Housing: Rural Life

One of Castro's first priorities after the Revolution was to improve the lot of those living in the countryside. To this end a massive literacy campaign hailed by the regime was started. To the right one can see the self-proclaimed results of the estimated 300,000 thousand volunteers who went into the countryside in 1961. Of a population of nearly 7 million, 23.6% were illiterate before and only 3.9% after the campaign.

Emphasis was placed on improving medical care throughout the island. Today Cuba has one of the best doctor-patient ratios in the world and medical care is free, although there are complaints about lack of medicine being available and doctors are not well paid.

Selling the successes of the Revolution at the Museo Nacional de la Lucha contra Bandidos in Trinidad. National Museum of the Fight against Counterrevolutionaries.

Emphasis was also placed of course on improving housing. One way of creating housing was the formation of so-called "micro-brigades" of city dwellers who went into the country and constructed houses. They were released from work (as long as the production could be maintained by their peers who stayed home) and went into the country to build. Naturally there were some quality problems because the volunteers were not professional builders.

A village house in Viñales - notice the large front porch where the men meet to play dominoes protected from the rain and sun.

A farmer's house near Viñales. In the background is a a so-called mogote, a very steep limestone hill unique to this part of Cuba.

Thatched roofs are typical for country houses in Cuba. One can notice the open and airy construction of the houses which combats the hot summer temperatures. The ceilings are often high and the interior walls are open at the top and bottom.



The inside of a farm-house in Viñales. Notice that the walls are open at the top and bottom.

Another farmhouse in Viñales. In the foreground is yuca which is similar to the potato.

Unfortunately not all of the attempts to improve the plumbing in the countryside have been successful, as one can see in the picture below. Many houses have electricity, and in this village house (below and right) we can see a television and another feature of some houses - windows with horizontal blinds instead of a glass pane. What advantage would this have?

A comparison of the condition of urban and rural housing from 1958 (before the revolution) and 1998 in %

URBAN Good Fair Bad RURAL Good Fair Bad
1958 13 40 47 1958 3 22 75
1998 60 27 13 1998 32 36 32

Source: INV, leaflet presented at the International Seminar on Sustainable Habitat: Challenges for the New Millenium, GDIC, Habana, May 22-24, 2000 as presented on this website: http://www.housingfinance.org/IndustryInformation/Caribbean_Cuba_HousinginCastrosCuba.asp.

Look at the tables above and answer the following questions

  1. How many people lived in bad city housing in 1958? How many in 1998?
  2. How many people lived in bad rural housing in 1958? And in 1998?
  3. According to the statistics, the condition of housing has improved across the board from 1958 to 1998. How do you think Castro would use this information to support his socialist housing program?
  4. Where did the information come from? Could the source of the information possibly cast doubt on its reliability?

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