The Coca-Cola of forgetting or the cane juice of nostalgia
I’ve lived here and there. I’ve been a voice asking permission to leave my country and an exile waiting for permission to enter. The machine has crushed me between both sides of its serrated cogs: for being outside of, and for deciding to stay in, my Island. I went to the consulate to pay the high monthly tariffs to stay in another country, and have also faced the costs of return, the enormous personal sum of being a returnee. For two years I looked at the Island in the distance and faced the dilemma of whether I could drink the “Coca-Cola of forgetting” or the “cane juice of nostalgia”, but neither of the two went down my throat. I preferred the bittersweet taste of this reality.
I have nightmares where I go through Cuban customs and someone in uniform leads me to a grey room. Surrounded by unpainted walls and a huge photo of Fidel Castro, they take my passport and tell me that if I come in I can never again travel to another destination. All this is explained to me by an official with a sweaty face, a pistol on his hip, and a ballpoint pen sticking out of his pocket. I have a presentiment that I will spend eternity facing this being of sullen words, with no opportunity to pass through the door into the room where my family is waiting for me. The anxiety rises to the point where I wake up and verify that I am in my house, still prey, but happy to be back.
This obsessive dream alternates with another where they will not let me fly to my own country. I am in a far away airport, trying to board a plane destined for Havana. The girl who checks the tickets tells me I cannot depart. “We have orders not to let you board”, she concludes, without the dramatic weight of someone who has just notified another of their expatriate status. There is no one around to appeal to while the electronic blackboards display the next departures for New York, Buenos Aires, Berlin. I sit and put my suitcase between my legs so I can lean on it and try to sleep. This can’t be true, I tell myself, I have to rest and when I wake up I’ll be in the cabin thousands of feet in the sky.
I’ve tried tea with lime, reading stories of pilots before going to bed, playing relaxing music in the room. But the only thing that will end this oneiric sequence of being shut in and forced out, is the end of the immigration restrictions for Cubans. I want to have the right to travel, like I want to be able to sleep without seeing someone in uniform taking my passport, and without hearing the roar of an airplane as it takes off, leaving me in a foreign land.
Diciembre 27th, 2009 at 20:16
Everyone, leave Exile alone–he can’t help it. His idiotic observations from afar are not even worth the bytes it takes to respond if one were to seriously attempt to do so. But why bother arguing with or responding to someone who thinks 50 years of defeat are the exiled Cuban community’s experience? Pobrecito, he can’t help it–having bad teeth is not the only thing Her Majesty’s subjects are known for, apparently bad teeth affect one’s ideas and thinking as well…what with teeth being so close to the brain.
I have a rule about never arguing with small children in the throes of a temper tantrum, mentally ill people in the midst of an episode resulting from their illness, and just plain old idiots. I believe Exile fits in at least one of these categories.
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 14:02
exile #85
I must have touched a sore spot …
By the way … glad you moved from under you handler’s desk & in your way to the UK!
Merry christmas little boy & hope you grow up.
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 13:50
White man may speak with forked tongue, as they used to say in the old B-westerns Albert, but at least we do it in legible English. Your comment makes no sense whatsoever.
I doubt if you will understand the posting, but try reading it, very slowly. And stop spending your life on your knees.
Right, thanks for the jolly times and I will be back sometime after Boxing Day. I’m off to the UK in about six hours.
Merry Xmas to one and all, even bum sucking gusanos.
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 11:48
exile @ #81
Your “bastard hours” and getting paid, nothing more eh?
The attention you are bringing to yourself is of pity.
Spending your days waiting for something to happen; getting yourself in a frost for something you (by your statements) don’t even care …
Being used & abused by everyone; controlled by everyone’s whim.
You are right … what a poor life.
Hey! still under your handler’s desk?
Still say to you … grow up little boy
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 19:34
Exile,
It’s more like “I maze myself sometimes”! Blind FOOL! Luckily you will have NOTHING TO SAY about the future of CUBA, Governor!
Humberto Capiro
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 19:29
COMMUNISM REST IN PEACE
Please, cover your noses. Thank You.
http://www.worldviewr.com/2009.....st-in.html
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 14:17
Do I sound as if I give a stuff what some scrote thinks about me? Annoying middle class maggots is what I do.
Merry banter aside, I am quite prepared to do my bastard hours at some job or other, and all I expect is that management vermin mind their old buck and that I get paid on time.
My liberalism amazes even me at times.
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 14:14
Excerpt from Raul Castro’s speech to the trained monkeys assembly:
“Also in recent months, there has been a concerted anti-Cuban campaign orchestrated by the American establishment with the aid of the major communications media for the purpose of showing that repression increases in this country. To this end, they organize and incite their antipatriotic hired hands to increase their provocative activities in our streets, and they even arrange for the international press and diplomatic officials to accompany them [...] in an open challenge to international conventions [...]. I counsel the former and the latter to cease all provocations of any type.”
So Raul, I guess this means that Yoani can’t expect an answer to her recent letter with the 7 questions anytime soon?
