Yesterday, we watched a documentary on the situation in Cuba. It appeared to be one or two guys with a small, handheld video camera asking people on the streets questions. Many of the responses were a surprise and weren't what I was expecting. For example, he asked many people what they thought about certain political things and almost everybody said that they didn't want to talk about politics. At first, I didn't know why, but then I realized that in a country without freedom of speech people have to be very cautious about what they say on film. They don't know what is OK to say so they just don't say anything. The video spent some time talking about the economic crisis that was happening in Cuba and the effects it was having on most of the people. Then it said that, in order to combat the economic crisis, Cuba was selling 1 million licensees to open up private businesses in their homes. This would hopefully stimulate the economy enough to keep the country alive. The documenters also interviewed people who owned private businesses who said that they were really enjoying being in control of their own money and sales; especially since they were making significantly more money than they were making working for the government.
I had a few questions about the video but mostly about the choices that people made. When Che Guevera died, Fidel Castro completely changed around the economic system of cuba to match that of the Soviet Union and of Communist China. This is understandable, since the USSR and China were trying to spread communism to as many parts of the world as possible. But didn't Cuba realize that these systems were failing and that switching to this economic type would only ruin the country? Or were they left out of all of the russian secrets until the very end? Who knows.
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