Cuba: High prices, lines and shortages | DW Documentary

In Cuba, the socialist project begun by revolutionary hero and former president Fidel Castro is teetering on the verge of failure. The nation is sinking deeper into crisis, with many people’s daily lives marred by shortages of food, medicine and electricity.

Cuba has been subject to sanctions for decades. Despite recent attempts at reform, the country is increasingly isolated and economically dependent. A currency reform enacted in 2021 is also causing major problems, with inflation soaring and prices skyrocketing. Food is scarce, and lines in front of the few state-run stores are getting longer and longer.

Poverty is on the rise. Even the famous ingenuity of the Cuban people is reaching its limits as they try to cope with the day-to-day effects of the crisis. Images of bygone revolutionaries are fading in the streets the capital, Havana, and all over the island. Official voices continue to broadcast the state’s ideology, but ordinary people are losing hope that things will improve.

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[aaronaustrie]

This documentary is teaching me to never take life, ppl, and things for granted!

[berational]

This documentary is heartbreaking. I visited Cuba a few months ago, the people are wonderful but quietly desparate. We need to cherish and protect what we have.

[YKKY]

DW makes those kinds of documentaries that make you rethink your life, your choices, your spending habits and your political stance. Thank you DW, this world needs it now more than ever.

[_ykchhwq]

This is an excellent video. Those of us who have lived in Cuba almost all our lives can affirm it without mistake.

[RedStarRogue]

6:50 103?! Damn guy can still walk unassisted as well. Props to him, he's lived through alot of Cuban history.

[Andreggs-vk]

20 years since i left and never went back i share a tear watching these

[InDahoodYooo]

It was eye opening for me as a Canadian citizen after I visited Cuba 🇨🇺. You started be more appreciated for everything you have here in Canada 🇨🇦. God bless Cuba 🇨🇺 and people of this wonderful country ❤

[yoeldeleon]

im a cuban living in finland 
and this documentary broke my tears out and remind me how ilucional is in Cuba to even think about having the basic things that we all have here in Europe and more than anything the help the European countries give to immigrants like me to start a decent live and honourable life
I was the protagonist of a documentary filmed by two germans filmmakers about relationships betwing tourist and cubas but it never got released as I was inside cuba in those days still and the fear of me ending in prison was to high so the filmmakers decided to not put its out there wish is really sad sit contained lots of real life history in it

thanks DW FOR BRING THE REALITY OF CUBA OUT THERE

[bhaskarchatterjee]

I love how dw produces such eye opening documentaries and makes them available for free so youtube, really an impacting one

[laurab]

Finally, an objective video that shows the cruel reality that the Cuban people live today - exactly at it is. Cubans have a spirit of survival that never ceases to amaze. This is the best documentary about Cuba that I have seen in many years. Thank you, DW for another important video.

[katiecampbell]

My boss at work is from Cuba. He is a refugee. He was a journalist in Cuba and wrote an article about Fidel and the situation in Cuba and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Even though he never said Fidel’s name everyone knew it was about him. He spent one month in jail and he didn’t tell me how he got out but he said thank god for the United States. He wants to go home to visit and says the people of cubs are tired. I hope they stand up and make Cuba better. I hope he gets to go back to visit. His story made me so sad.

[DanielPerez-dlgs]

This documentary broke my heart. I've been put through an emotional rollercoaster. The saddest part is the feeling of hopelessness they transmit when they explain their situation.

[chizpa]

As a Cuban who left for another country, hoping for a better future, I can say that this is one of the most accurate documentaries that I've seen in the internet about the REAL situation in Cuba. I have seen so many documentaries that show only a façade, and hide the ugly truths. Good job DW, for making this great documentary. I must say that I had a few tears running down my eyes watching it because it brought back a mixture of feelings of nostalgia, but also of impotent hatred. I have not been back since the day I left 20 years ago, not because I don't want to see it again, but because I don't want to contribute a single cent in funding the cancerous government that has strongly taken hold there for so long.

[corredor]

Thank you DW for sharing a glimpse of Cuban reality to an English audience #patriayvida 🇨🇺🕊

[roseoftibet]

I drove 3500 km in Cuba, alone, 30 years ago. It is disheartening to realize nothing have changed since. Such beautiful country and wonderful people. They don't deserve this plight. It's not safe to complain loudly about the status quo. Being a foreigner speaking fluent Spanish, some people told me things they didn't dare to discuss with friends. I lived 21 years under a military dictatorship in Brazil and could feel and understand the unease vibes now and then.

[seanc]

I've been travelling Cuba for last two weeks. I've got money and it's hard to find most essentials. I really hope they can find their way out of this situation.

[m.w.]

I went to Cuba in 2019. It was an excellent trip. The people are some of the most community-oriented and generous I’ve ever met. Even though many have so little, they go through life with positivity.

The conversations I had with the people - especially with the young - revealed the lack of hope they had for their country’s future. I would assume that almost everyone has a friend or family member that has left the country to look for a better future. Many want to leave, but simply do not have the financial means to do so.

I hope one day that the pressure to leave the country disappears. It truly is a beautiful country with a beautiful culture.

[noface]

What a beautiful and heartbreaking documentary. Left me in tears. I feel for my people in Cuba. The desire for change is strong, but the fear is stronger.

[arlenefrontin]

Right now I have a Cuban nurse seeing about me here in Trinidad and she is amazing woman ❤

[l.lsr.]

Hope isn’t a strategy. If the people don’t stand up for themselves, nothing will ever change. My heart breaks for my countrymen as they suffer.