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I found this in JFK Airport in New York City... An automated iPod selling machine...



Believe it or not...

Cuba - Day 4 (Finally!)

The plan for this last day was mostly open. I decided to start walking in direction to the building of the Synagogue and Jewish Community to say goodbye to my friend W that worked there. I found all the workers outside the building because Health Ministry workers came to fumigate all the buildings in the area against dengue fever. W told me that it seems like there is an epidemic, but the Cuban government is very careful not to declare that officially in order not to affect tourism.

I then walked to Havana University. A beautiful campus. The Union of Communist Youth (UJC) is very active in campus, and you can see their offices and fliers all around. Many UJC fliers contained pictures of Che Guevara, Simon Bolivar and Abraham Lincoln. In the middle of the campus there was a tank as a tribute to the Cuban Revolution of 1959. I managed to reach the Social Science Faculty, and I stood on the hallway, and heard what looked like an economics class. They were talking about capital gain and exploitation... was it pure coincidence? Maybe...

Main Entrance to University of Havana

I went to the bookstore to buy some books. One of them showed in the front a huge demonstration of Cubans wearing red shirts. I asked my friend W about those demonstrations, and how come they are so crowded even at mid day (when people are working). He told me that he remembered that some times in the University classes were canceled and there were buses outside in order to let people reach the demonstration. Sometimes, you even had to sign that you reached the place. It seems like there is a lot of control inside the university. The student bodies are well connected to other state intelligence organisms. Avoiding these demonstrations could cause you trouble in the future.

From there I went walking to Jose Marti Memorial building, which is a 70 stories building from where you can have a panoramic view of Havana. There I met a group of 30 elementary school students, who were somehow amazed when they found out that I was there (not for me being me, but for me being a tourist). It is a beautiful place. I managed to payed the lowest price (the one in Cuban pesos) by saying that I am a Venezuelan student in Cuba, making an ophthalmology course. Before you say I am cheap, I did this not that much because of the money, but in order to see whether that 'sympathy' towards Venezuelan was real or only rumors. Here are some pictures of Havana seeing from this tower:

Panoramic view of Havana

House of the Communist Party in Havana

I spent the rest of the day walking and watching, watching and walking. I ate dinner with Roberto and his family, and I also met again S and M to say goodbye. I sat for a while in Malecon to see the sunset, and went to ask a taxi cab to pick me up at night for going back to the airport. Please enjoy as I did from a seeing the Malecon in the late afternoon:


Lastly, from all the things I learned in Cuba, there was one phrase that I saw in Roberto's place, that really helped me to somehow summarize what I have learned from Cuba and from Cubans. Here it comes:

"Good, please grant me with

SERENITY to accept the things that I cannot change,

COURAGE to change those I do can, and

WISDOM to identify the difference between these two things "

Let's hope God will give Cuban people these three elements...

Cuba - Day 3 (Cont.)

Last post was extremely large, so I divided it into two parts... so this is the second one. So, before you start, go back and read the previous post. And the one before that. And the one before, and the previous one also... so, go and read all the posts before going forward!

Well, one of the questions I had on my mind during my visit to Cuba was about the cars. I told several times that most of the cars are very old (very very old!)... But the question is who can buy a car? Why are some Cubans "allowed" to own cars, while others not (in this socialist regime)?

Well, I talked about that with M at her place and she explained that cars are divided in several categories:

• Blue license plates are state-owned cars to be used by ministries employees and other government workers. They must report mileage status after using them, and cannot be used for personal issues.
• Maroon license plates are also state owned cars, but for white collar functionaries, such as ministers for example. Those were newer cars, and it seems like they do not have to justify their use with mileage reports.
• Green license plates are owned by the FAR, which is the acronym for Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias - the Cuban army.
  
• License plates with a T in them are rented cars for tourists. Nice and newer cars.
• Yellow license plates are usually in the oldest cars, and this is the private cars category. The taxis that can be payed in Cuban pesos are of this category also.
  

Individuals in the past could have received a private car as a recognition for being a good worker or even by buying it. Today, one who seeks to own a car must buy it, since the economy does not have enough resources to recognize its workers. However, M says, the bright side of this is that there won't be corruption in giving cars to workers who don't really deserve them.

