Prognosis uncertain
“The impasse is the dynamics of deterioration,” my friend said, part philosophic part pessimistic after listening to Raul Castro’s speech in the National Assembly yesterday. The rope of our prognostications had not stretched tight waiting for a possible announcement of changes, but we had some expectation around certain long-promised measures. However, on pronouncing the official words to close out 2009, the second Party secretary seemed to be hanging more on the brake than the rudder, more cautious than enterprising, far more conservative than daring.
Our parliamentarians, for their part, again lost the chance to ask uncomfortable questions, to oppose a ballot, or engage in heated discussions. They may have let the last opportunity go by to impel an opening from above and to break with this image of the mute chorus they have shown for more than three decades. The debates that took place in the Palace of Conventions, which were shown on television, seemed to happen in a distant country, a country with enough time to defer—over and over again—the needed transformations. Not even the euphemism of “updating the economic system” included the most important demands of the weighty popular agenda.
In this fourth regular session, they didn’t even clarify the name of the new year*, the growth in GDP, though reduced, still seems inflated to us, and there is a threat of future cuts that nobody will confirm. Despite certain pragmatic turns of phrase delivered in the final speech, volunteerism and orders handed down from above continue to shape the principal strategy for governing the country. So, the parliamentarians continually lose importance because the master plan is cooked up in one office alone, and endorsed with barely a pair of signatures. I would not be surprised if in February or March they implement a package of cuts and adjustments, which will not be passed through the hands of even these—highly complacent—deputies.
In the middle of next year the National Assembly will meet again to applaud—their usual dose of complicity and silence.
Translator’s note
The name of the year: The Cuban regime names each year. For example 1961 was “The Year of Education.”
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 13:10
Feliz Navidad to every one that celebrates it happy holidays
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 12:44
I opened my Inbox this morning and was surprised to find an email from Yoani Sanchez thanking me for the donation I had made using the ‘How to Help’ feature several weeks ago. Completely unexpected but very much appreciated.
What I wish for Yoani and her fellow bloggers is continued liberty in 2010 and a greater measure of freedom for the Cuban people. Feliz Navidad.
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 12:34
Cortometraje sobre la protesta de los estudiantes del Instituto Superior de Arte de la Habana el 22 de octubre del 2009
Short film of the student protests of the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana October 22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
Thanks to Joel Garcia of the blog “Un Cubano in Canarias” (A Cuban in The Canary Islands)
Gracias a Joel Garcia del blog “Un Cubano in Canarias” (A Cuban in The Canary Islands)
http://uncubanoencanarias.blogspot.com/
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 09:58
Cubano
Nobody will make Cuba be anything
Cuba will be what the Cubans want her to be
Here you have Fidel Castro he said he wanted communism and socialism for Cuba
Cubans created sociolism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociolismo
you see people do what they think not what they are force to do.
as for this
“I was able to enjoy my people, my country my friends my neighbours, and enjoy to the fullest being out on carnaval until sunrise, the music the beers the food the people, mi raza…Parrandas de Cabairien, Remedios la vida misma…find anything like that in your new freedom…actually I was free in Cuba…that is gone now.
America is the most hipocritical, puritane and unjust country in the so called civilized world.
If this is what you want for Cuba, I hope you fail, like you will…you are only but on handful of people here and Yoani, corageus, but negative of her own reality and life.
Cuba will be better, but not your negative and hateful way. You are full of hate.
Viva Cuba.”
Nobody have you tight or chain to this country or any country. Maybe you should consider going back to Cuba. Please remember your brothers in prison. Those that Fidel Castro has place there for thinking different.
You are not the first to mentioned that Yoani seems Negative.
I think is the other way around I think she is positive since I believe
she is critical because she may still think is possible for the system to change, to solve the problems they have. But we know they do not care to solve those problems the normal Cubans have because those are not their problems.
Their problem is how to hold on to power one more year
five more years, ten more years. Those are the problems they are interested in solving.
I do not see anyone been hateful towards Cuba here.
Do not confuse Cuba with the Cuban regime
we have explained multiple times it is not the same.
Viva Cuba libre para todos!
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 08:14
About your sexuality , that is your own choice and deserved the respect of every one. I had family and friends who choose that way of live , and I love them the same way, I always did. That is not a question . That is your right as a human been . The right that Castro denied to every Cubano I know. I remember went I was growing up a young boy of may barrio was send to the UMAT in Camaguey because he was homosexual.
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 08:00
Probably your living in the wrong side of this big country because in here MD in Montgomery County , you have to recycle every thing. I have been in almost all the states on the east coast and most of them have the recycling program. Cubano what did you say about what happen on Laguna de la leche , or la sienaga de Zapata. Or the bay of moa . Have you seen the pic images talk more than words.
