A Tough Question

It's getting harder and harder to see Cuba as communist in anything but the label the government gives itself. What does it take? Everything — property, business, income, even freedom of speech. What does it give back? Education, medical care, yes. And also pensions of US$6-US$8 per month, enough to pay part of the electricity bill, which goes back to the state. It gives large fees to any private businesses it has decided to allow. It gives 30 year prison sentences to anyone caught defacing one of the many patriotic slogans plastered everywhere, like Che's "Hasta la Victoria, Siempre!" It seems to give no help to those in poverty, like the ones a block from where I'm staying while visiting Cienfuegos, trying to find dinner by fishing in the contaminated water by the slums.

Everywhere I go, I see how impossibly expensive things are by a Cuban wage. I see crowds of people waiting by the road to get home from work — waiting for the bus which might not come for 3 or 4 hours. I see a country held back, breaking down.

It's hard not to think of some of the observations made by Alberto Granado and Che Guevara on their famous journey through South America; observations about government and poverty that Che started revolutions to change. Thanks in part to that motorcycle trip, the gap between rich and poor in Cuba isn't that big. Unfortunately, it's not from eliminating poverty.

All the same, for every problem I see here, it's easy to think of an Indian equivalent where the beaurocracy is 10 times worse and the poverty 10 times as apalling. This US has plenty of poverty too, not to mention violence. So what is the best way to structure a society?