Cuba - Lonely Planet [28]
In Cuba, hard currency (ie Convertible pesos) rules, primarily because it is the only way of procuring the modest luxuries that make living in this austere socialist republic vaguely bearable. Paradoxically, the post-1993 double economy has reinvigorated the class system the Revolution worked so hard to neutralize, and it’s no longer rare to see Cubans with access to Convertibles touting designer clothing while others hassle tourists mercilessly for bars of soap. This stark re-emergence of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ is among the most ticklish issues facing Cuba today.
Other social traits absorbed since the Revolution are more altruistic and less divisive. In Cuba sharing is second nature and helping out your compañero with a lift, a square meal or a few Convertibles when they’re in trouble is considered a national duty. Check the way that strangers interact in queues or at transport intersections and log how your casa owner always refers you onto someone else, often on the other side of the country.
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Cuba has 70,000 qualified doctors. The whole of Africa has only 50,000.
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In such an egalitarian system the notion of fairness is often sacred, and although the image of Che’s New Man (an individual inspired by moral rather than financial rewards) might be looking a little worn around the edges these days, the social cohesion that characterized the lean years of the período especial (Special Period; Cuba’s economic reality post-1991) remains loosely intact. One of the most common arguments you’ll see in a Cuban street is over queue-jumping – a fracas that won’t just engage the one or two people directly involved, but half the town.
Life in Cuba is open and interactive. Come 10pm, the whole population will be sitting outside on their rocking chairs shooting the breeze over dominoes, cigars, cheap rum or the omnipresent TV sets. Home life is important here and often three generations of the same family can be found living together under one roof. Such binding ties make the complex question of the embargo all the more painful. One of the saddest effects of the US-Cuban deep freeze is the broken families. Precipitated by prejudicial immigration policies on Washington’s part and downright intransigence from the brothers Castro, many Cubans have left home in search of brighter horizons and almost everyone has a long-lost sister, cousin or aunt making it good (or not so good) overseas.
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Cuban tobacco and cigar exports net approximately CUC$200 million annually, but every year 6000 Cubans die from smoking-related illnesses.
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But it’s not all bad news. Meager wages have risen in recent years and new economic relations with Venezuela, China and India have taken the sting out of Cuba’s ongoing shortages. Nonetheless, the brow-creased refrain of no es fácil (it ain’t easy) is still widely heard in the streets and bars of Cuba, in response to a government which has an eerie habit of giving with one hand while taking away with the other.
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LIFESTYLE
Cuban socialism dances to its own strangely off-beat rhythm. While Cubans technically own their homes, they can’t sell them for a profit, only swap them for a house of equivalent size. Though there’s no mortgage to pay, housing shortages mean three or even four generations might live under the same roof, which gets tight in a two-bedroom apartment. This also cramps budding love lives, and Cubans will tell you it’s the reason the country has one of the world’s highest divorce rates. On the flip side, a full house means there’s almost always someone to babysit,