Chris wrote:
Does Russia still export cars to Cuba? Putin has been trying to reestablish strong ties between the two countries.
The newer cars seem to be imports from countries other than either Russia or the US -- most were Japanese cars. I didn’t find much interest among Cubans from many different sectors to want to even talk about Russia let alone have improved relations. I spent a day with a Cuban professor of economics, and every time I tried to bring up the subject of Russia or Soviet economic models and such, she would just roll her eyes in utter disgust.
In general, it seems to me Cubans do not feel they benefited from their relationship with the Soviet Union…and then after whatever it was they did have, they were dropped like a hot potato. I think the Soviet Union did provide a very extensive mechanism to distribute Cuban goods and services within Cuba and beyond, and the low point in Cuba’s economic history in 1994 was the absence of a system to distribute goods. Production was not the problem in 1994. Cuba has since solved this distribution problem with “the blues”! :) These are actually blue uniformed workers who are involved in the Cuban goods distribution process...and trade of all kind.
Diane
