La Habana in 20 Minutes

[Warpy]

1. It actually looks a bit more prosperous

than it did in the last batch a of pictures a buddy sent me from a trip there about 16 years ago. More buildings have been painted (none had back then), some of the cars are new, most of the trucks are newer, and it looks like a lot of those old colonial buildings are being gutted for rebuilding. People are actually dressed a little better now. They always looked healthier than we do.

People picking through construction rubble for useful items happens here, too.

I'm just wondering why that guayabera shop was shut by order of the board of health.

In any case, they're still poor for a lot of complex reasons. A government that has failed to move them to a more mixed economy is certainly part of it, but not all of it.