Cuba: Why it's wrong to mourn passing of island's old US cars
Vintage cars are 'symbols of oppression' and only tourists will mourn their consignment to scrap heap

VINTAGE American cars are as synonymous with Cuba as salsa music and a well-rolled cigar. But sweeping changes to the country's import laws may have spelled the beginning of the end for the country's fleet of ancient Studebakers and Oldsmobiles.
For almost 50 years, Havana's streets have been jammed with the kind of big, chrome-covered cars that are consigned to museums and collectors' garages elsewhere in the world. They were made prior to the 1959 revolution that swept Fidel Castro to power. Cubans were forced to keep them on the road due to "tight domestic controls and US sanctions" that prevented most people from buying imported vehicles The Guardian reports.
But in the latest of a series of economic reforms, the council of ministers headed by Raul Castro, Fidel's brother, has opened up the car market to all citizens". As a result, one of Cuba's "most distinctive anachronisms" is under threat.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
While foreign tourists may mourn the disappearance of the ancient cars, they're missing the point, writes The Guardian's Mark Wallace. He says the vehicles are "icons of oppression" that should be scrapped.
Describing their demise as a tragedy is "patronising nonsense," writes Wallace. If Cubans had the choice they would have consigned them to the scrap heap years ago. The only reason they didn't is that "the communist dictatorship that rules them did not allow it".
Wallace adds: "The motor museum driving Cuba's roads each day might seem quaint to tourists, who can go back to their air-conditioned, reliable and safe modern cars when their holiday is over – in reality the sight is a symptom of the way in which dictatorship runs down the lives of those forced to labour beneath it."
Many Cubans are certainly keen to upgrade their cars. But as AP reports, the price of new imported vehicles may prevent many of them doing so. When prospective buyers visited Havana's car showrooms on Friday – the first day the new import laws came into force – they found "sharply hiked prices, some of them light years beyond all but the most well-heeled islanders", AP says.
A new Kia Rio hatchback that costs $13,600 in the US will cost a Cuban motorist $42,000. Meanwhile, a Peugeot 508 sedan, the most luxurious of which lists for the equivalent of about $53,000 in the UK, costs $262,000 in Havana.
It will be up to the Cuban government to reduce the prices because it has a monopoly on sales and decides the market value of vehicles.
Guillermo Flores, a 27-year-old computer engineer told AP: "Let's see if a revolutionary worker who lives honourably on his salary can come and buy a car at these prices. This is a joke on the people."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Congress could help by providing federal protections'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Musk vows DOGE pullback as Tesla profits plunge
Speed Read The Tesla SEO says he will soon step back from government matters to devote more time to the company
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Dozens dead in Kashmir as terrorists target tourists
Speed Read Visitors were taking pictures and riding ponies in a popular mountain town when assailants open fired, killing at least 26
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designation
The Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Inside the Israel-Turkey geopolitical dance across Syria
THE EXPLAINER As Syria struggles in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, its neighbors are carefully coordinating to avoid potential military confrontations
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weapons
The Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
By Abby Wilson
-
The arrest of the Philippines' former president leaves the country's drug war in disarray
In the Spotlight Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the ICC earlier this month
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Ukrainian election: who could replace Zelenskyy?
The Explainer Donald Trump's 'dictator' jibe raises pressure on Ukraine to the polls while the country is under martial law
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK
-
Why Serbian protesters set off smoke bombs in parliament
THE EXPLAINER Ongoing anti-corruption protests erupted into full view this week as Serbian protesters threw the country's legislature into chaos
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Who is the Hat Man? 'Shadow people' and sleep paralysis
In Depth 'Sleep demons' have plagued our dreams throughout the centuries, but the explanation could be medical
By The Week Staff
-
Why Assad fell so fast
The Explainer The newly liberated Syria is in an incredibly precarious position, but it's too soon to succumb to defeatist gloom
By The Week UK