I don’t think there are any true believers left in Cuba. Since about 1979 when former exiles were first allowed back, everyone in Cuba has been able to see for themselves that the outside world is not as it was portrayed. This change was was started the Mariel exodus.
It’s very complicated. Tourists bring money, and some of it makes it to ordinary Cubans through tips and direct purchases, but most goes to the government, which means the current system gets propped up a little longer. Tourism has also brought a form of apartheid, where the are areas designated for tourists only, beaches, clubs, hotels, and so on, and that really pissed me off, and it really upsets the average Cuban. On the other hand some of those tourists really get the Cuban situation, and the more people who know about it the better.
God yes. Cubans are the most ethnocentric group of people you will ever meet. This is partly cultural and partly government enforced. In the government press Cuba is always listed as the first in this and that, and afters years of this it takes hold.
Most of the tourists are spanish, canadians, and lately italians. What you think of Cuban cigars, Cohiba, Montecristos and so on are not available to ordinary Cubans, they are only sold in tourist stores and are too expensive, the average Cuban makes about $20 a month, and that’s paid in pesos not hard currency. However Cubans can get other cigars very cheaply.
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Do you find yourself struggling to speak freely?
What would you like to see happen to Cuba?
What is the average Cubans view of Guantanamo Bay?
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The minute I knew I could not be sent back to Cuba I had no problem saying whatever was onmy mind, but before that moment I was still in a Cuba mindset, speak without saying anything and say anything without speaking.
I would love to see any kind of opening in Cuba, economic or political it doesn’t matter. 50 years of the same garbage every single day is enough.
Guantanamo is not mentioned much, unless you happen to be in that part of the country. I think because the fact that the US can have a base in Cuba and the Cuban government can’t do ahything about it does not say much about the government’s power.
Milk. I love milk, but could not have it since I turned 8 years old. Milk is only legally sold to those under 8, or over 65, or of course in the dollar stores for $5 a gallon. But basically any food item that you probably don’t even think about, apples, grapes, steak (also illegal to sell in Cuba.)
No reprisals against any of the IT guys, I have no idea if those who were supposed to watch us got in trouble.
I don’t think so. It isalmost impossible for the educated to leave legally. Doctors have a wait of 10-15 years from the time they apply to leave to when they’re allowed to leave for instance. The Cuban government is using the highly educated as an exportable resource though, they have signed a deal with Venezuela where they are in fact trading the labor of thousands of doctors for oil. I was contracted out to all kinds of companies in and out of Cuba as well, and I never saw a penny over my $20 a month for all that work.
Thank you Nava and Salud!
Thanks Ogre. I get a lot out of this site, especially from threads that talk about things that everyone knows about, like the ones that explain items from american culture.
Do Cuban professionals have any way to verify their education or credentials after they leave? There’s a Cuban cardiologist at the hospital my mom works at, but he’s not allowed to work as a doctor. All he can do is monitor telemetry. I don’t know if it’s because his degree isn’t recoginzed in the States or if there’s no way to verify he actually has a degree. Which brings me to my next question; how’s medical care in Canada & the US compared to Cuba?
As far as I know Cuban medical school training is recognized in both Canada and the US, but in both countries the medical professionals have to be licensed locally. The cardiologist you know may be in the process of preparing for that certification.
I have not tested the medical care in the US, but in Canada it was fantastic and orders of magnitude better than in Cuba. Medical care in Cuba is about what you would expect from an underdeveloped country, the only difference is that there are lots of doctors. That’s good but having a doctor tell you that you need a certain treatment or drug but can only have it if you purchase it at the dollar store is very upsetting. In addition to sending money regularly to my family I also regularly send medicine that they can’t afford to buy in Cuba.
It sounds like Cuban Customs are pretty liberal. Is there anything they regularly confiscate, or are the borders pretty porous?
Is the mail to/from Cuba censored, as far as you know? Do you have to watch what you/they say in a letter?
While we’re on censorship, is Internet access filtered? Is it even readily available? I assume personal computers aren’t common in homes?
I’m picturing, like with the cars, a booming underground business in jerry-rigged vacuum tubes and punch-cards for leftover ENIACs.
I’ll echo others’ thanks to lalenin - this is a truly fascinating thread.
Previously, much of my knowledge of Cuba was gleaned from Graham Greene’s excellent novel Our Man In Havana, which is from an earlier age but benefits from Greene’s personal experiences there. Have you read this, lalenin, and if so does it reflect your own knowledge of Cuba? If you’re not familiar with the book, please feel free to ignore the question!
