On a recent trip to the island of Cuba we learned of the island’s splendor through lectures by Communist Party leaders. And, subsequently we learned of the island’s depravity through contact with the Cuban people themselves. The contrast between the shrouded Communist Party line and the candor of the kind and hospitable people could not have been starker.

The Communist leaders spoke at length about the magnificent history of the Revolution and romantic concepts of this ideal, classless society. According to their reports, people on this island, even the Communist Party leaders, were said to live modestly and harmoniously in a society where Marx’s quote, “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” was espoused constantly. It was explained that Cuba is an island without drugs, crime, or prostitution, where the people can speak freely and are not burdened by a free press. The island is a place that its people choose to inhabit and may leave at any time. The only reason for their plight, if there were one on this island paradise, is the American embargo during this “special period” in Cuba’s glorious Revolution. The Communist lecturers encouraged the members of our delegation to explore their island and to talk with the people. In retrospect, the reason for this encouragement is unclear. Perhaps it was an unconscious plea for us to see through their confusing fog of delusion and illusion in order to see the truth.

How the Cuban people lived and struggled in their daily lives was eye opening to say the least. They described to us the Cuba of their reality. As we explored the city of Havana on our own we found many discrepancies between what was touted by the Communist party leaders and what was true.

● The locals are not allowed to speak with the tourists. In fact it felt as though no one could speak freely.
This does not stop the locals because they have learned how and where to speak without being heard or seen by their Government. While there is no official rule against speaking with us, it was clear from their paranoia that the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution was feared to scrutinize their behavior with keen eyes and ears on every city block. If necessary, screws could be tightened making it disadvantageous if not dangerous to converse with us. Interestingly this paranoia had a contagious quality. After a few days members of our own delegation became unreasonably mistrustful of coincidences that made it feel as though someone was listening to our conversations. We will never know if we were being listened to.

● Prostitution, addictive indulgences, and other ‘crimes’ were common entrepreneurial activities.
Seeing the bars at the entrances of nearly every home, peddlers on the street trafficking cigars stolen from the Partagas Real Fabrica De Tabacos, and rampant prostitution certainly gave us a different perspective than our introductory Communist Party line. More than likely these activities can be explained by the meager earnings of the populace. Based on our own non-scientific poll, it seems the average monthly salary is about 15 pesos (80 cents) and the highest paid doctor earns about 400 pesos ($21.00). The mere fact that one individual earns more than another seems counter to the Socialist/Communist notions of an egalitarian or classless society and economic cooperation over competition.
The only officially sanctioned ‘nearly-free’ enterprise we found in Cuba was a law firm formed as a partnership. Although we were unable to find out how much the top partner of the firm earned, we did discover that a 14-year associate makes 500 Cuban Pesos per month ($26). Perhaps discussing salary is really a moot point since making more money in Cuba does not mean much. Making more money does not translate into a reality such as being able to buy bigger home nor having a much better life. In Cuba the home you live in is the home you will live in - for the rest of your life. You and your family may “own” the home but your family only owns it while you or a descendant of yours is alive – you cannot sell it. The place a Cuban calls home and the bed s/he sleeps in, and the black and white TV that is watched are all, in fact, property of the Government. Everything that each Cuban citizen has is, in effect, lent to them only while they occupy the home

● A dual monetary system created further discrimination in this supposedly egalitarian society.
Further complicating the issue of low income level is the fact that there are two forms of money and therefore two economies in Cuba. The Convertible Peso that tourists use, known as the CUC, and the Cuban Peso that the people receive as wages and use for their purchases. There are approximately 24 Cuban Pesos to one Convertible Peso which is worth about $1.25. That means that a meager one CUC tip given by tourists to hotel maids could very quickly add up to more than a doctor’s salary. It starts to make sense that a doctor would choose to work as a maid in a hotel. Another unusual advantage of being paid in CUC’s is that it makes it possible to buy clothes since clothing is not supplied by the government, nor purchasable in Cuban Pesos. While in Parque Central, we saw a man walking barefoot who cried when he was handed a free pair of shoes while others swarmed around hoping to get a free t-shirt for themselves and family members. One occupation that seems to have a significant financial reward, if there were such a thing, is a prostitute. In one evening a pretty prostitute can make five times the salary that a doctor makes in a month. Clearly, rather than a classless society where needs are met, the Cuban economy seems rather to encourage a deprived, depraved, burgeoning, unenlightened, lower class that is submerged in servitude...hardly a utopia.

● It was glaringly obvious that the Communist Party Members enjoyed things and privileges not available to the general population of Cubans.
Although it can be touted to sound complimentary, family is important in Cuba out of dire necessity. There are not enough apartments in Havana to house the population that has doubled in the 45 years since the revolution in 1959. Consequently a Cuban must live with their mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, and husband or wife, siblings’ husbands or wives and any children. It appeared to us as though no homes had been built nor the ones there maintained since the Revolution. All the residences flagrantly displayed 45 years of disintegration. What was once an obviously beautiful city with stately homes was now a giant urban slum with each stately home divided into as many austere apartments as there were individual rooms. It was not uncommon to see one 5000 square foot house inhabited by thirty families. All the while we were assured that CP Members lived in equivalent modesty. A visit into a Communist Party Member’s home however revealed something different. This particular Member had two apartments. One for himself and one he occupied with his girlfriend and their three children which had five bedrooms and three baths as well an entire rooftop patio. What a stark contrast to the one-room “apartments” occupied by families of non-CP Members.

