Cuba: High prices, lines and shortages | DW Documentary
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- čas přidán 21. 10. 2022
- In Cuba, the socialist project begun by revolutionary hero and former president Fidel Castro is teetering on the verge of failure. The nation is sinking deeper into crisis, with many people’s daily lives marred by shortages of food, medicine and electricity.
Cuba has been subject to sanctions for decades. Despite recent attempts at reform, the country is increasingly isolated and economically dependent. A currency reform enacted in 2021 is also causing major problems, with inflation soaring and prices skyrocketing. Food is scarce, and lines in front of the few state-run stores are getting longer and longer.
Poverty is on the rise. Even the famous ingenuity of the Cuban people is reaching its limits as they try to cope with the day-to-day effects of the crisis. Images of bygone revolutionaries are fading in the streets the capital, Havana, and all over the island. Official voices continue to broadcast the state’s ideology, but ordinary people are losing hope that things will improve.
#documentary #dwdocumentary #cuba
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Being poor is romantic only in books.
Best simple comment 👍🏾
Known to the rich sychophants intelligencsia need a flow of money to exist , a buffer of the rich.
Exactly!.And ONLY in books!.
Burn those books asap. Communist doctrines have caused havoc by causing division between the classes.
And us poor run on hope that tomorrow will be better. If we lose that hope we lose all.
This documentary is heartbreaking. I visited Cuba a few months ago, the people are wonderful but quietly desparate. We need to cherish and protect what we have.
The timing of your words… People calling for fascism, or authoritative government in the U.S. are totally clueless… and, we’ve always had people living in deep poverty, there are more and more every day.
Hope we wake up in time.
@@levmoses742 I hope so too.
@@levmoses742 I don't think fascism was the ideology that screwed up Cuba.
we will be like cuba soon
@@TerrorballNoise whichever ideology placed all those sanctions on them for 70 years
Hope isn’t a strategy. If the people don’t stand up for themselves, nothing will ever change. My heart breaks for my countrymen as they suffer.
If you’re indeed Cuban you should know that Cuba has been under an illegal international embargo (led by the U.S.) since the 60’s and you’re going to claim that this result has nothing to do with it? 🤡
Its a strategy , from USA and and followers exactly because people stand up for themselves ! Even if they made mistakes it s their own path!
@@georgeantonopoulos545 it’s not a strategy, nothing will ever change if all you do is hope for change. Their own path? Tell me when is the last time that Cuba has held a democratic election? Look at the living conditions of your average Cuban. No constitutional rights, no freedom of speech, press..etc You can only blame the blockage for so long, funny how government officials have BMWs and all of the luxuries but the average person has to wait in line for hours for their monthly allowance of chicken and can’t put food on the table for their children.
@@georgeantonopoulos545 It’s not a strategy. Countless Cubans have died hoping for a change in their country and 70 years later, it’s still the same garbage. Others have taken matter into their own hands and risked their lives and the lives of their children in pursuit of freedom and the pursuit of happiness in the U.S. when’s the last time Cuba has had a democratically appointed president? It’s shameful that in 2024 more than 3/4 of Cuba suffers and lives an impoverished life. You can’t blame everything on the blockade, plus it’s been about 70 years, if you can’t find other trade partners in that time then your government Isn’t worth anything. Absolutely unnecessary and shameful for our children to live the way they live, they deserve better.
Too hungry to fight.
This is an excellent video. Those of us who have lived in Cuba almost all our lives can affirm it without mistake.
DW documentaries are the best!
This documentary is teaching me to never take life, ppl, and things for granted!
...hope you also see that communism doesn't work.
Plenty of areas in USA as bad as this !!! Also life outside the city in the countryside of Cuba is way better than what you see here. This is bullshit DW
@@rockymntain I know that from "autopsy".
Why did you need another people's suffering at the hands of US rogue nation terrorism to figure that out???
Let's not forget that Socialism is not kindness, it's just taking you're things and leaving you with nothing too feed you're family, just say no and mean it, it maybe harsh and cruel, but remember you have a family to take care yourself, not just them.
6:50 103?! Damn guy can still walk unassisted as well. Props to him, he's lived through alot of Cuban history.
Cubans are known for living a long life.
A long miserable life
103 years of poverty and life never getting easier. I feel sorry for the Cuban people.
It's not surprising people can live so long in cuba. Solid healthcare system that both free and the best educated staff in Latin America. Most of them are even better than American doctors. If only america ends their illegal embargo on the island, so they didn't hade to suffer from equipment shortages
My boss at work is from Cuba. He is a refugee. He was a journalist in Cuba and wrote an article about Fidel and the situation in Cuba and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Even though he never said Fidel’s name everyone knew it was about him. He spent one month in jail and he didn’t tell me how he got out but he said thank god for the United States. He wants to go home to visit and says the people of cubs are tired. I hope they stand up and make Cuba better. I hope he gets to go back to visit. His story made me so sad.
Fedil Castro a Wise man,he is a lawyer and he knows everything about leberty human right and freedom,he knows freedom of speech freedom of choice and many other freedom,but fedil Castro a Wise man and ambitious man, choose communist, because this communist system,this is the instrument to fulfill and achieve his goal and ambition to become a communist dictator leader in Cuba,fedil Castro organized communist revulotion,but his personal interest or self interest revulotion,he tricks the people to support his self interest revulotion,Castro hate democracy and freedom and he hate elections,he love communist so much, because this is the system of government that to fulfill his goal and ambition to become an absolute communist dictator leader in Cuba,and Castro wanted absolute power,that no one can opposed to him,no one can disagree with him,no one can question to him and especially no free elections,and fedil Castro also wanted,that he lead Cuba in no limit's,with his communist socialist dictator regime...
And fedil Castro wanted to lead Cuba with no limit's,with his communist socialist dictator regime....
Yeah, cause there possibly couldnt be a good reason to this. I mean he obviously would tell you the whole story.
@@user-yh4ee4is2r"he was a lawyer" yeah as if American, Russian, or any lawyer of any nationality are known for their trustworthiness
I visited in 2022; I remember asking for milk for breakfast at my airbnb and the host was only barely able to get a small container because he knew a farmer who had a bit. Very eye opening and unfortunate, long lines for the most basic essentials like cooking oil, one woman feinted standing in line in the hot sun waiting for it. My heart goes out to the Cuba people
end the embargo then!
