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As our American mission team stood beneath a Jesus statue overlooking the city, we watched numerous cruise ships dock magnificently in Havana’s harbor. Old Havana’s downtown streets brimmed with nostalgia from times past-Chevrolet Bel Airs, Plymouth Belvederes, even Studebakers, shuttled sightseers from one historic landmark to the next. Icons and paintings of Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and Lenin littering city walls and streets-such was how Cuba’s capital city presented itself the first time we visited there in 2016, with a team of 74 college students.
My wife, Jill, and I have collectively ministered on the island 40+ times since then. This is what we observed.
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The Communist Government is notorious for fronting and facing pristine views for outsiders, tourists, dignitaries, and sightseers, while citizens realize dilapidation is hidden inside. It took years for us to distinguish between exteriors and interiors, between facades and facts. It’s all a surprisingly well-kept secret that citizens have to keep out of fear. The poor conditions, however, eventually seep out.
As you stroll past ornate downtown buildings, the architecture alone looks grand, and the fresh coats of paint on the exteriors make them even more appealing. But the minute you slip by the guard stationed at its doors, if you are able, you’ll witness only wall-to-wall deterioration inside.
If visitors attend a sporting event, their bathrooms have soap, clean stalls, lids, toilet paper, and hand towels. But for Cubans, not one of those “luxuries” is available. None.
If out of country guests stay at an Airbnb, only they get generators for power during the daily blackouts. The citizenry living blocks away gets left in the dark.
Possibly cruelest of all, as we sat with our Cuban friends on their “beach” (even they were humiliated to let outsiders see how pitiful the conditions were), they had to witness tour buses by the dozen drive past, headed for the luxurious oceanfronts. Can you fathom! Beaches, they themselves are banned from visiting. Infuriating.
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Free food? Government rations that purportedly feed a family for a month run out in 3-4 days. How do people eat the rest of the month? Good luck figuring it out.
Fishing off the coast in order to survive? It’s illegal unless a permit is acquired, which few can obtain or afford.
Free healthcare? Not once have I met a Cuban who gets the prescriptions they need from their own system-they must depend on family or friends visiting from other countries.
Income? Cuba has the highest education levels in the Western Hemisphere. A Doctor’s or an Engineer’s take-home pay is $14 - $19 a month, the cost of a dozen eggs.
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While visiting Havana last July, conditions had become so dire that even the smoke and mirrors failed to fool anyone. No amount of window dressing could hide such a terrible degree of desperation.
The economy barely hung on by a lifeline then, more like a lifestring, with goods, services, and energy mainly provided by Venezuela. Now that blockades are preventing energy and other shipments from entering Cuba, utter collapse is only a matter of time. Capitulation in some form is a certainty, I believe, sooner rather than later.
As sad as I am to say it, things will get worse, which seems entirely impossible, before they get better.
So, what can you all do in the interim?
Nothing would mean more to our Cuban brothers and sisters than to hear from you. You can be a pen pal to share uplifting verses and words of encouragement.
I am asking you to click the Facebook link below, then click a name to see where that person lives. You will be able to see whether they are a Cuban citizen based on their location. Then send them an encouraging message.
Trust God’s providence to connect you with the very person who needs to hear from you most.
Only share verses, words of encouragement, ask about their families, their faith, the church they go to, etc.
https://www.facebook.com/ElRelevoGSham/followers
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