● It was evident that the choice to not burden the people by a free press was the Party’s means of controlling and withholding awareness from the populace regarding their own privilege and of the privilege that exists in other parts of the world.
To maintain control, the Government minimizes that amount of information that is available to the people. The Government endearingly explained that it did not want to burden the people with a free press. Hotel television consists of about 20 channels, including CNN and various other entertainment channels while Cuban TV consists of 4 government-run channels. Satellite TV is available if you buy a satellite dish on the black market, have it installed and camouflaged on the sly, and be prepared to risk the severe penalties if it is discovered by the wrong person(s). One of the delusional burdens explained to us as being a benefit of not having a free press was the “plague of the paparazzi.” This is clearly one problem that the Cubans have successfully dodged!

● Leaving Cuba may be possible but the difficulty to do so, combined with the living conditions certainly makes a small crowded boat an interesting option.
Cubans do, in fact, have the right to travel. The Cuban Government simply requires people to get a “freely granted” license from the Government for the modest sum of 75 CUCs (120 months of earnings of the average Cuban), an invitation from the person you are visiting, and a visa from the destination country (which are not normally given to Cubans). If these simple requirements are met along with the 25 CUC exit fee (40 months of earnings), --- you have the right to travel. You also have a right to travel within the country, but if you decide to relocate, good luck finding a place to live. Along those lines Cubans also have the right to free speech and artistic expression as displayed in the Museo Nacional De Bellas Artes. However, they need not eat for a year in order to save up the 8 CUC’s (13 months of earnings) necessary for the admission.

All this being said, the young people do not seem to buy into the Communist ideals as much as the people who lived under the previous Batista military dictatorship. You can see the market economy playing out in their lives, from operating private, unlicensed taxis (dropping you off a block from your destination to avoid being seen getting paid) to running paladares, private restaurants within people’s homes that cater to tourists (taxed 75% of their average monthly earnings, whether they earn it that month, or not). This is not to say that Cubans, of all ages, do not love the idea of their society. It is not however a Communist society. It is instead a society of Fidelistas. The charismatic Fidel Castro has generated a Cuban, heroic myth. He is able to command an audience of over 1 million people to come listen to him for 7 hours in the plaza. Unfortunately their leader and the myth he has attempted to perpetuate is dying and falling apart. We were told more than once on the sly that Raul, Fidel’s brother and current successor, will not last 24 hours. When he walks down the street people barely notice him. When Fidel is gone the mythical Cuba will die with him and the devastated island will never be the same.

All during our visit, it seemed to be extremely convenient to blame most, if not all, of Cuba’s problems on the American embargo. It seems as though a policy which was intended to overthrow a Communist Regime has been transformed into a point of pride for having stood up against the United States, the most powerful country in the world. At this point in time however the intention and the prideful attitude are probably both defunct. Perhaps it would be wise now to consider ways to change the embargo that would discourage the Communist Government while easing the day to day hardships (clothing, medicine and other basic necessities) of the Cuban people whose only culpability seems being born in the right country at the wrong time in history.

Along these lines, I found myself questioning the issue of having to go on a legal delegation to visit a country because our government does not believe in their policies and not because we are at war with them. It seems this may open some Constitutional questions about American’s right to travel. Justice Douglas, in his concurrence in Aptheker v. State, 378 US 500 (1964), states,

“Free movement by the citizen is of course as dangerous to a tyrant as free expression of ideas or right of assembly and it is therefore controlled in most countries in the interests of security. …Those with the right of free movement use it at times for mischievous purposes. But that is true of many liberties we enjoy. We nevertheless place our faith in them, and against restraint, knowing that the risk of abusing liberty so as to give rise to punishable conduct is part of the price we pay for this free society. Freedom of movement is kin to the right of assembly and to the right of association. War may be the occasion for serious curtailment of liberty. Absent war, I see no way to keep a citizen from traveling within or without the country, unless there is power to detain him. This freedom of movement is the very essence of our free society, setting us apart. Like the right of assembly and the right of association, it often makes all other rights meaningful.”

Our government’s blockade of our ability to spend money in Cuba through the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 is a de facto travel ban. While this ban does restrict hard currency in Cuba, more importantly, it closes American’s eyes to history, diversity, and an alternative and failed type of economy. It also closes the eyes of Cubans to a successful and prosperous type of economy. Are we and they better off by blocking the exchange of culture, successful and failed ideals? Or might we and they grow wiser being enriched by a free exchange? As I view the whole experience now, I can only think of “fantasy island”….Cuba ….a society of deprived prisoners, puppets whose strings are being pulled by Fidel’s ability to collectively perpetuate his own idealistic myth of power veiled in egalitarian delusion.

Revolution in another Communist nation:

http://singingrevolution.com