How can the people get gasoline for those cars so easily ?
Where is Che Guevara when you need him? Where is Fidel when you need him? OK, I get it, they're both shopping for groceries and will return soon....
End the repressive government! Give the Cuban people FREEDOM! Let the Cuban people freely express themselves,let them farm their own land freely without bs government interference, let them travel freely abroad and within their own country! Cubans who have fled their own homeland have prospered immensely, regardless of which country they landed in..! Cubans are hard working, resourceful, intelligent, and willing to sacrifice in order to better themselves..! So ask yourself this: Why can't they do this in their own country? Perhaps it's their own government that prevents them. A government more obsessed with maintaining their own power than actually implementing policies for the betterment of its own people. Embargo. As if all of Cuba's woes is only due to one thing. You sir are a simpleton with absolutely no clue whatsoever about what actually ails Cuba and its Citizens... You should really educate yourself before posting a one line comment about something you clearly know nothing about!!!
@@bobsager7034
@@gregrodriguez714 ok goofball
20 years since i left and never went back i share a tear watching these
Where to usa?
How do you leave Cuba like are there embassies and do cubans have passports where you can travel legally or you have to travel illegally by sea or smuggling?
@@josephkawak362 They have passports. Usually they either go directly to USA (illegally) or to Mexico (illegally, through Central America). In Mexico they can apply to the US embassy for a special residence permit that includes work in the USA. They must stay in the US permanently for the first year
@@mierypesado6740Here’s the crazy part: those Cubans then turn around (once they become legal) and then vote for right-wing candidates. That makes no sense. They unfortunately see Democrats as “socialists” due to misinformation campaigns from leading Cuban Republicans in Miami; and so they vote accordingly because they have been brainwashed. Also alot who come here end up becoming super racist. Just telling it like it is.
they used to have visa lotteries as well. that’s how I came. they stopped having them now though
im a cuban living in finland
and this documentary broke my tears out and remind me how ilucional is in Cuba to even think about having the basic things that we all have here in Europe and more than anything the help the European countries give to immigrants like me to start a decent live and honourable life ........
I was the protagonist of a documentary filmed by two germans filmmakers about relationships betwing tourist and cubas but it never got released as I was inside cuba in those days still and the fear of me ending in prison was to high so the filmmakers decided to not put its out there wish is really sad sit contained lots of real life history in it
thanks DW FOR BRING THE REALITY OF CUBA OUT THERE
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!
Now that you're Finnished, can you contact the original filmmakers to release the documentary?
@@DWDocumentary maybe contact this person so they can show the documentary
You get prizes in America and Europe when you say you're from Cuba. But I bet you that if you came from Syria or Iraq, the only job you'd have is scrubbing toilets from those you consider you a terrorist and living in a tent.
@@hitchensghost My thought also. Try to pry the footage lose.
I went to Cuba in 2019. It was an excellent trip. The people are some of the most community-oriented and generous I’ve ever met. Even though many have so little, they go through life with positivity.
The conversations I had with the people - especially with the young - revealed the lack of hope they had for their country’s future. I would assume that almost everyone has a friend or family member that has left the country to look for a better future. Many want to leave, but simply do not have the financial means to do so.
I hope one day that the pressure to leave the country disappears. It truly is a beautiful country with a beautiful culture.
It’s a beautiful country but if there were more wealth it would be unbelievable. The day before I left the host whom I LOVeD asked for some of my lotion, makeup, and inhaler . Her mom has asthma and allergies and was impossible to get medicine. I left it all with her, benedryl, Advil, perfumes, soaps everything she was so happy. She came out the next day with a little makeup on .. some tinted lip gloss she was smiling and her husband was watching her smiling that something so small made her happy. I also left her some snacks I had like granola, peanut butter etc.. she was most happy for the medicines. She asked me to come visit her again. She was so beautiful I still have her number I should text her
We visited Havana for a month in 2014 shortly after Obama addressed a plan to lift the embargo. We, and all who we met, were very excited but also conscious that in a few years the unique beauty of Cuba would be crushed with the flood of free trade, Walmart, Costco, Coca-Cola, more. 2014 was an exciting time and a time of hope.
My impression of Castros version of socialism was genuinely very bad. I constantly observed a vibrant people who simply had zero motivation to make their lives better. Shocking how compared to Mexico there is essentially no cottage industry anywhere, where grandma can set out a few tables & chairs and stew up a better taco than her neighbors and pay the rent? This is forbidden in Cuba? One day I walked for hours looking for a loaf of bread in Havana.... Every bakery sold the exact same little square of the same white bread. Did Castro prevent them from creating a bread superior to the competition?
@@kippywylieyou know that’s a great question. I didn’t pay attention to that bc why don’t they just bake bread? We do it every week here in my home. We just bake our own bread. I’m going to ask some Cuban people. I’ve never even thought of that.
Thanks for the update
@@kippywylie The embargo lifting does not automatically mean that Western capitalists would be allowed to come in and pillage, Cubans know better than to allow that.
Excellent video. Thank you for your solidarity with ordinary Cubans and not repeating the propaganda lies and victimization of Castro's tyranny.
Castro has been dead for a few years, catch up!
You are correct!! Fedil Castro is a lawyer he knows everything about leberty human right and freedom,but he is a Wise man and ambitious man,and he wanted absolute power,he idolized the Marxist style of regime the communist dictator regime,Castro organized communist revulotion but his self interest revulotion to achieve his goal and ambition to become a communist dictator leader in Cuba,that no one can opposed to him,no one can disagree with him,no one can question to him and especially no free elections, Castro and his communist party cronies oligarchs, oppressed the right and freedom of the people,and make the cuban people poorer,but Castro and his families and their communist party cronies oligarchs was become more Richer and richer....
As a Cuban who left for another country, hoping for a better future, I can say that this is one of the most accurate documentaries that I've seen in the internet about the REAL situation in Cuba. I have seen so many documentaries that show only a façade, and hide the ugly truths. Good job DW, for making this great documentary. I must say that I had a few tears running down my eyes watching it because it brought back a mixture of feelings of nostalgia, but also of impotent hatred. I have not been back since the day I left 20 years ago, not because I don't want to see it again, but because I don't want to contribute a single cent in funding the cancerous government that has strongly taken hold there for so long.
