I have been to Cuba earlier this year. We travelled around by car from the west to roughly the middle of the island. We slept in private casa particulars and talked to the local people. While it is obviously true that the villages are somewhat impoverished, I can tell you that Cuba seemed so much better developed than other latin american countries, like Peru. In Cuba, our hosts all had internet access. It was slow (dialup), but people were using AirBnB and the like to advertise their casas. They would use Facebook, Google and Gmail and some even had iPhones and iCloud.
Even in the small villages, people's homes were sort of neat, even if they were old and a bit run down. Everywhere it was obvious that people did take care. And yes, there were obvious shortcomings of goods like meat, toilet paper. A bottle of coca cola was insanely expensive.
In Peru on the other hand there was an abundance of internet access -- internet cafes and free WiFi even in the most remote village. Coca Cola and Inka Cola everywhere. However, the whole country was much more littered, homes were absolutely shabby outside of the neat centre of Lima and the tourist spots. The poverty of the poorest was so unbelievable.
I certainly hope that Cuba evolves into something better, that the gap between poor and rich doesn't get as bad as that in Peru. And of course I hope that Peru also gets better... Cuba definitely has got a chance to reform and evolve now. I hope that the Cuban people are up to it!
