In the late 1990s, acclaimed Cuban mystery writer Leonardo Padura captured the heart-wrenching resignation of those who had endured difficulties following both the Cuban Revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union and chose to stay on the island.
Padula’s main character, Mario Conde, is a stubborn police detective who underestimates ideology (despite his majoring in “dialectical materialism” at university). “Havana Red” The city “still holds some of its magic, as if it had an invincible poetic spirit.”
Padura, who is said to be Neurish’s “tropical marlow,” wrote about Fidel Castro’s “special period” for several years after the disbandment of the Soviet Union. Russia was a strong supporter of the regime, trading high-priced sugar for price-rate oil.
This rough anxiety that Padura only increased after Russia cut back on its support. For Cubans here, times are difficult – sometimes desperate. The economy is turbulent.
I hear many times, “Life here is very difficult.” “LarucHa.” The daily struggle for economic survival is engrossed in the average people.
Consider people who are not young or entrepreneurs, or who have no access to their family capital from Miami. For them, the shift in sputtering from Cuban commando socialism to a mixed market economy leads to a stable escape. In 2022 alone, 250,000 Cubans (11.2 million) residents) left the island.
Among those unequipped for the change is Li, Conde, a police officer in Padura. In the latest mystery, “Time transparency.” He is now retiring from the unit, approaching 60 years old and is about to survive as a private detective. “In a country where a new cosmopolitan cult of money has made him more skeptical than ever,” and “a society focused on governing ethical, political and social actions,” detective Havana “served as a mirror of the country, where the foundations were also conquered by the history of time’s weight, indifference and fatigue.”
Still, like most Cubans, he stays.
The fuel shortage and power outages have produced regular local and national power outages, including one of their fourth recent visits to Cuba since 1978. Distribution is barely helpful.
Island sightseeing – 50% reduction Since 2017 – suffering from Covid’s ruthless abuse. Some brand new Oceanside hotels are mostly vacant.
The old, crumbling Havana buildings are neither preserved nor restored. Daytime tourists attract street peddlers, musicians and be-food, replaced by sex workers at night. The Museum of Contemporary Art section is tied up by a lack of staff.
There are very few public transport options in Havana. Many innovative era signs are falling. Despite the revolutionary goals, class stratification and social inequality both have returned almost along racial boundaries. Since 2018, Cuba has Even importing sugar was forcedits signature national crop.
Several crimes exist – robberies and robberies – but rarely against foreign visitors. What’s even more troublesome is widespread, low-level corruption. Not so noticeable, the higher-level Communist Party executives are quietly fired for bigger economic crimes.
To be fair, some basic revolutionary promises are respected. Education and medical care from elementary school to university is still free. Infant mortality rates are lower compared to other Caribbean and developing countries. Since our last visit in 2011, many high-rise apartments now have window air conditioning units.
The rent is free or most are free. If we count urban squatters and flashy town residents, homelessness is virtually nonexistent. But as one Cuba observed, “The misery lies in the room.”
But there is also a new Kando, thanks to social media that has sparked the government’s information bubble. Cubans everywhere accept dark times.
They freely state their criticism and only request anonymity. While acknowledging the US embargo that continues to shrink and cause damage, people from top to bottom told me frankly that structural economic reform was needed.
The economy barely floats thanks to foreign remittances and the progressively growing private sector. This is called the “Grey Market” locally and has previously been concentrated in family-run restaurants, boutique hotels and small shops. Travel-related services allow some former government officials to increase their income exponentially as tour guides.
But the nation is still resistant to change. One well-traveled former high-ranking diplomat compared the jarring reaction of the current economic leader’s tone to the current crisis with Mad Magazine’s mascot Alfred E. Neuman.
So, when Cubans are on the ropes, a question to US policymakers: Why don’t you choose your own size?
Over 65 years, successive American regimes have sought to overthrow Cuba’s communist regime through invasions, attempts to assassinate, embargoes and radical sanctions.
He is currently facing a hostile Trump administration and Cuban-American Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Long hostile to the Havana administrationthe relationship could get worse.
Immigration, pressure regulation valves, and government suppression reduce the possibility of political upheavals within the country. The Cuban people, the indomitable people, survive, but they should be the ones who decide the form of government.
Successive US administrations have continued to support and work together to support a much more oppressive regime. They even have heartfelt commercial and military ties with former enemy Communist Vietnam. Now host It’s what is called the American sweat shop, or the place that US Navy ships often call.
As if to exacerbate relations among Cuban-Americans, the Trump administration I have a plan 30,000 refugees will be settled at U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo for a cost of $40 million.
The current rumors about Washington are that the Trump administration is trying to cut off all trips to and from Cuba, including Cuban-Americans. Is my most recent flight to the island the last one?
We Cash transferwhich increased to just under $4 billion in 2024, and was banned, further crippling the economy. The Trump administration already Visa restrictions have been strengthened About Cuban athletes, medical professionals and their families.
Still, it is possible to change it from within. As another mystery writer Padura character observes, “The historical mission of this island is to always start new, creating a new beginning every 30 or 40 years.”
Mark I. Pinski is a journalist and author based in Durham, North Carolina.
