A Taste of Socialism in Cuba

I don't think I quite knew what I was getting myself in for by travelling to Cuba. I had an idea in my mind about what to expect. A spanish speaking country steeped in fascinating history and culture, distinctly different from the many of the countries around it. In truth, visiting Cuba is like going back in time about 50 years. It is quite refreshing that there is such a lack of Western culture and influence in the country. The streets are still crawling with classic US cars, many of the buildings have a distinct resemblance to how I would imagine the former soviet union to have looked like and the country is filled with tributes to the men who have helped develop Cuba into the country that it is today. In fact, the likes of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara are seemingly worshipped as Gods.

Cuba is still listed by the UK Foreign Office as a country of 'concern'. There are remain hundreds of political prisoners in Cuba and it is still possible to be thrown behind bars for opposing the communist regime. International human rights organisations such as Amnesty International are not permitted access to Cuba. And yet it seems such a contradiction that Cuba has one of the best medical health care systems in the world. Statistically there are more doctors in Cuba than there are in the whole of Africa. Cuban actually exports doctors in exchange for food and economic benefits from neighbouring countries such as Venezuela, the oil rich country with which is Cuba's largest trading partner.

I was surprised when I visited Cuba by the level to which the country is shut off from the western world. I witnessed thousands of students arrange at the University of Havana to hear Fidel Castro make his first public speech in 4 years, the majority of content of which was a lecture on the 'evil' powers America and the fact that the Amercians are putting the world on the brink of a nuclear war. My experiences in Cuba have given me an insight into just how fortunate we are in the UK to have access to information and freedom of speech. The personal impact of having my bag stolen from my hotel room on my first day of arriving of course left a bad taste for the rest of the trip, but in a way it further opened my eyes to what it's like to have things taken away from you, much like the population of Cuba have had things denied from them from most of their lives.