Cuban Life

Stylized Cuban flag

A Brief History

This is the toughest blog update to write because Cuban life is nearly incomprehensible. To talk about it, we first have to take a quick look at their history. Spain’s colonization of Cuba began soon after Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492. The Cuban people fought three Wars of Independence against Spain, the last one was what we know as the Spanish American War.

The U.S. occupied Cuba after the war, and many Cubans felt as if they had replaced one colonizer with another. The U.S. finally left, but Cuba was plagued with corruption and dangerous dictatorships. One of the worst dictators was Batista who was supported by the U.S. In 1959, the Castro-led Revolution brought down Batista and ushered in a new era of Socialism and later Communism.

Tribute to Fidel Castro,"Forever Comandante"

Of course, everyone knows about the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile crisis. However, we did not realize that the U.S. Embargo began before these events. In fact, from a Cuban perspective, it was the U.S. Embargo that caused Castro to develop a relationship with the Soviet Union. The Cuban people believe that Castro was always a Socialist but only became a Communist after his involvement with the Soviets.

Display of people's affection for Fidel
("I am Fidel")

Something else we did not know: during the “Special Period” after the collapse of the Soviet Union (circa 1989), the U.S. strengthened the embargo in an attempt to bring down Castro. Unfortunately, it did not work and gave Castro yet another opportunity to blame the U.S for all of Cuba’s problems. We asked Jorge why the Cuban people never rose up against Castro but never received a really satisfactory answer. It seems they were held back by a combination of the “devil you know” and that constant fear of U.S. involvement.

Cuban art

Life under the Revolution

Fidel and Raul Castro have ruled Cuba for sixty-five years. Most people living in Cuba today have never known any other government. Even now during “Normalization,” life in Cuba is harsh. When Castro came to power, he nationalized all businesses, and everyone effectively worked for the state. And everyone was paid the same wage: $30 – $50 per month. A brain surgeon was paid the same as a garbage collector. This still continues today for most occupations.

Revolutionary hero Antonio Maceo

To offset the low wages, healthcare and education are free. Cubans are very proud of their medical care, and every neighborhood has its own doctor. They are equally proud of their free education. Schooling through the ninth grade is mandatory for everyone, and the country boasts a literacy rate of 99.8%! Students who pass the required tests can continue on to a University with all expenses paid. Interestingly, the Certificate in Foreign Languages program requires six years of study (the same as a doctor).

Every young person has to give three years of service to the state. For men, this is two years of military service and one year of community service while women do three years of community service.

Revolutionary hero

We mentioned food rationing before, and the amounts are really pathetic. For example, rationing includes very little meat. As their primary source of protein, each person is allocated 5 eggs a month! The only way to survive is with some other source of income, often in remittances, money sent from a family member working in the U.S. or elsewhere. In 2009, American citizens sent $2 billion to Cuba. Some Cubans have been desperate enough to go the illegal route and continue to use ration booklets of family members who have either died or left the country.

Cubans are very proud that their country is so safe. Threatening to harm another with any kind of weapon (a gun, a knife) results in an automatic 25-year prison term in Cuba. Not a bad idea of course, but with no availability of weapons, it also helps to protect a regime against insurrection.

Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUCs)

Like everything else here in Cuba, the monetary system is very weird. They actually have two types of Cuban currency.  There is the CUC (Cuban convertible Peso) and the CUP (Cuban Peso).  Visitors are required to use CUCs which are just about a 1:1 ratio with the American dollar (actually the CUC is worth about .87 cents).  CUPs are used by the Cuban people, and they are worth less than .04 cents per CUP.  Euros can also be used on the streets of Cuba, but from our experience, the Cuban vendors treat the euro as equivalent to the US dollar, which means you get cheated if you use euros out on the streets.  Euros are best exchanged for CUCs at a formal money exchange.

Lecturer and mentor Dr. Jorge Aroche advises
Anne on how to become a Communist (ha, ha)

By the way, it is not easy to leave Cuba. Lots of red tape plus neither Cuban currency (CUCs or CUPs) is accepted in any other country. So, if your life savings is in Cuban pesos, you are out of luck. The few Cuban convertible pesos (CUCs) that we brought back with us as souvenirs are totally worthless outside of Cuba. Although the departure process has become easier, at one time, a Cuban passport included your occupation and those with technical skills (engineers for example) were forbidden to leave.

Cubans still seek freedom

This has been one short, but intense trip, and our thoughts are still swirling, trying to process everything we have seen and heard. It is easy to criticize the regime in Cuba; it is much more difficult to talk about the soul of a people. The people’s love of their Cuban homeland is a palpable thing, and this exuberant and determined culture continues to thrive. We can only hope that someday soon the Cuban people will be able to enjoy the freedom and independence they have sought for over five hundred years.

More pics:

Frank taking this "Comandante" stuff too seriously

Sunrise over Cuba