To say that this type of behavior sours one's impression of Cuba is putting it mildly. Day and night, we were surrounded by security or cops of one kind or another. Only in the countryside did we feel that we were not being watched. I'm certainly not the paranoid type, but Cuba can really change how one sees the world. But there were lots of Russian-made cars just plain falling apart.
Wages are ridiculous.
Sounds like the death of socialism to me. We watched as the black market gasoline station, a person's house, loaded a 30-liter plastic container with siphon hose into the car. It had all the makings of a drug deal going down as there were lookouts on each street corner. He will have to split the difference with him or go to jail. Our guide told us.