Cuba: after half a century

50 years after the national uprising, held by Fidel Castro, and adopting the communist ideology, an island in the Caribbean - Cuba - the only country in the Americas with the communist political system. While under the control of the Government of Cuba's economy has never been developed so that Cubans living in conditions similar to the conditions of life in the US or Europe, many Cubans middle-aged and older continues to support the regime of the Castro brothers and the idea of ​​the Cuban Revolution. Since the 1990s Cuba struggles with chronic economic crisis and young Cubans crying out for changes in the economy.

16 Photo © Jan Sochor

1. Hundreds of Cubans with flags express support for the regime of Fidel Castro and his brother Raul during the annual celebration of the beginning of the Cuban Revolution in Santiago de Cuba





2. Young Cuban in fashionable glasses in front of the old stairs in a dilapidated house in Havana.



3. Young Cubans before Fidel Castro's famous speech on the wall of confectionery in Havana.



4. Kubinka distributes bread to his countrymen quota Cuban rationing system in Santiago de Cuba. Most Cuban families fed on ration cards. This distribution of food products, established in 1962, covers about one-third of people living wage. The quality of products is questionable.



5. The Cuban people are queuing outside to trade foreign exchange earned from tourism, on the Cuban peso, for which you can buy all



6. The inscription in support of Fidel and Raul Castro on the wall hostel near Santiago de Cuba, Abel Santamaria.



7. Cuban women trying to see through the glass windows, whether they need brought goods in Santiago de Cuba.



8. The Cuban family in the courtyard of his home in Havana. The living conditions of the average citizen of Cuba, which is not a member of the Communist Party or not earning from tourism (both legally and illegally), remain at very low levels.



9. The Cuban musician ("trovador" in Spanish) is changing the strings on his guitar during Carnival in Santiago de Cuba. Music - one of the main components of Cuban culture. The traditional Cuban music, not for politics. Virtually all Cubans love to sing and dance on weekends



10. Young Cubans on a palm tree on a background of residential high-rise buildings in the eastern district of Havana Alamar. Many Cubans living in the so-called "Russian houses" which were built at a time when Cuba has actively supported the USSR. From his country, and has adopted the idea of ​​living space.



11. Cuban master printer waits for a new delivery of the goods in the State Printing Office in Santiago de Cuba. Since Cuba is not allowed to private enterprise and foreign investment virtually no Cuban industry is poorly developed.



12. Young Cuban on the street at sunset. On Cuban streets are always fun and crowded, especially in the evenings when people go out for a walk and chat with friends.



13. Young Cuban flirts with a foreigner on the beach Siboney, near Santiago de Cuba. Young Cuban, well knowing that they have a natural beauty, foreigners often offer sex in the hope that they get married to them (and taken away with them) or, at least, will be their lovers. These girls contemptuously called «jineteras»



14. The classic American cars - the symbol of Cuba - on the sun-drenched roads of Havana. In Cuba, the most classic American cars 1950s. Large «Chevrolet», «Plymouth» and «Buick» function as a taxi for a few people. According to UN statistics, Cuba 32 cars per 1,000 people. For comparison, in the United States 1000 745 cars.



15. Cubans selling clothes pegs on the black market in Havana. Hard-goods, food and medicine in Cuba can be found on the black market, who sarcastically called "sotsiolizmo»