One of the many old elegant hotels that were confiscated by Castro during the revolution and given to the "people".
The current Havana area and its natural bay were first visited by Europeans. In 1510, the first Spanish colonists arrived from Hispaniola and began the conquest of was originally a trading port, and suffered regular attacks by buccaneers, pirates, and French corsairs. After the revolution of 1959, the new regime promised to improve social services, public housing, and official buildings; nevertheless, shortages that affected Cuba after Castro's abrupt expropriation of all private property and industry under a strong communist model backed by the Soviet Union followed by the embargo, hit Havana especially hard. As a result, today much of Havana is in a dilapidated state. After 50 years of prohibition, the communist government increasingly turned to tourism for new financial revenue, and has allowed foreign investors to build new hotels and develop hospitality industry. Paradoxically, while foreign investment is welcome, Cubans are forbidden to participate. The Cuban population limited work opportunities but can't become owners or investors of any property. For these reason among others, the tourism industry during the socialist revolution has failed to generate the projected revenues. After a decline in the early 2000s, Cuban tourism hit an all time high of billion dollars (USD) in 2008.[14] In Old Havana, effort has also gone into rebuilding for tourist purposes, and a number of streets and squares have been rehabilitated.[15] But Old Havana is a large city, and the restoration efforts concentrate in all but less than 10% of its area. Havana achieved the title of being the Latin American city with the biggest middle class population per-capita, simultaneously accompanied by gambling and corruption where gangsters and stars were known to mix socially. At this time, Havana was generally producing more revenue than Las Vegas
Size: 5212px × 3468px
Location: Havana, Cuba
Photo credit: © Buzzshotz / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: aging, architecture, caribbean, cuba, cuban, dictatorship, havana, island
