Welcome to Havana, Cuba, a place of active people, very prepared and paradisiacal places that many want to know; of mothers who struggle to raise their children, and of fathers who also make the toughest decisions, for the good of their families. The foundation of any society is marriage, a foundation that, in our society, is broken. In addition to the high rate of divorces in the country, at the beginning of the day many Cubans are already queuing to start one of the most demanded procedures of the moment: the immigration process. They mark from 4 or 5 in the morning, very early to be the first and finish quickly; it is mostly the young who are leaving the country. The Temple of Love becomes an escape route to a future that could be better. A reality that is also palpable in wonderful Cuba, the one that tourists walk without getting to know much or nothing about the life of the Cuban people. In the Lonja del Comercio, paperwork is done to migrate to Spain, the second favorite destination of Cubans. Everyone waits their turn. Every Cuban has a story to tell, but there is one in common that they all tell equally. It is one thing to go to Cuba as a tourist, to enjoy a ride in an old car through Havana at a price of 40 dollars an hour, a price that is 32% higher than what a Cuban doctor earns in a whole month of work, and quite another, is to live in Cuba. The most important thing for the subsistence of a human being is food, and this is greatly affected. The ration book provides a basic symbolic basket: 7 eggs a month, sometimes 5, half a pound of soybean oil, 7 pounds of rice, things that last, at most, a week. Food is scarce, not much is available in the markets, and prices are getting higher. Given the constant shortage of state markets, there is always the option of buying from street vendors, as it is commonly said, buying on the street. These three guavas cost 50 pesos (0.26 USD); 12 bananas for 60 pesos (0.31 USD), the green banana costs less than the ripe one; a pound and a half of fruit bomb at 150 pesos (0.77 USD), a package of wheat at 200 pesos (1.03 USD), I clarify that now there is no milk in the country to be able to eat wheat at ease. I'm going to show you the most popular food. Picadillo is possibly the most eaten thing in Cuba, this one looks good, but the one they sell at the butcher shop is soybean, and if your thing is sweets and you want to lose weight, come to Cuba, the food prices they will force you to a forced diet. This, which used to cost 5 pesos, now costs 50 (0.26 USD) and the donuts, 70 (0.36 USD). But there is something that has everyone in check, whether they are big or small, men or women, all alike. That product is bread. Sometimes they sell it on the street with mincemeat, with pasta, with the famous explosive croquettes, it is best to buy it when it appears, although not everyone can, due to the price. It is hardly seen anymore in itinerant bakers on the street and many sell hidden. Those most affected by the flour crisis are the elderly, who often have to sleep in the bakery to buy six more loaves of bread. The regulated bread, the one from the notebook, which in Havana costs two pesos and in the provinces one, becomes so small that it remains in a tooth. After a day and a half or two, there is no one to put a tooth into it, as they say in good Cuban. The reality is that for many people, breakfast each day is still this bread and a glass of sugar water. A discouraging panorama that many have had to live and today with more force is present in the lives of many more. In the stores that were always in national currency, they have never sold really important things, nothing that is basic and of vital importance for Cubans, poor quality things that will be useful for one or another person. To see the stores that were previously in cuc, we are going to go to the real Cuba, to those neighborhoods that are far from the tourist areas. The same thing happens in almost all the neighborhoods of Havana, it doesn't matter if it's in Colón, it doesn't matter if it's in the Cathedral, it doesn't matter if it's in Key West, when they get something in national currency, the queues are for hours, you even have to sleep in tents. In many cases, those large markets that used to be in cuc, are mostly without supplies. Everything has moved to the dollar stores, the mlc stores. The discomfort is general, people wonder how long this will last. On many occasions, they spend the day in line and cannot buy. Many are struggling to earn a few Cuban pesos and be able to queue up to buy chicken, hot dogs, mincemeat, the same soybean oil. Those are some of the most valued products in Cuba. Toilet paper is in short supply. The other option is to pool to buy MLC. Next to a dangerous building, a shopping center in MLC, empty, that's how most of them are. Clothes for children in MLC, and what do parents who do not receive remittances from abroad do ? How does a worker who receives his salary in national currency do? In a speech it was said that stores in national currency (cup) were not going to be emptied in order to start selling things in dollars. Here it is, if you don't have dollars, you will be in the dark, the price of national paint is from 4 cuc to 9 dollars, sleeping well will be expensive, very expensive. There are even windows for sale, but it is not clear to me if the price is to prevent suicides or to commit suicide. Not only is the food that comes from Spain and other countries sold at outrageous prices, it is not recommended to bring children to the stores in MLC to avoid the suffering of seeing the candies and not being able to buy them. The childhood of a Cuban child differs from that of another child in any other normal country in the world. Toys have been hard to come by for a long time. A father will always want the best for his children and will take everything away from them so that they don't lack anything. Life in Cuba is very peaceful, happy, it seems that it is lived with ease, without worries, and that is the image that the visitor takes with him: the joy and good character of the Cuban. Very colorful places in wonderful Cuba that are a visual delight for both foreigners and Cubans themselves. Neighborhoods that seem dangerous but are actually quite the opposite. The truth is that security levels are much higher than those of many Latin American countries. Tourists are amazed at the inventiveness of the Cuban. The truth is that Cubans have always had to manage, and much more in this time that, today, Cuba has one of the highest inflation rates in the entire world. The dollar rises per day. To get an idea of the seriousness of the matter, the salary of an engineer has been reduced from 40 