In Cuba there is a type of business that has become fashionable: small private companies,
which have begun to play a leading role in the chaotic situation that
the country is experiencing. We will see the prices later. On a greater or lesser scale, they begin to be seen in each
neighborhood, mainly in the country's capital, Havana, which continues to be the place where the most
money moves; a Havana of contrasts where a liter of gasoline costs more than 2 and a
half dollars, where it is very common to stop on street corners to invent some way to bring a plate of
food home and where the forklift driver is always ready to give a little gift, because we are going,
we are in Cuba and everyone has a need, a need that is becoming dangerous and
turns into violence, murders, assaults, robberies. According to the official media,
the police catch the criminals in less than 48 hours... according to the official media... But
in any case, that is their function, to stop the wave of violence that is engulfing the
country, and this alone It will be achieved when material and human resources are used to persecute
criminals and not to those who come out to complain because they have not had water for more than a week.
The typical butcher shop of each neighborhood; so there is also a bakery, a grocery store, also a
winery, and it is normal to see the Cuban from here to there and from there to here finding out what has
arrived. The products of the basic basket that are sold through the supply book
have variations, sometimes in the quantities and sometimes in the time it takes to arrive.
Everything happens in the midst of the devaluation of the Cuban peso against the dollar. A salary of
10,000 pesos is equivalent to a mere 48 dollars, and as the weeks go by,
it will be equivalent to less. But I want to make it clear that the average salary in Cuba is 3,200 pesos,
and that an engineer or a doctor only earns 5,000 pesos. In this
inverted pyramid or completely inverted country, it is more business to sell brooms than to be a doctor.
Cubans have also been facing a problem of widespread scarcity, and between this and inflation,
covering basic needs has become difficult. The most urgent problem that
each Cuban has is that of food, but it is not the only one, there is also the housing problem, and
at the country level, the aging population. The lack of motivation that young people have to
stay in the country makes it accelerate and is noticed in the streets, the empty streets
of Cuba, a phenomenon that is seen more in the provinces. The ways to leave the country that
are in fashion continue to be the crossing, the humanitarian paroleo and any other way that appears.
In theory, with the salary increase that was made a few years ago, everyone
was going to live well in Cuba. In practice, even two salaries are not enough, two salaries that,
in the best of cases, would be equivalent to 60 dollars a month, and which is not enough when
you have to pay for electricity, water, gas, telephone, buy food from the basic basket
These expenses are minor, the food that is sold through the
supply notebook lasts for a meager five days. Once it runs out, the dilemma begins,
because you have to buy the food on the street and in the stores in MLC, the dollar stores.
And where is the contradiction? In that the private worker cannot be asked
to lower prices, if later this same private worker has to go shopping
at MLC stores where nothing goes down, on the contrary, everything goes up in price and more and more.
Meanwhile, in Cuba people are going to Surviving the way they can.
Lucky the one who receives remittances; the one that does not, does not have a peaceful retirement.
I want to take this moment to show you a simple product bought in one of those stores
in MLC, so you can compare with the prices in your countries. After that, we are going to enter the
issue of small businesses (MSMEs) and what could save the country. By the way we will also walk through
a not very good area of ​​Havana, there is a very interesting place that I want you to see.
(Price in MLC) What you are going to see next constitutes an
expense that women know very well, and men who have women, too.
Wow, it has given me work to open this little box. It is no secret to anyone that women spend
more money on beauty than us men. This cream that you are looking at here costs 9 dollars
and 15 cents. Please let me know how much it costs in your countries. Another habit that we have lost in Cuba
is giving gifts on important dates. Well, for what it costs, it's quite small,
only 50 milliliters. They say that the best perfumes come in small bottles... And this
might sound interesting. I was looking at the brand, I don't know if you guys know the brand.
I don't know if it looks good there. If you have seen it, let me know in the comments if you know what country
this brand is from. The box says that this is made in France, made in the European Union,
it says that too, but the brand does not necessarily have to be French. So those
people who want a Cuban woman, who I read so much in my comments...
start calculating.
(The private company) Walking you can usually see the Cuban, from here to there and from there to here,
always with the expectation that it could happen tomorrow. Cuba has gotten so bad in
recent years that one person's garbage has become the gift of another.
A reality that in the wonderful Cuba of tourists is not perceived, but the
reality can be seen when you leave the pre-established routes that the tourist guides have.
