Cuba For Sale - People & Power

Havana Cuba socialist capital an architectural jewel staff to funds for exact people by decades or sanctions but now relations with America are improving is this beautiful but trembling City about to experience a speculator LED revival in the last three special reports on Cuba's growing accord with capital juliana ruthless goes in search of the winners and losers from Havana's property renascence you this is a slum tenement in Old Havana Cuba the residents want us to see how they're living half a century ago when Fidel Castro's revolutionary forces entered the capital Havana it was the lives of the poor that the new leader promised to improve by putting an end to capitalist excess one of Castro's key measures was the elimination of the property market as a lucrative business housing was declared a human right private rental was abolished and the majority of Cubans were given free properties to live in but with the US embargo declared on the revolutionary island and its finances dependent on an inefficient state rhythm economy the government ran out of money vast parts of Havana fell into decline in a radical move the government opened up the economy in 2011 and property laws were reversed Cubans were allowed to buy and sell their homes once more the government says its revolutionary vision hasn't changed and that the reforms are aimed at keeping rather than dismantling socialism but does the reintroduction of private property bring changes for Havana's urban poor and how will the government deal with wealthy new class that the regime once fought so hard to defeat plaza de armas Havana's oldest square we've arranged to meet a lien Robina chief architect for the office of the historian at the branch of the government responsible for the rehabilitation of Havana's historical center it all started right here in this space this is the square where the first archeological works were developed this is the area where the historians office was settled as an office it's an immensely powerful institution which publishes a master plan that serves as a blueprint for Havana's development at its core is the idea of using income from tourism to fund the renovation of the city and in 2011 alone it generated a hundred and twenty million dollars in revenue here at the Plaza via some of the old mansions have been developed into businesses few of them had slums very poor housing in very bad conditions in the 1980s and when they were fixed they were converted into micro brewery for example that was occupied by a lot of families but it is also the goal of the master plan to keep as many of the original residents as possible living in the city centre that still has housing but instead of having 50 families living in a very poor overcrowded condition now we have five or six apartments and these people these families pay rent to the government but it's subsidized Aileen takes us to see a family who have been allocated a renovated apartment the Perez family have been living here since Mylene Perez pleaded hardship with the office of the historian and cambio de de casa de apartamento Davide she owned como se da Seguin darlin si si da de la de in reward and a movie mo Canady jnanis mejor de condiciones yeah the new nanny a pequeña birth Perez are working for the tourism industry and earn a competitive wage but the average Cuban is employed by the state and earns just $25 per month the subsidy system means that the Perez family's monthly rent is fixed at four percent of the state's salary or just $1 ma mo super mo da sua possio loss entry kovita realmente de una vez abou Bonita loco be taken tadam otra quiero que como es el último but back in the square we find out that the current economic changes do make it harder to keep the original residents in the city increasingly housing is converted privately into cafes and bars some of the families that used to live in these upper floors owned their places and according to the law that we have right now places that are in private ownership can be sold so these families have been tempted because they have been offered a very large amount of money for their spaces because there is a big demand for this lovely area surrounding the colonial squares further down the road the government is building new apartment blocks and we will be getting the housing in the new building so probably the families that live around in some of the slums nearby will get this new house and so we can come to these buildings in order to start a rehabilitation suddenly an argument arises a group of local residents fear being pushed out by the new businesses nothing a high achiever no your hands okay - no sorry they don't they they're saying they don't trust they're going to get the apartment SI no sanas agua de la lo veo en el kharitonov e que didn't una vida é que son sido una Sarah Maggie que tiene su escuela Reno la montagne foreign Budi Lolo manda baba yaga yaga bandit en frente como que viva la persona again I feel a little bit anger over 40 families live in this former mansion Nicholas's Sanchez takes us around 200,000 out of Havana's 2.2 million residents live in conditions like these there's no rent to pay but it's incredibly cramped Nicholas's relatives have partitioned one large room to house two families a choice una sola cask no Mira extra V okay Toni Setia no Vega mul Atomos contend oh okay de lo mismo que Soren Lock intrusion el frente okay Mira como vemma say el estado no rebar tenemos que je parle de los oh man yo si tienes a leader oh ho preto no tengo una mano say mo de arriba del otro V so Marija Cantante meant a necklace madam anta was given the original room by the Castro government after the Revolution yo inelegant a yahiko ma tienda de la sierra su Bonilla guerra ago Barack a vegan pero no no Vega familia se habla de fer à la Sidhant oh poor cake wantoniy no somos no soto say no Quadro Quattro em bruh yo her own pea eridan extra flew to sleep on Arriba Kiowa entos yo tenía el que para pa e errand a pony on are open yo ho todo que votar Lake apparati yo tan muchas cosas por que no tenia no tengan de on de poner la la ropa de nadie entonces me Linda's Montes epileptic son is resting on his bed on