CUBA
Posted By RACHEL SA
When Canadians bring gifts to Cuba, are we helping or hurting? I have
pondered this as I prepare to visit the island for a holiday this spring.
As a tourist, you need not look far beyond the walls of a Cuban resort
to see reality. The country is impoverished.
In Cuba, the average items a Canadian takes for granted, like soap,
medicines, toothbrushes, Band-aids, are rare commodities. So it has
become a custom for Canadians visiting Cuba to pack extras to leave behind.
But the practice of giving gifts, or charity, to Cubans raises some
difficult issues.
Aside from the potential awkwardness and sense of paternalism, does
giving a pair of panty-hose or a bar of soap actually make a difference?
And should Canadians feel proud of our giving when, for the most part,
we are helping the people who are, relatively speaking, financially the
most comfortably off on the island, the men and women in the tourism
industry?
The island of Cuba has a dual economy, two currencies. One, the
Convertible Cuban Peso or CUC (pronounced "cook"), was created
exclusively for the use of tourists. Cubans use the much less valuable
Peso. Those who are lucky enough to have access to CUCs are much better
off. So anyone who comes in contact with tourists, such as hotel workers
who are tipped in CUCs, are some of the wealthiest on the island.
It is important to note "wealthy" in Cuba doesn't mean mansions and
swimming pools. It can simply mean having enough to eat, the basics.
"By and large, the Cubans who most need the charity of Westerners, like
affluent Canadians, are the 60% who have no access to the CUC economy,"
says Robert Wright, best-selling author ofThree Nights in Havana.
"It would be a fine thing for the Cuban state or even for Canadian
tourists at large to find a different strategy to try to get these
charitable gifts into the hands of people who have no access to the
dollar economy."
So, then, does it make sense to bring gifts to those who are already
doing so much better than their neighbours?
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"You've raised the very question that the Castro government has been
flummoxed by," says Wright. "How to redistribute wealth, in particular
from the tourist sector. It's bedevilled the Cuban government. They are
not happy about the dual economy, the black market, about the polarizing
wealth effect."
But just because the economy is lopsided does not mean Canadians should
stop trying to help. In a country that has so little, nothing will go to
waste, Wright says.
"The average Cuban is poor. Every basic commodity, even including toilet
paper, is in extremely short supply," Wright reminds me. "It's wrong to
argue that the toothbrushes or the soap or whatever that you bring down
doesn't have an impact. Sooner of later, the net effect of giving,
whether to a poor Cuban or to an advantaged Cuban, is that someone in
need is going to use the product in the way it was intended. It will
land in the hands of someone who needs it and is thankful for it."
Even if it goes through the black market before it lands in someone's
grateful hands?
"Yes, it's worth it even if your donation takes the form of a black
market exchange and middlemen along the way earn a bit of money to buy
more powdered milk for their kids," Wright says. "Every donation in Cuba
is a good donation."
That is why I will take gifts to Cuba again this time, on this trip.
It's not politics, it's economics -- helping people who need help.
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