Todos somos jineteros : contesting morality in socialist Cuba

Abstract

Drawing on six months of fieldwork in Havana this thesis explores contradictory meanings of morality by focusing on groups of men who engage themselves with foreign tourists. The men, who seek to improve their living standards by making money off tourists, or by having sexual relationships with foreign women for the purpose of getting a visa out of the country, are called jineteros in the local language. Their activities are considered immoral by the general Cuban society because the men do not fulfill what is expected of them as good revolutionaries working and sacrificing themselves for the wellbeing of the socialist state. They therefore experience tensions between moral obligations put forward by the revolutionary society as opposed to their individual desires of mobility and freedom.

In the aftermath of the economic collapse in the 1990’s the Cuban people have been forced to engage in informal, often illegal, business in order to satisfy their needs. This means that almost all Cuban citizens may at times cross the line of what is considered correct behavior, and many people do activities that are closely connected to activities of jineterismo. Nevertheless, it is the “street people” and the black Rasta in particular, working en la calle (in the street) that stand as symbols of the moral decline in contemporary Cuba. The men who have relationships with foreign women often seek to distance themselves from the jinetero label, or attempt to fill the term with alternative meanings, in order to position themselves as morally good people or to enhance their status within the group.

Drawing on six months of fieldwork in Havana this thesis explores contradictory meanings of morality by focusing on groups of men who engage themselves with foreign tourists. The men, who seek to improve their living standards by making money off tourists, or by having sexual relationships with foreign women for the purpose of getting a visa out of the country, are called jineteros in the local language. Their activities are considered immoral by the general Cuban society because the men do not fulfill what is expected of them as good revolutionaries working and sacrificing themselves for the wellbeing of the socialist state. They therefore experience tensions between moral obligations put forward by the revolutionary society as opposed to their individual desires of mobility and freedom.

In the aftermath of the economic collapse in the 1990’s the Cuban people have been forced to engage in informal, often illegal, business in order to satisfy their needs. This means that almost all Cuban citizens may at times cross the line of what is considered correct behavior, and many people do activities that are closely connected to activities of jineterismo. Nevertheless, it is the “street people” and the black Rasta in particular, working en la calle (in the street) that stand as symbols of the moral decline in contemporary Cuba. The men who have relationships with foreign women often seek to distance themselves from the jinetero label, or attempt to fill the term with alternative meanings, in order to position themselves as morally good people or to enhance their status within the group.