At that point, M's father came home, and I met him. He was a CDR's activist, and he told me about the "CDRs day" which was actually that very same day. All around the island, at night, people prepared food in large pots in the streets, and danced until midnight. M's father was in his way to the party in the street. M told me that almost all neighbors contribute to the event donating 20 cuban pesos for the happening. This could be a lot of money for Cubans...

However, it seems like they do have money from abroad. They must... otherwise they cannot survive. But there are at least a few families who don't have family abroad that can send them money. And I these people must figure out other ways to survive, like exploiting their abilities. For example, I was very impressed to see in downtown Havana some stands that were selling (in foreign currency of course) cars figures made out of soda cans.

In any case, back to political issues, I also talked with M about the Cuban constitution. I showed her the one I bought in the morning in downtown Havana for 40 Cuban pesos. She showed me a updated version of it, and we talked about one of the emends that eliminates an article which allowed Cubans to form a new political party by recollecting ten thousand signatures. A few years back, the position leader did recollect ten thousand signatures, but afterward the Cuban assembly advances this emend having at least 3 million signatures supporting it. This way was completely eliminated the existence of another political party other than the Communist party in the Island. I asked her if she thinks this is democratic, and she said that it was clear to her that the emend was supported by much more people than the new political party request... What do you think?

This lead us to talk about the political repression in the island. M claims that the political inmate are people who really are a threat to security and stability in the Island, and many of them were involved in terrorist attacks. However, she argues that the opposition leader lives in his home without having any repression against him, and he is not in jail.

But repression is all over the Island, and it is easily perceivable. S told me her own story. She was then 18 years old, and she is a very nice and happy girl. She told me that in Cuba, for higher education, studying what you really want is not that simple. S wants to be an actress. That is why she applied to complete her senior high school requirements at an special arts institute. This instituted is very limited in capacity, and they admit some 5 Cubans every year out of a pool of 400. She made it to the last round with another 15 candidates. It was clear that all of them, if they reached that point of the process, were very good actors. Finally, five were admitted, and S was ranked in the seventh place. Coincidentally, the first five were family of famous actors in Cuba. The story does not end here. She was offered to join a new "program sponsored by the revolution" in which she will learn acting, and she would be able also to teach acting. This was when she was still in high school, at age 15. She accepted the offer, and to be accepted she had to sign a contract in which she committed to teach acting for 8 years in schools anywhere in the island after finishing her studies. Well, three years passed since, and she just realized that she does not want to teach acting. She does not want either to study how to teach. She wants to act. Then she decided to drop out from the program. After a few months, she saw that the salary she received from acting in another group (not related to school) was not the same one as she always received. When she asked for an explanation, they told her that she has received compensation payments, and that she was no longer working there. She became a deserter of the revolution because she drop out of the acting program. S was only 15 when she signed a contract committing herself what to do the next eight years of her life. Do anyone of you knew with certainty what you wanted to do when you were 15 years old? I certainly don't.

This story was really scary for me. The system has this large list of "deserters" that they pass it from place to place, creating incentives for you to repair what you did wrong (by firing you for example...). Being in that list can prevent you from traveling abroad, buying foreign currency and many other things which are for sure related to one owns freedom.

Now S joined another institute in which she studies pantomime and other scenic arts. She is not sure however that she will receive her degree because her name is still in that list.

The Cuban government constantly say that the Cuban people might not be rich, but they live with dignity... Is this dignity???

Cuba - Day 3

I went out and started walking along the coast in order to reach the US Interests Section in Havana. In front of it, there a square full of black flags, each one with one white star on it. There were 168 flags in total, and the monument was founded in 2006. The 168 flags represent the number of Cuban victims as a result of "American terrorism" (this is what they say - not me), and as for 2006, the number coincided with the total years of the "struggle against imperialism" counting since Cuba's independence war in 1838. All over the place there are posters with anti-American propaganda. On the other hand, the building of the Interests Section has a big electronic board in which they transmit contra-revolutionary messages sometimes at night. This is the closest to the cold war I've been to...