Of what I have seen in this documentary the cuban people are tired and desperate and want a change. Sooner or letter this dictator government will collapse something is going to happen.
Government trying to help is always the problem.
How many slaves did your grandfather own before you got kicked out of cuba?
Good job for running away, cockroach. Nice job taking the problem causers
Side.
I am from Ohio, and currently commenting from the city of Pinar del Rio,Cuba. I can tell you this documentary is just showing a tip of the iceberg. Cuba is a failed state or nearly getting there. My heart cries for the Cubans. Words can't express the misery and suffering of these people. I am a PhD candidate doing my research in the City of Pinar del Rio.
They are fat, old and lazy. F-'em
What’s the long term solution then? Can they adopt Argentinian economic model- free markets/Keynesian interjections? Your thoughts?
@@PrincePaulIowa . Their system requires political overhauling. Communism has failed everywhere and they need to get rid of it.
They let you enter with an American passport?
@@NorceCodine Yes! you can come based on educational, cultural and religious programs.
I wish they would’ve asked the 103 year old how his life was before Fidel and how life in general was back then. My father is 71 and he was 6 when Fidel took over, he barely remembers how it was before. We left Cuba in 2004 when I was 14 and it was bad back then, but now it’s much worse.
Cuba was bad before the revolution, and it was bad afterward. I felt like Cuba are cursed to remain poor. I pray one day Cuba will rise up from the current situation.
@@chiensyang it was better before the revolution as far as economic advantages are concerned. Before Fidel, people were allowed to own businesses and industries. After Fidel only the government is allowed to own them.
I drove 3500 km in Cuba, alone, 30 years ago. It is disheartening to realize nothing have changed since. Such beautiful country and wonderful people. They don't deserve this plight. It's not safe to complain loudly about the status quo. Being a foreigner speaking fluent Spanish, some people told me things they didn't dare to discuss with friends. I lived 21 years under a military dictatorship in Brazil and could feel and understand the unease vibes now and then.
I've been travelling Cuba for last two weeks. I've got money and it's hard to find most essentials. I really hope they can find their way out of this situation.
Cuba and Germany would do well to get the knee of the USA off their necks.
They can't find their way out because the US is keeping their foot on Cuba's neck
Should the communist government collapse in Cuba. People will have everything
why the fuck would you go to cuba lol
The only way out for Cubans is to shoot their way out of communism. However the Castro communist dynasty has left the people hungry and disarmed. Hopefully soon they'll have a 1989 Romanian style coup....where the military helped to overthrow their former dictator.
DW makes those kinds of documentaries that make you rethink your life, your choices, your spending habits and your political stance. Thank you DW, this world needs it now more than ever.
Spend it all before the bank takes it to "save itself"
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment!
You can't blame us for not planting a tomato or planting spinach or blame us for throwing a fishing line in the ocean ...the u s. Can't be blamed for none of that shit ....lloll...
I'm American and I grow my own food in my house if I do that shit they can do that shit too to supplement there caloritic intake ..
Now that they aren't allowed to have a tomato plant or plant potatoes,.. or fish cuase
.
it gets you ten years
That could maybe be the real story ....
Spinach is 40 calories
Tomato 70 calories
Broccoli 30 calories
Potato 130 calories
A fish 300 calories
Plus the Cuban system for the rest.
So ? Let people fish and farm.
@@raybon7939 go away! If you hunt you're c**t, you are fishing, you are just b**ching.
20:17 - I visited Havana in 2012 and I took a photo of this building from which the balcony on the left had fallen off. And when this documentary was made in perhaps 2021 (?), this structure was still partly in ruins with its balcony still missing.
Tom Sowell:" ...if you reduce the cost of goods to zero there will be more demand than supply". (I guess many people don't believe it.)
If communists understood economics, they wouldn't be communists lol
Well, I'm from Santiago de Cuba and I can tell you the situation of the Cuban people is not only economic but lack of freedom and lack of basic human rights. When a people can't elect the government that's dictatorship.
Dictatorships re NO good.
True
I'm born in Germany and Financial democracy is a dictatorship as well
I wish you good luck for your beautiful country❤ once I gonna visit Cuba and the people cheers from Bali 🌴🌞🇮🇩Indonesia
Im sorry mi amigo..greetings to you and your ppl from the middle east..we love you.
Dictatorships vary in degrees of shittiness. Rwanda is practically a dictatorship but is doing well due to good economic planning.
Thank you DW for sharing a glimpse of Cuban reality to an English audience #patriayvida 🇨🇺🕊
anything released by DW doc is not reality, but a twist on reality to fit their agenda.
Thankful from an english audience. There are over 50 diff languages in this one video lol
@@drd6893 End the US Blockade of Cuba!!!!
@@drd6893 If only every Dem would watch this.
This is the exact same establishment propaganda you will hear everywhere else. The sanctions were briefly mentioned as if they are insignificant. The Batista dictatorship was portrayed as the best thing ever. They didn't succeed in showing a single starving Cuban though.
Thank you for showing the truth of my country and my peoples truth.
That 103 year old man has so much strength!❤
During a cab ride to Havanna a few years ago we were chatting up the cabbie about life in Cuba. One of my questions was if there is a lot of crime or a mafia in Cuba. He said, only one mafia. The government... It was quite surprising how candid he was given the potential repercussions.
@Tony Yayo Haha. Yeah. Schwarzenegger style. I guess he trusted us to not say anything to anyone even if they repelled out of the sky.
I think it's probably like when you give random criticism it's not dangerous, only when you voice that opinion to a large audience it becomes dangerous.
Thats actually good for the country..its safer to live in a place where theres only 1 mafia gang with no rivals...we only need to make manufacturing companies and chicken farms there to provide jobs and food supply to the masses
@@fidelcatsro6948 name checks out
@@fabpete your truly🐱👍🏿♥️♥️♥️
Finally, an objective video that shows the cruel reality that the Cuban people live today - exactly at it is. Cubans have a spirit of survival that never ceases to amaze. This is the best documentary about Cuba that I have seen in many years. Thank you, DW for another important video.