dollars a month, to 27, in less than two months. If already in a country as hot as Cuba, buying a fan becomes complicated, imagine an air conditioner. Along with the price of the dollar, everything on the street goes up. Needs become complex to satisfy and indulge in something that takes a backseat. The health system, internationally known for the sale of medical services, has been maintained thanks to donations from other countries such as Italy, China, Mexico, Russia. They have donated gloves, syringes and other supplies that have allowed the application of the Abdala vaccine candidate to continue, still not certified by the WHO. Some of these candidates are sold to countries like Mexico, Venezuela and Iran. Venezuela's energy problems also have an effect on Cuba. Not only with transportation, which is already quite chaotic, the lack of fuel has also affected the campaign against mosquitoes and solid waste collection; These accumulate for days. In places where the water supply is affected, pipes are used. This cocktail of difficulties puts the most vulnerable sector of the population in check: the elderly, with a minimum pension of 12 dollars a month that is increasingly reduced by inflation, the result is an evident increase in indigence. The images go beyond people asking for money to eat, it is becoming more and more common to find an elderly person searching the garbage, you get to see very unfortunate things, even looking for food in the garbage. But the spirit of survival is so strong that some of those people who collect things from the garbage do so to sell them. Every market has its customers. In real Cuba, it is more profitable to sell a pair of shoes today and something tomorrow, than to work for a whole month for a state company. The problems that afflict the Cuban people and the constant blackouts make them show their discontent. - Look look, they're hitting the police, look. As a result, there is an increase in police presence on the streets. It doesn't matter much what part of Cuba it is in, it 's no use unloading a little soy yogurt to sell to the population, when children at 7 years old have milk removed from the basic basket and there is no way to buy it later nor in the stores in MLC. When it appears on the street, it costs more than a thousand pesos, a third of the salary of a Cuban worker. The problems are similar everywhere and are aggravated in the most intricate areas of Cuba. There are places where, as a result of blackouts, people are forced to cook with reverberators. The Cuban State does not stop investing in tourism, tourism that, although in countries like the Dominican Republic is doing very well, in Cuba it has not just picked up. Some groups of tourists walking through Old Havana and enjoying Cuban music. But it is not enough for the subsistence of those who depend on tourism. Nothing is like before and it shows in the beautiful streets of Old Havana, in the streets of wonderful Cuba. That, and an economy destroyed over the years, today at its worst, makes people begin to feel tired. Even so, hotels continue to be built, as if at some point they will be filled. Even historical sites in Havana, such as the Pairet cinema, are being destroyed, and also, in the meantime, Cuba is filling up with houses in destruction due to lack of maintenance. The latter is falling more frequently on the neighbors of each building. In addition to being expensive and not everyone has the money to repair, there will always be someone in multi-family buildings who, even if they have it, will say they don't have it. Walking through some streets of the Havana neighborhoods is a risk for life. Landslides start after rain. The conditions in which some people live are incredible. - Good morning, is this a house? - Yeah. This is a rundown house, but a house. - Nerd. I was really impressed. Bon Appetite. Life is easy for some, but stormy for others. This is the housing problem in Cuba; there are many people who fail to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We all aspire to a better life and fight for it, despite adversity. In a society that used to be one of the most educated in the world, much has been lost. The degeneration is so much that you get to see men fighting with women, for a glass of chocolate. A society is not born corrupt, it is corrupted, it is led to that. A society is not born without values, it loses them as a result of deficiencies, needs, censorship. The future of the country, which is the youth, is risking their lives on a journey that begins with the purchase of a ticket to Nicaragua for more than 3,000 dollars. That has been the escape valve, the trip to Nicaragua. The volcanoes, as they are commonly called. It has become in record time the largest mass exodus in the history of Cuba, a journey through South America in which life is at stake, all or nothing. In a fiscal year, more than 200,000 Cubans have arrived in the United States, both by sea and by land, not to mention the exodus to other countries. The Cuban exile keeps their relatives alive in Cuba, those doctors, licensed engineers who earn less than 25 dollars a month. But keeping a Cuban family is expensive. When will the day come when a Cuban with his salary can live with dignity, when a woman knows that she can give birth in Cuba? - Show off there. ...that there is a future for their children, that a doctor earns more than a police officer, as it should be. That those who fish on the boardwalk do so for entertainment, and not because they need food. Don't have to hear "I'll write to you in a while, I'm going to cross the Rio Grande" again. This is a portrait of life in Cuba, a portrait of sacrifices, of waiting, a portrait of broken families, separated by many miles of distance, of tragic endings on some occasions, and of joy in most, a portrait of life , where the most innocent dreams are difficult to achieve. A portrait of exile, of longing. A portrait that many cannot get out of their minds because they have lived or live it, and that, unfortunately, many young people will also live. These are some of the difficult situations that both men and women face. Sometimes we will have to break with our roots and leave them behind. But there will always be a reason to move forward, there will always be a reason that drives us to move forward and not get stuck in the same place. Let me know in the comments what you think of what you just saw. Thanks for getting to the end, it only remains for me to invite you, if you want to continue watching content like this, to subscribe to a little button down there that says subscribe, so that you support our channel and our family continues to grow. See you next week in another video.
