Cuba

[Universe Prince]

Excerpts from "A Cuban death rehearsal" by Bella Thomas:

I returned to Havana this April, after an absence of several years. I went to see friends and to see whether, as is often claimed, change really was afoot. I came away with the opposite impression. Those who must see Cuba before it "all gets washed away" by the Americans need not worry. The current impasse will outlast Fidel, and may outlast Raúl for a few years—to the great cost of the Cuban people, and the architecture and resources of this remarkable island. Between 1996 and 1999, I lived periodically in Havana with a gay Spanish diplomat, a close friend who had once, maybe not entirely jokingly, suggested that we marry but maintain our separate ménages. I was too square for that, but when he was posted to Cuba I went to stay with him. Cuba was reputedly not an easy place for homosexuals. I was interested in the country, and I could write about it.

   [...]

In fact, the regime seems to act with zeal to ensure that the embargo continues. When it looks as if the US government might consider ending it, some heavy-handed Cuban act ensues that the status quo prevails. In 1996, when Clinton was keen to initiate rapprochement, the regime shot down two US planes manned by members of a Cuban exile group rescuing those escaping the island on rafts. When, in 2003, an influential cross-party lobby in the US seemed set to dismantle the embargo, the Cuban government promptly incarcerated 75 prisoners of conscience and executed three men who hijacked a tugboat with a view to getting to Miami.

   [...]

This does not mean that those still in Cuba are acquiescent or happy. They are far poorer than their eastern European counterparts were in 1989: the average wage, at $20 a month, can barely feed a single person for a couple of weeks. You cannot spend any length of time in Havana without noticing the lack of food for the majority of Cubans. The mother of a friend, an old lady who lived in one tiny rotting room in a former brothel with her son, gets by selling matchboxes to her neighbours, having stolen them from the factory where she worked. Another acquaintance keeps pigs on her balcony and sells pork to a few locals. The luckier ones sell cigars or taxi rides to foreigners. An elite work in hotels. When the Soviets pulled out, the government reluctantly turned to tourism to stave off bankruptcy. The business started in enclaves in a few prescribed zones, on the basis that foreign influences might be quarantined. But tourists were always going to be drawn to the city centres. And the presence of tourists has inevitably revealed to Cubans the depths of their poverty and repression. Tourism has enriched some Cubans and given others decent jobs, but it has also undermined the status of those in less lucrative but better qualified professions. Healthcare and education are supposed to be the redeeming graces of the regime, but this is questionable. There are a large number of doctors, but, according to most Cubans I know, many have left the country and the health system is in a ragged state—apart from those hospitals reserved for foreigners—and people often have to pay a bribe to get treated. Michael Moore, the American film director, who has recently been praising the system should take note of the real life stories beneath the statistics. I went into a couple of hospitals for locals on my latest visit. In the first, my friend told me not to say a word in case my accent was noticed, as foreigners are not allowed in these places. I was appalled by the hygiene and amazed at the antiquity of the building and some of the equipment. I was told that the vast majority of Cuban hospitals, apart from two in Havana, were built before the revolution. Which revolution, I wondered; this one seemed to date from the 1900s.

   [...]

In their call for the US to keep its "hands off Cuba," western supporters of the Cuban regime seem to miss the irony that this, unfortunately, is precisely what the US is doing. Were the US to relax its embargo, the result would be a tidal wave of US capital, which the regime would be unlikely to survive. Many Cubans would grow richer and more demanding, and would no longer accept playing second fiddle to the tourists.

Whole article at Prospect Magazine.

[Michael Tee]

<<In fact, the regime seems to act with zeal to ensure that the embargo continues. When it looks as if the US government might consider ending it, some heavy-handed Cuban act ensues that the status quo prevails. In 1996, when Clinton was keen to initiate rapprochement, the regime shot down two US planes manned by members of a Cuban exile group rescuing those escaping the island on rafts. >>

Geeze, there's a novel approach to hostile aircraft violating your air-space from a country which freely shelters killer terrorists :  shoot'em down.  Never heard a that one before

<<When, in 2003, an influential cross-party lobby in the US seemed set to dismantle the embargo, the Cuban government promptly incarcerated 75 prisoners of conscience  . . . >>

And just imagine locking up anti-government activists!  Where on earth would they get those ideas from anyway?

<< . . . and executed three men who hijacked a tugboat with a view to getting to Miami.>>

Wow!  They execute hijackers?  Is there no end to their infamy?