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 07:53
The problem w/ Cubano is he may be here but his soul still slave by the system, he left behind in Cuba our CUBA no the CUBA of Fidel .Who give that right to F.Castro? That is way I said that he has not free his brain .F.Castro do no OWN CUBA, Even a little more Cubano we pay for that school went we labor on the field planting tobacco or citric. Nothing was free. Here you got choices , and is after you to be smart and choose right.
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 07:06
cubano:
Welcome back … silence can be deafening sometimes.
No matter where you go, where you are you’ll always be a cubano.
Once you decided on the course of your life … there is were you’ll always strive to be.
Your sexual preference is not important to me, there is not even room for judgement.
Nevertheless I don’t think it can be used as a tool in justifing attitudes or shoring up positions.
Like it or not we are subject to the consecuences of our choices & our actions.
Good or bad, right or wrong we live in a world coloured by perceptions, first impressions and judgement.
Here we are (I like to believe) people of second chances; where there is the gift of benefit of doubt exercised by choice free choice.
So pleas: euse your God given talents without anger but with passion, use the freedom you have to build in OUR future while retaining your individuality.
The teacher that saved you … did he save you? or did he save a principle since it was the right thing to do? … get it?
Hope I am not offending you … if so please accept my apologies.
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 06:51
This is the great mistake
” in the Cuba of Fidel”
Fidel made.
Cuba is not his
that is the biggest issue we have with them.
Cuba belongs to each and every Cuban independent of political position.
The streets of Cuba are for every Cuban not for just Fidel.
He will be gone sooner or later and will be forgotten by some, adore by others and hated by others but he will be gone.
Cuba will still be there and Cuba will be free.
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 06:32
Hey Cubano you are back.
I thought you will not come back here you said so yourself. I guess people are entitled to make mistakes! I really do not understand you. If you love so much Cuba how it is now, why did you go?
Why did you have to go outside? Or is it that outside you really discover that you actually love Cuba more?
As to the black and white comment we did not invented it. It was Fidel Castro who created it when he said “With the revolution everything without the revolution nothing”. There you have it, that is black and white for you and as for “And we are not America we are different, and yes we drink and party without prejudice and bull like here”. How about political prejudice? Where you are not allowed to speak or be critical of the system? Or otherwise you may lose your employment or your studies just for talking? (You say so yourself). Hey I wished things in Cuba were as simple as you portrait them, that solutions will come like you seem to believe they do. But unfortunately the reality is another. “a communist teacher of mine got me out of prison after 20 days” do you think we can get that teacher to defend the many in prison by political issues and get them out in 20 days?
As for “Yoani is who she is now because of the communist system, she can not deny that, no choice, but she is an educated an intelligent free human being…and it was the Cuba of Fidel that gave her that, and she is still free…I know Boricuas still in prison for fighting for their independence, I have work to get them free, some of them have been more than 20 year political prisoners of the imperio.”
Wow, let me see if I can address it. Yes I think you are right.
Yoani is who she is for the negative of the regime to let her travel.
Yoani is who she is for the regime refusing to listen and solving the problems and issues she writes about.
Yes she is who she is for the negative of the Cuban president to answer simple questions from a citizen of his country.
I do not think Fidel Castro gave anything to Yoani. The education was not given by Fidel Castro. Was given by the people of Cuba by her parents the same Yoani is now defending against oppression so that they do not have to abandon their homeland and be free in their own country. Yoani would have been smart in any place. That’s not something Fidel Castro can give.
As for “the Boricuas in prison”. Wow man you sure are something how about your brothers, I am talking about all the Cubans that are in prison by the regime? Do you fight for their freedom? In the same way that teacher of yours fought for your freedom?
Cuban political prisoners are the prisoners with longer sentences than those 20 years. Why since you seem to love your Cuba so much. Why don’t you talk about them?
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 03:19
Cubano, thanks for your comments. They are appreciated, at least by me.
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 00:40
in a little town I lived in Europe they will come once a week to pick up oils and chemicals and batteries(including cooking oils), we had two trash conteiners, one for regular trash and the other one for cartoon paper and degradable material, they are trying, and it’s still not enough…think about USA?…we do not care, California is ahead and trying, I know that…but you know what, I experience recycling and taking care of the earth in the Cuba of Fidel…another bad thing?
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 00:31
hey Andy there you go again with all your sites and says, well something very simple to you, since I remember I was make to recicle things in Cuba, ah with Fidel, the same and more reciclying when I lived in Europe, well now “how easy and out there is recycling in USA” we just do not care, we dump anything and everything without caring about anything…well how bad is Fidel on trying to do the right thing….