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 10:28
Exile
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 21:25
……Cuba has many problems, most being as result of Moscow’s betrayal 20 years ago……..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5 000 000 000 a year, every bloody year since 1964 to 1989 ……25 years of subside…… is that a “betrayal”???????……… free supplies to fill all necessities of castro under this 25 years, wood, oil, machinery, weapons, flour, paper, technology and an infinite list of items that soviets sent to castro, is that a betrayal?????…… The USSR bought Cuba’s complete sugar production at preferred prices, the same with, coffee, citric, fish, nickel, copper, etc, etc……… is this a betrayal????
Only the given cash is equivalent to 100 Marshall Plans. Only one Marshall Plan was enough for Europe to become powerful and rich countries again after destruction caused by WWII…….. why castro could not to transform Cuba in a country 100 times more rich and powerful than any European country?????……. Any single normal person would find that the traitor in this history was castro…… a traitor that helped USA to drive exhaust the USSR and make easy for USA to win the Cold War using the huge resources the soviets gave to him in increasing his personal fortune. USSR not betrayed no one, they simply found the true and stopped the scam…….. castro is the traitor and is not the soviets the first ones he betrays.
But after your comment 76 I understand why you can not see the true in history and actuality……. yours is an inherited problem…… only mental weak people can spend decades unemployed or underemployed living in one of the richest countries of the world…… I started my emigrant life in Europe and I know there is much more harder to find a job then in USA but I never met sane people that lived decades unemployed……. even immigrants find its life in Europe!!!!
But now I understand….. you are retarded….. that’s why you are sure about a cubans in Cuba earning 0.50 or 0.70 cents of dollars a day can have a better live then your family in England living of social aid for handicapped people!!!!!!!
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 02:27
THE BIGGEST LIARS IN THE WORLDS ARE MAKING THIS STATEMENT!! HYPOCRITES!!
ASSOCIATED PRESS ARTICLE: Top Cuban official says Obama lied in Copenhagen
HAVANA — “Cuba’s foreign minister called President Barack Obama an “imperial and arrogant” liar Monday for his conduct at the U.N. climate conference, a reflection of the communist island’s increasingly fiery verbal attacks on the U.S. government.
Bruno Rodriguez spent an hour and a half lambasting Obama’s behavior in Copenhagen, telling a news conference, “at this summit, there was only imperial, arrogant Obama, who does not listen, who imposes his positions and even threatens developing countries.”"
“Rodriguez would not answer questions about the status of an American citizen who was detained in Cuba on Dec. 5 while working as a U.S. government contractor.
Castro first publicly mentioned the detention Sunday, when he told the Cuban Parliament that the American was arrested for distributing illegal satellite communications equipment.”
“Raul Castro over the weekend mentioned recent war games Cuba conducted to prepare for a U.S. invasion and hinted that the contractor’s arrest shows further American aggression against his country is a real possibility.
“I just want to note that here we have a people who are ready to protect, at any price, the successes of the revolution,” he said. “I’d advise one and all that they cease provocations of this type.”"
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....wD9CNTVOG0
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 23:05
Exile I think that you are just lousy , you don’t like to work you want the government, take in care of you. That is not socialist.That is to be and dependent scum . In here you got a lot of them too. But you got the right to have your POV. And what we want for or country is that every body can put their on POV w/out been afraid of been mob or persecuted like to many Cuban are in this moment. Ex: Yoanis and her husband, Las damas de blanco, Oscar Bicet and many others on Jail . THE ONLY REASON HAVE A DIFFERENT POV.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 21:25
Sure I can talk to ordinary people as only the scum in Miami think that folk are afraid to speak. I speak Spanish and sitting in a bar drinking the local firewater is not something that I object to doing.
Cuba has many problems, most being as result of Moscow’s betrayal 20 years ago. That said when I compare the lives of the average Cubans with my family back in England then the Cubans have the better of the deal. My family has now spend long decades either unemployed or underemployed, and when they do get jobs they have to put up with some snot-gobbling lump of management filth telling them to jump or be sacked.
In Cuba you do your bastard hours, you get your social wage, and nobody busts a ball to earn a crust.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 20:10
HAVANA TIMES ARTICLE: The Golden Mean
‘In the face of the extreme opposition (I guess, skinny and old women along with young student artists fall under that category) posed against Cuba by the US, the position of the island’s State has been equally extreme. Its reaction has been to simplify its palette, eliminating all shades of gray. Speech exists only in black and white terms, as one can only be “within” the revolution or “outside” of it.
In the belief that criticism offers “comfort to the enemy,” any critical voice (even a constructive one) is painted as “counter-revolutionary” and treated accordingly.
It’s that simple, and -if your aim is to effectively stem opposition- it works…for a generation or two.
Of course there are the obvious and painful tradeoffs. Devoid of transparency and accountability, the State hardens, it ossifies, it institutionalizes into a narrow top-down system of winners and losers - with the winners firmly holding incontestable power.
Ironically, the State becomes the mirror image of the elitist enemy it seeks to resist, gradually becoming more distinct from the original aim of the red “workers state.”
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=17369
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 20:08
REUTERS ARTICLE:Creditors still fret despite Cuba improvements
HAVANA, Dec 21 (Reuters) -”Cuba managed to stop the hemorrhaging of foreign exchange that left it unable to pay many bills the past year, officials said this weekend, but creditors who are owed an estimated $2 billion do not expect to be paid in full any time soon.”
