At the time of its 1959 revolution, more than half the country’s population lived in urban areas; a large percentage centered in La Habana. The basic urban and regional policies (first established in the early 1960s) aimed to promote a more balanced regional growth, directing resources to areas other than La Habana, and seeking to diminish urban-rural differences. Despite these policies, Cuba ‘s urban population continued to increase, reaching close to 75 per cent by the year 2000.

Historic Development of Havana; source: GTZ

Today, in the city’s historic center, hidden within the beautiful colonial houses, are La Habana’s informal settlements. After the Revolution, informal settlement were quickly eradicated as they were viewed as the failure and residues of a capitalist society. In his article “Ingrown Disorders”, Patricio del Real, a PhD Architecture Candidate at the University of Columbia, states the following: “By erasing illegal settlements, government officials made believe that the scenario so common in the rest of Latin America was not present in their socialist society.” Nevertheless, this erasure did not eliminate overcrowded conditions and the need for housing; informal settlements never truly disappeared but were simply relocated and restructured to the city center, reorganizing itself inside the existing housing. Thus are born the barbacoas, the “indoor favelas”, and what del Real refers to as “ingrown disorders.” The barbacoas, literally meaning grill or barbeque, refer to the platforms built in the high vertical spaces of the houses, subdividing and rearranged indoor spaces in order to provide housing for a large number of the Cuban population.

Housing Types of Old Havana; source: Ortega Morales, L (1996) ‘La Habana: Barrio de Atarés’ in GTZ report for UDP cities' Slum Research

The Old Havana has an irregular grid and small city blocks. As most of the buildings share parti walls, they use the interior courtyards as a source of light and ventilation.

The barbacoas are all auto-constructed and as with most of the informal settlements, they evolve over time. Slowly the original wooden barbacoa structure is replaced by “placa”- concrete, and shared services and individualized. Most barbacoas take advantage of the verticality of the older colonial architecture and create vertical subdivisions, providing two (2) floors where only one (1) existed before.

Section of Barbacoa; source: Mesías González, R and J L Morales Menocal (1984) ‘Arquitectura al servicio del usuario creadores de su vivienda’, paper presented at the XI Seminario de Vivienda y Urbanismo, CTVU, Havana.

Following is an example of one house in the city center where the top floor maintained its original condition, and the lower floor was subdivided in order to accommodate 4 families, thus becoming a barbacoa.

Plans-description

Plans-photograph tags

Nevertheless, because of the covered and subdivided windows, spaces created through the barbacoas are poorly ventilated. In addition, the weight they add to the load-bearing walls, sometimes leads to the disfiguration of façades and to the collapses of buildings.

Following is a another quick example:

Courtyard plan: access +entrances

“The barbacoas are spaces, sites of deeds, of activities. In a country with no independent histories, with only one history (for in Cuba everything is fixed to the discourse of the Revolution), these sites are true spaces. In the barbacoas we experience the weak place of the Revolution.” (Patricio del Real, Ingrown Disorders)

Transportation

As a quick summary, you have 4 or 5 options depending on where you are heading. There are “guaguas”- or buses; “camellos”- the long buses with double capacity; taxis- 10 pesos cubanos for the yellow and black cabs (which are apparently subsidized by the state), 5 pesos for the taxi-vans, and 20 pesos for the taxis particulares. There are also cocotaxis-similar to moto-taxis, bicycle taxis, or taxis which charge in CUC (primarily used by foreigners). When possible I tried to take the “guaguas” which cost 40 Cuban cents (pesos)! Of course this meant I had to prepare and deal with an extremely crowded situation. Riding in a Cuban bus is the perfect example of how incredibly moldable our human bodies really are. Even more impressive was the solidarity and citizen culture displayed by a great number of Habaneros: seniors and women get priority seating, queues are respected… Something that impressed me, was the solidarity and help offered to anyone attempting to get off the “guagua”- from experience, a VERY difficult task. Nevertheless, this citizen culture, so present in some aspect, is completely inexistent in others- garbage is carelessly thrown in the streets, in the water, etc.

Employment

It is incredible how Havana’s streets are filled with people, regardless of the day of the week. This is mainly due to the fact that fewer and fewer people work in the formal sector (as state employees) and instead participate in the informal sector. A large percentage of the population today try to find their way through informal work- fixing something here or there, making jewelry, embracing what they call “under the table tourism” (for example, I able to go to Varadero, a beautiful beach 2 hours away from La Habana for 4 CUC, instead of the usual 45 CUC that are usually charged to tourists), yet always with the fear and he risk of being caught by the government.

The most profitable work is that which deals with tourists, and more specifically CUCs. In restaurants, bars, shops, one out of two or three sales is pocketed- these are the lucky Cubans that can afford gold chains, rings, a motorcycle, or even a car- everything in moderation of course since you can’t let the government suspect anything… Many Cubans desperately try to establish some sort of relationship with tourist, most of the time, hoping to get a beer, a lunch invitation, perhaps even a marriage proposal and ticket out? As a result, a sort of escort and prostitution service has emerged where both young men and women, try to seduce tourists, some succeeding and claiming their ticket out of the island).

The ironic consequence of the system is that the people who suffer the most and carry the most burdens are the more prepared and educated segments of the population. The system barely rewards education and preparation; professionals are paid in an undervalued coin; a coin that amounts to nothing in comparison to the all mighty CUC.

