Cuba – catching a glimpse of socialism

Cuba is one of the last socialistic states of the whole world. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara established socialism in 1959 with the success of the Cuban Revolution. Of course, a lot changed since then, but on our journey through Cuba, we still experienced the enormous impact of the changes introduced by the revolution.
The socialism brings many benefits for the population. The health system is free for everybody and there are many doctors. Even in every hotel, a medic was present to take care of our health. Schools and colleges are also free. At the Federico-Engels-School in Pinar del Río, we were told that a test decides whether the students are allowed to go to a certain school or not and not the money of their parents. Moreover, the supply of basic food like rice is organized by the state.

Some of these things only work in theory. There is a critical lack of medication and equipment in the hospitals, so the doctors cannot help. Vouchers are handed out to everybody in a book by the government. At public places called bodegas, you can exchange them for food. Yet currently, the bodegas are empty in many regions, and the people have to organize food elsewhere. So, people have to pay a lot – at least if you consider typical Cuban wages – and sometimes the only way to buy things is the black market that relies on Euro or US Dollar instead of Cuban pesos.

Right on the first day, we also experienced other problems. We just began to eat in the restaurant of our hotel when it suddenly went dark. In the following days we, had to learn that it is more likely to have no electricity than to have it. At some places, the same is true for water. Thus, we had to go to big tanks and fill water in buckets to flush the toilets. For drinking, we had water in bottles from the Thor.
For us, this was very special, but the people in Cuba have learned to deal with such problems. They find creative solutions and if it does not work, they make the best of this situation. More surprisingly, even though the economic crisis exists basically everybody welcomed us with a smile on the face and waved their hands when they saw us. In the kitchens of our hotels, they did their best to give us enough food and as a consequence, the Cubans often did not have enough themselves. When I consider the insights I got about agriculture in Cuba during our bike tour and during a walk in the Vinales valley, it kind of makes sense. The people use oxen instead of tractors, the fields are tiny and once, I even saw a man watering a rice field by filling water in a hose with a bucket manually. A fitting quote of a student of the Federico-Engels-School about this topic was: “We learn to share everything. What we have and what we don´t have“. The solidarity and humanity definitely have to be recognized.

Everywhere in Cuba and especially in the school, pictures and quotes from the revolutionists are displayed to remind the people of the work of Castro and Guevara and to explain the benefits of the socialism. A certain level of proudness for the values of the revolution and Cuba in general is expected and present in the minds of basically all adults and some juveniles. Yet many of them struggle with imagining a fortunate future in Cuba and dream of better opportunities.

Since December 2025, the situation in Cuba is especially hard as you might have heard in the news. It was even uncertain, whether we could visit the country at all. Tropical diseases such as Chinkungunya spiked after the island was hit by a hurricane. Therefore, tourism has decreased drastically compared to last year. On top of that, the US embargo blocks trade with the Caribbean country through tariffs since the beginning of 2026. So ultimately, they have prevented most oil deliveries to Cuba in the last weeks. Consequently, the students from Pinar del Rio were unfortunately not able to visit us in Havana because they could not find enough fuel for a bus. Cuba still has small reserves, but they will not last forever and it looks like the situation in Cuba might get worse in the future.

Another recent source of frustration for the Cubans is a growing inequality. It is always difficult to deal with, yet in a socialistic state, it feels even more challenging as everybody should be equal in theory. However, the reality displays a stark contrast between a poor population in the rural areas and a few relatively rich citizens in Havana who own cars as well as secure apartments and who do not have to worry about food, electricity and water as much.
Traveling through a socialistic country was a unique experience and we learned a lot. It was clear that the country faces multiple challenges right now and that the US embargo has impaired the people.