“The REAL Cuba: In Their Voices” is a documentary about the young artists and entrepreneurs in Cuba, who are creating their own type of revolution. Please hit the CC button to turn on subtitles and translations!
Cuba is more than a place that seems whimsical because it’s “stuck in a time capsule” and has cool old cars, cigars, rum, and beaches. The Cuban people have been suffering there under communist rule for over 60 years.
As a Cuban-American, with all of my grandparents having been born there, and family still living there, I found it my duty to share the real Cuba. To help educate travelers, and hopefully encourage you, and the U.S. government to help them as much as possible.
Time stopped when Fidel and Che took over in the ’50s. The U.S. embargo was created, immediately halting all exports to the poor country, and causing thousands of Cubans to flee. Leaving their families, homes, and belongings behind.
The new communist government originally aimed to make everyone equal, in order to mostly help the poor starving farmers. They made education, housing, and food basically free and equal for everyone. However they also decided to pay everyone equally as well, and not much at all (right now I believe it’s around $40/month).
With the lack of food, supplies, and the impossibility of ever getting ahead in business, the people and country literally became frozen in time. No new cars could be imported, which is why they STILL are driving the old classic ones. No supplies were available to maintain the upkeep on houses, so they all look like they’re crumbling. And of course, hardly anyone can afford to leave.
But there’s a new type of revolution on the horizon for Cuban people. The youth are discovering a way to both make more money, and voice how they really feel, through art and entrepreneurship.
For decades their voices were suppressed by the law. Propaganda is still everywhere and no one was allowed to say anything bad about it. Now, artists use visuals to explain their pain and frustration.
Now, people are allowed to turn their homes into highly profitable businesses. By renting them out to tourists as “casa particulars” or creating restaurants called “paladares”. And they can actually keep all of the extra money they bring in! In fact many entrepreneurs I’ve met have quit their jobs as doctors or dentists, because of how drastically more money they make working in tourism!
Tourism is so important to these people, and with the lack of it from the pandemic, they are suffering more than ever. When I was there in January, there were hardly any tourists. And then things got even worse when Trump declared Cuba a terrorist state in his last days in office. I had to flee Cuba two weeks early because all of the airlines were getting shut down, which means absolutely no tourists, and thus, no money. No food. People are literally starving there, including my own family.
So I hope you watch this video and listen to the young Cuban artists and entrepreneurs’ voices. Please share it and amplify the voices of those who have been hidden for so long. Please send it to the president and people in power, urging them to help make a change, and hopefully change the lives of these exceptional people.
And if you do happen to visit Cuba, please do what they ask you to do in the video. Walk through the neighborhoods outside of the touristy areas. Talk to the people if you can, many young people now speak English! Bring them food, medical supplies, and school supplies.
Please contact me if you are interested in going to Cuba so I can connect you with a local tour company called Havana Reverie, who I went with. It is mandatory for U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba through an authorized tour.
If you can’t travel to Cuba, please consider using this website to purchase and send food and supplies to people there. Please contact me if you’d like an address to send it to where I know people who will make sure the right people get them.
Nice to see you’re making your way into more video work. I know putting together lengthy videos takes a lot of time and effort. Just want to point out there are points where you speak and you’ve overlaid it with music, the music volume is so loud, it’s hard to hear what you are saying. Hopefully that’s constructive feedback for the future.
Keep at it and I look forward to seeing more videos of your adventures!
Thank you so much Simon! It was definitely difficult for me, and I could not figure out the music in the last part (how to lower it enough to hear the voice over)! I found a different video editing program though so hopefully it will be better next time!!