The US Interests Section Building in Havana, and the "Flags Square"

The next stop was Copelia Square. There stands "Copelia Ice Creams", in which Cubans can buy ice creams with Cuban pesos (this is the same place where the movie "Fresas y Chocolate" was filmed). This place is administered by the government, and the employees who serve the ice cream are state employees. I did not eat ice cream, and the place was quite empty in the morning. However, when I passed by again in the afternoon, it was full of Cubans, who were standing in line to get into the square (there was some maximum capacity). For those wondering what was the price of the ice cream, it was 5 Cuban pesos for four scopes.

I then decided to go to Habana Vieja, which is the name of downtown Havana. So I went again to the street where the American Cars passes by, and I raised my hand giving a signal to the next one to stop. My Cuban friends told me that the only thing I have to say is "Capitolio", which was my final destination. Speaking more than that could expose my real identity (being a tourist). I shared the cab with another 5 Cubans. I reached my destination, and payed 10 pesos to the driver as everybody else did.

Downtown Havana is a sample of an old city of the nineteenth century. Narrow streets, lots of squares and colonial houses. The "Capitolio" is an almost exact architectonic copy of the American Capitol building. It was constructed when the Cuban government was highly influenced by the US (before the revolution of course), and it was the home of the national assembly. Today it is the building of the science museum of Havana. Behind the Capitol the cigars factory - Partagas - can be seen. In its surroundings, many Cubans were trying to sell me boxes of cigars at lower prices, probably false or stolen from the factory. I did not buy any, not because I really didn't want them, but because my flight back to Israel was through the USA, where Cuban cigars are forbidden by law.

The Capitol building, today the Science Museum

One of the narrow streets in Habana Vieja

In front of the Capitol is the Central Square. There stands the statue of Jose Marti from which the gold stick was stolen (read Day 2 of these series). In the square there were many Cubans senior citizens discussing out loud about last night baseball game. In the surroundings there were many stores, but only in a few of them received Cuban pesos as payment - the rest received only foreign currency.

It was close to noon, so I sat on the stairs to the Capitol to wait for S, a nice young girl who I met the night before at the Jewish community event. She came together with her friend M. They came to show me around the city. The first thing we did is going to the Museum of the Revolution. S and M bought the tickets for the three of us at low prices (for Cubans). The exhibition presents the history of the revolution, starting from Cuba's independence from Spain.

"Che" Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos and me in the Revolution Museum

Afterward, we went for a walk around downtown but we decided to go back to the Vedado area. So we took the bus. This was an incredible experience. The "guagua", that is how they call buses in Cuba, had 3 workers: the driver, the guy who check that everyone has a ticket and another guy standing at the back entrance checking that nobody will step inside the bus without paying. Three workers for one bus... Is this the reason that Cuba's unemployment rates are significantly lower than the continent average? Also, take into the consideration that each person pays 0.2 Cuban pesos for his bus ticket, so I haven't seen numbers, but at first sight it seems like a very non-profitable business... Of course, public transportation - and specially in Cuba - is not intended to be profitable.

M invited me over to have dinner at her house. After taking a shower I went to her house. She lives in a two stories apartment, and the apartment and furniture in it was well above my expectations. M's room was big enough, a queen size bed, TV, VCR, bookshelves full of books about Communism, Cuba, Che Guevara and even Chavez (all of them with C), and a wall full of pictures of Che and Fidel in the begging of the revolution.

The apartment, which was in the highest floor of the building, was property of her family before the "triumph of the revolution", and they are still the owners. Regarding rented flats before the revolution, the government expropriated the apartment from the real owners, and transferred the ownership to the tenants who were living there at that time. In Cuba tenants are the owners of their home, and it is forbidden to own more than one residence. The houses cannot be bought or sold, but can be exchanged between two families who are wiling to do so.

