Ten reasons not to travel to Cuba in 2024

Known in various circles as the "Pearl of the Caribbean," Cuba is far from the idyllic image that magazines, travel guides, and its government promote to attract investments and tourism.

For years, the situation in the country can be described as a descent into Dante Alighieri's Inferno, seasoned with shortages of fuel, food, medicines, and other supplies, and the significant increase in destroyed properties that confirm the image of a country in ruins, in addition to crime and constant power outages.

Even those spaces reserved for the delight of foreign visitors, such as the Varadero resort, the precious keys, or the hotels in the capital, Havana, are suffering the impact of bad governmental decisions, "reorganization" and "restructuring" of the economy without results, and the structural collapse of a failed system, evidently in decline.

Moreover, it is a country without freedom of expression, in which speaking out could bring serious problems, due to an increasing police repression in the face of risks of protests. In fact, currently more than 1,000 Cubans are serving unjust sentences for criticizing the regime and demanding their rights.

To learn a little more about why you should not visit Cuba, we offer you some reasons as advice:

Blackouts... and more blackouts in Cuba

Marked by a prolonged period of crisis, the national electrical system suffers from an infrastructure incapable of supplying the energy demand of a country plunged into darkness due to blackouts. In many places, outages exceed 18 hours a day.

The lack of imported fuel, breakdowns in thermal power plants with decades of operation, delays in maintenance, and a shortage of investments are among the reasons cited by the government, which -incredibly- demands understanding from the people in a context worsened by high temperatures and the withdrawal from circulation of several generating units.

2. Lack of medications and supplies in pharmacies and hospitals

The massive exodus of the Cuban population to other latitudes has also affected public health, a sector that is experiencing a decline in health personnel at all levels and that also works without resources due to the lack of medications and other supplies.

Such situation does not see the "light at the end of the tunnel", not even with the donations from international organizations and friendly countries, since in March of this year, President Miguel Díaz-Canel admitted that the scarcity will persist, exacerbating the shortage in pharmacies and the lack of basic products in medical centers.

3. Lack of basic food

Hundreds of idle lands, difficulties in delivering supplies to farmers, as well as in payment and commercialization of agricultural products, have led the country to a virtually total dependence on imports. The results? The prevalence of high prices, scarcity, and long lines.

In addition to this, there is a basic basket (rationed products sold by the State) lacking stability, essential items at unaffordable costs for workers' wages, empty stores, and controversial micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with greater variety, but their prices are out of reach for many.

4. Shortages and high prices

For a country where the only production is communist ideology, it is easy to understand that it depends almost entirely on imports. And if we add to that the mismanagement of available finances, the shortage of basic elements for human beings is understandable.

With the dollar soaring in the informal market, the minimum wage of workers (2,100 CUP) and the pensions of retirees (1,528 CUP minimum) barely cover expenses, leaving millions of Cubans below the extreme poverty line.

5. Low quality in hotels

The Cuban regime aimed to receive 3.5 million international tourists last year, but the figures fell more than 30% below their predictions. And it's no wonder! There are countless complaints on social media about the presence of cockroaches in hotels, the quality of the facilities, and the variety of food, which are reflected in high-category hotels.

This situation contrasts with the tourism performance of its neighbors in the region. In 2023, the Dominican Republic welcomed over six million international tourists, establishing itself as a leader in the industry in the Caribbean. Meanwhile, Cancun, in Mexico, attracted more than four million visitors.

6. Increasing police repression amid the risk of protests.

Cuba is a dictatorship, and citizens do not enjoy civil and political rights and freedoms. The regime controls Cubans through repression, coercion, propaganda, and indoctrination. The cost of speaking out is very high, and police repression increases without limits in the face of the risks of protests from a people weary of poverty.

Today, the island of beautiful beaches, rum, and tobacco has over 1,000 political prisoners, most of them detained for peacefully participating in the historic protests on July 11 and 12, 2021, known as the 11J.

Artists like Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and the rapper Maykel Osorbo, opposition figures like José Daniel Ferrer, activists, women, men, elderly individuals, and even children and cancer patients... the list fills the hearts of parents, mothers, brothers, wives, husbands, friends, and citizens with sadness, all of whom are calling for justice.

7. Increasing poverty, destruction, risks of collapse, and garbage in the streets

According to the VI Report on the State of Social Rights in Cuba, presented on September 28, 2023, by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), 88% of Cubans live below the poverty line, and nine out of every 10 households struggle to survive on their income.

These results demonstrate the declining state of the majority of the Cuban population, who live in housing at risk of collapse due to the poor condition of the housing stock, face daily problems related to food, dirt in the streets, garbage dumps, blackouts, and inaccessible prices for essential goods.

Despite "meeting" the standards of the United Nations in the so-called Human Development Index (HDI), Cuba shows figures below extreme poverty (understood by the World Bank: 2.15 dollars in total daily income).

8. Insecurity in the streets due to an increase in crime.

Although statistics indicate controlled levels of crime in Cuba, authorities affirm that in recent years there has been a higher level of aggression among residents and an increase in minor crimes, a situation caused by the economic context, which leads to significant tensions and wear, eventually influencing individuals' behavior.

Last March, Beatriz de la Peña La O, head of the Investigation Department of the Criminal Process Directorate of the Prosecutor's Office, and Colonel Idael Fumero Valdés, head of Information and Analysis of the Technical Directorate of Investigations of the Ministry of the Interior, stated on the television program "Hacemos Cuba" that "violent crimes are not increasing," but there is an increase in the criminal incidence of other crimes, while social networks magnify the events and give greater significance to each robbery, crime, or attack.

The economic and migratory crises are among the main causes of this state of insecurity, where the police are effective for repression, but ineffective in containing criminal violence.

9. Fuel shortage in Cuba

Cuba's economic crisis, caused by the political system imposed by the regime, has the fuel crisis as one of the major problems for years, which continues to be relevant in 2024.

Without fuels, the country suffers from a widespread paralysis, which ranges from agriculture to services. Historically, it has behaved similarly, but now even tourists have to wait in line to buy fuel. In addition to this, there are power outages, those electrical cuts that Cubans experience daily and for hours, and sometimes foreign visitors as well.

The Cuban regime supports dictators, terrorists, and the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

With allies like Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Russia, the Cuban government supports dictators, terrorists, and even the Russian invasion in Ukraine, although they may want to call it a "military operation." This behavior keeps the country on the U.S. list of terrorism sponsors.

Visiting the island can even have serious consequences for those wishing to travel to the United States in the coming months, as Section 309 of the American country's legal code states: "No person who has visited Cuba in the 12 months prior to the date of their visa application will be eligible for the issuance of a B-2 nonimmigrant visitor visa."