Did you have an opportunity to watch the doc on Netflix about Cuba and if so what did you think of it. The whole revolution was televised.
That professor said it all when she said that Cuba is an island and surrounded by the ocean yet they lack salt and fish. Oh snap!!!
Not made by DW just distributed and that is good, of course, but it was made in Finland by Yle.
Same thoughts, thanks for your comments!
I really appreciate DW since the war started, and I started watching EU programming. I don't know if any American outfit could produce this quality, the lens has a different hue and focus.
Wonderful to see a clear-eyed view, and have people open their thoughts to the camera.
Thnaks for posting !!
Its anti-socialism propaganda 'blaming the victim' for US terror and aggression.
People often think the root of all evil is money.
It’s the lack of money that is the root of all evil.
Gosh, once the absolute pearl of the Caribbean. Hollywood stars flocked to its beaches. Now Cuba is only held up by a dim shadow of that distant glory.
Yeah it was where our wealthy stayed lavishly but the flip side was why Castro was able to topple it all. Only the elite Cubans that were in on the scheme benefited while ignoring the underclass. No "Trickle down" .
They replaced one mafia with another.
I was 6 years old when I left Cuba with my mother and grandparents. I remember getting on the plane, and my grandmother admonished me, "Don't say anything bad about the Cuban government, or they will turn this plane around and throw us all in prison." Imagine being a child and having that as your last memory of your life in Cuba? That was in 1970, and nothing much has changed in Cuba - except that perhaps things are even worse. I would like to clarify that not all Cubans see Fidel as a revolutionary hero, but as a ruthless dictator who ruled Cuba with an iron fist through fear and intimidation. #patriayvida
Most of whom are in Miami. So many chances to reverse the Cuban Revolution in the last three decades, and they all failed. Those are the facts.
Glad you escaped the socialist trap.
@@jonc6157 yep... I thank my lucky stars often.
Republican or Democrat?
The only things that changed are the flies!
I love how dw produces such eye opening documentaries and makes them available for free so youtube, really an impacting one
Your views are worth a lot lol. DW makes money off our views.
But you are right. They make great documentaries and I watch them regularly.
@@yamayama6083 Socialism never works; a nice Lie and totally-debunked Myth. Man, EVERYTHING is done to shield from objective facts like 'Americas unlawful, inhumane Sanctions strangle Cuba', huh?
!
10 years wow prison like sovetunitedfederation love rusia
everybody looked well. Malnutrition wasnt a problem it seemed. Cuban People have an amazing vibe.
They are funded bytr German gov? Who are in league with USA in sanctioning n destroying countries no? In addition of reporting people's unfortunate misery MSM could offer help no?
As a Cuban this is the best documentaries I have seeing ln the real you tube ..What is got to happen is all the people have to say enough is enough and DO something about to be able to get democracy the good life .I would love to see that happen in Cuba .Is the best thing that wo happen in Cuba ..I see the better Cuba and now is very very bad,I was there 13 yrs ago and and i felt terrible the way they live....
I have family in Cuba that I’ve lost contact with I wish I could figure out a way to reconnect I hate seeing my people suffer💔
many tourists go to cuba... one may help you with that.
So sad, the Cuban people are beautiful, talented, resilient, and their music and food are awesome, and their birds and other wildlife are absolutely gorgeous. I hope I'll live to see a free and open Cuba one day.
You mean a Cuba that looks like Guatelama or Haiti?
Lift up your American sanctions
Let Cuba thrive with its Socialist government
This will definitely show the failures of the Americans
Lol food is questionable at best half the time
The US should have normalized relations decades ago. Punishing Cuba for Fidel is idiotic. And after all these years, the US could have lifted their standard of living 1000% and gotten loyal friends out of it. But nooooooo..
More likely that US, Canada and Europe will become more like Cuba.
This is what central planning does to a country.
I feel for these people. Must be painful seeing all the Canadians coming to vacation with no concern with money compared to what the Cuban people endure.
Cuba was falling apart 10 years ago when I was there, I can't imagine what it is like today. So difficult for Cubans.
Cuba fell apart 50 years ago. Germany thinks that because they report on it they were the first to notice it.
@@brianlacroix822 Whewww. Excellent take.
Looks to me like America and the west are falling apart
@@johnfrancis2215 The entire world is.
@@johnfrancis2215 they're not. stop basing your world view on RT tv and DW.
I would love to see a documentary about the people who are living in the countryside. See how their daily life is.
Probably even worse in the countryside!!
I live in Brazil and know three Cuban doctors who lived in the countryside there, in differente regions. This friends of mine say that the situation is even worse.
Worse of in general than in the cities or towns. They basicaly dont exist.
Plenty of videos on CZcams about it but they are in Spanish
@yoliene and @victorg are a cuban couple that live there and record everything… its spanish but you can get an idea. those are their tags for their channels
I’m confused as why Cuban authorities would allow a foreign country to build a facility where people are kept in atrocious conditions without charge or basic legal representation.🤔
After watching this documentary, I have a better feeling
Because I noticed we are not alone in this world with these problems
I can understand their situation and sympathy them entirely
Love from Iran to all Cuban people
It's heartbreaking to see those poor women fight over a bit of food.
Agree. They should be angry at their grandparents for backing Fidel. Ruined the country
Boring
@@HCIbn Boring is tu culo
Remember those poor old women used to laugh when rich people were killed.-
@@ekovio😂😂 thank you for the laugh ..!
These people are strong af! Only a Cuban can make a 57 Chevy run with a 1981 Mercedes engine 😂 and they've got 103 year olds walking down the street getting their own groceries cracking jokes! I hope this country gets the redemption it deserves
They asked for it, hope they get the best communism has to offer.
My heart goes out to the Cuban people . I hope for better days ahead for the Cuban families.
It’s pretty amazing how they kept those cars running so long.
Worked with a car detailer at a dealership. Dude was a nurse in Cuba before he escaped. Made $22 a month.
While in Cuba, we went to a private restaurant. The waiter was a school teacher. Then we hired a tax for the whole day. Our driver turned out to to speak excellent English and was very knowledgeable about Cuba. No wonder-he was also a University Professor, teaching English!
I don't see any white Cubans.