Things shipped by mail tend to get through more often than not, especially if it’s medicines. Anything electronic or otherwise valuable is better carried in person. It might still get confiscated by customs but at least you have the chance to pay someone off.
As far as I know letters are not read, email on the other hand is. Not by individuals but all Internet traffic in and out of Cuba is filtered and reported on. MIC, the ministry of informatica has an enormous department tasked with running reports on just this.
Personal computers can be bought with hard currency, but Internet access at home is only allowed for certain professionals like doctors, and those are mostly just email, again not direct Internet access, you route through MIC. There are some Internet cafes in the big cities, but at $5 a minute they are our of reach for most.
I only learned about Graham Greene after leaving Cuba. I have not read the book, but I have read accounts of some of Fidel’s former guerrilla buddies of how they fooled Greene about the number of their troops. Supposedly as Greene and Fidel were talking a group of fighters would walk by, wait a few minutes, take of their shirts or hats, and walk by again, wait a few minutes and repeat. Don’t know if that’s true, but it fits with Fidel’s way of doing things.
Well in my former post with MIC I could make some extra money by selling memory cards, hard drives, burners, and so on. There are computers in the island, but with no way to connect them they’re mostly used to play games and for word processing, many Cubans have literary aspirations.
I read your “What I miss” post to my wife last night. Mrs. Bricker is Dominican, and she got a bit misty-eyed herself in hearing your words, becase she, too, misses the salt air smell on El Malecon and rooting for local baseball (despite living in Santo Domingo, her family are all Aguilas fans). Of course, she has the opportunity (time and money permitting) of hopping on a plane and steeing foot in Santo Domingo in five hours…)
This is a truly educational thread and a tremendous insight into Cuba.
What do you think about the issue of jinteras? (For the readers: the word means “rider” or “jockey” but in the Cuban vernacular it refers to a particualr variety of prostitution where tourists are the main, if not only, clientele, as opposed to the more usual ‘come on, come all’ version of prostitution more familiar to norteamericanos). My understanding is that the jintera is not necessarily viewed with the same social opprobrium as a professional puta is, for example.
You are right that jineteras, and pingüeros their male counterparts, are not looked down upon much. No I would not want my sister to be one, but I know why the girls and boys who sell themselves do it. I did not want to be a thief and sell stolen goods, but when I ran out of food and it was the 15th of the month and I would not get paid for another two weeks there was little else I could do. It’s a little heartbreaking though to see a girl who is maybe 18 years old walking hand in hand with a man old enough to be her grandfather who is continously groping her ass.
Lalenin, Thank you for this thread it is amazing. I will add to the chorus of those that hope you stay around. I feel like I am late to the party.
What do you think it will take Cuba to shake off the Castros? Do you think normalizing relations would help or hinder the process?
What do you like the best about the US so far? The least?
Jim
Am I the only person that has tears reading this thread?
How sad it must be to love your country and your people and yet have to stand by and watch what goes on. I’m glad you were able to get out and be able to live closer to what we perceive to be a normal life. I can’t fathom living in a tropical country where virtually anything can grow and being hungry.
Thank you for reminding me what a luxury of choice really is. May you one day be able to step on the shores of your home in peace.
I honestly have no idea what it will take to get rid of the Castro’s. Probably the same thing that put them there, force. If I had to guess I’d say that probably some general or other officer in the army now will do the job, hopefully bloodlessly.
I think that normalizing relations will help the average Cuban but won’t do a thing for changing the government.
I can say that I have met more truly nice and friendly people in the US and Canada that in my whole life in Cuba. Like the couple who helped me in Canada, who asked for nothing in return. And the first guy who hired me there, who could not have understood a single word I said but hired me anyway. By the end of my first week in Canada I had a job, clothes, shoes, and an apartment with cable tv, a phone, and running hot water. All with help from people who knew nothing about me. My experience in the US has been exactly the same, people have gone out of their way to help me, for no reason I could see other than they’re just nice people. That’s what I like best about Canada and the US.
I really, really hate driving. In Toronto I could walk or ride public transportation anywhere, in the US I have to have a car. That’s my least favorite thing so far.
What do you think the results of dropping the trade embargo might be?
I know there are more than a few Dominicans that fear such an event because of the possible loss of trade share and investment dollars to their country. Especially worrisome is Cuba’s comparatively higher literacy rate, which they fear would cause investors to favor Cuba for high-tech business investment, given the availability of a better-educated labor pool.