M is 17 years old, and she is the Chairwoman of the union of senior high school students in La Habana province. She is a supporter of Fidel and the revolution. She praises Fidel and Chavez. However, there are some issues which she dislikes about Cuba - and she does not hide that - specially in issues concerning to liberty rights. She does not like the difficulties to travel abroad, o how people are labeled as "anti-revolutionary" or deserter because of issues which are not that serious. He is against of demonstrations in which people burn flags and pictures of the President of the USA. She thinks that is immoral, even thought she dislikes President Bush policies very much. She is very idealist and very bright at her young age. We also talked about Israel, Zionism, constraints, political prisoners, the opposition, the government, Fidel and Raul, the economy, etc. Her mother also explained to me about the rationing booklet. With this booklet, Cubans can buy food in local currency at subsidized prices. However, she said, it is not possible to satisfy all the needs of family only with the food provided by the government. The products that families buy with the booklet are rice, beans, pork meat, salt, pepper, oil (every three weeks) and other very basic goods. To buy almost everything else Cubans have to pay with CUCs.

The economic situation of Cuba has been deteriorating significantly since the fall of Soviet Union. This is when Cuba entered the "special period" as denominated by the government. The perceivable feeling is that the economy might collapse in any particular moment, however, the political repression is keeping it alive.

Cuba - Day 2

Ok... so to ALL of you who were anxiously waiting for the second part of these series of posts (yeah right...) here it goes. My second day in my 4-day long visit to La Habana Cuba.

I woke up at about 8:30am, and ate a cracker I brought with me from Venezuela. It was Tuesday, September 26th, 2006. After Roberto and I finished all the details about the payment, I decided to go out for a walk. Habana seemed like a very quiet city compared to other capital cities I've been to. This might be a reflection of the kind of economy of the Island.

As a tourist who has been always hearing bad things about Cuba, it was not clear what are the things I should not do in the street... I also tried to wear clothes which did not make me appear as a tourist at first sight, and I don't have an explanation for that, since - of course - my non-cubanness is impossible to hide.

Well, I started to walk across Paseo Avenue. This is one of the main roads of the city, which goes through the middle of Vedado zone, and starts in the "Malecon" (pier) and extends to the Plaza de la Revolución (The Revolution Square). Well, first thing that you can see clearly in the streets: no Coca-Cola and Pepsi commercial posts... not even beer. Nothing. Nada. Instead of that there was political propaganda. There were plenty of people wandering around the streets. Some of them looked like they had nothing to do.

While walking, a guy, who was wearing the traditional "guayabera" shirt, and who was a few steps in front of me dropped his keys. I picked them up for him, and we started talkking. Jose is a ophthalmology technician (do you write this like that in english??? Katherine help!). Well, he appears to be a nice guy, and he told me that he has a couple of Venezuelan patients (yes, my Venezuelan accent revealed my origin). Venezuelans nowadays are welcomed in the Island. I guess it was always like that. Venezuela and Cuba always had good relationships, and many things in common: Salsa, baseball, food... But I guess that Chavez policies towards Cuba and against USA are being seen with good eyes among the average cuban, and this makes them respect even more their venezuelan tourists. Well, I asked Jose where can I but the local press. He told me to follow him, he will take me to a kiosk nearby. In the meanwhile we started to talk a little bit about politics, and about how Jose loves so much Fidel and thanks the revolution. However, just before saying goodbye he asked me if I can give him 2 C.U.C (this is 2 convertible pesos), which is a bit more than USD $4. He told me he need the money to buy milk to his little daughter. I had no Cuban money with me and it was a very embarassing situation. I gave him some cents which I had in my pocket from yesterday's change, and he left. At that point I understood two things: (1) he was not that happy with the regime and (2) that he probably droped his keys intentionally. Ahhh... just for the record: there was no kiosk in the area.

The "Comités de Defensa de la Revolución" or CDR (committees for the defense of the revolution) are everywhere. In every wall, they have their motto and official graffiti. Messages such as: "Revolution for every neighborhood!", "Alert and combative!", etc. The CDR's are groups organized in some sort of hierarchy at levels ranging from streets to neighborhoods, municipalities and cities. I think that the original idea was to give some sort of soberany to the people and influence easilly to the upper levels. The CDRs are in charge of local issues, and it is composed by the neighbors themselves. Outside of Cuba, the CDRs are also known as having some sort of intelligence role, by using the same infrastructure to spy on the neighbors that might be involved in any kind of contra-revolutionary activity.

