From our Bureau of Potemkin Villages with some assistance from our Bureau of Tacky Apartheid Bubbles in Hell
Castro, Inc. has a way of creating enclaves of “niceness” within it own rotten, stinking, crumbling Cuba. These enclaves are for foreigners only, naturally.
There aren’t very many of these enclaves on the island, and they are very small in size, but oh, they are so radically different from the rest of Cuba that one might mistake them for alternate dimensions.
The best known of these “bubbles of niceness” is in Old Havana, where UNESCO funded a renovation project that evicted ordinary Cubans from their homes, fixed them up, painted them in garish colors and replaced the first-floor dwellings of the natives with tourist shops, restaurants, etc., and nice refurbished dwellings for foreigners and Castro, Inc. apparatchiks on the upper floors.
But, lo and behold, Castro, Inc. has created another such bubble in the beach town of Varadero. It makes sense. Varadero has the highest concentration of apartheid hotels and resorts on the island. What better place could there be for creating a Potemkin village that will impress tourists and fool them into thinking that Castrogonia is a nice place rather than a hellhole?
Watch the video and weep. The difference between this “downtown” and the rest of Cuba is colossal. But, even in this jewel of apartheid deceitfulness, Castro, Inc. can’t help but bring a touch of tackiness to everything. All in all, this bubble is so bespattered with bad taste that it will reinforce the notion most foreigners already have of Cubans, even before they set foot on the island. The aesthetics of “downtown” Varadero will surely confirm their view of Cubans as inferior savages. Lord have mercy.
The foreigners for whom these pockets of fakeness are designed are highly dubious just by vacationing in a place like Cuba. In other words, they’re highly unlikely to have a problem with such deliberate deception, just as they have no problem with lavish food spreads at their hotels in a country where ordinary citizens cannot even dream of such abundance. They must figure they’re simply getting what they’ve paid for.