Cuba behind the facade

Cuba is an intriguing and vibrant country with endless potential. Unfortunately, the communist leadership has created an unproductive country riddled with extreme poverty and countless human rights offenses. The good news is that there is hope - but sweeping reforms are necessary.

Although the roads had received a new layer of asphalt along the beautiful Prado Boulevard and the colorful buildings in Old Havana were shining brighter than ever prior to Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba; the decay and poverty in Havana is too prevalent and pervasive to be hidden by a quick make-over in honor of the first visit by a US president in 88 years.

Cuba offers exotic beaches, magnificently colored American vintage cars from the 50s, joyous salsa rhythms and iconic cigars. However, this is largely a facade, and behind the facade lies a very different reality. During a private trip to Cuba that coincided with Obama's visit to the island, my wife and I got a small peek into real life under the communist Cuban regime.

My wife and I both speak Spanish, which provided us with ample opportunity to engage with the local Cubans. We gathered an insight into the lives of the vast majority of Cubans who do not see as much as one peso of the tourist-billions flowing into the country. Nevertheless, tourism is essential for Cuba. Without it the country would probably be on the verge of famine. Even though the tourism industry has raised the living standards of thousands of Cubans, it does not change the fact that most ordinary Cubans still live a life of poverty with very few opportunities to change their fate and improve their general circumstances.

An average Cuban public servant earns about $20-25 USD per month

One late afternoon, walking along the Malecón waterfront, my wife and I started up a conversation with two Cuban brothers in their 30s. Our curiosity in what they described drove us to talk to them more and more, and our fascination with their story and their openness meant that we spent the rest of the evening and the following afternoon with them. Both brothers were engineering graduates; one earned the equivalent of $16 US dollars a month, the other $22-25 dollars a month. That is less than half of the World Bank's international poverty line of $1.90 USD a day (although supported by meager state-funded food rations). An average Cuban public servant earns about $20-25 USD a month. By comparison, the owners of “Casas Particulares” (private Bed & Breakfasts that rent rooms to tourists) make $25-30 dollars per rented room per night. This obviously creates an unsustainable situation where the incentive to get an education disappears and where hard-working and well-educated Cubans see the prices of reasonable quality goods increase at such pace that only those engaged in the tourism sector - or with the right connections in the communist regime - can afford to live a decent life.

The two brothers who we had befriended invited us into their "home", which consisted of a 10-12 square meter room on two floors, which they shared with three other family members. There were no shower facilities and the toilet was in a corner of a room only shielded with a sheet to be drawn when Mother Nature called. The family could not afford to buy bottled water, which in the cheapest places cost $0.7 USD for 1.5 liters, but had only access to tap water not fit for drinking purposes which often resulted in illness and diarrhea. There, between the shabby mattresses and dubious sanitary conditions, the superficial make-over of Old Havana seemed rather pointless.

Elsewhere, we experienced how an elderly lady with tears in her eyes showered a tourist with a myriad of thanks, hugs and kisses just because he gave her a small package containing a bit of soap and deodorant. It was heartbreaking and unfortunately just another example of the scarcity of resources that is so detrimental to the welfare of the Cuban people.

Unfortunately, extreme poverty is just one of many problems in Cuba. Another issue that pervades Cuban society is the unscrupulous breach of basic human rights

Unfortunately, extreme poverty is just one of many problems in Cuba. Another issue that pervades Cuban society is the unscrupulous breach of basic human rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press. During our trip I got the chance through some contacts to conduct an interview with graffiti artist and human rights activist Danilo "El Sexto" Maldonado. After several unsuccessful calls, I unfortunately had to give up on getting a hold of him and due to the limited internet access in Cuba, it was not until I was safely back in Denmark, that it learned why I hadn’t been able to reach him; El Sexto had been detained and subsequently jailed by the police - without official justification and without any opportunity to contact people outside to let them know how he was or where he was being held. This meant, among other things, that he was reported missing on Twitter by several of his followers.

On March 31, Human Rights Foundation (HRF) issued a press release condemning the Cuban regime's continued harassment and indiscriminate arrests of El Sexto and other human rights activists. HRF has, due to the serious situation in the country, placed a special focus upon Cuba, and has for years condemned attacks on Cuban journalists and limitations on doctors’ freedom of movement as well as helped put focus on a prominent human rights activist’s suspicious death. Another human rights organization, Human Rights Watch, has also criticized the continued repression of human rights in Cuba as detailed in its World Report 2016. The same report criticizes slave-like conditions in prisons, as well as restrictions on travel both outside of and within Cuba, where dissidents from other parts of the country are often refused entry to Havana. Hence, it is no surprise that Freedom House in its annual Freedom in the World report places Cuba as the least free country in Latin America, and with a score of 6.5 out of 7 (with 7 being the least possible freedom) places Cuba between South Sudan and Ethiopia on a global scale. It is shameful of a country that geographically, culturally and humanly has all the prerequisites of being a thriving democracy.

