Raúl Castro’s formal assumption of state power from his brother Fidel in 2009 coincided with the inauguration of Barack Obama. Suddenly, Western Unions around the United States began allowing transfers of cash, not only from family abroad to relatives in Cuba but from Americans with friends or emerging small business partners to send money, no questions asked. To the shock of islanders accustomed to seeing their government charge an exorbitant fee from virtually every currency exchange (given the odd name of “gravamen”), the Cuban government did not charge recipients an additional fee when they picked up remittances from Western Union. An almost immediate effect of their combined policies was a notable rise in visible displays of access to previously unknown or rare consumer goods on the island. Families like this one created mini-gated communities out of their private homes. Here a family films a toddler with an extremely hard-to-find device: a cam quarter. Santos Suárez, Havana, 2011.
