WAIT A MINUTE! I THOUGHT COMMUNISTS WERE SUPPOSE TO SHARE ALL AND ALL ARE TO BE EQUAL! OOPS, FORGET THAT COMMUNISTS ARE ALSO THE MOST HYPOCRITICAL ANIMALS IN THE PLANET! BLOOMBERG: Cubans with money revel in booming social circuit - by By Peter Orsi Its still a small segment of the population, however, and a far cry from the scene along the Malecon seafront boulevard where working-class Cubans gather by the thousands on weekends to sip from 90-cent cardboard boxes of rum. Here on the Malecon to have fun, look at girls, said Adan Ferro, a 20-year-old street sweeper, adding sarcastically: Where else am I going to go? The Habana Libre? HAVANA: Its Saturday night at El Cocinero, a chic rooftop bar that has arguably become Havanas hippest watering hole in the year since it opened, and theres no getting in without a reservation. There are plenty of foreigners, but also not a few sharp-dressed Cubans lounging in the butterfly chairs, sipping $3 mojitos and talking art, culture and politics. Its an image that stands in stark contrast to common perceptions overseas of Communist Cuba as a poor country where nobody has the disposable income to blow on a night out. Cubas nouveau riche are coming out of the woodwork, if not quite flaunting their personal wealth. Its a departure from years past, when Fidel Castro fulminated against newly rich Cubans who were getting ahead of their compatriots during an earlier economic opening. Cuba is still far from a consumers paradise. Nonetheless, there are more things here every day to spend money on, from home improvements and beach vacations to the hordes of smartphones and Xboxes imported for resale by islanders who are traveling abroad in record numbers. Foreigners visiting and living in Cuba have long been able to afford such luxuries. So have Cubans like Triana who work for foreign companies or embassies that pay hard-currency salaries competitive with elsewhere in Latin America. Then theres the art-world elite, which historically has been a core part of Cubas monied class. An artist who sells a single painting for a few thousand dollars or a musician who performs on an overseas tour is already earning hundreds of times what most Cubans make. Its a phenomenon that New York visual artist Michael Dweck documented in his 2011 book Habana Libre, the product of nearly three years photographing the unlikely fashionable lives of Havanas hip creatives. They are part of the elite. Not because they are in banking or importing or real estate — these people are the creative class, Dweck said. There is a privileged class living a pretty good life in Havana, which is the opposite of what we were told as Americans about whats going on in Cuba. Its on the bar circuit that Cubas Yuppies are most visible. Artists and intellectuals abound at places like El Cocinero and the Fabrica de Arte Cubana next door, opened last month by renowned musician X Alfonso as a combination gallery, concert hall and bar with a $2 cover. Others head to Bohemio, a breezy porch-turned-bar, to nosh on cheese and serrano ham tapas, or Cafe Madrigal, which began the private bar boom when it was opened by a filmmaker in 2011 and is now a favorite of the film and theater crowd. CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE! businessweek/ap/2014-03-24/cubans-with-money-revel-in-booming-social-circuit
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 19:08:56 +0000
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