“Cuba, which is heavily dependent on imports, stopped paying many suppliers last year and froze the Cuban bank accounts of most foreign companies operating on the island as the crisis drained its cash reserves.”
http://www.reuters.com/article.....7420091221
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 19:51
60
Exile
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 15:47
……..The memories of 50 years of defeat and disgrace must really hurt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have read several time this sentence in the comments of “different” activists of the castro-fascism….. those that uses to copy the proffered word of Hitler to “qualified” his enemies, Worms, following in such way theirs leader castro that copied also the word, the speeches and the philosophy of those bloody grounders of his thinking.
My answer to this triumphalism is always a relate of the defeats the dictator has suffered in the imperialism hands, a relate about how our country have become one of the poorest countries in the world, a relate about the difficulties and disgraces our people has lived ……… I always end the relate asking……. are these the “victories”?????……. with these victories even Pirro would be ashamed….
But the new-fascist never answer the question and Mr. exile always evade the answer….. in the same way he did not want to comment about the “pissed mobster”
http://zoevaldes.net/2009/12/1.....ora-meona/
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 19:41
I suspect the Castro regime will be able to cling to power until Fidel Castro is permanently out of the picture. In a weird sort of way, Fidel Castro’s insistence on maintaining a largely Marxist-Leninist economy may well work against this bankrupt regime’s attempts to stay in power once he dies or is permanently incapacitated.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 19:08
having problems posting
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 18:26
Exile, let me ask what makes you think that the Castro regime is not even worst than capitalist?
You have mentioned you have travel to Cuba
Have you been able to talk to normal Cubans?
I you have talked to them and see the situation and their life is not possible for you to side on Castro’s place because is so obvious they are using Cubans as slaves!
Even Fidel Castro recognized it that the honey of power was his.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 17:55
Hank#32
I don’t live in Miami but I was able to watch the program called “María Elvira Live” which broadcast on channel 41, every night from Miami. Herewith the path to her page: http://www.mega.tv/mariaelviralive.shtml
If you subscribe to her post, she will send you a weekly update with the latest videos of her program. I would say she is a very gutsy Lady.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 17:39
way back in the low #20s in these comments there was a bit about Cuban science and how things are for the people who work there. My experience with some friends there who are involved in certain water and geology earth science disciplines in Cuba is that they are a couple of decades behind the thinking we have “outside” a Mexican friend was translating a manuscript for one of these Cubans and she stated that there were a lot of ideas in it that we had in the 60s and have since discarded. Hopefully the day when those amigos of ours can be unleashed into the vast realms of new thinking available in cyberspace will arrive shortly.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 17:34
Haed up Exile is a trol .Yep he is Castros goon doing his bedting in London.I just read his coment, Exile get a life.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 16:40
Naah, voted CP a few times in the old days but I am basically Labour. Well, I was until the party got taken over by the middle class and dropped all it economic policies in favour of being nice to poofs - what you call faggots - ethnics and bloody women.
You see, what a lot of people just don’t get is that folk like me are socialist for economic reasons. I never sat there with my dick in one hand and the Communist Manifesto in the other. On the other hand I have never had an employer, or an employer’s man, that I have not wanted to see swinging from a lamppost.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 16:39
The only thing that may help the regime a little bit will be to lift the travel ban.
Still for the Cuban regime that will be a double edge sword since they will not be able to handle that many Americans let loose in Cuba.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 16:33
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/78989.html
Read this
4 out of 5 unhappy with Raul’s reforms!
And now he is asking to tight bell even more!
There is so much people can tight before it breaks
This is breaking point.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 15:57
The US government needs to be on alert because every time the Castro’s get in trouble they open the valve of the pressure cooker and let Cubans go.
The economical situation in Cuba may turn out to be even worst that we think.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 15:54
Exile I have a question for you
I read your post and I can not figure what your political affinity is.
You some how seem to like the regime.
But are you a communist?
How would you define yourself?
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 15:50
Exile I have that book.
If the regime does not get any help the economic situation will topple it.
Just wait and see.
If the Cuban regime dares to get bloody to keep control that will be its end.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 15:47
“I believe the regime is at its end here.”
Julio - you old optimist, you.
Does anybody remember a book written by, I think, a fellow named Oppenheimer that was called The Last Days of Castro, or something similar? Let me think… It was written in about 1990… An awful lot of days have passed since then, but that doesn’t stop the denizens of Bananalandia dreaming their pathetic dreams.
Changing the subject completely, Elian Gonzalez is 16 now! I can remember his birthday because he is a month younger than my eldest son. It only seems like yesterday when you were getting yourselves all worked up over the little lad, then howling like deranged dogs as his father took him home. Now he is an officer cadet in the Cuban army. How time flies; how one defeat piles on top of another.
The memories of 50 years of defeat and disgrace must really hurt.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 14:15
Andy just the fact that he(Raul) so far seem to have fail to deliver on the changes the Cuban people wanted. I believe the regime is at its end here.
We can see all the signs pointing to the final moments for the Cuban regime.
That is why they have been so active repressing lately
They know they need to patch the holes before it becomes a big explosion
If the economic situation deteriorates the way it looks it will
it is actually all their own making!
As Albert mentioned there have been a great conjunction or alignment of factors that have put them in that situation so I believe we are witnessing the end of the regime.
Unless someone gives them help soon.
