Cuba PobreWhile we pulled together some background on the Elian post, we came
across some interesting tidbits about life in the "Worker's Paradise,"
Cuba, not to be confused with the "Sportsman's Paradise,"
Louisiana. Both, it appears, rely heavily on the tourist
industry for revenue, but fortunately for Louisiana, that's where
similarities end. In our previous post we learned that Juan
Miguel Gonzalez, Elian's father, still works as a waiter at a resort
near
Cardenas. While discussing this with the other Quidniki we
wondered why then could he live in one of the more comfortable houses
in Cardenas. Ah, we are so silly. In the first place, in
the "workers paradise", every job is equally important and worthy, so a
waiter and a surgeon and a ditch digger all make the same amount in
monthly wages (US$20), at least in theory. But this led to other
questions: if that is true, how can there be a minimum wage,
which Castro has announced will be doubled?
Labourers earning about 100 Cuban pesos ($4.10; £2.13) a month will see their wages rise to 225 pesos from 1 May. The move will benefit 1.6 million workers, including farmhands, plumbers and undertakers, who survive on the lowest wages in communist Cuba.OK, wrap your gray cells around these facts: There are 11.3 million people in Cuba, of which 80% or 8.8 million are between the ages of 15 and 65. Twenty percent (20%), 1.6 million of these, are subsisting on $4.10 per month. Now, they do get rations for food and necessities:
Basic necessities are rationed and available at affordable prices; however, the ration amounts generally last just two weeks. People are forced to pay exorbitant free-market dollar prices to survive the rest of the month. Food rations have become the norm since Cuba does not produce enough food to feed the nation and importing food is complex due to costs and the embargo.
But also remember that no one pays any rent and health care is free. Paradise.
Are you getting the picture?
The truth is that everything is state controlled. So Juan Miguel is living in one of the more comfortable houses in Cardenas (we got this from the BBC, so we will translate: more comfortable = less ramshackle) thanks to the decision of El Jefe. He works in the tourist industry, meaning he has access to hard currency tips (although this is about to come to a grinding halt) and anyway, he's not a "farmhand, plumber, or undertaker," so he isn't working for the minimum wage.
Over the next week, Quid Nimis will explore what is really going on in the worker's paradise. We see the need: at every turn in looking up background material, we encountered sugar coating and whitewash. We will look at :
- The sex tourism industry
- Economic controls, rationing and healthcare
- Forced labor, human trafficking and dissent
- Why the Left, especially Hollywood, glorifies and idealizes La Revolucion and Fidel
- How the Elian Gonzalez tragedy was manipulated by liberal politicians and the media
Global Policy Forum
Humberto Fontova
BBC News
CIA: The World Factbook