Make the best of it. Nevertheless, the article does contain a grain of truth. One member of our tour asked some of our Cuban friends, after seeing some old mansions that once belonged to the pre-revolutionary bourgeoisie, if there were any classes today in Cuba. But there are certainly real disparities between those with access to dollars and those with not. I saw lots and lots of people on the streets of Santiago eating ice cream, and on one occasion a man in line at the stand ahead of us simply bought and gave us two ice cream cones when we appeared mystified by how to pay for it in pesos.
Beer is also quite cheap, and there is no shortage.
Ham sandwiches and other food stuffs that Cuba produces were reasonably priced and widely available on the city streets and at stands in the countryside. Of course, these low prices by U.S. standards must be balanced off against the wages of Cubans, which average around 200 pesos a month. However at the micro- level, where the people carry out their lives, the dual economy is the cause of no little distress. The Cubans we were with were highly-educated professional people. Other workers too got by, we were told, in the black-market economy.