If the end result is that you complete a five year education in order to receive a monthly salary, which can easily be quadrupled in a single day if you work in tourism, then such education is basically worthless

But what about benefits such as free education, good doctors and free health care, which are often highlighted when it comes to Cuba? It is true that Cuba has free education for all who have the right skills, but if the end result is that you complete a five year education in order to receive a monthly salary, which can easily be quadrupled in a single day if you work in tourism, then such education is basically worthless. If the first two steps in Maslow's hierarchy of needs (physiological needs and safety) are far from assured, then free education offers little consolation. And yes, there are many doctors in Cuba, and one should certainly not ignore the fact that everyone has access to free medical care, that the infant mortality rate is low, and that the average life expectancy is on a par with most western countries. However, this is not the whole story: Conditions in several Cuban hospitals leave much to be desired with dilapidated buildings, terrible hygiene, exorbitant waiting times and outdated equipment (the latter can to some extent be attributed to the continued embargo against the country). Add to this that unless the pay and general conditions of Cuban doctors improve, there is an imminent risk that many of them will leave the country as the relationship with the outside world, and thus the possibilities to settle elsewhere, improves.

What can be done?
It's no easy task to redress the Cuban situation, and it is largely up to Cuba to address these concerns themselves. Many issues need to be dealt with, but I will discuss the three areas that I consider most important. The first step is to improve the human rights situation. By releasing political prisoners and stopping indiscriminate arrests, allowing freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press and hopefully establishing democracy, the Cuban people will finally enjoy the rights that all people deserve. As a huge side benefit this will also remove the most central of the remaining reasons for the U.S. maintaining its embargo against the country. The second step is to make it (much) easier to start private businesses; large and small. The opening up of private enterprise in a free market, as the U.S. embargo is lifted, will create a wave of investments, which in turn will create unprecedented opportunities for the locals. With the growing opportunities (and wages) in the private sector, the poorly paid public sector will also be lifted up to a level that will ultimately entail better living conditions for all. The third area to be addressed is the complete opening and liberalization of the internet. Internet access has improved slightly over the last few years. Now you can find a few paid Wi-Fi hotspots, controlled and managed by the Cuban authorities, around the cities operating at a cost of $2 USD per hour. However, when considering the fact that this is more than two days wages for the average Cuban one can only conclude that the internet is not freely available to all. This prevents a high degree of knowledge sharing, development and potential prosperity in Cuba as the internet, as President Obama himself declared to the Cuban people, is one of the greatest engines of growth in human history.

President Obama has begun thinking about his legacy and with few significant foreign policy victories under his belt he has made improved U.S.-Cuba relations a key focus point, creating a unique window of opportunity for Cuba. The Cuban leadership needs to step up and seize this moment as there is no telling what the situation will be in less than nine months once a new president gets behind the wheel at the White House.

With a well-educated population, low crime rates, a favorable geographical location and a boom in foreign investment, there are no limits to what a democratic Cuba with free and open markets can become.

In a country where political and economic changes happen with baby steps, the proposed reforms will be hard to digest for the country’s relatively small power base. The changes will inherently mean less power in the hands of a spoiled communist elite, but well executed reforms will in turn improve the living conditions dramatically for the vast majority of the 11 million Cubans. With a well-educated population, low crime rates, a favorable geographical location and a boom in foreign investment, there are no limits to what a democratic Cuba with free and open markets can become.

If we put the dream scenarios aside, and again turn our attention to the current situation in Cuba, one cannot ignore the fact that the country still faces several challenges. It is precisely because of these challenges that I would encourage everyone who chooses to visit the country to meet with the locals outside the colorful tourist areas. Here you will have the possibility to influence the situation by placing some of your tourist money directly in the hands of those who really need it while you can assure them that it is possible to achieve a more free life with the possibility of political and economic self-realization. Hopefully, this will gradually increase support for the growing number of dissidents and thus help speed up the transition to a genuine, free and popular revival of Cuba and its people. You will in turn experience a heartwarming population who, despite poverty, hardship and repression try to get the best out of life. You will meet a people who sincerely care about you and who can give you an insight into what it really means to live under a communist regime. So travel to Cuba, enjoy the country, but also make sure to get out beyond the facade. Out where clean drinking water is in short supply and soap is a luxury item, where people have never been on the Internet and where the dream of the socialist revolution has become a regular planned economy nightmare.