When people find out you’ve been to Cuba, they always seem to want to talk about the cars (at least in the U.S.).

So, just to get our footing, let’s start by talking about license plates. It didn’t used to be this simple, but relatively-modern Cuban license plates make it easy to tell whether a vehicle belongs to the government, or to a private citizen. Government vehicles have license plates with a blue strip on their left end:

 

Since most cars and trucks in Cuba are owned by the government, you’ll see a lot of license plates like the one above / left. I’m not sure what the “B” stands for, but it’s nearly the only letter you’ll see on Cuban government plates. One prominent exception is the “T” plate (above / right) — these are for government vehicles reserved for tourists, namely rental cars.

License plates for privately-owned vehicles lack the blue strip, and always start with a “P” for good measure:

 

A minor detail, perhaps, but you’ll see where this comes into play in subsequent posts.