There will be no holiday feasts for most Cubans this December, but that’s not the case for foreign tourists staying in regime-owned resorts, who get to enjoy endless buffets of gourmet food. This is socialism in action.
Via Diario de Cuba (my translation):
Pork and other roasted meats, lobster, fish, ham, sausage, cheeses, desserts, a huge selection of breads, fruits and salads, sauces, everything the average Cuban can’t serve their families, not even on Christmas or New Years, can be found for the guests staying in the Cuban government’s hotels. The same government that hides behind the embargo to justify the massive food shortage crises suffered by families on the island.
At the Barcelo Solymar, the Occodental Arenas Blanca, and the Roc Varadero, the Christmas Eve dinner and the Christmas Day buffet featured a great variety of food, as shown by photos taken by some of the workers and published on the tourist resorts’ websites.
While the fortunate guests of these hotels celebrate at a level commensurate with the holidays, the end of the year in Cuba has produced images of endless lines to find a piece of pork. The State is selling it at 250 pesos a pound, but the cost is much higher at farms or markets, where in Havana it has reached 450 pesos. Furthermore, the “early risers” taking turns holding spots in the lines are not exempt from the fights that break out.
However, there are also lines to obtain the meager food rations sold by the State at its state-owned stores TRD, Caribe, and CIMEX. The sales process, which requires the purchaser to show a ration book, a ticket, their national ID, and even provide a signature, has been greatly criticized for the chaos it has created at some of the stores.
Foreign tourists celebrating the holidays eating their fill at endless buffets while the Cuban people struggle to find a morsel of food is not a bug of socialism, it’s a feature.
Here are more pictures of the socialist extravagance enjoyed by foreigners vacationing in Cuba while the average Cuban starves:
Do note that they can’t even spell Christmas correctly. But let’s not quibble; no doubt the food is fine–even though, to average Cubans, such a spread is like something out of a fairy tale, not to say food porn.
And by the way, the “revolution” does this sort of thing because it always does what suits the “revolution,” period; “the people” are an afterthought, or rather, a figure of speech. Ergo, this is perfectly “normal.” What should NOT be normal is that tourists from “good” countries should be such HUGE hypocrites, because if vacationing in Cuba were like vacationing in apartheid South Africa was, they would NOT go to Cuba.