@@heraldomedrano1417 I don't remember exact numbers, but approximately 90%+ of the Cubans who left Cuba after the Revolution were white. Then after the Revolution Castro brought a lot of poor Cubans-many, of not most of them black-from the countryside to Havana in order to create a powerful support base. Thus, the racial demographics has significantly changed since the Revolution, especially in Havana.
@@heraldomedrano1417what does that have to do with anything?
This documentary broke my heart. I've been put through an emotional rollercoaster. The saddest part is the feeling of hopelessness they transmit when they explain their situation.
Thanks a lot for watching and for your positive feedback. We appreciate you taking the time to comment and
are glad you like our content!
yes everything for USA they been sanctioned for more than 50 year! and they doing the same with Venezuela !!!
the usa prevents any company in the world from trading with cuba. why dont you tell the audience this part of the story? dw, you are so cinic
@@feliperistuccia2569 really? any company in the world? No, what you have here is a few corrupt, power-hungry individuals running an oppressive regime. You fell for the lie and believed the deception.
@@DanielPerez-dl2gs yes, if your company sell products to cuba, you cant sell or buy from any company in the us. who do you think people will choose?
What a beautiful country !! We hope things become better for Cubans and Venezuelans !! They do not deserve all that suffering!!
Wrong! They asked for it and they can enjoy the fruits of their efforts in helping the Castro's take control of their country. I shed no tears for them
The Cuban economy grew and improved the standard of living of Cubans since the beginning of the Republic in 1902, until reaching, in per capita terms, the seventeenth place in the world in 1955. Cuba became the first tropical country to leave from being underdeveloped to becoming one of medium growth. However, in 1959 the Cuban economy deteriorated rapidly, reaching 90th place in 2018. This fall is considered an exceptional case in the world economic history of the last century. Only Syria and North Korea surpass Cuba in the enormous decline of their economies in that period.
What a beautiful and heartbreaking documentary. Left me in tears. I feel for my people in Cuba. The desire for change is strong, but the fear is stronger.
Why would this leave you in tears. Are you new to reality
@@FrenchSaladMac its called empathy, something normal people feel
@@jolo88671 for the weak and stupid, like you. Every time she cries there's a politician who's counting the embezzled funds that should be distributed amongst the vast majority of the population
All the women look plenty fat to me. No hunger in Cuba I think
I will have to go to the Cuban Embassy and donate boxes of goods, especially shoes. I can't fathom rationing bread and standing long hours in food lines, just for 1 chicken !! 💔
The Revolution can never fade because it is an eternal idea and spirit - and it is permanent.
What a strange embargo. Cuba bought more than a million dollars in eggs from the US in November 2023. Eggs are scarce in Cuba. Before 1959, Cuba was self-sufficient in its production of eggs for consumption by Cubans, and it was a very cheap product on the market accessible to all budgets.
The tourist resorts in Cuba are quite nice. If you can, take a holiday there. The hotel workers appreciate little gifts, and tips for friendly service. The best job in Cuba is a bartender at a Cuban resort or a tour guide for the generous tips you get. I met a tour guide who quit his job as a University professor to work as a tour guide and earn 5 times more money. Going to Cuba is easy if you’re from Canada or Europe. It might be more difficult if you’re from the U.S.A. Nice documentary…thanks for posting.
The musician’s words @11:00 are true to most oppressed societies, there’s a world outside the box.
Iv'e seen this in England, new music comes when times are hard.
Like Punk & 2 Tone also Rave
Citizens of the world have to learn how to grow there own food in apartments.
I agree with the statement that the people live in fear of speaking out. They are a defeated people, easy to see it in their faces. I go to Valadero and La Habana at least once a year and nothing ever changes in that country and I have the utmost respect for Cubans
Havana is crumbling as people continue to live in the buildings. It’s heartbreaking to see.
Without a doubt…..DW has some of the BEST documentary’s….PERIOD!
Thank you very much for your kind words!
This is the best documentary on Cuba that I've seen, very well done. I was in Havana earlier this year, first time in Cuba. I have been to communist countries as a kid (China in the mid 1980s, USSR before its collapse), but have never witnessed such complete decay as I did in Cuba.
@@MrSgtau Did they talk about the sanctions and how they work? Bc I am almost 10 minutes in and kind of getting bored bc it still hasn't been discussed.
@@luperamos7307 naaah Cuba is in great shape a time capsule we will never experience elsewhere in the world! We only need to set up jobs there for the people so they can continue driving great looking cars from the 50s with reliable Toyota engines in them that lasts forever!
"Cuba is an island, in the middle of the sea, but we have a shortage of salt and fish."
Hi Paul thank you for the update it is good to know John has done good since he went back home ,and now returned to the Philippines
Viktor Belenko was the Soviet pilot who defected in 1976 by flying his MIG 25 to Japan. In his book he described the same thing about the long lines. If you saw a line, you automatically got on it not always knowing what was available once you got to the front of the line. Belenko described the constant shortages of every kind of civilian good including food. But there were special stores in which Western goods were available. Only the Communist Party elite was allowed to shop in those stores.
The young guy called Miguel Alejandro Hayes, was my boss back when I lived in Cuba. We worked at the same newspaper (The Trench) talking about the problems of Cuba.
Este es un documental muy interesante. Porque la cobertura de Cuba es muy limitada, y es muy difícil para los extranjeros conocer la situación actual dentro de Cuba. Información como esta es muy útil porque hay muchas facetas en todo. Respeto a DW por producir un documental tan significativo.
Rebo-lucion = ROBO-LUCION
This is a cheap communist propaganda video by Germany.
That was not a Mercedes engine. It is a Hyundai. (You can see the logo on it!)
That old man is not 103. He's in his 70s.
The military and police of Cuba is made up of the children of the people of Cuba, just like Russia.
If they don't care about their families, what does that tell you about them?
President Trump just reversed his communist african predecessor's relaxation of sanctions.
Just like every good neighborhood gone to hell, look at who's running things when the decline and you'll see who's to blame.
In the US, look at Cincinnati, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Baton Rouge, Los Angeles, and countless other communist/democratic party governments and you'll see the same thing as Cuba.
Look at Czechoslovakia vs Vietnam to see what happens when communism is held onto by people vs when it was ended. #WakeUp
17:40 Exactly stop blaming US embargo 63 years after the Cuban Revolution.
