Cuba to revive state-run ‘love motels’ because couples can’t afford to get a room
Privacy has become more elusive for lovers, given a housing shortage that forces many families to live in the same flat
Cuba is reviving a network of state-run “love motels” in Havana where couples can rent rooms by the hour as the communist government seeks to “diversify options for love,” the official trade union weekly Trabajadores said.
Havana, the capital of the Caribbean island, boasted dozens of such “posadas” until the 1990s, when the remaining few were given to Cubans left homeless by hurricanes.
Privacy has become all the more elusive for lovers, given a housing shortage that forces many families to live in the same flat and couples to live together long after their divorce.
Private establishments have filled in the gap for some, the trade union weekly wrote, but many cannot afford to pay around US$5, or a sixth of the average monthly state wage, for three hours of bliss.
The less fortunate must resort to “parks, dark staircases, the beach and even the Malecon (seafront),” Trabajadores wrote.
