I visited Montego Bay back in the 80s. Although it might have been careless, I rode the local buses and walked the streets. The poverty was overwhelming. Kids up to 7 or 8 years old ran around naked because their parents couldn’t afford to clothe them. Food prices seemed high to me; can’t imagine what they were like for the locals.
All this on an island that should be paradise on earth with the beautiful beaches and the fertile land. I suppose it only shows what corrupt politicians can do.
Kind of highlights what goes on in Cuba. By all accounts (I only went there once, to a beach party in Gitmo!) it has some of the most beautiful beaches and waters. It could be a major tourist attraction of the Caribbean.
But no. Like Venezuela, ideology is more important than food, clothes, shelter, or personal income.
“fertile land”
the fertility of the land is an illusion, like it is on all volcanic islands. There’s a showy covering of flowery vines, but scratch a couple of inches and you hit bedrock - on the entire island. The land is hilly and mountainous, again, as with all volcanic islands. Nothing like the U.S. Midwest with its flat fields with 10 feet of loam a hundred miles in every direction.