Why is the enbaro still in affect 63 years later? Preventing cuba from trading with other countries
@@definitlynotbenlente7671
Cuba hardly produces anything worth trading.
"In Cuba, all we can do is hope"
THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE THE CRISIS
(I'm cuban)
Cannot believe that Island was once ‘A pearl of the Caribbean’ but now… 😢
I feel for the Cuban people, and I hope things get better for them.
Not likely. This is what they have planned for the rest of us!
Lol...they need Fidel back.
@@daviddefranco5218 you' re funny
Blame JFK. This could have ended in 2 weeks in 1961.
@@manolokonosko2868 100 %
Nilda people like you must stand up and join forces - change can happen if you stand firm for change.
Good luck with that! It's like trying to regain one's virginity. A dead end road.
Right now I have a Cuban nurse seeing about me here in Trinidad and she is amazing woman ❤
It's so crazy to imagine being told the Revolution is still going on 60 years later? Whaaaat?? That's 3 generations.
The revolution doesn't end until true Communism is achieved. The USSR gave it a good go, China's still stumbling on.
You need a boogie man to scare the people into excepting sacrifices.Marxist`s natural enemies is free enterprise.Price and wage controls and government owned means of production drags down people`s will to work hard.Thus official peso and black market peso.Cuba`s elite shop at the black market while the poor go to the state store.
History will be 103 years old. His life’s story needs to be recorded for the world to hear.
boring nobody wants to read about some murderous dictator and his strife and his lies about how he will deprive everyone but it's actually salvation
If something is sad in Cuba, it is seeing that large number of old people wandering around all day, half ragged, without teeth, and with a bag hanging on their arm, as if they were zombies, something that was never seen so widespread before 1959. Those who have a pension, it is a pittance that is not enough to feed themselves for even a week. That was the generation that in the sixties of the last century trusted that Cuba would be better after 1959, and 65 years later they only see misery, food shortages and destruction everywhere, and their young relatives emigrating incessantly, leaving them alone, waiting receive a few dollars from their emigrated relatives
"Being poor is only romantic in books" - Sidney Sheldon, Rage of Angels.
I have been to Cuba twice. I love the people, the art, even the food a little. I wish I could return or help but neither is possible right now. My heart is with you.
the only way to help is to talk to the bully of the wold !!!! they sanctioned cuba since the 80s
As an American I find it ridiculous..Cuba is part of the US no reason it should be like this
@@SpaceRanger187Cuba is not apart of the US. The US owns Puerto Rico not Cuba. Cuba is its own Independent country.
oh I thought it was. well we need to take it back. Cuba and Puerto Rico should be amazing, then again they would just ruin it like they did Hawaii. Greed is destroying the world, cant have anything nice@@andreamcintyre3394
This is the real cuba that the world is finally seeing , I live in cuba until I was 16 years old , and watching my parents struggle everyday to feed me and my brothers was heartbreaking and on top of that being harassed by the government , i thank everyday the United States for opening the doors to my family and giving us a chance to experience real freedom.
do you also thank the usa for supporting batistas dictatorship that led to the revolution? or the american companies that explored the guajiros, which made them support the revolution? or the fact that the US uses sanctions to make people turn against the government?
@@vinishow3503 if they weren’t a socialist/Marxist society, they could absolutely still flourish without the US. They’re not barred from trading with anyone but the US. Their problems are of their own making and nothing more.
@@frontierlandfrank5314 Actually the US can block any trades with other countries that involves something that has been produced by an american company, like its hard to buy a bus if the tires are american made. Also cuba has to sell sugar at lower prices so that other countries feel intrested in buying it because of the embargo and America has threatened ti sue any company that does bussinnes with cuba because they want compensation for what was confiscated, even tough cuba offered to pay for what they took back them.
@@vinishow3503 Then do you had any idea on where they might relocate? Anything except the west? North Korea ?
You and your stupid whataboutism always 🤡
@@putra4101 i didnt understand what you said
Alina you speak the truth - citizens like you must unite and form a party that can challenge you present government!
People that lived in East Germany will relate to Cuba.
Terribly sad. It's obvious that Cubans are wonderful people with an amazing culture. I cannot imagine the hopelessness people feel, and the only thing I can do is hope that situations improve.
Tell that to the current US administration, lift the embargo!
@@fidelcatsro6948Once there were over 30 communist countries, now only about 5 remain. Why is that? Communism can never provide a decent life for people in the long term.
@@johng4093 yes nothing can survive under Israel and US and it's evilry
La situación de Cuba es una gran pena, yo no puedo imaginar lo que es vivir sin democracia, fuerza y paciencia desde Uruguay 🇺🇾❤️🇨🇺
hahah despierta,,,
Cuba es mas seguro que Uruguay y Canada...
@@bbqsauce875 y? Tampoco es mi mayor preocupación
They want to kiss Putin’s culo
@@edwardbrown3721 y tambien Cuba tiene un programa medica mejor que los estados unidos. En Cuba no tienen el technologia igual como Norte America y el oeste de Europa pero la gente no paga nada en la oficina porque todo ya esta pagado con impuestos. Aqui en los estados unidos mucho gente caen en dueda por tantos facturas porque la aseguranza no cubre todo.
God bless the brave Cubans that spoke in this documentary I hope they're safe right now
As people say today in Cuba, *WE PREFER BATISTA WITH BLOOD, THAN FIDEL WITH BLOOD AND WITHOUT FOOD*
My daughter in law lives there with her family , so sad what they are now going through
I just sent over a bunch of solar lights,chargers, phone, batteries, silver, cigarettes and other goodies to a friend I met on a trip to Cuba. My aunt went on their honeymoon there so that makes me feel good to create a bond with someone in such a small time. And continue to help make my friends life a bit easier from so far away in Canada. They're all So friendly and nice always smiling.I love the people and the country. 💕
Wish I could do more for them, and it gets better for these beautiful people.
When I visited the island I gave away toothbrushes and other things which are expensive in Cuba.
@@RicardoMartinez-oh9sq yep,toothpaste and soap, we try to do what we can for our friends no matter where they live. I would love to go back. You use to be able to take a suitcase if you called the airline 6 weeks ahead. It's free. 50lbs of stuff to give away.
