Havana - The Cuban government is promoting small and medium privately owned businesses, well "sort of". A lack of capital causes many of these to be micro sized retail operations. Here is a collection of some of them I photographed one day for a series "for sale in the street". I was also trying out my new Fuji 14mm lens by shooting with it for a day.
Coffee shop where a cup of coffee is 1 peso (then 4 cents).
Sunglass vendors. The story is they all work for the same owner and none are disabled.
This guy is in the same place every day selling individual disposable razors, super glue, and ball point pens. This is common all over the country.
Vendors with temporary stands selling bootleg CDs are common. The concept of intellectual property does not exist in a Communist environment, so everything is dirt cheap including Lightroom, Photoshop, MS Office.
Local private store. Total inventory is 2 packages of cigarettes, 2 boxes of matches, 5 cigars, 2 packages of cookies and some hot coffee.
This vegetable stand is the only thing here that is owned by the government.
One of many Cubans that fly to Moscow or Guyana to buy merchandise that they resell clandestinely as such is not available elsewhere in Cuba. This woman has no fixed location and simply carries all her inventory in two suitcases as she walks the streets.
My friend and neighbor, Flaca, who deals in a niche of the male tourist market, out marketing in late afternoon. You cannot buy her but her services are available for rent overnight if she likes you.