I just do not understand how can they have a liquidity problem when everyone in Cuba pays on those stores with real money.
The only think I could think of is that they have been taking the money for other reasons. Who knows.
One thing is obvious is the accumulation of 50 years of mismanagement of the economy that is bringing the system down. This is basically the same reason why the communist system in Russia failed.
So far they have survive because of Chavez but it is clear that Chavez got problems on his own now. So not sure how much help he can be.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 14:10
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/eco.....80787.html and this guys think that touris will fix it all
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 13:11
Festival ‘Poesía sin fin’ en una vivienda de La Habana
Organizado por el grupo Omni Zona-Franca, luego de ser desalojados de su sede en la Casa de la Cultura de Alamar.
http://www.facebook.com/home.p.....amp;ref=mf
by DIARIO DE CUBA (videos) 4:58
http://www.facebook.com/home.p.....5682772795
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 12:57
Oh and then get this, Raul again of course:
“I limit myself, for now, to expressing that in the update of the Cuban economic model, an issue on which one advances by an integral approach, there can no be room for the risks of improvisation and hastiness.”
That’s right… we want to get it right. We’ve had about 50 years to work on it… give us 50 more and we’ll be there.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 12:52
No surprises at all. With no new tools in the tool box, a completely failed regime pulls out the old playbook. They don’t even have a Hail Mary pass in their arsenal. Pathetic.
Raul’s speech as reported by AFP:
“The enemy is as active as ever,” Castro charged in his annual address to the National Assembly.
“In recent weeks, we have witnessed an increasing number of efforts by the new (US) administration with that objective,” the 77-year-old president added.
“The fostering of open and covert subversion against Cuba is on the rise.”
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 12:30
BBC ARTICLE: Cuba President Raul Castro lashes out at Barack Obama
“But Mr Obama has said that, like previous American presidents, he will only consider a full lifting of the embargo once Cuba’s communist government makes significant moves such as the holding of democratic elections.”
“Mr Castro’s comments were the first to acknowledge the detention of the US citizen, who works for a Maryland-based development organisation which regularly carries out work for the US government’s agency for international development.
The contractor is reported to have been detained while distributing mobile phones and laptops. The US has made repeated requests for access to him.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8424041.stm
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 11:26
Julio @ #51
I tend to agree, many factors are comming together.
The countries supporting the Cuban economy are reducing their support due to the world economy.
The “technical” exchange the regime uses as income, (doctors and others)in liu of payment for goods delivered to Cuba is becoming expensive for the “host” countries.
The people in the island is becoming more aware of the situation since underground comunications in Cuba are & they are getting more sofisticated.
The advanced age of the present leadership.
The lack of anyone withim the regime with the “presence” to become the new leader/s of socialist Cuba.
The lack of philosophical flexibility.
All this things & many more are begining to pressure the regime for inmediate solutions however: the regime is unable to come up with any which would not contradict the over 50 years of “practice”
It seems to me the regime has painted itself into a corner,; they did not forsee this comming because their sense of future and the lack of understanding of the world as a society.
In other words things have evolved but the regime has not & now is begining to “feel” its consecuences.
I realize this to be a simplistic way of looking at things yet: the regime has set itself up for an implotion of its own making.
When fidel dies, after the “mourning” the system will lack a caudillo type figure.
Note the difference between figure & symbol.
fidel (to me) is only a figure, powerful yes but a figure since all “good & all bad” starts & finishes with him, that is the perception he created to represent himself.
The people that will follow the regime’s power… can’t criticize him even after his death without contradicting what his figure represents.
If they do … it will be an admition of failure and wrong done to the people of Cuba … by fidel & in reflexion by anyone who followed him.
Its wait & see …
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 11:02
Video: APOCALYPTIC Winter Storm Blankets US East Coast with Snow and CUBA with Moisture.
http://www.worldviewr.com
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 10:26
The economic situation in Cuba seems to place 2010 as the year that will possibly bring down the regime!
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 07:16
racism?
It does nonexistent in a socialist society; it can’t exist by the very nature of the socialist definition.
According to the regime, since everyone is in support & a beliver in the socialist society, there is nothing more that foreign propaganda aimed at discrediting the system & the regime.
There is education: for all
there is medical care: for all
there is work: for all
there is poverty: for all
Perhaps because education does not make a difference if you are unable to apply it “to make a living” unless you are rented by the regime, like a commodity?
Or because even having the “best medical care” system in the world “the beloved leader” had to get spanish doctors to treat him of his maladies?
Or because there is work for all in which you earn a living below that of a servant?
Or because not having earnings which could make your life easy … you are held in dependency by the handouts of the regime?
Even “comming or going” is an issue.
But try as I may … can’t figure it out; if you are a “good citizen” the regime should be proud of letting you “out” to chant the heaven that is Cuba.
Like che’s children, they are free to go here & there, to china, to europa, to southamerica …
Since all citizens of Cuba (in the island) are equal & “good” what is the fear?
Since the “new man” has been created from birth till now, feed the ambrosia of socialism, with saint che as an inspiration … what is it that is wrong?
Why the vigilance, why the oppression? why the control?
I realy don’t understand, if “we are doing well” why the hunger, why the rationing? why the lack of the basic necesities?
