2023-06-15 13:46:00
Varguably, there aren’t much more beautiful beaches than the resort town of Varadero on more than 20 kilometers of white sand and turquoise waters along Cuba’s north coast. has dreamy scenery Because to offer in abundance. This also includes the sea promenade of the capital Havana – where visitors like to be driven up and down in vintage cars – as well as protected natural areas such as in the Viñales Valley and colonial buildings in the city, for example Trinidad.
Music à la Buena Vista Social Club and cocktails like mojitos and daiquirís create their own flair. also on luxury hotels there is no lack of it in Cuba today – although you have to make clear cuts when it comes to internet access and the quality of the food. In Old Havana, expect to be approached every few steps by someone trying to sell you something – a cab ride, money exchange, cigars, prostitutes.
The socialist Caribbean island is heavily dependent on tourism and has suffered tremendously from its collapse in the pandemic. Unlike other countries in the region, such as the Dominican Republic, Cuba is only slowly recovering from this. This probably has something to do with the fact that the one-party state is currently making a name for itself primarily with hardship, decay, repression and mass exodus.
A woman looks at the goods of a fruit seller in front of a mural of the revolutionary hero Ernesto “Che” Guevara in the center of the Cuban capital Havana
Source: dpa
A holiday there is also not cheap. Canada is the most important country of origin, but many visitors also come from Deutschland – however, this is now after one Cuba visit the entry into the USA difficult.
Everyday life in Cuba is characterized by scarcity
“I can’t go to Cuba and expect to get everything I want here without any preparation,” says Christopher Trinczek, founder and managing director of the Berlin tour operator Cuba Buddy. Together with the state tourism agency Cubanacán, they organize individually tailored trips to Cuba for groups of two to four people on average. He points out that due to the lack of fuel and vehicles, you can’t even just rent a car and drive in Cuba.
You see a lot of vintage cars like this one in Havana in Cuba
Source: dpa
For Trinczek, the best thing about a visit to Cuba is the contact with the people – this gives you important insights into how you can be happy away from luxury and wealth. Overnight stays in family-run guesthouses are therefore an important part of the trips his company offers. That’s a good way to get into conversation with people, says Trinczek in the Cuba Buddy office in Havana.
64 years after Fidel Castro’s revolution, life in Cuba is hard. The rule of the Communist Party, the US embargo and, most recently, severe inflation have created an everyday life characterized by shortages – for example of food, medicine, fuel, machine parts, and the capacity to generate electricity.
Locals hardly benefit from tourists
Travel journalist Paco Nadal wrote in the Spanish newspaper in April “The country”, one should go to Cuba; tourists hardly notice the problems of the population. A small group of Cuban exiles, including well-known dissidents, threw the paper out in a letter proposes to gloss over the precarious living conditions of the Cubans and state repression. “Your paradise, my prison,” they said.
Popular tourist destination: The Viñales Valley is a Unesco World Heritage Site
Source: dpa
Martin Lessenthin, Cuba expert and member of the Board of Trustees of the German Institute for Human Rights, is also extremely critical of tourism in Cuba. “The Cuban people hardly benefit from the foreign exchange that Western vacationers bring to the Caribbean island,” he emphasizes. “On the contrary: the foreign exchange is used to stabilize the repressive apparatus, and the profits are reaped by the party and military power elite and their minions, who totally control the tourism sector.”
Lessenthin refers to the crackdown on peaceful protests in Cuba in July 2021 and the imprisonment of hundreds of participants, including the German-Cuban Luis Frómeta Dresden, who received 15 years in prison for filming violence against demonstrators. “Anyone who as a tourist with a clear conscience die Caribbean wants to travel will find many alternatives to dictatorial Cuba.”
Contact with Cubans on vacation recommended
Amelia Calzadilla says that those who deal directly with tourists benefit from tourism. The 32-year-old mother of three from Havana used to be a tour guide and recently took part Videos on Facebook drew attention to herself in which she denounced the abuses in Cuba – which is why she received death threats and is now no longer able to get a job in the tourism sector. “Tourism workers can use the tips they receive from foreigners to buy products that are only sold in foreign currencies,” she says.
Amelia Calzadilla, pictured here on the balcony of her apartment in Havana, used to work as a tourist guide
Source: dpa
The contact with tourists was also instructive for her, says Calzadilla. “Thanks to my clients, I’ve learned different truths about capitalism” than what she was taught in school. But those who earn the most from Cuba tourism are foreigners tour operatorwhich employed Cubans in local conditions through partnerships with state-owned companies, Calzadilla points out.
Anyone interested in visiting Cuba must be prepared for restrictions – such as a lack of products, power outages and mobility restrictions due to the lack of fuel. If you still want to come, you should try to get in touch with people and to help them, says Calzadilla. “The best thing about Cuba is the Cubans.”
At sunset, people sit on the wall at the Malecón, the sea promenade in Havana
Source: dpa
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