Viva Cuba – part I

Basics about Cuba

Geography

Cuba is a tropical island with some 110.000 km2 and around 11,5 million people. It’s over 1000km long (east west) and in average less than 100km wide – thus having some 4000km of coastline, and that’s without the small islands and coral reefs. This makes almost any point of Cuba less then an hours drive away from a beach. Also, Cuba is the only Caribbean island with an operating railway and a developed road network with some 600km of highways. It’s because of this fact, that renting a car is the best way to discover Cuba (and you can rent one at every airport or in a larger settlement). It’s best to visit Cuba between November and April, when the weather is drier, for in summer there’s a lot of rain and the humidity can reach up to 100%, although the temperatures between winter and summer do not vary much, and neither do the temperatures of the sea, so the beaches attract swimmer all year around.

Economy

Cuba has two currencies – the convertible Peso (1€ = 1,2 CUC) and local Peso (1 CUC = 25 CUP). CUC is mostly in use in tourist restaurants and stores, while CUP is used in local restaurants and on marketplaces. Both locals and tourists may use both currencies without limitation and exchange them at exchange offices called »CADECA«, or banks. The initial purpose of this dual currency was to have tourist pay in CUC the same price as locals would pay in CUP (at the exchange rate of 1:25) making it possible for the local population to live at very low incomes. The idea is no longer in use, but for some entry fees this rate of 1:25 is still valid (like galleries, museums, national parks…) and public transport – but there also the offer differs. The tourist busses are modern, while the bus service for locals (thus much cheaper) are not so nice to look at or drive in. Even the Cuban government made a statement that they’ll rethink the dual currency system, for it’s loosing its point and that actual situation has to be considered. This is possible due to the growing GNP, but the government is aware of possible social consequences, for which it must be prepared to cope with.

Despite the relatively high GNP, which was 9.700$/person, making it higher than in Macedonia, Columbia, Tunisia, Egypt, Ukraine, Bosnia or China, the wages are very low. On the other hand we need to mention that everybody on Cuba has an apartment, they enjoy 100% free schools (9,1% of GNP is spent for education annually) and healthcare, as well as other benefits (almost free water, electricity and stationary telephone lines). But all the benefits on one side and low wages and tropical climate on the other side, decrease the productivity to a minimum. Well, nobody has to worry about starvation, there’s no winter and in case of illness you will be taken care of. An additional factor that influenced the local working habits was also the substantial aid from the Soviet Union, which Cuba had been receiving until 1990. They received aid in both money and merchandise, thus it’s no wonder the biggest crises on Cuba started right after 1990. Despite all the positive indicators of the past few years, the level of economy still hasn’t reached that of 1990. services (above all tourism related) present 75% GNP, industry (sugar cane, cigar manufacturing and rum distillation) and agriculture only 4%. When it comes to employment some 20% are employed in the agriculture sector and 60% in services, and since the country is the owner of most large manufacturers 785 of people are in government owned jobs, with some 22% in the private sector (small craft, restaurants, room rental and similar).

After the collapse of the Soviet Union Cuba had to find a way out of the crises and the best solution was tourism, which is the main source of Cuban income. Venezuela, China, Canada, Spain and other countries have replaced the Soviet Union and the prime trading partner. Venezuela is the main Petroleum supplier, and at very fair prices, but in return Cuba is sending its medical workers. The biggest hurdle in Cuba’s path, however, still remains the U.S. embargo, for it prohibits the U.S. citizens to visit Cuba, thus hampering the Cuban tourism, although there are some who don’t care about this prohibition.

Although agriculture isn’t worth a mention (GNP wise) it’s still important to say a few things about it. Cuba faces an odd problem with a lot of high quality land, but very few people with interest to work it. It even took right down unimaginable measures to raise the interest of people, by giving the land for free to everybody who’d plant some tobacco and sell it to the state and use the rest of the land for whatever they’d want (even sell the products at full profit) and get subventions to buy mechanizations. But I guess plowing is not very popular among Cubans. Thus people rather receive small wages instead of starting to work and earn for themselves. And it’s precisely because nobody is trying to get huge profits that they have enough time to spend singing and dancing – and need no psychologists.