Why can’t we talk in “constructive critizism”
Oh yeah … we are equals, there is no discrimination, blacks are not looked upon as “different” is a matter of fact … “I have a black friend”
Discriminated becasue of age, why, just because you can no longer apport to the community? naw … it is not so …
Maybe because my sex or the way I look? is my skin dark” am I missing a few teeth & my clothes are “old” and … do I smell? (no deodorant sorry).
Discrimination? that is propaganda of the devil from the north …
So: dying to get out …dying to return to paradise in the present? …
Simple questions from a simple man … there are no simple answers are there?
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 04:28
According to the Spanish El País, things might become a little difficult on the island soon: http://www.elpais.com/articulo.....uint_2/Tes
Well, a MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 00:24
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....i3wM9i_FDw
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 22:16
I THOUGHT RAUL WAS SUPPOSED TO TALK ABOUT THE CUBAN ECONOMY TODAY! GUESS NOT! SOMETHING IS COOKING, I CAN FEEL IT!
ASSOCIATED PRESS ARTICLE: Castro: Obama seeking to topple Cuban communism
In November, the State Department denounced an assault allegedly inflicted by plainclothes Cuban state security agents on the island’s top dissident blogger, Yoani Sanchez. Obama later sent a lengthy message praising Sanchez and answering a series of questions from her.
Prominent American blacks recently denounced racism in Cuba, which is a touchy subject here, and the Cuban military conducted war games against a U.S. invasion, which authorities here still insist is a real possibility.
“If the American government really wants to advance relations with Cuba,” Raul Castro said Sunday, “I recommend they leave behind the conditions of internal governance that they are trying to impose on us and that only Cubans can decide.”
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....gD9CNDPIO0
DIARIO DE LAS AMERICAS: Cubanos esperan otro llamado para apretarse el cinturón - Tras año de crisis Raúl Castro anunciará plan económico
http://www.diariolasamericas.c.....?nid=90909
HAVANA Cuban President Raúl Castro leads l on Sunday ³ n sesi Parliament to announce his economic program ³ mico 2010 after closing a aà ± o of severe crisis, marked by cost cutting, attempts to revive the low production ³ n and the virtual stagnation of reforms.
â € œHa been around: lack of system, organizations ³ n, address deficiencies in the production ³ n ³ n and the comercialización n and n Transportation problems and prices. It will be naïve to think that this can be resolved in five months €, said Agriculture Minister Ulises Rosales. ³ The government had twice the goal to reduce growth of the economy for 2009, from 6% to 2.5% and then to 1.7%. The commission n econ ³ mica for Amà © rica Latina (ECLAC) estimated to be 1%.
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 21:45
LA FLACA WITH BALLS!!FROM HER LASTES TWITTER!
I saw a film on the last days of Francisco Franco. The similarities have left me shocked. When will the day come for Cuba? 7 hrs ago
Cuba has run out of arguments and we all understand that the king has lost his “clothes”. The only thing lefT is for cubans to say it aloud. 7 hrs ago
http://twitter.com/YoaniSanchez
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 19:54
There is nothing equivalent to affirmative action in Cuba. They just assume that racism does not exist. At least that is the official speech/propaganda.
The reality is other.
Cuba does have two very different images one the Propaganda image the perfect society in text books with perfect economy able to produce 150 percent etc and no racism and equality for all. The one they portrait in the newscast. The mythical Cuba of the Castro Regime. The one they show foreign visitors. With “free” health care and “free” education.
But we all know about the real Cuba. The one where those fantasies are just fantasies. Where they do not have food like Pamfilo “lo que no hay es Jama!”.
The lack of freedom where people that dare to express themselves are punished in one way or another. Where some people are more equal than other and get better health care or have access to things that the majority do not. After all Alarcon wants to keep those Cubans skies free of so many Cubans flying out. Just for the few top and well connected regime supporters for those planes are available.
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 19:43
Honestly, I lived for 26 years in Cuba all during the revolution and never heard the term pichon apply to black Cubans that Carlos Moore refers to. It may be a local term applied in a particular area of Cuba.
About racism in Cuba is quite obvious there is, since one can compare percentage wise how many blacks are in prison compare to whites or how many blacks compare to whites in hight places in the Cuban government and other administrative places.
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 19:40
John Two,
I disagree. Deleting comments, however much we may not like them, is fundamentally wrong. If we start doing that, where does it end? Who decides which comments should be deleted and which should be kept? Who does that?
The whole point of all of this, as I see it, is that people can say whatever they want.
If someone comes here and advocates anti-semitism — let him. If someone else comes here and advocates racism — let her. We can knock them all down and put them back into the pathetic little boxes where they belong. We can defeat their twisted pseudo logic and we will. I invite all the idiots and lunatics to speak (two distinct camps, mind you), so they may be once and for all silenced and crushed.
There is no implied support on the part of Yoani for anything anyone says here. None that I know of.
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 19:34
I wrote already I knew the guy who was going to pilot the gramma from Tux pant (Mexico) to Cuba . His name was Guido Bustamante he spent over 20 years of his live in “la Cabana” after Castro accused him to try to overthrow from government . He witness how the Castros brother kill a lot of politic prisoners in “la Cabana”. How Castro betrayed his on ideas of revolution.