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 00:24
Why do the Castros revert to their old methods of sowing hate and discord? Because it works for them!
They get to keep their “enemy” and it’s all “the northamerican imperialists’ fault”. And McCaffrey falls right in to the trap they set.
From the Miami Herald:
“McCaffrey turns down 3-day visit to Cuba, citing ‘vitriolic’ comments by a top official.
“Comments about President Obama and the United States voiced by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno RodrĂguez Parrilla and RaĂşl Castro have caused Gen. Barry McCaffrey, U.S. Army (retired), an advocate of unfettered travel to Cuba, to turn down an invitation to visit that country, Jan. 3-6.
“Addressing the United Nations summit on global climate changes on Dec. 18, RodrĂguez said that Obama, a previous speaker at the meeting, “disrespect[ed] the international community” and “behave[d] like an imperial chief.”
In another statement in Havana on Dec. 21, RodrĂguez said, according to Radio Habana, that Obama is “imperial, arrogant, doesn’t listen, imposes conditions and even threatens the developing countries.”
Gen. McCaffrey, who on Nov. 19 told a House panel that Americans should be allowed to travel to Cuba without restrictions, took offense at RodrĂguez’s words.
In a message Tuesday to Wayne Smith, director of the Cuba Program at the Washington-based Center for International Policy, McCaffrey said that he had read reports that RodrĂguez had “denounced President Obama at the Copenhagen Conference as an ‘imperial and arrogant liar’ in the most vile and personal terms imaginable.”
“The Foreign Minister could not have borrowed talking points from Cuba’s worst enemies to more effectively harm the country’s future economic and political interests,” McCaffrey wrote.
“The [Associated Press] wires also note RaĂşl Castro mentioned Cuba’s recent ‘war games’ to prepare for U.S. invasion,” the general continued. “What a laughable assertion of an external U.S. military threat.”
“This type of shallow and vitriolic 1960s public diplomacy also makes Cuban leadership appear to be non-serious, polemical amateurs. President Obama is the most thoughtful and non-ideological U.S. Chief Executive that the Cubans have seen in 50 years. This Foreign Minister RodrĂguez speech probably slammed the window shut on U.S. Congressional and Administration leaders being willing to support bringing Cuba back into the community of nations.”
“This situation makes me very sad for the Cuban people. I see little reason to visit Cuba and deal with leadership of this appalling lack of good judgment. Please withdraw my name for the proposed visit to Cuba in January.”
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 00:23
you have to be more explicit….by the way Hank, it’s a pleasure to meet you, my name is Luis, I was here a while ago, and left, but I am back…I was kind of trouble as my life has do to me sometimes, for being a homosexual man, and I faced discrimination in Cuba, but I discover soon enough it’s not too different in USA and specially in the ones with the power in the exiles cuban comunity…I am not going to leave, and I am not going to hide the word homosexual, since we are a part of society too…and cuban society too, there and here, and it seems like over there they are trying hardder that in here,, now..
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 00:08
A lot. That’s what I am not talking about.
Diciembre 24th, 2009 at 00:07
You know you might have notice some anger in my comments, but it’s not towards Cuba, not even Fidel, it’s against the fact that since I was a baby, born with Fidel, I got from the north all this propaganda about being better and free, mainly sold on as having things,Coca-Cola and s…. and when I got to America it happens that this is not freedom at all, just for the ones that were rich, and got rich, and have not teach me anything better about human values than what the Cuba of Fidel gave us…freedom is in you, not in the material things you own…
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 23:56
all the memories I have from Caibarien are just of happiness….and of all my fihermen and women friends…what are you talking about?…I just remember and will cherish for life Las Parrandas de Caibairien….anything like it…
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 23:49
Cubano,
Friend, lighten up just a little bit. Why are you so angry? Did you mention Caibarien in your post? Well, what about it? I would like to hear a lot more about that place and the things that happened there. You sound as frustrated and angry as I am. So vent, it’s ok.
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 23:32
Want to know? here I go, I refused all my life in Cuba to be a part of anything comunist, I was expeled from my Tech school and put in jail when I was only 16 years old, that time just for my mouth, and being open homosexual in school, a comunist teacher of mine got me out of prison after 20 days, but I love my country and my people, and we kept fighting and I got accepted back to school and I graduated, it’s not all that black and white like you want the world to believe in here. Is a society fighting and living, but living our own lives. And we are not America we are different, and yes we drink and party without prejudice and bull like here, and we have months of carnival getting home at 10.00 in the morning and if you have to work you’ll do it..we are free in Cuba. Yoani is who she is now because of the comunist system, she can not deny that, no choice, but she is an educated an intelligent free human being…and it was the Cuba of Fidel that gave her that, and she is still free…I know Boricuas still in prison for fighting for their independence, I have work to get them free, some of them have been more than 20 year political prisoners of the imperio.