the other side of the partition is Montes granddaughter Anna Lee and I leave the Yamuna mujahadin Anna Lee lives on the other side with a mother Mary lady I asked Mary lady if she has tried to get a job in the tourism industry but she says it's tough unless you have connections hi okay I see a basic ada Yama yusin sipo de trabajar para basic a day tiene que Haga a lo que tiene para poder entrada trabajar n2v see no poor goat Oh No when we see Eileen again she says she can understand the residents complains perfect situation would be to have enough you housing to give to all of them but there are many limitations so do you think people are suspicious that the government will not act in their interest no I wouldn't say so spacious the problem is that they have been waiting for a solution to their problems for a long time we haven't been efficient enough to solve them for practical reasons because the country has made priorities in education or health care and in housing has been waiting too long Havana's authorities are facing an uphill struggle to preserve the city not just overcrowding and structural alterations but also damage caused by the high humidity are making buildings unsafe it falls to Julio Rosado Varela the city's chief building inspector to decide which houses are so unsafe that they need to be destroyed in deepening it later yamaha Brigade I'm Alicia sitting animated content available for you ok effect informal directed on mental Education Commission s Andrea Casiraghi na na cha cha shown Elemento come come to you no Bellagio cafe k-8 a legal can notice a business on the same console it's people on the streets as well when it falls down c-bro yet again pasando room sen Madhavi last year alone one building collapsed in havana every second day the same family over by the Italian Balotelli well I figure she own original coma Todd oh no who's Wario entender on deserve em when trapeze Oh day via video via perros alia honk a bone apparent a meant a save a go n futile ahora de la ammunition proton maletto in Tosun por eso que Melillo don't manera the inspector says the demolition will take his men three or four days it really hurts to see this is quite painful si que temos Elma Nando en de una una Rossio de una persona que Obeidallah raro go go go we got a moto lugar y que no tiene mama conditioning yo official how many houses do you think need destroying and you know how can you deal with this problem Aguirre a momento no no yeah like bastante gasps aha or a moose estamos hablando de mills recognising Cuba's urgent need for more housing in the 1960s the Castro government began building Soviet style prefabricated satellite cities with several of them located around Havana once highly desirable today they have become the destination for those who can no longer be housed in the capital Luis Rodriguez and Felix Sanchez moved to Alomar 15 years ago when they're building in Old Havana was turned into a hotel the government gives families here free apartments but for many property ownership is a small consolation for a big transition was it difficult to come here from Old Havana was it a difficult change for you a principio see ostensible un cambio porque ya toda mi star los lugar make a AMA selca a sentry-go y cuando viene baraja totalmente diferente toh dorado Taubman diferente yeah me Boca BOGO Passos are no es su teléfono cinema persona he say Muhammad odd if we make around Randy Lewis works at a nearby refinery and it turns out that Felix is in construction building houses for those who still arrive from Havana we've asked them to take us to meet the latest arrival voila Juliet Hernandez had to leave Havana three months ago her home became unsafe after a building collapse next to a tall castle meant a pen and owe me paid me but Robbo yomo center a true endo quick or D noe a tratar de Zavala la persona yo fuy case agony Nieto Dahlonega mama que no man Dharma giver among me via me Tom Bo Derek a data comment a completamente Regan vo the government has given Juliet and her children Destry bedroom flat so bogus - Choi static ass man gave you no ninguna lesion para key see no mo para una Begley y raviolo Camino esta Habano tenemos una mujer con le teníamos toe most remote is a burro muerto y bueno Juliet would've preferred a new home a Havana now it takes her two hours by bus to commute into work Lewis tries to cheer her up man Wapiti tagamet oh I knew so let's run it when we notice in the to know Santa mamma photo now in the one of the world my face we have been hearing repeatedly about temporary shelters on the outskirts of Havana we're trying to find one called la yuca hull communities have been stuck in these camps for years we've been told we arrived and module sumeria Gutierrez and her friend Jamil early on Serena yeah Mila a gondola wannabe ahead on being o'the the women have to let you cut together with six other families when they're housed in Old Havana collapse at the moment o sayyaa the family of five shares one room owner come with us dual forgets a little extra income from selling homemade ice cream but lack of housing isn't the only problem here the women also complain about lead in the soil surrounding the camp an environmental pollution from a nearby Factory oh yeah mucho problema salut pero nada solamente Plomo beyond la fossa estaba rota hace mucho tiempo ving siendo que toda esta Roda yes oh ho Sagunto - em busan agua negra a KB Edson yeah mucho menos que les Alejandra no empezamos a preocupa no bueno Sado salem pedigo muchas hilarya mucho holly the women say that before the collapse of the old building they had spent years writing letters asking to be rehoused ironically it is only now that problems have been discovered in la yuca that their dream of owning a house may finally become a reality when or where they don't yet know do you think the government has the money to build new housing the dinero no hua hua no DNA intention act EI / realmente no tenemos presuppose note Ramos Rizzo picante hacen pero no con Santi Ando no solamente bana VA al otro municipio esta muy do yo presenta la misma complicacy a control Tito deteriorate eneral no solamente Abhinav en el estado no puede Punto the government hopes that allowing