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 19:26
you should see this one http://www.facebook.com/video/.....1230318651
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 19:24
H.Capiro the problem w/ this guy and other is Houdini got then , F. Castro has been a good demagogue and had made them dream a nightmare .F. Castro has been the grand illusionist .
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 15:58
A MUST WATCH!!!
INTERVIEW OF CARLOS MOORE BY TAVIS SMILEY ON PBS:February 10, 2009
Moore: Because I wanted the world to know that that was the experience of Blacks in Cuba like myself, who grew up in that experience. I wanted them to know that term because when people see the term pichon, they say, “Well, what is this?” And then I explain.
Moore: Because I still had faith in him. Remember, Castro was larger than life to us. We had faith in this leader, and we felt that the fact that he had confronted imperialism, confronted the United States, and had had the courage to do what he did, because Castro’s a very courageous man. He’s a nationalist, he’s an anti-imperialist, and he’s a man who is committed to social reform. There is no question about this.
Castro’s not a segregationist. So we felt that Castro had - could understand that the policies that he was enacting, if he - we could explain to him that this policies wouldn’t work, that they were wrong - for instance, he banned all Black organizations in Cuba. He called them racist organizations.
There were 526 organizations in Cuba; he banned them. He started banning all of Black organizations, which had come out of slavery, and he started attacking the Black religions, African religions. He said they were primitive. So we said, “There’s something wrong here, so we must talk to him, we must explain to him what race is, because he’s not understanding.”
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/taviss.....moore.html
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 15:54
In response to Humberto’s #31 comment, I read the Miami Herald column by the person from the Cuban Liberty Council and was less than impressed.
Instead of being gracious and welcoming this overture from 60 prominent black Americans, the columnist is petty and full of spite. I found her criticism of Carlos Moore particularly hard to swallow. For decades, Moore has been in the forefront of those who have been critical of the Castro regime for its racism and denial of human rights not only to blacks but to all Cubans.
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 15:08
I will tell you more the Castro’s Brother are the one who betrayed the Cubans , and they did it more that one . I remember the guy who was suppose to pilot the Gramma from tux pant to Cuba. He was leave behind on Mexico by Castro . And after the revolution sent to el Castillo de la Cabana “ for 20 years . And sorry but you really are full of SHHHHH that is for you .
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 15:02
Andy,
Thanks for the tip on the book. Will post it on my Facebook.
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 15:00
Anonimo you really are full of SSSSSH. The debated here is no about the Latino’s gangs on Miami , Florida or the U.S.A. The debated is about a decadent way of thinking and Government . The Castro’s government , that always try to justifies themselves blaming every problem on the U.S.A. I will ask you only one question or may be more than one : how do you blame the U.S.A the incapacity of the government to made produce the plentiful land that do no produce in this moment?. How do you blame the U.S.A went a hurricane hit the island ?How do you blame the U.S that Castro do no aloud his people to think freely ?No the real embargo on me , and the others Cubans is the government of Castro’s brothers!
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 14:50
Hank, here’s the problem I have especially with comments #16 and #18.
These comments could well have been posted by a supporter of the Castro regime. They show about the same level of intelligence and maturity.
Let’s not give Cuban state media the excuse to criticize Yoani because she allows comments on her blog that advocate violence against members of the CDR.
Because Yoani is a blind blogger, she can’t even delete comments. That’s why I’m requesting that our Friendly English Translator (or whoever moderates Yoani’s blog) do so.
And deleting comments that fail to meet the standards of Yoani’s blog is not censorship. Posting comments on a blog other than your own is a privilege, not a right.
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 14:20
Humberto,
I recently finished Carlos Moore’s book, Pinchon, about growing up black in Cuba, leaving (with his parents before the revolution), going back to support the revolution, and then more or less being hounded around the world for charging the revolution with racism.
Which of course you don’t need any reports to know is a fact of life. Look at the faces of the top echelon. Look at the faces of the staff in the tourist hotels. I don’t know about the faces of the professors in the universities.
But then again maybe it’s just my jaundiced eye. No more than there can be social classes within the revolution, can there be racism. Why not? Because Fidel says so. And since the whole country is his fantasy island, whatever he declares about it must be true. No?
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 14:11
Liborio,
Thank you for calling attention to the post by Statue of Liberty. Is this an interview conducted on a Miami TV station? It was very interesting.
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 13:23
THIS TOPIC KEEPS COMING UP LATELY ON THE NEWS.
MIAMI HERALD ARTICLE: BLACKS IN CUBA-Why the delayed outcry?
“For Cuba’s blacks, the humiliation is double. They are not allowed to stay in hotels reserved for foreigners, and the new slave masters seldom hire them to work in their exclusive installations.
While most of these African-American leaders were praising the Cuban Revolution, Olegario Charlot, upon years of suffering in Castro’s prisons, died during a hunger strike claiming his only possession, a Bible. After his tragic death, his fellow prisoners witnessed how his decomposed body was removed with shovels before they were introduced in the same stench-filled dungeon. Where was the outrage?”
http://www.miamiherald.com/opi.....89540.html
NEW AMERICA MADIA ARTICLE: Obama Effect’ Highlights Racism in Cuba
New America Media, News Analysis, Louis E.V. Nevaer, Posted: Dec 15, 2008
“The European Union recently dispatched anthropologists to study racism in Cuba. Their findings were shocking: Not only was racism alive and well in the workers’ paradise, but it was systemic and institutional. Blacks were systematically excluded from positions that involved coming in contact with foreign tourists (where they could earn tips in hard currencies), they were relegated to poor housing, complained of the longest waits for healthcare, were excluded from managerial positions, received the lowest remittances from relatives abroad, and were five times more likely to be imprisoned.