IN CUBA THERE ARE NOT WONDERFUL PEOPLE, THAT IS A BRAINWASHED. THEY DESERT WHAT THEY HAVE, A KARMA FOR THEIR BEHAVIOR OR WRONGDOING, IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME ASK TO THOSE CUBAN THAT GET OUT FROM THERE IN 1980 TO 1985 OR A LITTLE MORE.
Silver?
@@Octobre1986 I'm a metal detector and I find silver,gold and coins. A necklace and some silver earrings. I'm not sure they could sell it. I'm not a rich person. 😍
Why people allow the governments to push them down, I'll never understand. Depending on the overlords for survival, is always going to end badly.
THANK YOU DW.
All the best for Cuba 🇨🇺 from South Africa 🇿🇦
Unless you are Cuban and have followed the story of the REVOLUTION since 1959 you cannot possibly understand CUBA. Forget about understanding Cuba after watching this documentary for 55 odd minutes. I have been hearing about Cuba my whole life. I have listened to hundreds of Cubans tell their story. I only lived there for the first 8 years of my life but have read extensively and I still don't understand CUBA. It is a failed state. A nation haunted by demons. Hunger, misery, depravation, filthy hospitals, no food, no sanitary conditions. A state that claims that children are a priority but education is so bad that children aren't sure if they are in the 4th grade, the 3rd, or the 5th. A country where a female doctor makes 10 times more money with a side job as a prostitute to make ends meet. A country where a professor supplements her/his income driving a taxi, where there is no fish yet they are surrounded by water. Cuba is a nation where people are taught to hate each other. A government sponsor CDR, neighborhood watch watches you 24/7. They are the ''chivatones''' or whistleblowers who suffer as much as anyone else but will call the SECRET SERVICE POLICE to knock on your door at 3:00 a.m. and haul you away for a wrong comment you made against the government. A country where a Jehovah's Witness carrying a Bible and speaking against GOD is a dangerous citizen who is marked, so that s/he is not able to attend any university. And in this last crisis, 20,000 Cubans are leaving per month to the USA, Central America, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Europe and beyond. CUBA IS HELL. CUBA IS A CESSPOOL. CUBA IS INFECTIOUS.
Both countries are in dire trouble. Best of luck to both.
@@kovy689 and what trouble is south Africa in since you know too much?
@@snazzyfreddy You live there and you really don’t know? Pity.
@@kovy689 Tell me the troubles and stop asking stupid questions
I'll bet those persons in the government interviewed don't have to wait in line for food!
What was the name of that song in the beginning?
The video is as it should be, it faithfully reflects the real Cuba of today and not that of Castro's lies. Congratulations DW
Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!
Having some Cuban friends myself, I really feel for the Cuban people there. I wish the change for the better will come for them in the nearest future.
yes ones USA stop sanctions them ,,,, they been sanctioned over 50 year’s ,
It's pretty simple actually. Just have the US government lift it's economy siege and they'll be fine. They've been subject to a siege since the 60s. Their only crime is that they wanted the freedom to align themselves with whomever they want. You know, the thing we argue for for Ukraine. I suppose it's okay for Ukraine but not for Cuba. The US is at the heart of all of Cuban problems. Read every UN report on Cuba and they all say the same thing: sanctions are the problem.
@@Screaming-Trees As a Cuban I say BS. The Castro's should have been dealt with long ago
@@Screaming-Trees Lifting the embargo helps the Government but leaves scraps for the people
@@wwbuirkle That's not what the UN reports say mate. And UN has more credibility than you do (as an anonymous commentator on CZcams that is).
EXCELLENT documentary. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was stuck in Santiago de Cuba in 2001 with no money, after a medical emergency. I had to stay in the slums outside the city. I saw DIRE POVERTY. The images of Havana above are like luxury compared to the slums in the east. The huge difference with other poor countries is that in other countries there is HOPE and there are POSSIBLILTIES. You can dream of starting a business from scratch and earning a decent living. Or you can dream that your children will be educated and find a good paying job. But in Cuba there is no hope, there is no way.😢 The dictatorship is SHAMEFUL. Also, there is no freedom of speech. People risk going to jail. Now, with the consequences of the pandemic it is absolutely unacceptable the situation there. 😔
Education in Cuba is compulsory and free at all levels. Healthcare in Cuba is free. The level of education in Cuba is excellent. To be illiterate would be a difficult "achievement". I've seen the poverty there too as I lived there. As a Cuban resident, my doctor collected me from my home and drove me to the hospital in her personal car. Never underestimate the Cuban people. In a difficult economic situation they may be: Illiterate, they are not. Uneducated, they are not.
@@happydillpickle Thanks for your comment. I don't mean to say that people there are uneducated or illiterate. I just wanted to point out that I saw miserable conditions in the slums outside the city of Santiago de Cuba. Unfortunately, education and health care didn't help those people. But then again, that was 2001 when the government had tight control on the economy and very few businesses were allowed. The economy opened up more for citizens since then. But still, life in a slum in the east is not the romantic vision of Cuba that foreigners have. But yes, I agree, Cubans are very resourceful and kind. :)
@@chelsea65030 A good few of the people from what could probably be termed "shanty towns" you describe travel to Havana to "jinetear". I doubt you'll have missed the jineter/o/s back then. I was living there the year you visited. So many were leaving with foreigners, often on spouse or fiance visas, hoping for a better life. It used to knock me sick seeing the young teenage girls rubbing suncream onto the middle to old aged male foreign (sex) tourists on the beach. You'll almost definitely have run into the "cheaper rum, cheaper restaurant" scams. The guys doing this often come from the places of which you speak. They cook indoors on charcoal fires, wash with a bucket of water on a mud floor with a shared bar of soap that needs to last...and last...
I've seen mother dogs suckling puppies on a mud floor, crawling with fleas. You'll probably have been offered food and shelter by people living in such conditions if you had a long wait. Of course, the police cracked down a lot on illegal mixing with tourists for financial gain. Arrests, fines and deportations to other provinces were standard.
I''m sorry for my brusque reply. It's such a different place from what foreigners expect. It's just not for lack of schooling or doctors or an adequate healthcare system that people struggle. The national health service is excellent. The tourist healthcare service I have never accessed: did they have all the medications you needed? I always wondered if they were reserved for paying foreigners. I believe there are more doctors per capita than in any other country! There's a big emphasis on natural treatments for lack of access to pharmaceuticals.