CDRs presence in La Habana

The monetary system is almost impossible to understand. There are basically two currencies in Cuba. The Cuban Peso, which by that time its value was 24 pesos per dollar. The average Cuban worker earns about 400 cuban pesos per month. There is also the convertible unit (CUC), which is the money for tourists. The exchange rate is basically 0.9 CUC per one dollar, and it is fixed. What does that mean? That the CUC is a dollar, but the government takes a comission of 10 cents for each dollar exchanged. This is a lot of money people. Specially because not only tourists use this currency, but cubans themselves. My next task was to inquire further about the currency...

I went to 18 and B street to buy some fruit, as Roberto suggested. The place is a fruit market in cuban currency (pesos). There were several stands, each one of them selling fruits, vegetables and even plastic bags (for sale). In the surroundings there were "juguerias" - natural juices stands - which also included lunch for sale for about 20 pesos (less than a dollar). The interesting thing was that the lunch did not came with fork and knife, so people improvise some sort of fork with using paper, or either bring a spoon from their place. I keep walking along 17th street. By coincidence, I saw the building of the Jewish Sepharadic congregation of Cuba. I got in and introduced myself to Raquel, who was the director general of the congregation. She showed me around, and we talked a little bit about the difficulties of the Jewish community in Cuba. I asked her also where can I buy a toothbrush? I forgot mine in Venezuela (so that morning I had to improvised a new technique on brushing my teeth without a toothbrush). She opened a drawer, and offered to give me one toothbrush. There were many other things in the drawer that the congregation gives to its members regularly. I of course thanked the offer, but refused to accept it. Raquel, a physician, showed me the synagogue, and a Sefer Torah which is 3 centuries old. The synagogue was in very good state. I thanked Raquel and went back walking around the city.

In the streets I noticed several brahnces of CADECA - the official currency exchange organism in Cuba. There I saw Cubans - not only tourists - geting CUC (or "chavitos") in exchange for dolars. The economy lives in CUCs. Cubans receive dolars from their families abroad, and they change them to the local currency to buy things. Of course, they can buy with their dolars either CUCs or Cuban pesos. Most of them buy CUCs. The reason is that the supply of products in Cuban pesos is scarce, and most places sell things in CUC (which is very very expensive for Cubans, since the prices are similar to prices everywere else). I then entered to a subterranean place which was a warehouse full of electric appliances. It seems like Cubans were allowed to change electronic appliances for newer ones to overcome the energetic crisis of the island (newer electronic appliances save more on energy). I did not understand how did they pay for them (in what currency) and did not want to ask, because Roberto told me not to ask too much, since someone could come to me and say that I am "getting out of the touristic context".

It was already passed the afternoon, and I went back to my room, since I was supposed to visit that night the other Jewish Community located in Patronato, which organizes each tuesday an encounter between young adults. After taking a shower, Roberto's son waited for me and together we had a ride with the president of the sepharadic community in his old car from the decade of the thirties. There I meet some Cuban friends I met before in the year 2003 in Guatemala and other friends I met in Israel. That night I went with two friends to Habana Vieja (downtown Habana) to have something to drink and eat.

To go to Habana Vieja we traveled on an "American Car", which is a shared taxi that goes along the same route all the time (very old cars of course). My friends told me to shut up, since tourists usually don't take these cars, and they shoudl travel in taxis which charge you in CUCs. The American Car charges each passanger 10 cuban pesos. There in the Habana Vieja I invited them to have something to eat, and we walked around a bit. They took me to the Hotel Raquel. It is a hotel with lot of Jewish things in the decoration. I asked them about why do Cubans cannot stay in hotels (actually now, in 2008, Raul Castro already changed the laws so that Cubans are allowed to stay in Hotels). The answer was very simple: while some Cubans can afford staying at a hotel, others cannot, and this could alter the levels of socio-economic inequality in the Island. But, it is a fact that Cubans can enter Hotels, and can eat at places which are 'meant' for tourists (meaning places in which you pay with CUCs). I got in to such places with them. But they usually don't go because it is very expensive for them.

Me with my two Cuban friends in a pub that produces its own beer.

