Away From Bright Lights, The Struggle To Survive

For many foreign tourists, a visit to Cuba means drinking rum and nights dancing in glittery cabarets, but the life of ordinary Cubans is no party.

Government food rations usually last only the first week of each month, forcing Cuban families to wheel and deal on the black market or pilfer from their government jobs. Waiters resell food from restaurants catering to tourists, government workers sell favours and others rent out their office internet connection at night.

Cubas infrastructure is in a pitiful state after five decades of economic mismanagement. Old Havana has moved well beyond the picturesque decay depicted on postcards; many buildings in the Unesco World Heritage Site are riddled with holes and are in danger of being lost for ever.

Transport is a big source of complaint. Simply getting around the island often requires great ingenuity or favours from friends. The odd-looking Soviet-era tractor trailers known as camellos (camels) that haul Cubans around are in short supply and crammed with people. Raúl Castro is reportedly ordering new Chinese buses to supplement the gas-guzzling camellos, but the problem is acute.

Salaries are meagre - about 400 (non-convertible) pesos a month for most workers and up to 700 for highly trained professionals, such as doctors. Cubans of all stripes can make far more money by hustling tourists for convertible pesos - worth 20 times the regular peso - or through prostitution. One nurse in Havana said that she could make more money in a day with a Spanish tourist than she did in a month working at the hospital.

Getting basic things done - fixing a leak or a window at home - requires skilful bartering in an elaborate market of favours. Like everything in Cuba, it all depends on who you know.

“You can have some of the best heart surgery in the world here, but try getting your roof fixed during the rainy season,” one Cuban groused. Stroking his chin with his fingers - the unspoken sign for Fidel Castro - he said: “He doesnt live in the real world. He doesnt realise its the small things - the sheer inconvenience of daily life - that turn people against the revolution.”

Fidel may not have cared for material goods, but, by all accounts, Raúl does. Cubans in-the-know say that Raúl, lacking his elder brothers charisma, is acutely aware that he must improve ordinary peoples lives quickly if he is to gain acceptance. Analysts say that the new President has been buying everything from food to consumer durables from friendly countries.

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