... that doesn't mean you'll get to eat meat if you want to. How about that? On a recent trip to Havana, my cousin was hoping to pick up some meat from the store on her way home from work to make for dinner. Not chicken or pork or by some miracle, beef... just hoping that the ration store might have some
meat available. None of them did of course (they hadn't for weeks).
... that doesn't mean that the health care provided by the government will be available when needed or effective. The healthcare system in Cuba is terrible. For all that is touted about Cuba's healthcare system, the only thing good about it is that it is free. That's it. It is terrible. Having hospitals for the ruling class and tourists and separate hospitals for normal Cuban citizens should tell you all you need to know about the Cuban healthcare system. It is terrible.
There are no beggars on the streets because beggars are thrown in jail and not released. Crime is low because it is an authoritarian regime. You could very well disappear if you commit even a minor offense.
And almost everyone is "dirt poor". Everyone is far from "getting by" as you suggest. They are surviving... that's pretty much it.
It's one of the most fucked up places in so many ways. How would you like to live in a country where just about everything is broken and somehow never gets fixed correctly even though the government has people perpetually "working on it"? Where your capital city is literally crumbling to the ground in many places? How would you like to work hard to obtain a graduate degree and work for the equivalent of $24 US dollars per month, while you could make 20x that per month by painting nails, waiting tables, or dancing in the streets for tourists?
And one other little thing about the "deal" that the Cuban people get for that "free" room and board they receive... they can't leave!
And they can't even say anything publicly about it either.
Ever think about that? Cuba, for the Cuban people, is basically an island prison.
Education? 
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