The usual BS of course follows - - average monthly wage $20.  No way of comparing this with workers in other parts of the Caribbean or comparing the cost of staples that the monthly wage is meant to cover, such as food, health care, education, etc. with the cost of staples in other poor Caribbean countries, where workers with maybe double the Cuban monthly average wage or more have to pay for basic necessities at a cost triple or quadruple the Cuban workers' costs.  Instead, for whatever reason you can only imagine, they are compared with "Eastern European" workers of 1989.

All from some nonentity who hangs with Spanish diplomats and no doubt has quite a hard-on (as much as a Lesbian can manage) for a regime which admittedly shows a sometimes mediaeval attitude toward gays.

That's pretty solid reporting.  I'm sure if Bush and Co. wanted to find WMD in Cuba, she'd find 'em!

[Plane]

Geeze, there's a novel approach to hostile aircraft violating your air-space from a country which freely shelters killer terrorists :  shoot'em down.  Never heard a that one before


[][][[][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Hostle?

Have we ever done this?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Geeze, there's a novel approach to hostile aircraft violating your air-space from a country which freely shelters killer terrorists

------------------------------------------------------------
What killer terrorists has Cuba sheltered?  Names, give us names.


What seems to be the biggest problem in Cuba these days is sheer incompetence. There is no reason why Cuba should not be able to produce enough food to feed the people, but that is not happening. They are even short of sugar, and have been importing it by the hundreds of tons from Brazil and Colombia.

Cuba has a lot of very fertile land and two or three growing seasons. Blaming the US for the lack of food is ridiculous.


 

[Amianthus]

What killer terrorists has Cuba sheltered?  Names, give us names.

Mikey meant the US has sheltered terrorists. I'm sure he means the US Marine Corps.

[Universe Prince]

And just imagine locking up anti-government activists!  Where on earth would they get those ideas from anyway?

Russia?

Wow!  They execute hijackers?  Is there no end to their infamy?

No, the "wow" is that Castro is so afraid of people leaving that the hijackers had to hijack a tugboat to try to get out of Cuba.

The usual BS of course follows - - average monthly wage $20.  No way of comparing this with workers in other parts of the Caribbean or comparing the cost of staples that the monthly wage is meant to cover, such as food, health care, education, etc. with the cost of staples in other poor Caribbean countries, where workers with maybe double the Cuban monthly average wage or more have to pay for basic necessities at a cost triple or quadruple the Cuban workers' costs.

I'm sure you could make that comparison if you tried. I doubt Bella Thomas is going to stop you. But then, just saying it's all BS without anything to support your claim is much easier.

Instead, for whatever reason you can only imagine, they are compared with "Eastern European" workers of 1989.

Oh, I dunno. If you think back on (or look up) 1989 and events in Europe, I'm sure you'll figure out what the author's reason was.

All from some nonentity who hangs with Spanish diplomats

Does she have to be famous before she can write about her experiences in and opinions on Cuba?

That's pretty solid reporting.  I'm sure if Bush and Co. wanted to find WMD in Cuba, she'd find 'em!

Heh. You're just upset because she pushed back the curtain of Cuba's grand reputation as a happy and well functioning socialist country with world class health care.

[Michael Tee]

<<Have we ever done this? [shoot down hostile aircraft invading U.S. airspace]>>

No, because nobody's crazy enough to fly into your airspace from a hostile country without permission. 

You DID shoot down an Iranian civilian jetliner taking off with a load of civilians from an Iranian airfield.

Your little buddy Israel did pretty much the same, too.  Look up Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 on Google - - from Wikipedia:


   << Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 was a regularly-scheduled flight from Tripoli to Cairo. On 10:30 on February 21, 1973, it left Tripoli, but became lost due to a combination of bad weather and equipment failure over northern Egypt around 13:44 (1:44 P.M. local). Lost, it entered Israeli-controlled airspace over the Sinai Peninsula at approximately 13:54. The previously Egyptian-held Sinai had been occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Confusion on both sides led Israeli F-4s to shot down the 727-224 when it changed course after being instructed to land at a military airfield around 14:08. There were 113 people on board, of those there were 5 survivors.[1]>>

The pilots of the planes shot down by the Cuban Air Force were counter-revolutionary gusanos from Miami; the exact same kind of people who tried to separate Elian and his father; they were pissing on the face of the Revolution, and they paid the price.  Either you're for the Revolution or you're against the People.

[Michael Tee]

<<What killer terrorists has Cuba sheltered?  Names, give us names.>>

I was referring to killer terrorists sheltered by the U.S.A., specifically Luis Posada Cariles, but there are others.

[Plane]

<<Have we ever done this? [shoot down hostile aircraft invading U.S. airspace]>>

No, because nobody's crazy enough to fly into your airspace from a hostile country without permission. 

