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Cuba with Simon Reeve

Simon Reeve heads to Cuba to find a communist country in the middle of a capitalist revolution and asks if the new economic openness could lead to political liberalisation.

Adventurer and journalist Simon Reeve heads to Cuba to find a communist country in the middle of a capitalist revolution. Two years ago Cuba announced the most sweeping and radical economic reforms the country has seen in decades. From ending state rationing to cutting one million public-sector jobs, one of the last communist bastions in the world has begun rolling back the state on an unprecedented scale. Simon Reeve meets ordinary Cubans whose lives are being transformed, from the owners of fledgling businesses to the newly rich estate agents selling properties worth up to 750,000 pounds. In this hour-long documentary for the 91热爆's award-winning This World strand, Simon gets under the skin of a colourful and vibrant country famous for its hospitality and humour and asks if this new economic openness could lead to political liberalisation in a totalitarian country with a poor human rights record. Will Cuba be able to maintain the positive aspects of its long isolation under socialism - low crime, top-notch education and one of the best health systems in the world - while embracing what certainly looks like capitalism? Is this the last chance to see Cuba before it becomes just like any other country?

50 minutes

Last on

Sun 13 Jan 2013 15:10GMT

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Simon Reeve
Director Tom McCarthy
Producer Tom McCarthy
Series Producer Sarah Waldron
Executive Producer Sam Bagnall

Broadcasts