I asked them also: where do people get money from? How can they have CUCs? Well, as I thought: most of them get the money from families in the 'exile'. The government allows this because they earn 10 cents for each dollar. All cubans find somehow a way to survive. Either by receiving money from abroad (most of the cubans have someone in the exile), or by making their own business for which they have to pay very high taxes (as a counter incentive not to open a business) - like the one Roberto has. There is also crime: one of my friends told me how a gold stake in Jose Marti's statue was stolen, similarly to a diamond in Cuban's old parlament building.

Already late at night, American Cars are not available anymore, and we got no other option than to take a 'tourists' taxi: most of them Lada models from the nineties. I went back to my room exahusted, and thanked my two friends for their time...

Cuba - Day 1

It is time to write a little bit about socialism... isn't it?

Well, this post is based on writings I made on my trip to La Habana in September 2006. While visiting my family in Venezuela, I decided to pack my stuff, and have a 4-days long visit to La Habana Cuba. Since there are lots of things to write about, I will divide this in several parts, each part describing each day of my visit.

Well, many people asked me "What the hell are you going to do in Cuba?, go any other place!, don't leave your money to Fidel!"... I think this argument is a little bit silly. I can assure that most of the people that told me this - if not all of them - buy many products made in China per year, helping the Chinese economy... I remember to all of you, that China declares itself as a communist country. However, my reason to go to Cuba is not that I have sympathy to communist regimes, but I have what I call "historic curiosity". I want to see and understand historic processes, which don't seem that are going to be there forever, with my own eyes. Unfortunately, it is impossible to visit Moscow of the eighties... and did not want to miss the opportunity of seeing Cuba (while Fidel was still El Presidente).

Everything started from the plane when I arrived to Habana close to midnight. I could hardly see light over the island. Closer to Habana I could see more light, but still much less than any capital city of another Latin American country. The airport was almost empty at midnight. Many flags hang on the main hall of the airport, and surprisingly USA and Israel among them.

The main hall of Habana's International Airport

The immigration process was kind of weird I must say. The immigration officer asked me to show her my ticket out of Cuba... maybe she suspected that my intentions were to stay in Cuba as a foreign illegal worker forever. In any case, I gently asked her not to seal my passport, to which she answered me quite angry:

-"We do not stamp passports sir, why do you ask?"
-"Well, they told me that I have to ask in immigration not to stamp it", I said
-"Ahhh... so they told you...", she replied with a "I understand you are influenced by the empire" tone.

In any case, she let me in and I arrived to the customs area. All the passengers, without exceptions, went through an X-rays machine and a manual body check with metal detectors. Our hand bags went through the same process. It was a typical airport routine, but with one difference: in other airports the check is before boarding the plane, and not when arriving to the country.

After that we went to pick up our luggage. Each bag also was meticulously inspected by custom officers before reaching the luggage carousel. Frequently, customs officers put aside one bag without letting it reaching the passengers. I never understood what happened with those bags.

Many of the Cubans that were in my very same flight brought from Panama electrical appliances, hinting two things: (1) that they have money to buy them, and (2) it was a very common thing, as the customs officers appeared to be indifferent to that.

After giving my customs declarations to the officers standing at the exit, one taxi driver offered me to take me to my destination for USD $20. On the way we talked about the city, and he talked about how much he admires president Chavez. He also praised Chavez's speech at the Generaly Assemly of the UN only a couple of days before that (the one in which he said that the General Assembly hall smells like sulphur because the Devil - Bush - was there yesterday).

The road to the city appeared to be relatively short. It was full of factories and old industries, which seemed to be completely deserted. There were very few cars in the streets, all of them very old. I saw also a few people in the streets (it was already about 1am) talking and walking, which is not a common phenomenon in Latin cities, or at least not in Caracas.

We reached my destination, street E 104 between Calzada and 5ta, and we waited long time until we woke Roberto up, thanks to our loud calls and me ringing the bell several times. Roberto rents a room in his house for tourists, and this is a legally established business in Cuba. My friend Enrique suggested me to stay there, and the payment was much cheaper than a hotel - USD $25 per night. The conditions, I must say, were very good. Much better than I imagined. Well, even thought I called Roberto some days before, he was expecting me to come earlier, therefore he was not awake. He opened the door and give me the keys to my room.

Exahusted from the trip, I went to sleep...