The report, “Race and Inequality in Cuba Today,” by Rodrigo Espina and Pablo Rodriguez Ruiz, published in the anthropological journal TEMAS in 2006, infuriated Cuban officials.
But the findings were irrefutable, and they reflected an acceleration of racism in the 1990s. The collapse of the Soviet Union only exacerbated the problem, particularly as Cuba now competed with Cancun and San Juan for European vacationers. As Democracy Now! reported in 2000, Cuban officials continued to exclude blacks from tourist-related industries. ”
http://news.newamericamedia.or.....d170243f0f
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 13:11
Statue of Liberty, I wish more people be interested and pay more attention to the link you just posted on #21. Very illuminating video and at the same time it expose how the Castro’s machinery stack up their bank accounts in Switzerland for their own benefit while the regular Cuban family lack mere necessities.
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 12:57
Sorry, I meant “principle.”
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 12:53
John Two,
While I agree with you in principal, I don’t think we should advocate censoring the comments posted here. Let the idiots speak so we can witness their lunacy. Let them be exposed to the full light of day. They only demote themselves, so let’s not give them any ammunition.
I watched a very interesting documentary this morning about the French Revolution. How I wish I had more time to read! I am embarrassed to have to cite to a TV show. Ugh! In any case, this documentary on the History Channel was pretty good. The intentional use of violence to instigate and further propagate change is fascinating. So is Maximilien Robespierre, the mass murderer. He got what he deserved.
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 11:46
I have been cleaning my driveway from snow. Wow I never seen so much snow!
Hank, you are probably the same too!
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 10:18
I’m wondering if the moderator could delete comments #13 to #18. They clearly violate the standards of civility Yoani has set for her blog.
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 09:23
Andy –
The way I see it, science is all about reality – trying to study it, know it, define it, describe it and come to some understanding of it. Whatever “it” is. Infectious disease is a perfect example. Hundreds of millions of people died of plague because they could not conceive of antibiotics or bacteria. We know now about antibiotics because we are aware of bacteria – their structure, biology and vulnerabilities.
But science is done by people who live in the everyday context of some reality, and that reality shapes perception. If a person’s perception of reality is dramatically skewed, for whatever reason, then legitimate science, I think, is very difficult, if not impossible to do. Your silo idea might work to an extent, but I think it is impossible for an individual or group of people to compartmentalize to that extent. The claims of breakthroughs in vaccine development in Cuba are interesting. In developed countries, extensive clinical trials are required to establish safety and efficacy before any new drug is approved for human use. I wonder what sorts of trials have been conducted on new Cuban drugs. I wonder just how safe and effective they really are.
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 09:14
i suppose in some respects,these nightmares are a lack of security..a lack of security & assurance that everything will be fine & nothing will happen to you…
we’re always pray for you Yoani :) <3
Diciembre 20th, 2009 at 01:16
Hank — interesting you bring up the sciences… as I think more than one of our bloggers are scientists. I think Ciro is perhaps a biochemist, and I seem to remember hearing something similar about another one. I have heard — no idea if it’s regime hype or true — that Cuban scientists have made some breakthroughs, come up with new drugs, etc. But… if you throw out of science people who want the freedom to think their own thoughts… well it makes one wonder.
On the other hand, I can imagine a sort of silo with the people inside doing good science, while faking all the other crap they need to to keep their jobs, at a minimum, and perhaps do work they really love.
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 23:48
Hefa,
At the risk of being un pesado, this is a carry-over from a previous page…you made some interesting comments that I think are worth exploring a bit further:
You raise an extraordinarily interesting point. The sciences — physics, chemistry and biology — are typically thought of as being divorced from politics and other subjective influences. But we know they are not e.g. Thomas Khun. The scientific pursuits are just as linked to politics and ambient thinking as are the humanities.
So, I wonder, what has been the effect of 50 years of institutionalized insanity on the “hard sciences” in Cuba? The topic might make for an illuminating Ph.D. dissertation or two — once things open up in that place.
I am curious, what was the topic of the academic conference you attended in Cuba?
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 22:59
María Elvira Live, has a recent video (In Spanish) describing how a Swiss bank was able to launder large sums of money for the Cuban regime. The video also shows the present Attorney General talking about a penalty imposed on a Swiss bank for aiding in this transaction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 22:42
***
Communism enslaves the people and makes them prisoners in their own land. And Commie Fidel Castro castigates the U.S.A. for mistreating poor people! And he made most of the cubans poor people.
***
Communismo esclava la gente y les ponen prisoneros en su propria pais. Y Communista Fidel Castro castiga los Estados Unidos por maltratar gente pobre. Y puso la majoria de los Cubanos pobres.
***
John Bibb
***
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 22:21
I wish this for you and your compatriots too.
