No school or university or clinic closed. This is because, while revolutionary governments are subject to credit freezes and capital flight and thus are sorely lacking in material resources, what they have in abundance is highly motivated and mobilized citizens, committed to a common vision. When the population ceases to be so mobilized and motivated, it is safe to say that the revolution has run its course. Meanwhile, the shortage of petroleum had led to a proliferation of alternative sources of energy, including waste products of the sugar industry. The holistic, preventive, community-oriented approach to medicine carries over to other aspects of social infrastructure.
Literacy rates run in the high nineties.
The Problem C ontrary to the impression generally conveyed by the U.S. media, the Cuban economy is by no means frozen in time. In Cuba as elsewhere, however, if there is a solution to every problem, there is also a problem to every solution. Another story making the rounds lately in Cuba features Fulano de Tal, who is boasting loudly of his new job as a doorman in a tourist hotel. His friends apologize to bystanders. He's really only a brain surgeon.