Originally published at: "The flour tastes like acid." Cuba cuts daily bread rations amid food shortage crisis - Boing Boing
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As dysfunctional as Cuba’s centrally planned economy is absent a charismatic authoritarian leader to paper over the haplessness of the apparatchiks, there’s no need to bury the lede on the fact that the U.S. embargo is driving most of this misery.
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These jingoistic 'Murica first policies are both carefully crafted propaganda and a rope around Cuba’s neck to keep them in check. But i can’t see how politicians would care, since they’re more than willing to let our own people suffer (see Puerto Rico).
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They’d be doing so much better if they were a normal capitalist country like … Haiti 
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Cuba is facing shortages of food, fuel, and medicine. Its economy is controlled by the government, which issues ration booklets for essential items.
So what has recently changed to lead to these shortages?
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Venezuela’s economic collapse. Since the Soviet Union fell, Cuba has had to rely more and more on Venezuela for trade.
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And the collapse of tourism during the pandemic.
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The Pandemic and the Orange Menace’s reintroduction of travel restrictions back in 2019.
We visited there in 2018 and it’s a wonderful country and the people are incredibly nice and resilient. US tourism was only just starting to take root again. The ridiculous embargo is absolutely nonsensical.
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I’m sure climate change doesn’t help either
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mum and i stayed a few days in Havana back then and loved all the history and beautiful old buildings and forts. as you say, the people were very kind and seemed to genuinely like to talk about history, but we were cautioned to not bring up current affairs (like anything from1959 on).
it really doesn’t have to be this way.
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Absolutely right. The Cuban people are not looking for handouts or international aid…they just want the restrictions lifted so they can benefit from tourist dollars and trade with the US again. The stupid 70 year embargo has not “crushed” communism - it only hurts the people.
Castro’s dead and the communist bogeyman is an ancient relic. The only other countries the US doesn’t trade with is Iran, Syria and North Korea. Which means we’re perfectly okay supporting far more corrupt and dangerous governments than Cuba.
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Being dependent on Tourists is a bad place to be.
Around 2005 we’ve spent a couple of weeks Cuba, and the ill effects of Tourism on the country were obvious, especially because they have two currencies, one for Tourists and one for the Cuban people.
Somebody who worked in a hotel, bar or resort would typically make more money in tips per day that somebody working in the fields would make in a week. That fucks up a society pretty badly
Most tourists would spend all their time in these resorts, or maybe visit Havana or Varadero, but they don’t see much of the Country that way. From all I’ve heard, that hasn’t changed much since then.
I’m all for lifting the embargo, but I’m not convinced that the embargo is the main reason for Cubas current and past problems, they had a stable government that had 70 years to find ways of working with and around that embargo. Building a dependency on the UDSSR, and then on Tourism wasn’t the smartest move, I’m afraid.
Edit: typos
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I spent a couple of weeks in Cuba in 2015, just before Pres. Obama actually visited the country himself. I have friends who have also visited multiple times as the country began to open up.My experience was that the country was very optimistic that the US was going to finally lift the embargo and the opportunities were growing for individual entrepreneurs in every respect.
Tourism was a vital part of that because it brought an influx of foreign currency as well as goods and food supplies to service the growing industry. Small restaurants and B and Bs and small gift and craft shops were appearing. Guides and taxis and service businesses were growing country wide. It became accepted to have American dollars. Infrastructure and housing began to be upgraded. The numbers of people who were trying to leave Cuba for opportunity elsewhere were shrinking. It became easier for Cubans in America and Mexico to visit again and take goods and cash to their families.
Unfortunately, there is still a vocal contingent of Cuban expats in Florida mainly, who are still overly influencing American GOP politics. Trump catered to them, as does Rubio and Scott (grr!) and it got shut down again. They are still holding out hope that they or their heirs will someday return to again become the wealthy ruling class in Cuba.
It’s just a huge shame. It’s a beautiful country only 90 miles from our shores, with much to offer for them and for us.
