Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 10 May 2017

With Lacoste, Mont Blanc, socialist Cuba has 1st luxury mall

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN military retail chain TRD has was removed in the build- decaying apartments on ket-based reforms and the
Associated Press hundreds of shops across ing’s multi-year renovation. streets clogged by uncol- fear of social inequality
HAVANA (AP) — The sales- Cuba that sell everything “This is a high-end spot, re- lected trash. With state in- that would spawn popular
women in L’Occitane en from soap to home elec- ally nice,” said Mendez, 24. comes devastated by long- dissatisfaction and calls for
Provence’s new Havana tronics at prices often sev- “It’s something we haven’t term stagnation and infla- political change.
store make $12.50 a month. eral times those in nearby seen before.” tion, there’s barely money With other sectors declin-
The acacia eau de toilette countries. The five-story Manzana sits for food, let alone home ing, Cuba’s increasingly
they sell costs $95.20 a The military-run Mariel port off the Prado, the broad, repairs or indulgences. important tourism industry
bottle. Rejuvenating face west of Havana has seen tree-lined boulevard that “This hurts because I can’t is under pressure to change
cream is $162.40 an ounce. double-digit growth fu- divides the colonial heart buy anything,” said Ro- its state-run hotels’ reputa-
A few doors down, a Can- eled largely by demand in of the city. The upper floors dolfo Hernandez Torres, a tion for charging exorbitant
on EOS camera goes for prices for rooms and food
$7,542.01. A Bulgari watch, far below international
$10,200. standards.
In the heart of the capital The Manzana de Gomez
of a nation founded on ide- Kempinski bills itself as Cu-
als of social equality, the ba’s first real five-star hotel,
business arm of the Cuban and the brand-name shops
military has transformed a around it appear designed
century-old shopping ar- to reinforce that.
cade into a temple to con- The hotel is earning posi-
spicuous capitalism. tive early reviews but many
With the first Cuban tourists say they find the lux-
branches of L’Occitane, ury mall alongside it to be
Mont Blanc and Lacoste, repulsive.
the Manzana de Gomez “I was very disappointed,”
mall has become a socio- said Jeannie Goldstein,
cultural phenomenon since who works in sports market-
its opening a few weeks ing in Chicago and ended
ago, with Cubans wander- a six-day trip to Cuba, her
ing wide-eyed through its first, on Saturday.
polished-stone passages. “I came here to get away
Older Cubans are stunned from this,” she said. “This
at the sight of goods worth screams wealth and Amer-
more than a lifetime’s ica to us.”
state salary. Teenagers People look at the storefront window of a luxury store at the Manzana de Gomez Kempinski five- The Prado boulevard was
and young adults pose for star hotel in Havana, Cuba, Monday, May 8, 2017. The hotel is earning positive early reviews but the scene of Cuba’s previ-
Facebook photos in front many tourists say they find the luxury mall alongside it to be repulsive. ous record for a state-spon-
of store windows, throw- (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) sored display of exorbitant
ing victory signs in echoes consumerism. Last May,
of the images sent by rela- the government closed the
tives in Miami, who pose the tourism sector and the are a five-star hotel opening 71-year-old retired electri- boulevard for a private run-
grinning alongside 50-inch armed forces last year took in early June that is owned cal mechanic who lives on way show by French luxury
TV sets and luxury convert- over the bank that does by the military’s tourism a salary of $12.50 a month. label Chanel for a crowd
ibles. business with foreign com- arm, Gaviota, and run by “There are people who can that included actors Tilda
The Cuban armed forces’ panies, Swiss luxury chain Kem- come here to buy things Swinton and Vin Diesel and
business arm has become assuming control of most pinski. Along the bisecting but it’s maybe one in 10. supermodel Gisele Bund-
the nation’s biggest retail- of Cuba’s day-to-day inter- galleries of the Manzana’s Most of the country doesn’t chen.
er, importer and hotelier national financial transac- ground floor, TRD Caribe have the money.” The temporary privatization
since Gen. Raul Castro be- tions. and Cimex — host the L’Occitane, Lacoste, Mont of a street for an interna-
came president in 2008. On a recent weekday, Os- luxury brands along with Blanc and the Cuban mili- tional corporation built on
Gaviota, the military’s tour- well Mendez and the mem- Cuban stores selling lesser- tary’s business wing did not exclusivity and luxury gen-
ism company, is in the midst bers of his hip-hop dance known but still pricey prod- return requests for com- erated widespread revul-
of a hotel building spree. group De Freak posed for ucts aimed at Cuba’s small ment. sion in Cuba and an unusu-
The military corporation Ci- their Facebook page in the but growing upper-middle With its economy in re- ally angry reaction among
mex, created two decades center of the Manzana, on class, like $6 mini-bottles of cession and longstanding writers and intellectuals.
ago, counts retail stories, the spot where a bust of shampoo and sets of plates oil aid from Venezuela in Cuba’s culture minister re-
auto-rental businesses and early 20th century Cuban for more than $100. doubt, the Cuban gov- signed two months later,
even a recording studio Communist leader Julio A few blocks away, work- ernment appears torn be- with no reason given for his
among its holdings. The Antonio Mella sat before it ing-class Cubans live in tween the need for mar- departure.q