Posted on 05/18/2026 2:15:17 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
On a scorching hot afternoon in Havana, the line outside the state bakery stretches down the block. Inside, the shelves are almost bare. A man in a faded baseball cap tells me he’s been waiting for two hours for bread that might not arrive.
Across the street, a gleaming black SUV with tinted windows idles outside a hotel mostly reserved for foreigners. Its lobby is stocked with imported whiskey; the air-conditioning is turned up to Arctic levels.
This is not an unusual juxtaposition in today’s Cuba.
I walk through Central Havana with Antonio Rodríguez, a 60-year-old university history teacher who supplements his income by working as a tour guide. His state salary amounts to around 9,000 Cuban pesos a month—worth little in an economy increasingly geared toward dollars.
“I work two jobs and eat one meal a day,” Antonio tells me matter-of-factly. We pass shuttered shops and darkened apartment blocks (this is during one of the regular blackouts) before turning onto San Rafael Boulevard. “There are a lot of prostitutes here,” he says, gesturing down the street. The lights are out in parts of Havana, but here the informal economy is still very much open.
(Excerpt) Read more at persuasion.community ...
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Morphed?
It was always a racket.
The elites and their families live in luxury and the proles live in squalor................
> the line outside the state bakery stretches down the block <
Worth repeating:
Communism: You wait for bread.
Capitalism: Bread waits for you.
🍞
Yup. There were and are true believers in socialism, but they were and are mere diversion and window dressing from socialism’s true predatory nature.
“the line outside the state bakery stretches down the block. Inside, the shelves are almost bare.”
Communism: It's the other way around.
That’s an indication bread is being baked onsite and will be fresh when bought.
At least most of the people are economically equal 💩
Marxism has turned Cuba into a nation of whores.
Literally and figuratively
Besides cigars, what does Cuba offer to the world? The bodies and labor of their people. Soldiers and secret police for marxist regimes, and women/children for tourism sex-trade
And the Cuban military and Fidel Castro’s great-nephew own all the outlets to earn foreign exchange.
As for the cars, someone here a few months ago said they often have Russian motors.
“Socialism Has Morphed Into A Racket”
Annnd, when does this *not* happen?
I think it “morphed” into a racket on January 1, 1959.
Hahahahah, I forgot about that one!
The nice-looking cars you see in Cuba are owned by people with money and connections, to be able to get parts and keep them looking nice. They are the brothers and cousins of high government officials, and as such are the only ones allowed licenses to cart around clueless tourists who so enjoy the classic ride and their cheery chauffeurs they are blind to the squalor around them.
True. I sent funds to a pastor friend a few months ago to buy him a car. At first he was looking at a Moskva, but he wound up buying a Fiat with a Lada engine.
A Swedish buddy of mine vacationed in Cuba recently. Went for a week and met an attractive escort and she spent the week with him. $200USD.
She was a tour guide, partner, girlfriend. Anything and everything.
And was happy to do it when a specialist physician make $20 US a week.
It will collapse there soon enough when Cuban society is that upside down.
Yup. The elites are still elites and the peeps is still the peeps. ALWAYS the same routine.
Also the oversold Cuban medical system - it is used as a slave plantation, with thousands of doctors and nurses sent to other 3rd world hellholes with minimal pay and miserable conditions in return for payments back to the Cuban government.
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