Originally Posted by
Ivan Cloherty
I was in Cuba 1954/55/56/57/58 all under Batista at the time, I was in Cuba in 2016 and it sure hadn't improved any, apartments/houses falling down, no infrastructure on a daily basis, lack of fuel and food, 2 months waiting list for internal flights, 1 weeks book in advance for a bus between major towns, so much poverty but the people were resigned to it. Travel permits required for residents to travel long distance The workers in the hotels didn't want cash tips as there was nothing to buy, we took a suitcase full of childrens clothes, childrens toothbrushes, toothpaste, pencils, pens and colouring books etc. There are two currencies, local and tourist, locals get fined for having tourist currency and vice versa, all foreign has to be declared both on entry and exit any discrepancies which are not covered by Exchange receipts and you are fined and any foreign exchange confiscated, they search you. sure as hell wasn't utopia for locals