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Proof that communism doesn’t work (while sanctioned by an imperialist superpower for 60+ years)
This is an easily avoided crisis. The US simply has to decide to stop being the villain. Instead innocent people are being harmed from a ideological difference that was barely meaningful in the cold war and utter obsolete today.
Really sucks being one the bad guys. In an ideal world we could vote our way to more enlightened behavior. But the options offered never look much like a direct route to that goal.
I don’t know whether tourism is the solution here. Everyone in this thread is acting as if tourism means tourism from the US. The rest of the world is already free to visit Cuba and does.
Obviously the US is the juggernaut in the region, so tourism from it would turn the current Cuban tourism industry into mass tourism. And that would definitely inject money into the economy at the expense of social cohesion and nature. That’s not a good thing. Everywhere else in the world we’re trying to move away from mass tourism and the problems it brings.
The stupid embargo has to be lifted. That alone, being free to trade with the regional hegemon and those foreign companies the hegemon prevents from trading by threatening sanctions, would be enough to open up the economy. Sustainable tourism from the US is a part of that process, but not cruise ship hell.
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I’m on the “the sanctions arent the main problem here” camp.
I mean, you remove them. Ok. So, what do Cubans sell to the world now to be able to buy the stuff they want to buy? Cause it is not like they produce much of anything.
Ok, but now they can get more foreign investment. Note they do get some foreign investment already, Spain for example has some companies there, but they are mostly on tourism. So, back to the 2 currencies economy and the relegation of Cubans to the non-functioning one? Investment in different industries? Like, which ones? Sugar is not the money-making machine it was, for example. But more importantly, I dont see the party welcoming investment from the US, or accepting anything that is not carefully managed by them like tourism.
We are talking about a country in which if you call somebody flagged as a dissident you sometimes get the guys that are taping the line answering your call and asking why you want to talk to a notorious counterrevolutionary. “Open” is not precisely in their vocabulary.
I mean, we can think of the best scenario, sanctions are lifted and Cuba becomes “like” China or Vietnam. Problem is, well, Cuba is a much smaller country with not much going for it in terms of industry. And well, I dont know much about the current situation in Vietnam, but China has shown us that the whole idea of lets trade with them and they will become more like us works, but in the other direction. Again, I dont see the Communist Party of Cuba changing that much their ways.
So, while lifting the sanctions will probably make the situation less bad, I’m not that convinced that it will make it good. I dont see the party accepting any “openess” that they cant manage and much less gives people any sense of independence.
Probably the most important change after the lifting of the embargo would be that the excuse that everything is bad due to the embargo disappears and the party has now to explain why things still suck. Or repress people, and I bet they go for the second option.
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Keep the sanctions and embargoes because they aren’t doing anything?
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I didnt say keep them. I did say, dont think that by removing them things get fixed.
It is clear that the idea that sanctions and embargo would help promove change, well, doesnt seem to be the case, all the cost is passed on the population twice, once in the economy and then on the repression if you protest the situation. So, in principle, I’m ok with lifting those.
But I dont think they are going to magically deliver a working Cuban economy.
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Realistically, increased US tourism is the only change that will benefit individual Cubans the quickest. Lifting sanctions will eventually allow the country to attract foreign investments and increase trade but overhauling the larger economy will take decades or more. Tourism means individuals can open restaurants, B&Bs, drive taxis, sell locally produced goods and services, etc…things they are already doing but at a limited basis.
Social cohesion and ecological impacts are already a concern that Cuba is taking steps to control. They have in place one of the world’s most advanced organic agricultural practices (due in part, ironically, because of the lack of imported fertilizers), there’s already a strong eco-tourism industry burgeoning outside of the major cities, and a very robust artist community. The classic car community in Havana already serve as a fully functioning professional tour guide industry. The pieces are already there and ready to go as soon as the US again lifts travel restrictions (which hopefully a Harris administration makes a priority).
As mentioned above, decades of sanctions have necessitated the need for Cubans to become extremely self-reliant. Over tourism is definitely a concern but I’m open to other suggestions that will direct benefit the Cuban people immediately.
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