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In Pictures: The people of Havana

As Cuba makes slow reforms, the resilience of “los Habaneros” continues with daily life.

A young woman stands in her kitchen. The floor of the landing in front of this apartment has caved in and large marble slabs have fallen down to the hallway below. The couple that live in this apartment have no running water.
By Alison McCauley
Published On 22 Jan 2014

The inside of a person’s home says as much about their personality as their portrait does, and most of the visited in Havana homes were filled with personal, social, cultural, economic and religious clues about their occupants. These interiors testified to the many hardships the people of Cuba’s capital have endured and their resilience and resourcefulness.

Despite years of partial international isolation, US economic sanctions and general hardship, the people of Havana are famous for being warm, welcoming and positive.

It remains to be seen how life will change materially under the reforms of Cuban President Raul Castro. But for the residents of Havana, life goes on. 

Three friends who share two rooms with another friend.
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This couple has benefited from market reforms, operating a bed and breakfast for tourists. The husband is a retired politics teacher.
This woman(***)s one room home is immaculately clean and tidy. She has to share a bathroom and kitchen with three different families and her room is accessed by climbing a crumbling staircase.
An elderly lady points towards a portrait of revolutionary Camilo Cienfuegos. The 78-year-old shares two small rooms with her son. 
This apartment in old Havana is kept in relatively good condition due to remittances from Miami.
A dancer cuddles her puppy in her one room apartment. The cracked and sagging marble floor is typical of many buildings throughout Havana.
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Two elderly brothers stand in their damp and moldy home.
This man, whose wife died recently, now lives alone in his relatively roomy house in Old Havana. The house has all of its original features, but it(***)s damp and the electrics and plumbing are rudimentary.
This woman lives with her paralysed, elderly mother. The daughter is unable to have a paid job because she has to care full-time, for her mother. They rely on hand-outs from neighbours.