I have visited a few Latin American countries (Belize, Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil) and was very surprised at the low standard of living in Cuba compared to those countries.
Then again I wonder if it was because I was in the tourist areas. I ventured outside the resort towns, although I was still in places with tourist infrastructure.
Is Cuba actually worse off, or was I just more aware of it because they don’t really have tourist infrastructure. Would appreciate your input.
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It’s way worse off than most of latam. No other latam country rations food or basic supplies.
Cuba is infinitively worse of than most of LatAm, Venezuela is around that level, and Haiti is the only LatAm country that is undisputably worse of than Cuba
Cuba is stuck in 1960 and they are collapsing economically.
Unimaginably worse.
I dont think Belize is latino america, is it?
Extremely bad, DR is paradise on earth in comparison.
Cuba is like a run down building of the Rust Belt with spies in it.
Lots of places in Mexico, Guatemala are like your poor native reservations or rural Alaska.
The big differences are the lack of services, in Cuba there is an app that tells the entire country to wait for their time to pump their gas unless you got more money. Even in poorer areas of Mexico there would be infrastructure for a gas station sooner or later.
Never forget, they have been sanctioned by the US for decades which has only exarcerbated their problems, as designed.
Cuba is still a Communist country. That means that on the one hand its rulers do a shit job at providing for its population and on the other hand the country doesn’t have access to a lot of stuff because the rest of the world refuses to allow it. So yeah, Cuba is way more fucked up than any other country in LATAM.
Back when the USSR disbanded and I was in sixth grade I participated in a sort of children’s international sports competition and I briefly met the Russian delegation. One of the Russian kids asked a local vendor how much a pair of brand new Nike sneakers were and his face fell when the guy told him the price. The vendor gave him the pair for free and told them to take them home and enjoy them and the kid burst out crying, overcome with emotion by the gesture. That’s how shitty their lives had been under the Soviet government and how shitty it still was shortly after the Berlin Wall fell. I never forgot witnessing that.
I visited Cuba in 2023 and didn’t notice what you said about Brazil.
Cuba has the economy of a poor country but the social indices of a rich country. In terms of social standards, Cuba is much more advanced than Brazil.
Have you visited any favelas or poor neighborhoods here in Brazil? I’m not talking about places in the interior of the country, I’m referring to places close to big cities like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Or did you only stay in middle-class areas and think that represents Brazil?
Cuba have the best Health, Education and Safety.. everything that lacks on the entire latin america…. in other hand they have no access for consuming goods we have.. but this is thanks to american comercial block.
Worse
I think it might compare to one very bad year in the XIXth century.
Comparable only with the poorest parts and ghettos of the country.
Only country I would say is worse would be Haiti.
You can argue Venezuela as well because Vzla has more violence from what I understand. But the situation in Cuba has been like that for way longer than in Vzla.
Such a shame about Cuba. Havana could’ve been the most beautiful city in LatAm, and Cubans being the hard-working, inventive people they are, could’ve really made something of the country.
Can I know whether Cuba is worse than Peru or not?
Many people, even some in Peru, believe Peru’s standard of living is comparable to Afghanistan or South Sudan or something. Do people perceive Cuba as being more prosperous than Peru just because their inhabitants are whiter?
Wpese by a helluva lot
The only country that’s worse that Cuba is Haiti. And that’s because they have a civil war going on. Once they’re back to normal, maybe Venezuela takes their spot.
Although some Venezuelans may fight you to say they are worse off than Haiti.
Worse due to the sanctions and being an island with limited resources only makes it worse
it doesn’t the only countries in Latin America. That are more poor than Cuba are like Nicaragua, Haiti, and maybe Honduras.
HDI is a meme
I have friends in Mexico, Brazil, Peru and they tell me that all those countries are far ahead of this one, even Cubans who have been to Venezuela agree that it is better than Cuba.
So when in your countries they talk to you about the socialist paradise that is Cuba with free education and health, don’t believe it, this is a mafia state, nothing is what it seems and things in general work very differently than they do in most countries in the world.
Cubans don’t live, they survive
Like comparing stardew valley and fallout
PR is loving in the world of the Jetsons compared to Cuba.
Cuba’s infrastructure is crumbling to levels you won’t find in most LatinAm countries with only a few exceptions like Haiti
I’ve never been, but I’ve heard you have to wait in line to get basic food, or be without internet or power several hours a day. I’d say that’s not too common here.
When I visited in 2019-2020, some parts were beautiful and amazing and other parts were depressing and eye-opening. We were still a little outside of the main tourist areas near the Malacon. The local grocery store had only one type of everything. One type of canned goods, noodles, rice, etc. It did have multiple brands of liqour lol.
The sad part was the grocery store had these frozen packages of rations. I didn’t even know what that was until I figured it out. We ran out of water and the grocery and the next closest store didn’t have any water so we had to walk a mile or so to a store and buy apple juice. Luckily the next day a store hand drinking water so we stocked up.
When we needed internet, we went to the hotels. From what we experienced, the hotels seemed pretty decent so it’s definitely not what the average citizen experiences.
Cuba is definitely worse. Food shortages, energy shortages, limited aid for a country in a hurricane zone, contaminated water issues, lack of salary advancement, no freedom of travel, no freedom of speech, no freedom of protest or even freedom of information….
Furthermore, Cuba’s two closest allies are unable to support them anymore, financially (Russia due to the war in Ukraine) or supply them with energy (Venezuela due to Maduro’s idiocy), the Cuban trade deficit with higher imports than exports, the lack of industry, and a higher rate of flight of the best and brightest Cubans due to the COVID-19 problems. All this amid a global inflationary crisis.
To put this into perspective, the only people fleeing to Cuba as refugees are Haitians, and that’s to avoid violence. Cuba is definitely worse than anywhere else in Latin America, with the exception of specific cities and neighborhoods in Venezuela.
Cuba was destined to be a paradise beautiful beaches towns sites it’s sad Mexico is headed that way if our politicians don’t stop being corrupt puppets
I’ve been all over Latin America and I’ve yet to visit a country with the degree of scarcity Cuba has. There’s inequality all over LATAM and many issues but there’s an abundance of food and goods. It might not all be accessible to everyone but it exists. It’s difficult to explain to people the nothingness you experience in Cuba.
The worst part is that it just feels normal when we live there and we return to Cuba and expect to see that nothingness again.
And no, it’s not because you were in a tourist area. I’m originally from a rural area with no tourism and I’m sure it looks worse than whatever you saw. The good thing about rural areas is that you have the possibility of growing your own food and having animals. It opens you up to theft though.
Its much better here. Our socialists dont hold as much power as theirs
Cuba is very poor and just thinking about it makes me sad ..
2 Cubas, the one for the tourists from Canada and Europe and for the people that work at the resorts. I usually go to Cayo Santa Maria and had gone to the closest town which is Caibarien and it is very sad to see how the locals try to survive.
CR has its issues but it sure as shit isint cuba. Loadshedding and food rationing plus a failing economy? Jeez.
I wouldn’t judge it just based on the tourism infrastructure alone. Why would it even invest in a big infrastructure for that given it was really difficult to go there for many decades?
I felt very safe travelling there and I didn’t see children begging for money on traffic lights, or homeless people sleeping on sidewalks. On these criteria it is significantly better than Rio, where I am from. Cuba seems a lot poorer on average but a lot less unequal.
Honestly I loved my trip there and I love where I am from. I prefer back home because I was born into a middle class family. But if I was born in the worst conditions of Brazil… maybe I would have preferred to be born in Cuba instead.