Education and healthcare

The health care and educational system are the pride of Castro’s Cuba after the revolution in 1959, thus a large portion of the GNP is being invested into these two branches. This results in a relatively high life expectancy (77 years) and a very low number of HIV positive citizens (placed at 138 world wide with les than 1 in a hundred). These statistics are considerable more favorable than those of  Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Great Britain and Switzerland, and only a fraction lower than in Slovenia, Croatia, Cyprus or Japan. There are pharmacies, or medical centers almost around every corner and it even seems there are more hospitals there than needed. Investments into healthcare places Cuba at the top of cancer cure and their eye surgery is also among finest on the planet.

Cuba is not for 20 years already helping children, who have suffered the consequences of the explosion at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. They have arranged a special area inside the 1940 established rehabilitation center Tarara, which is dedicated for these unfortunate children. With equal selfishness Cuba is also sending medical staff to places that have been hit by natural disasters (like the recent earthquakes).

After the revolution, the government decided to tackle the problem of illiteracy, which has now dropped to the impressive level (less then 2 illiterate people among 1000 – and even those are among elderly population, who were adults in at the time of revolution). Although the facilities are not of high standards, schools are spread throughout the country, so that every child has access to near by educational facilities. Sometimes classes are even held outside. To prevent differentiation among wealthier and poorer children, all wear school uniforms, which just invite a photographer to take a few pictures. Secondary schooling and even university degree are all 100% free and after finishing the studies, every student gets a 2 year paid apprenticeship, after which it’s possible to stay with the same employer, or change the job.

Short history and political structure

Cuba became independent in 1902, on May 20th, which is celebrated as the independency day. Due to U.S. exploitations the wealth was concentrated in that hands of a few people forming the elite, while the majority of people were at the edge of survival. Under the leadership of Fidel and his brother Raul Castro, as well as Camillo Cienfuegos and of course Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the Cuban people decided the time has come to change the leading structures represented by Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar, a military leader, a president and dictator held in his position by the U.S. You can find more about this former dictator at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista .

The U.S. did not accept the change of power on Cube and has started training special forces to organize a coop. President Eisenhower himself was involved in the plan of attack and ordered the CIA to launch the special naval operation at the Bay of pigs. The operation was luckily a complete flop (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion), which resulted in 1.113 captured U.S. marcenaries, which Cuba exchanged for $53.000.000 worth of U.S. help in food and medicine supplies.

Tuday Cuba is a republic, divided into 14 provinces and a special municipality »Isla de la Juventud« or the Island of Youth. The national congress is the highest legislative body, with 614 members that people vote for directly. These representatives then elect both the president and vice president of the country, as well as the Country council of 31 members, which conducts the work of the congress, when it is not assembled. The national congress (or the country council, if the congress is not assembled ) must also approve of the staff of ministers, which the president nominates.

Elections are held every 5 years, and the next elections will be in 2013.

Similarly to the national level, the elections are also held on the local level (and are held this year, so I could witness the election campaign).  Unlike our campaign (or in any “developed” democracy), where your election depends on the budget you have, here every candidate has a single sheet of paper (all the same size) that is displayed at the voting point, with which to convince the voters. On the other hand, the voting districts are small enough that the candidate can personally address the voters, and the list of all voters at a certain voting point is also present there, so you know who votes where.

Although I’m not an expert for the Cuban local elections, I could tell it’s the delegate system, were each local community elects its delegate into a body that covers a larger area and at the same time draws out the guidelines of how their territory must be represented. The delegates also have the right to denounce a delegate that does not comply with the rules, and put forth a replacement.

I found two positive sides to Cuban local elections. First is that the base of voters is small enough that people know the candidate personally and do not have to choose a list of written promises – but a person they trust. And the other good side is that the voters can change their delegate (prior to the next election) is they are not satisfied with the work being done.

But like all other systems, I imagine this one has its flaws too.

And now finally let’s put aside the economy, education, healthcare, geography, history and policy and start talking tourist attractions.

Prior to making a half a day flight, we’d all naturally want to know, what we could see and visit there. There are many places they say are a must see, but in adition there are also many yet undiscovered, but not in the least less interesting hidden corners of Cuba.

Let me tell you my own story and then decide weather you’d add or remove portions of it. The whole trip is also documented in pictures.