h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Does anybody have any idea how Cuba is faring in the global economic downturn?

I was sitting on the bus this morning mulling over the fact that it is possibly the country least affected by all the doom and gloom that is overtaking the world, given the communist-type governance and the fact that it's been largely shunned internationally. Cuba has had to rely on its own resources (and to some extent those of USSR/Russia) for decades.

Will Castro have the last (or penultimate) laugh before he dies?

There's a part of me that hopes so...

I hear that Cuba has recently found some large oil reserves which could be encouraging

Seriously?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/18/cuban-oil
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/energy/2009/03/03/why-cubas-dreams-of-major-oil-discoveries-might-come-true.html

Good grief And here was me thinking that their long self-reliance was going to save them and now there's a treasure chest just offshore too

I think the post-revolution Cubans have existed on little or nothing for so long, and they're used to it, so it really doesn't bother them too much. Bear in mind that although the American boycott is still in place, they certainly entertain large numbers of German, Canadian, Central American, South American and Spanish tourists each year, and have a very large tourism budget to work with.

Sadly, it seems the common citizen of Cuba doesn't see much of that money. Until Raul took over, they weren't allowed in any tourist hotels unless they worked there, and they weren't legally allowed to have any currency other than Cuban currency. This is changing slowly. What we regard as an international downturn is happening during an era of growth for them.

Also remember that they have had two seasons of devastating hurricanes to cope with. Pretty much everything on the Isle of Youth was destroyed, and most of the main island was worked over by Ike before it went to Texas. I daresay everybody is working pretty hard this year to get life back to normal.