And many say why they don't sow. The answer is that this cannot be
done on a balcony, nor can it be done in interior apartments. If you want
to see how the peasants live, the ones who produce the food, watch this video.
Will the private company be a kind of transition to a capitalist economy? Another big problem
to solve is transportation. In Cienfuegos, a good part has passed to private management.
The difficulty is not only to move within cities, but also between provinces.
Today, to make an interprovincial trip you have to book more than a month in
advance, if the tickets appear, and those that appear, run out quite quickly.
To give you an idea of ​​how the Cuban economy is doing, we are going
to take a look at something that was eaten the most in Cuba: bread.
People look at the prices but have no choice but to pay it.
In most cases, these breads can be purchased thanks to remittances that
arrive from abroad. The piccolo, which used to cost between 3 and 5 pesos, now costs 160.
The actor that could change the country's economy: small businesses. It is said that
thousands of them have been approved, but most are focused on selling food at these prices. (Package of cookies 1.50 - 2.25 USD)
The product that is missing here is this package of macaroni
that costs 280 pesos, one dollar and 37 cents.
(Olive oil 12.20 USD) (Tomato puree 4.40 USD) We are walking through one of the main streets of Centro
Habana. We are going to move to a slightly less attractive place, but
coincidentally, there is one of the MSMEs with the best prices.
About the reason for the prices, I am going to make a comment in
a minute. There are some MSMEs that have cheaper prices than
others, this is one of them, but pay attention to the type of products they sell.
Powdered milk costs 9 dollars with 25 cents and condensed milk costs 2 with 83.
Taxi drivers fighting the daily, people in the doorways trying to sell what they can,
there are also many times who collect things from the garbage and
sell it here or in other places. I'm going to show you what I bought in this MSME.
Two packages of spaghetti 360 pesos each (720 cup - 3.51 USD). Almost half of the minimum pension in Cuba goes here
. It is time for pensions and salaries to rise again in Cuba.
The answer will be that there is no productivity to support that increase, and therefore it cannot
be done, and so I ask, what was the use of working more than 30 years?
We are crossing the Parque de la Fraternidad, a fairly busy area of ​​Havana. These
MSMEs that sell food are, to a certain extent, solving a problem that we had before.
It is true that there is more variety, although it is also true that it is not available to everyone. The
prices are still quite high, and why is this? Because there are intermediaries
involved. State importers play a role when it comes to bringing these
products to Cuba, and clearly they take a cut, that makes the final price more expensive and, who
pays for everything? The end customer, that is, the people. And although they are almost all the same price,
the competition may already begin. What I am going to tell you in a minute will astonish you.
The truth is that all this could have been done many years ago. What happens
is that there has always been a lot of fear of losing control and that this will change the
system. The situation has reached such a level that even a dish
that was not missing from the Cuban table has disappeared: explosive croquettes.
The failure mentality is still so ingrained that the other day I tried to buy an
external battery and a charger from a MSME, and they didn't want to sell me because
they only sell to workshops. In the end I was able to convince them, but this is just an example.
This whole issue of MSMEs is what is becoming fashionable in Cuba. I was telling them that it is not
easy to ensure who is plugged in, who is not plugged in. Clearly, the other power, the other
control, the ones that sell things like that and generate more money, are clearly plugged in,
you can't cover that with a finger and no one is stupid. But that is what is in fashion now and
it seems to me that to a certain extent it will save, I am not going to say the economy of the country, but
the stomach of many people, of course, of those who have money to pay for the things they They are
sold there, you already saw that they are not cheap at all. There is a curious case and he is the owner of one
of these MSMEs who said that he was going to start lowering prices to force the competition
to lower prices as well. It already started with the oil, the oil dropped from 800 pesos (4 USD) to 650 pesos (3.25 USD). He said
he was going to continue with the chicken, we'll see if this materializes or not, but I
think this is going to be interesting. This is how things are going around here in our country. I, to the extent
that I visit hundreds and certain places, who know that I prefer to visit cheap places
because it is what you ask me for the most and I believe that it is what every pocket of
any visitor who comes to Cuba can bear, to the extent that I visit those cheap places, I
am going to share them with you. So okay, nothing family, I'm glad to have shared
with you one more video from here from Havana, to have updated you on how
things are going around here. If you found this video interesting, leave a like, comment, I'll be
waiting for your comments, and if you haven't done so yet, subscribe to a little button that
says subscribe below, so that our family can continue to grow and we can
reach more people. I love. See you very soon in another video from here, from Cuba.