private real estate will help stimulate the economy it's an opportunity that was taken up swiftly in the first week of 2011 alone seven hundred and fifty thousand Cuban home owners went to register their properties every Sunday one of Havana's main avenues prado turns into an informal real estate market quite a few of the sellers here are putting their houses onto the market to generate cash that will allow them to set up a business in a country that offers few formal lines of credit this creates genuine new opportunities but some of the most successful business ventures are open by Cubans who have been drawn by the changes to return from abroad yet Aguiar runs point to Cuba one of our owners most upmarket real estate agencies so this is the mansion built in 1933 it's in Art Deco a house it has a bedroom and five bedrooms this is the dining room and has a lot of lights high ceiling beautiful marble on the floor a villa like this will set a buyer back around eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars and each successful sale adds new members to havana's growing middle class but Cuba's real estate is so attractive that the government has set limits in order to keep the country's housing stock in Cuban hands foreigners are restricted from buying most properties who then are the people who are buying mostly key ones that live abroad are buying the most beautiful houses because our the most expensive one a staggering 1 billion dollars is now flowing from American Cubans to their Island relatives each year it's a huge driving force behind the purchase of AB market real estate as you see is very their concert is very open you have the living room the dining room and then access to the beautiful our outdoor space here you can just relax Yolanda Fernandez is an industrial designer who lives between Cuba and Mexico being permitted to sell her property prompted her to invest money in its veneration hoping a profitable sale will pay for a move abroad may go steady again Kaiser Ellen my element to be Lapras ii-era URI algo que la gente que tiene mucho dinero y tiene el gusto es una comer as your ribbon so Luanne destroy me no - Yolanda's house used to look just like the one next door and the hope is that investments such as these won't just pay off for the owners they will also create income across the economy as a whole but I'm about to meet a far bigger player who's also eyeing Havana's real estate Google can CEO is a Cuban who fled the island to live in Miami during the times of economic hardship today he's an entrepreneur and art collector he has returned to Havana to speak to the government about a series of large investments this is where we come to get inspired to get motivated to understand to feel to smell Havana even in chaos even in this discolored City I see you know a tremendous amount of beauty and an opportunity Google publishes magazines on art and real estate and says he's about to launch tech startups our website on key becomes the most read website in the world about Cuba this is where journalists and editors do their jobs hola ding ding as a Cuban American and as the owner of a Miami based holding company uber says he is the perfect man to bring new business who better than me this is my country of origin you know I lived 35 years in the United States I bring expertise know how resources and passion and love that combination is a powerful combination until the US Congress lifts the economic embargo it's difficult for American citizens to invest in Cuba but google claims American money is ready and waiting we have raised of a lot of money a lot of money tens of millions of dollars to be ready to invest in the real estate market once it becomes available and once it becomes legal on the US laws if I understood you right you've set up a fund to get ready to invest once that is possible is that correct yes that is correct we are we're launching a 300 million dollar fund that is to invest in Cuba in general in those particular sector technology telecommunication real estate I want to be able to say who to write the check to and I think that's key back in Old Havana the government is already working on construction sites with foreign companies this former shopping mall man Sanada Gomez is being turned into a luxury hotel we can actually go inside and see no this is an investment that is not part of the project of the historians office the development is a partnership between Cuba's tourism company Gaviota the French construction company bleak but more and the luxury hotel chain Kempinski they have to say what they want in terms of their conditions of the room so they have their designers and people other teams participating with aq1 designers too many observers it looks like capitalism is sneaking into Cuba through the backdoor do you ever worry that some of the foreign companies that are coming in may not share the vision that you have in how Cubans will live in Cuba I'm definitely scared about that maybe they don't even share it now I mean they are doing business it's our responsibility to make that happen and I believe that Cuban government will support us know even at the top level but we have to be there you know trying to make it happen one thing is for sure Cuba's poor are desperately waiting to see changes they to feel that hard work should bring rewards yo dog warranty CD ano no tengo nada credo nunca tenía otto nunca non c'est si lo loaded NL trabajado mucho demo cal-neva me Lamar oh hey Kayla Abedini Caliente para maana Cuba is undergoing its most profound transition since the 1950s it remains to be seen whether the lives of its poorest citizens will finally improve or whether the changes spell an end to the Cuban Revolution esto no malaria denim eredivisie dama pour a revolution en poet ana siendo a revolution para su terroir seguro yo you

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 430,815

Keywords: Al jazeera, news, Cuba, US, Cuba US relations, Juliana Ruhfus, finance, business, culture, socialism, real estate Cuba, Havana, property market cuba, Cuba economy, cuba socialism, Raul Castro

Id: 99w08FiKJXE

Length: 25min 0sec (1500 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 20 2016