Finest things dollars can buy

Cuba | More than 40 years after Castro seized power purportedly to end economic injustice, disparity is in fashion once again | Doug Bandow in Havana

Contrary to conventional wisdom, Cuba is a land of material plenty. Store shelves are full. Meals of pork and lobster abound. Homes are decorated in the finest tile and newest furniture. Doctors and nurses stand by, ready to stitch the smallest wound.

It's an amazing but real world—for those Cubans who possess American dollars. The government of Fidel Castro may proclaim its revolutionary principles and flaunt its independence from America, but in Havana the greenback rules. Pesos paid by the government to an electrical engineer buy very little. The dollars he earns driving a pedicab are what ensures that his family has enough to eat.

Cubans desperate for dollars swarm Westerners in Havana. "Where are you from?" "Are you looking for a nice restaurant?" "Would you like some cigars?" Most Cubans who begin these conversations with a come-on in the end plead for dollars to buy food for the family or milk for the children.