In 1961 President Kennedy declared an economic blockade of Cuba because the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, had declared the revolution a socialist revolution and had expropriated (took over) several American companies. The economic blockade forbids trade between the United States and Cuba and restricts the travel of American citizens to Cuba.
Prior to the blockade Cuba used to be a very popular vacation site for Americans who would travel the 90 miles from Miami to gamble and see the Las Vegas style shows put on in the large casinos and clubs. Because of the trade embargo the visitor to Cuba will see no American cars built after 1959.
What seems like a visit to a car museum for the foreign visitor is harsh reality to Cubans who suffer from lack of access to spare parts for their cars. One will often see cars parked along the side of the road to be worked on.
The stereotypical pre-Revolution American car graving Habana Vieja. |
An old American car navigates Habana Vieja. |
A mechanic in Habana Vieja. A light red license plate means that the car is state owned. |
Working on a car in Habana Vieja |
The embargo has had a crippling effect on the economy of Cuba, but ultimately it has failed in its purpose to bring down Fidel Castro. It merely caused him to look for new trading partners - initially with the Soviet Union. In 1989, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Cuban economy faltered again and Cuba could no longer afford to import Russian made consumer goods or cars such as the Lada or Moskvitch. Now even acquiring spare parts for these vehicles is also difficult due to a general lack of hard currency to buy them. Increasingly one sees Japanese and Korean cars but once again lack of hard currency keeps them rare.
Cupet-Cimex is the regular Cuban gas station. Despite being rationed, with dollars gasoline is usually available - often under the table from a worker who has siphoned off a bit. Cuba has oil reserves and is only now beginning to develop them.
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A motorcycle with sidecar, a bicycle for passengers, and an old American car in Habana Vieja. |
The moped is very economical. |