Social life

Cubans are lively, joyful and optimistic despite their condition and the hard life they live. One can see that they enjoy life with the little they have… they are grateful for the education and health services that are provided by the state, but one can sense the desperation and the stress lying underneath. Cubans live a life with VERY few luxuries. Yet, with the help of friends, family (particularly the “remisas”- money sent by Cubans and friends residing abroad), people miraculously manage to put something on their plate. Social networks and solidarity are key elements in the Cuban lifestyle.

Technology

An interesting fact is that, until recently, Cuban’s second language was Russian! This makes sense since most of the technology used on the island was given or shared with the Russians. That said, there are certain technologies that seem to be stuck in the 1970s or 1980s. The television and other communication services are a clear example. Internet is pretty much inaccessible, unless you have the money to pay 6 CUC for the hour in hotels, or have the privilege of working for a university where a limited and very censured web access exists. This can be seen as quite obvious- keep the masses quiet and disconnected in order to keep them calm and “maintain the revolution”. The embargo seems to not only be an economic one but a socio-cultural one that stems from the censorship of the Cuban government.

Replacing this gap in information and connectivity, revolutionary propaganda is manifested wherever and whenever possible: El Che, Fidel, la Revolución, slogans from el Partido (the one and only political party, the communist party) can be seen in signs, posters, paintings, sculptures, etc.

NEXT: Informal housing and barbacoas in La Habana Vieja.

Staying in a regular Cuban home made my trip to La Habana quite an ethnographic experience. A divorced mother (58 years old  and a university professor), her 33-year-old son (a carpenter), and his 38-year-old wife (a bank attendant and manicurist), welcomed me into their home and lives with open arms and tremendous generosity. In the next couple of posts, I want to relate some observations and remarks on the culture and life in Cuba.  Once these are completed, I will write about the informal tenement housing and barbacoas in the city.

Quick recap

Following the Revolution in 1959, the Cuban government nationalized all private business entities  (including the educational system, health, banks as well as other industries) on the island, becoming a communist and centralized state. The revolutionary government made tremendous investments in education and health, as a way to end the analphabetism and social injustices they saw present in capitalism. In the early 1990s, the fall of the Socialist Bloc in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe had devastating consequences for Cuba. The island’s participation in COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance – the Eastern European common market) had made long-range planning possible and the country had depended heavily on those member countries for oil, equipment and spare parts… One of the measures to address the crisis invading the country included the legalization of dollars, creating a dual currency situation (not “dollarization”- at present, the dollar has been replaced by the CUC).

Today, after 20 years without Soviet subsidies and 50 years of economic blockade, the communist government has increasingly turned to tourism as a new economic source.

Double Currency for a Double Cuba

Cuba holds two coins: the Peso (primarily for the locals) and the CUC (the currency through which tourists and the tourism business flows by). The most expensive and the best products are all sold in CUC- this ranges from food to clothing, to materials, etc.

25 Cuban pesos = 1 CUC

1 US$ (Dollar) = 0.8 CUC; and similarly 1 € (Euro) = 1.3 CUC)

Because of the two currencies, there is a great disparity between both Cubans and foreigners, and a strong dichotomy in the island: a painted Cuba for the tourist and a real Cuba for the inhabitants. Foreigners delight in the marvel of Cuba’s architecture, its romanticism, the old cars, the music and lively spirit, but what they don’t see is that underneath, there is a Cuba of despair, frustration and scarcity- the Cuba of the locals…the real Cuba where the great majority of Cubans can only dream of the CUC Cuba, a world completely inaccessible to locals. To put things in perspective, a salary for a well-prepared professional can be of 750 pesos/month. This translates to 35 CUC for an entire month! A regular lunch special in any restaurant is around 5 CUC, a pair of decent shoes are 40 CUC (not to mention brand name products which are around 80 CUC). Similar to times of harsh economic depression, Cubans have learned to recycle anything they can- from bags, to boxes, to anything else they can use….

Food

The house I stayed in is a modest one, located in the area called Alamar, on the outskirts of la Habana Vieja. Every morning, I got up, ate a mango or made juice from the mango tree in the patio of the house (the only fruit I would see during my stay), drink some chamomile tea (as coffee is very expensive and considered a luxury even though Cubans love it), ate a slice of relatively stale bread (the bread literally went stale almost immediately after leaving the store), took my morning shower and then headed off to the city center- the Old Havana (La Habana Vieja).

Supposedly, Cubans never go hungry because there of the food ratios (“raciones”) given out according to the household census. Having lived in a Cuban house, I can say that the raciones are barely enough and that food is scarce. Although one can find some products- the better products in places that sell in CUC- it is usually an expense too high for the average Cubano. Food is stored and sold in small stores with a limited assortment (there aren’t any supermarkets), or specific neighborhood markets located in assigned buildings that resemble warehouses… Red meat, previously one of the main protein sources for Cubans, is barely found in the island and it is extremely expensive. Ironically, fish is also expensive and for the most part, only attainable for tourists. That said, chicken and pork are the main protein ingredients Cubans eat, whenever they can afford them…this in addition to rice and beans of course.

Surprisingly, most fruit and vegetables are very scarce and quite expensive. Every salad I was able to eat in La Habana Vieja contained cabbage, carrots, green beans, and cucumbers.  Rarely a miraculous tomato would grant its appearance. This leads me to the next topic: agriculture.  Today, plantations and fields, which were once abundant, are in their majority abandoned. As in most of the world, fewer people are working in the fields. Looking for a solution, the government has greatly facilitated all entry applications for studies relating to agriculture, and has even imposed criminal sentences resulting in 5 years of agricultural work.