01 July 2008

Everyone Moving to Havana

Of all the Cubans who relocated internally, 40.8% move to Havana.

For several reasons:

Young people dont want to work the land. Especially the educated youth, which is just about all of them.

Havana has much more cultural and entertainment attractions than other cities, let alone rural towns.

The tourist economy is concentrated in Havana, so those with eyes for dollars over hard "honorable" work find more opportunity in the capital.

Most goods, even those subsidized and distributed throughout the country, enter and disperse from Havana. Which means supplies might run short before the far flung towns are stocked. It also means these goods are more readily found on the Havana informal market than elsewhere.

Apparently Cuba is going to address this "deformation of social conduct" by intensifying regional development.

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