June 13, 2016 2:56PM # Cuba, Venezuela, and the Eternal Shortage of Toilet Paper By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE Marketplace Radio takes a look at [the challenge of filming movies and television shows in Cuba](http://www.marketplace.org/2016/06/10/world/no-es-facil-challenge-filming-cuba), focusing specifically on Showtime’s “House of Lies” starring Don Cheadle. The episode is titled “No es facil” — “It’s not easy.” The title appears to be a description of doing business in Cuba, and also of filming a show about doing business in Cuba. As Marketplace’s Adrienne Hill and show creator Matthew Carnahan explain: > Camera equipment was shipped from Germany because it couldn’t be sent directly from the U.S. Even basic supplies — “there’s not hammers and toilet paper, and things that people need.” Journalists have stopped reporting on the privations of socialism in Cuba. But Hugo Chavez was a great admirer of Fidel Castro and the society he built, and he wanted to give Venezuelans the same thing. [And of course he did](https://www.cato.org/blog/venezuela-reaches-final-stage-socialism-no-toilet-paper): > Venezuela’s product shortages have become so severe that some hotels in that country are asking guests to bring their own toilet paper and soap, a local tourism industry spokesman said on Wednesday…. Rest well, Comandantes Castro and Chavez, while your people dream of toilet paper. And hammers. And soap. [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).