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 22:21
FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE CUBA STAND UP AND FIGHT !!!! IF U KILL A COW THEY GIVE U 20 -personal threat deleted by moderator-
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 22:17
THE CUBAN MAFIA HA HA HA
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 22:16
JIM JONES JUICE !!! GIVE IT THE CDR HAHA
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 22:13
CASTRO HAS BALLS CUBAN PEOPLE NO BALLS
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 22:11
NO BALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 22:10
COWARDS !!!! CUBAN COWARDS
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 22:02
Andy,
You are absolutely right. I read the “Electric Kool Aid Acid Test” a long time ago and completely forgot about the Kool Aid connection. Still, if given a choice, I would much rather drink the Prankster’s brew instead of Jim Jones’ lethal concoction.
But you are right — what a blast from the past! Metaphorically speaking, I have always equated “drinking the Kool Aid” with accepting the status quo and going with it, even to the point of death, like what those poor misguided souls did in Jonestown. Isn’t that the complete opposite of what the Pranksters were all about? How ironic is that!
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 21:48
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2vRotzto3o ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THEN WORDS. STOP SITTING DOWN AND LETS STAND UP FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS 2010 !!!! LETS SEE IF CUBA BUILDS MORE PRISON TO KEEP ME AND ALL MY FRIENDS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2vRotzto3o
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 20:00
DIARIO DE LAS AMERICAS: Cubanos esperan otro llamado para apretarse el cinturón - Tras año de crisis Raúl Castro anunciará plan económico
http://www.diariolasamericas.c.....?nid=90909
BAD TRANSLATION OF SOME OF HIGHLIGHTS!
DIARIO DE LAS AMERICAS: Cuban expecting another call to tighten the Belt of - After aà ± o l crisis Raúl Castro announced economic plan ³ mico
â € œHa been around: lack of system, organizations ³ n, address deficiencies in the production ³ n ³ n and the comercialización n and n Transportation problems and prices. It will be naïve to think that this can be resolved in five months €, said Agriculture Minister Ulises Rosales. ³ The government had twice the goal to reduce growth of the economy for 2009, from 6% to 2.5% and then to 1.7%. The commission n econ ³ mica for Amà © rica Latina (ECLAC) estimated to be 1%.
Según º n ECLAC, cutting imports (14,200 million in 2008) was 30%, which was seen in the shortage of hard currency shops for the populations of artÃculos ³ n and inputs for The production and services.
Exports (3,600 million in 2008) suffered from a low of 40% of naquele prices, and income from tourism -2300 million in 2008 - had until September 150 million a mermaid.
The mainstay © n was the exchange of petro ³ leo (115,000 bpd) of Venezuela, service-mà © dicos, faculty-Cubans.
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 19:47
Hank — you are completely right about Jim Jones and the kool-aid… but I think that may have put the expression into widespread use. I’m not sure it wasn’t already in use in a smaller way. (We’ll have to get some researcher to search it out.)
In the ’60s in the SF Bay Area and elsewhere, Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, the Merry Pranksters, et al, were experimenting with LSD. Before it became illegal there were a lot of parties in San Francisco where they would make “acid test kool-aid” and everyone would get high together… 100s of people at a time… very scary… no I do not have personal experience of this!
The “Electric Kool Aid Acid Test” was a book written in 1968 about all this… never read it. (Just confirmed the publication date on wiki.) But… I do remember people saying, “Well if you go to the party… don’t drink the kool-aid”. A decade plus later when Jim Jones came along he gave new meaning to the whole thing.
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 18:20
While it is very frustrating to not be allowed to leave one’s country, the prospect of being allowed to leave and then not be allowed to re-enter must be absolutely terrifying.
Should the regime ever grant Yoani an exit permit, I think some strategizing would be needed to make it as difficult as possible for the regime to bar her from returning. If I was Yoani, I definitely wouldn’t fly on a Cuban airline. Also consider flying to someplace in Cuba other than Havana. And remember to take the blonde wig. The last sentence was a joke by the way.
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 17:14
POWER TO THE CUBAN PEOPLE
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 16:45
we going to cuba to take are land back so get ready !!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvyYosgA2k0
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 16:45
Just to clarify, the expression “don’t drink the Kool-aid” comes from a very specific event. A mass suicide in 1978 which to this day is one of the classic examples of mass hysteria. Over 900 people drank Kool-aid laced with cyanide to kill themselves in Guyana. All at the behest of a megalomaniacal leader whose name was Jim Jones. To this day, people who remember this tragedy use it as an example in their everyday lives by saying “don’t drink the Kool-aid.”
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 16:16
Also every time I will eat meat or chicken I will remember how little they had to eat back in Cuba my family and friends. It makes you feel guilty. We have so much and they have so little.
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 16:13
I have to confess I did have the same nightmares when I exited Cuba for like 3 month. They all have to do with not been able to exit the airport.
Later I found that it is actually a documented psychological problem know as Post Traumatic stress disorder( PTSD).
You get it when you have been expose to a very stressful situation. After the stressful situation is gone it will eventually goes away. I do not have nightmares anymore.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PTSD
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 16:13
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Julio Rey, Protagonists. Protagonists said: #Cuba The Coca-Cola of forgetting or the cane juice of nostalgia: For Roberto San Martín http://bit.ly/8ZEpRz [...]
Diciembre 19th, 2009 at 16:08
Wow, very well written. Yoani, we have a similar expression in English:
“Don’t drink the Kool-aid.”