What is disgraceful is that when the population struggle with frequent power cuts, the hotels keep their power via generators. I heard the hospitals don't necessarily. I have no idea whether this is true, but it's certainly true that the government licks the proverbial of the tourism trade at the expense of the dignity of the population.
It was (is?) illegal for a fisherman to sell swordfish and lobster to the public. His catch went to the hotels. The tax was huge.
You'll probably have seen lots of renovation work going on in Havana when you were there. I wonder if those gorgeous buildings they restored are still...wait for it... expensive hotels...
@@happydillpickle my friend, health and education were free also before 1959 and the governments then were not repeating it again and again all the time.
People may be literate but 8o% of the population just read the names of the products in the supermarket. Most of Cubans have a lot of difficulties to spell words.
You are very lucky about your experience with the doctor. You are not Cuban I guess.
@@happydillpickle Haha, no worries. It's interesting for me to process what I saw two decades ago. My experience with the health care system was excellent. (I was lucky though because I heard horror stories from Cubans about local experiences with the medical system). I got appendicitis while there. I had no insurance but they still operated on me, with the condition that I couldn't leave until I paid. Operation was smooth and one week hospital stay was fine. After that, they said I couldn't board a plane for at least a month, because of the pressure or something. I also had almost no money (it took a month til some money could arrive from my country). So I had to hide out in the slums, as I couldn't pay for a casa particular. I hid out in homes around Chicharrones. I saw shacks in an area nearby. I saw some pretty desperate conditions. People literally hungry with no food. I'm not kidding. The rations from the gov were not enough. State salary (e.g. for working in a factory) was $7 at the time and not enough. As I waited for the okay to travel, I spent a month just hanging out, walking the streets. Nothing else to do. The little bit of money I had had, I had given to a family to cook for me. I experienced 2 extremes. The first was kindness, sympathy and hospitality from people who had nothing themselves. I cannot deny that there were some genuinely wonderful people there with no hidden motives. And thanks to them I survived. At the same time, I was also swarmed by men when I went into the town centre. I didn't know the term jintero back then. I couldn't walk a block without being stopped by one. Even women would stop and say "amiga" and then ask for money. I knew what people were up to because where I was staying, every day women and men would head out to the town centre to find a tourist. OH LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING. During that time, people from Santiago could NOT go to Havana. They had to get gov approval and that was rare. And let me tell you, Cuba is more racist than the gov likes people to think. But I'll leave that topic for now. So, living in desperate situations, and with no way out, they saw tourists as their only way out. AND I AGREE WITH YOU 100%, it sickened me too to see young girls with middle and old age men. Disgusting!! And so SAD! I didn't see it on the beaches as I could only go to local beaches lol, but I saw it in the town centre. The sex tourism is really in your face.
One thing that BROKE MY HEART was when locals of all ages, men and women, would come to me and ask for medicine from abroad, for this and that serious condition. I believe there was a severe shortage for the locals. But there were some Cubans who lived pretty well. They had income from abroad, from family, or they had a large nice home in the centre, and they were able to set up businesses (the few that were allowed then). Even better off were those who were in the gov. The disparity was hard to see. Anyway, eventually I was allowed to leave and pay from my home country. I had a bill of over $3500, and I am sure almost all that money went to the gov, not to the doctors and nurses.
Okay, so back to the jinterismo. I get it, they were in a desperate situation. Living in a dictatorship with few options to put enough food on the table, and god forbid, live a comfortable life. BUT one thing I will never agree with is the fact that they USE foreigners. They're not upfront. Better would be a marriage contract... more honest. Like in most countries from which people leave via marriage. Not that I am condoning that of course. But I've heard countless stories of people being dumped by their Cuban spouse soon after arrival in their country, when they thought that it was a real relationship. But maybe things have changed now. Maybe there is more honesty. I haven't been there since. Okay, my 2 cents, haha.
When i visited Cuba in 2006, the living conditions were heart breaking but the people slways had a smile on thier faces and we're so friendly
In Cuba, the leaders of the Castro caste and the military high command and the high bureaucracy, as well as foreigners, have new cars. The few Cubans who have cars are old cars. Cars prior to 1959 are almost all used as taxis for foreign tourists.
Where are they getting parts for the autos?
As a Canadian, when I go to Cuba I bring alots basic stuff and give to the people......2 full luggage at least....
And May get busted by US coast guards…
cuba sucks due too government , need get rid that
Don't bother, they are the one who made their country like this
Christian
Good man,best wishes from England 👍
@@user-vz5rl6kk8d The best part is the face of the custom agent when they check to luggage.....ton of toothpast, Tylenol, Toothbrush, ect.....$400 of stuff....
And they give you the best service in the world...smile included
Woah, the old man is 103 and as healthy as a horse. God bless him.
Thats socialist supply chain disrupted starvation induced Autophagy for you as prove!!
He has never ate McDonald's is why
Capitalism isn't perfect... But it's better than this
Heard that
I was in Cuba for a few weeks, it was terrible to see how people struggled. They had nothing. Every single transaction had 6 people taking piece. This is why you cannot "centrally plan" a bloody economy.
I'm in guardalavaca Cuba now. It's very depressing, but the people are amazing
26:53 good doco overall but omg that guy on the left 🫡🫡
Everyone in the recent protest marches in Cuba asked for food, electricity and FREEDOM from the Castro tyranny, no one in the protests mentioned external culprits, neither the USA nor the US embargo (sanctions).
Thanks for letting the world see this. I’m tearing up for my people, because even though I’m not there anymore it hurts to see the reality of a country that had so much potential just going downhill and my people with such a lack of hope because they’re finally faced with their truth . Breaks my heart.
venezuala is worst
Communist Jews…
@@GungeScleraEmpyaema quite hard for a country to be worst than Cuba. Not many.... North Korea perhaps.
@@GungeScleraEmpyaema not rlly… Venezuelans have guns, bullets, hell there’s even food there at least and has some open market. Cuba compared to Venezuela is a shit hole
sometimes there is no chicken or milk. must be hell on earth truly
If us Americans don't waken up , this is what is coming to America !