You DID shoot down an Iranian civilian jetliner taking off with a load of civilians from an Iranian airfield.

Your little buddy Israel did pretty much the same, too.  Look up Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 on Google - - from Wikipedia:


   << Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 was a regularly-scheduled flight from Tripoli to Cairo. On 10:30 on February 21, 1973, it left Tripoli, but became lost due to a combination of bad weathe r and equipment failure over northern Egypt around 13:44 (1:44 P.M. local). Lost, it entered Israeli-controlled airspace over the Sinai Peninsula at approximately 13:54. The previously Egyptian-held Sinai had been occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Confusion on both sides led Israeli F-4s to shot down the 727-224 when it changed course after being instructed to land at a military airfield around 14:08. There were 113 people on board, of those there were 5 survivors.[1]>>

The pilots of the planes shot down by the Cuban Air Force were counter-revolutionary gusanos from Miami; the exact same kind of people who tried to separate Elian and his father; they were pissing on the face of the Revolution, and they paid the price.  Either you're for the Revolution or you're against the People.

In Cuba you can prove yourself be against the people by saveng the lives of some people.

[Universe Prince]

The pilots of the planes shot down by the Cuban Air Force were counter-revolutionary gusanos from Miami; the exact same kind of people who tried to separate Elian and his father; they were pissing on the face of the Revolution, and they paid the price.  Either you're for the Revolution or you're against the People.

Spoken like a true Socialist. Stalin would be proud.

Does Castro pay for your pro-Cuban nationalist jingoism, or do you just like supporting dictators who keep their people in poverty and who oppose basic liberties like freedom of speech?

[Amianthus]

I was referring to killer terrorists sheltered by the U.S.A., specifically Luis Posada Cariles, but there are others.

Yeah, I guess if you consider being under arrest as "sheltering."

[_JS]

I don't know, do any of the Contras currently live in the United States? Anyone from the Peron or Galtieri governments? Anyone from Roberto D'Aubuisson Arrieta's junta? Pinochet's regime? ...

I'm not defending Castro, in any way, but if we haven't sheltered terrorists (and we have - Somoza for one) we've certainly helped them in the past.

[Michael Tee]

<<Does Castro pay for your pro-Cuban nationalist jingoism, or do you just like supporting dictators who keep their people in poverty and who oppose basic liberties like freedom of speech?>>

Castro is an INTERnationalist, not a nationalist, as any Angolan will be pleased to attest.  He rescued his people from fascism, racism and poverty.  And the only people who lost their freedom of speech to Castro are the gusanos who want to stab the Revolution in the back, and bring back fascism and the Miami scumbags who long for it.  Tough shit.

[Michael Tee]

<<Instead, for whatever reason you can only imagine, they are compared with "Eastern European" workers of 1989.>>



<<Oh, I dunno. If you think back on (or look up) 1989 and events in Europe, I'm sure you'll figure out what the author's reason was.>>

I'm well aware of what significance 1989 had for the writer.  The point was, why the comparison with Eastern Europeans under communism (the Second World) instead of the other Third World countries of the Caribbean under capitalism?

[Michael Tee]

<<Yeah, I guess if you consider being under arrest as "sheltering.">>

Nice try, but he's NOT under arrest.  From Wikipedia:

<<Luis Posada Carriles was released from jail after paying bond on April 19th 2007. >>

Can you believe it?  The guy ESCAPED FROM JAIL TO AVOID TRIAL in Venezuela for blowing a civilian airliner out of the sky, and he'ls allowed out on bond!  Hilarious.  And they're not "sheltering" this terrorist.  "Sheltering" would be if they put him up in the Lincoln Bedroom.

<<The US Fifth District Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejected a Justice Department request Posada be refused bail for entering the U.S. illegally and he was escorted by Federal agents to Miami where members of the Cuban community welcomed him as a patriot.[35]>>

These are the same fucking scumbags who whine about "freedom of speech" in Havana.

<<Posada was required to remain under 24-hour house arrest at his wife's apartment in Miami until trial, with permission to leave only to meet with attorneys or for doctor's appointments.>>

WHAT???  They didn't send him to Guantanamo with the other terrorists?


<<[edit] Immigration fraud charges dismissed
On May 8, 2007 U.S. district judge Kathleen Cardone dismissed seven counts of immigration fraud and ordered Posada's electronic bracelet removed. >>

I bet it chafed him somethin awful.

<<In a 38 page ruling Judge Cardone criticized the U.S. government's "fraud, deceit and trickery" during the interview with immigration authorities that was the basis of the charges against Posada.[36]>>

Well, what other means could they have used against him?  They couldn't torture the guy because that's against everything they stand for.