Thawing ties with US are changing Cuban towns

Insight

Thawing ties with US are changing Cuban towns

Cuba’s private sector is now well established in Havana, especially those businesses aimed at tourists – businesses like restaurants, hotels and taxi drivers.

But what about other parts of the country where tourists seldom go.

CCTV America’s Michael Voss traveled to Holguin, at the other end of the island, to see how economic reforms are being implemented there.

The city of Holguin is a provincial capital some 750 kilometers (466 miles) from Havana, far from the center of power.

There are tourist resorts further along the coast although few come to visit the city.

Instead Holguin’s private sector is servicing the local population. They are mainly small family businesses ranging from car washes to taxi drivers.

At the other end of town, the local authority has allocated space for a market where private stallholders sell household goods and building supplies.

Such items are often hard to find in the state-run stores although don’t ask where all these came from.

The private sector is restricted to small, mainly service sector jobs but Holguin suggests that they are now accepted as an integral part of Cuba’s socialist society.


Peter Hakim on economic shift in Cuba

For more about the economic shift in Cuba, CCTV America’s Mike Walter spoke to Peter Hakim. He’s president emeritus of the Inter-American Dialogue.