Cuban Ingenuity

There is no contest that the most popular country in the world is America for both good and bad reasons. But just south east of America lies the country of Cuba which is very popular too for both its good and bad reasons.

One of the sad things to happen to Cuba has been the decades long economic embargo put in place by the United States. It affected not only the relations between US and Cuba but also the other allies of America as well.

It should be noted that America and Cuba politically opposed each other. America is called a democratic country while Cuba is called as a communist country. The relations are further strained by the fact that Cuba is a close ally of Russia.

It is to be noted that even today, the US and Russia are rivals in many aspects. Not only were the two nations militarily trying to gain supremacy towards each other, they are also vying for political world dominance.

Imagine a scenario were Russian military forces are stationed in Cuba, ready to attack the US at a small moment’s time. Whatever political leanings you have, communist Cuba is a real threat to America because of geography.

This has the same effect in Russia. America’s European allies which are close to the borders of Russia are a threat to Russia as well. However, this article is not about global politics, it has to do with the American embargo and how it has forced Cubans to be ingenious people.

Because of the American embargo, many critical everyday goods the rest of the world take for granted are missing in the daily life of Cubans. Many romanticize the defiance of Cuba’s government towards the American-led Embargo, but in truth it is the people who suffer.

With even food in constant shortage like chicken eggs, Cubans are in constant need. That is why Cubans have resorted to thinking outside the box rather than wait for other countries to be merciful to their plight and help them, a situation highly not likely.

There are a lot of things you can read online about Cuban ingenuity. Cubans in fact celebrate their ingenuity. If you search the keyword “cuban ingenuity” in YouTube for example, you would find plenty of videos which shows the ingenuity of Cubans.

In fact not only the Cubans are celebrating their ingenuity but other people from the rest of the world as well. If you Google the search keyword “the ingenuity of cubans” for example, you would see plenty of such articles.

Though Cuba has relaxed car importation rules, the average Cuban can’t still afford a relatively new car. This is the reason why many cars that existed since the beginning of the communist government are still used by the people of Cuba.

Many cars are passed down from father to son and so on. Since new car parts are virtually non-existent in Cuba, Cubans cannibalize other non-working cars and place them in their cars so they can be repaired.

If you search YouTube using the keyword “cuban car repair,” you would be presented by YouTube with videos that show how Cubans creatively repair their cars using nothing more than parts from old cars and objects that can be found from their environment.

These videos might seem insignificant to a person from a first world country and even funny, but it shows that for some kinds of cars, you can maintain them on your own and even make the parts yourself.

In short, if you are a Cuban who has been trained to use your ingenuity in repairing cars and for example you managed to immigrate to other developing nations that is not affected by a US sanctioned embargo, you could have a good opportunity in using your knowledge learned from Cuba.

But I might be like a person trained only to look at Cubans, there are other people from developing nations who also make do with what they have because they simply can’t afford the high prices of brand new car spare parts.

If we factor in the date when Cuba turned communist which is in 1959, then many of the cars running in Cuba are at least 70 years old with many cars being older. Imagine the money a person can save by only having a car for more than 70 years.

Here’s an interesting old YouTube video which shows how Cubans make cheap brake fluid with nothing more than three ingredients: brown sugar, alcohol and shampoo. This is right, all these ingredients can be found in every person’s house.

This would be welcome news not only to prepper and survivalist type people, but also to people who may be located in remote areas where access to auto parts and supplies is severely limited.

If nothing else, you can use this Cuban knowledge in cases of emergency in developed countries and developing countries. I don’t know how good is this Cuban style brake fluid, but a replacement brake fluid is better than nothing.

Here is the video of how a Cuban made a brake fluid in a matter of minutes:

Video: Brake Fluid for less than $1US - Jeremy Clarkson's Motorworld - BBC

I don’t know if selling such brake fluid is allowed by law because of safety concerns, but I think an ingenious and enterprising entrepreneur somewhere in the world can improve the formulation of the brake fluid and make it a product available for people with vehicles.

I can guarantee that with all the people who hardly earn enough money for food, such things would be desirable if they make their living via using vehicles or their lives revolve around the use of vehicles.

I have been watching many YouTube videos and one of the things I watch are videos of how people transport themselves using all manners of vehicles in some of the most remote places in the world.

What I can see from these videos are the definite lack of shops that cater to the automotive needs of these vehicle drivers. In modern cities people may take for granted things as simple as brake fluid, but in remote areas of the world, they are practically non-existent.

The Cuban improvised Brake Fluid video might be simple and interesting for anyone who wants to setup a business selling home made brake fluids, but how about brake pads of vehicles? Especially brake pads of vehicles which are no longer produced.

This is the subject of the next video I would point to you:

Video: Asbestos Brake Manufacturing in Cuba

This video shows how a Cuban managed to create or refurbish brake pads from worn out brake pad parts using only asbestos. You may say that asbestos is not a safe product because its use has been banned in many parts of the developed world.

According to information online I found about asbestos, this substance is not dangerous unless it is inhaled by humans. This information was given no less than by asbestos experts from an American university.

What the Cuban man who created the asbestos brake pads should have done was to take precautions by using some sort of face mask to prevent himself from breathing the asbestos as he made the brake pads.

Once again, I do not know how effective are these brake pads which are home/shop made using asbestos. All I know is that they are being used by Cubans on their cars. This Cuban must make a good living with these brake pads as he makes about 30 to 40 a day.

He might create brake pads for car owners whose cars are no longer being produced and whose spare parts are not stocked by spare parts shops anymore. I can see this man’s talent and knowledge being popular in many countries around the world.

Now let us go back to another old video from BBC Studios regarding Cuban transport ingenuity. This time using motorized bicycles in place of motorcycles:

Video: Motorised Bicycles & Stretch Lada in Cuba - Jeremy Clarkson&apos:s Motorworld - BBC

As can be seen, Cubans have been able to make motorized motorcycles using only old bicycles and available fumigation pumps. This is a much better alternative to EV bikes to which you cannot create the battery on your own.

Seeing this video almost caused my eyes to well up, it’s about how even a disposable lighter is a big thing in Cuba, normally, disposable lighters are so cheap that once the lighter fluid is drained away, people throw them.

But Cubans recycle disposable lighters and use pesticide liquid to fill them up. I’m not a smoker anymore but I can still appreciate at how these Cubans are still able to make such an insignificant product to the rest of the world important in Cuba.

Here is the video of how a street repair man repairs disposable lighters in Cuba:

Cuba's Black Market - Capitalism on the Run

In a largely agricultural country, it is unfortunate that Cuba imports almost 80% of its food. This is due to poor soil management before because of the country’s over reliance on sugarcane as an export product.

Many Cubans have been forced to turn what little garden and soils they have into soils for growing plants and raising animals. Because there is inadequate supply of eggs for example in groceries, Cubans have raised their own chicken.

Also, even before vertical farming became famous, there are already Cubans who are planting not only horizontally but vertically as well. For example, besides planting only in the soil, Cubans would also grow creeping plants across the edges of their farms so as not to waste space.

To know and learn from Cuban ingenuity, the best way would be to watch the many videos in YouTube especially the old ones on how Cubans managed to survive using only the things which are present in their surroundings especially in their homes.

These videos are especially helpful to people in developing countries who do not have the financial means to match the buying power of rich people and the buying power of the ordinary people of developed countries.

These videos are also especially helpful to people living in remote areas where access to supermarket and stores is very hard or unreliable. Who knows, civilization might suddenly go down and only the people who could adapt and improvise would survive.

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