The Cuban People

The Cuban people are almost universally friendly to visitors, though a large reason for this friendliness is clearly economic, and almost anyone coming into contact with a foreigner will try to make some money from the interaction. For example, if you stop while walking, you will almost always be approached by someone who will try to help you with directions or by taking you to their cousin’s Palador restaurant, always with the expectation that you will give them some small amount of money. By far the majority of these folks will back off immediately if you say no thank you, but a few will stick around way too long, and it’s the latter type that makes you tired by the end of the day. This behavior is clearly the result of economic challenges. We’re told the standard monthly wage is $25 a month for everyone (remember this is a socialist society by anyone’s standards); doctors earn the same thing that cab drivers do. Even with highly subsidized food, medicine and housing, this wage is not enough to live on. Everyone has to have some means to supplement their income, and tourism is the largest source of this. We were just plain ripped off twice during our 9 day trip (the car rental and the “Good Samaritan”) a higher level than we’ve experienced on other trips and often felt there were surprise fees or charges showing up in our transactions.

On the other hand, after Cubans asked where we were from, they seemed genuinely pleased to hear we were Americans and this often resulted in a conversation about relatives they have in the States. If you have ever heard the Jimmy Buffet song “Everybody has a Cousin in Miami”, this is the origin of that title. One example of this interest is that one fellow asked several people in a crowd of tourists where they were from and got replies from three different countries including the U.S.; it was almost comic how fast he dropped any interest in the folks from other countries in order to talk to us.

The Cuban people are mix of those who seem to have accepted their revolutionary economy and those who seem ready to leap into an entrepreneurial economy at the slightest opportunity. At some time in the no- too-distant future the economic realities will change, and as is often the case, there will be some winners and losers in this change. We can only hope that some improvements that the revolution brought to people’s lives in terms or equality, education and health care are not lost when some of the deprivations and controls are removed. It will be fascinating to watch, and our visit while Cuba is in the “before” condition will give us a valued perspective that most other Americans won’t have.