Have Cubans Fled One Authoritarian State for Another?

"For seven years, while the Torre K23 hotel was under construction in Havana, the locals complained furiously. They said that the building-the "tower of arrogance," as some called it-would spoil the neighborhood, a leafy district near the city's seaside promenade. Besides, they pointed out, there was a perfectly good hotel down the hill: the Habana Libre, a former Hilton that Fidel Castro had made his home base after the Revolution."

"The Torre K23, which opened in February, is now the tallest building on the island: a forty-two-story, blank-faced rectangle of glass and steel, with some five hundred rooms that almost no Cuban can afford. Near the penthouse level, a balcony stretches across the building, offering a swimming pool and a vertiginous view of the city. But there are few guests poolside. The Torre K23 is largely abandoned, as is the rest of Cuba."

"Tourism, once the country's main source of income, has fallen by more than half in the past decade. This is partly because of COVID-19, which shut down public life for nearly two years. But, even before then, tourists were deterred by sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump and by an increasing ambience of decline. During a recent visit, I found the once jammed neighborhood of Old Havana nearly empty, except for a handful of hustlers glumly hawking cut-price cigars, rum, and sex."

As many as two million people have fled Cuba's repressive regime and collapsing economy in recent years. Many who reach the United States confront a difficult new reckoning. The Torre K23 hotel, constructed by GAESA to attract foreign currency, opened as a forty-two-story luxury tower largely unaffordable to Cubans. The Torre K23 and much of Havana remain largely abandoned. Tourism, once the country's main source of income, has fallen by more than half over the past decade due to COVID-19, U.S. sanctions, and a pervasive ambience of decline. Old Havana is nearly empty, with hustlers hawking cheap cigars, rum, and sex, and homeless people sleeping on sidewalks.

Read at The New Yorker