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 22:50
Cubano probably you were not harassing by the Cuban police or the CDR ,or fire from your job because you protested because they did something wrong again you or somebody else. Probably the only thing you wanted to do was get in drunk. That is not freedom, freedom is having choices , no some one imposing in you what he one you to bee (Seremos como el Che ) another robot that they can manipulate. Freedom is not only having parranda ! Is you are no able to have choices, you are no really free. Cubano what we wish for our Cuba is that every Cuban been able to chose w/out been afraid .That the majority respect the minority and the opposite way.
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 22:39
Los Van Van!!! they rock the world!!! they are great, we all cuban love them..they are still in the Island and that’s their choice and it’s great…most cubans in and out love them…and we always will…get over it…recalcitrantes..
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 22:31
firstable, I can count with one hand the ones here..most of them right wing, gives me hope..
The best years of my life were in mi Cubita con Fidel, it was not my choice, but I had a blast, even with all the represion and poberty.
I was able to enjoy my people, my country my friends my neighbours, and enjoy to the fullest being out on carnaval until sunrise, the music the beers the food the people, mi raza…Parrandas de Cabairien, Remedios la vida misma…find anything like that in your new freedom…actually I was free in Cuba…that is gone now.
America is the most hipocritical, puritane and unjust country in the so called civilized world.
If this is what you want for Cuba, I hope you fail, like you will…you are only but on handful of people here and Yoani, corageus, but negative of her own reality and life.
Cuba will be better, but not your negative and hateful way. You are full of hate.
Viva Cuba.
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 20:14
ABC NEWS: Cuba’s “Rolling Stones of Salsa” Set for U.S. Tour
“Los Van Van, a cult band credited with reinventing salsa time and again since their debut in 1969, will be the latest group of Cuban artists to benefit from a quiet resumption of cultural exchanges under current U.S. President Barack Obama.
Well-known Cuban musicians are being granted visas to perform at U.S. venues, a sign that Obama’s administration is promoting cultural contacts as part of a strategy of warmer “people to people” ties with the Communist-run island.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertai.....id=9411400
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 18:16
this is not U.S. doing, this is Castro
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 18:14
Here you could see the contamination of Moa bay.
http://www.maplandia.com/cuba/holguin/moa/
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 18:04
We could star doing a list of ecological disaster of the past 51 years.
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 18:00
In the last reflex ion of F. Castro , he use the same strategy that he always use , blame the U.S. for all the problems . Lest reflex our self about this 51 year of ecological disaster that Castro had caused on our Country . We could start on Pinar del Rio and finish on Guantanamo.
-Introduction of species not endemic , that destroyed the endemic ones.
-Destruction of different ecosystem ex: Laguna de la leche, Bahia of Moa,Zapata.
-etc.
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 17:07
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO-The World-PRI â‹…CARLOS VARELA EN USA- December 23, 2009
“Correspondent Betto Arcos tells us about Carlos Varela, a Cuban musician who is lobbying Congress to change the US travel ban to allow Cuban and American artists to travel freely to each other’s countries.” CLICK LINK BELOW AND THEN Click Download MP3 to hear story.
http://www.theworld.org/2009/12/23/global-hit-35/
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 14:23
Albert
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 11:39
Sigmund … Sigmund …
Love your sense of humor as much as you comments.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks a lot Albert but I do not do jokes but diagnoses ……. remember, I am the official psychologist of this site and Mr. exile is one of my dearest patients!!!!!
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 12:16
HUFFINGTON POST :Open Letter to Cuba’s Vice Minister of Culture
“I offer, again today, a guest post. This open open letter to Cuba’s Vice Minister of Culture was written by blogger Claudia Cadelo, in response to a decision to ban the performance art group, OmniZonaFranca, from performing in public places. It needs no further introduction.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....01446.html
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 12:14
HOUSTON CHRONICLE BOOK REVIEW: The Autobiography of Fidel Castro - by Norberto Fuentes
“The author, a former member of Castro’s inner circle who later ran afoul of the government, tapped into his years as a onetime close confidant to write about Castro by writing as Castro.”
“”I am the Revolution,” his Castro declares. “I’ve gone to great lengths to ensure that my personal history is also the modern history of my country.”"
“”In the end — it doesn’t matter how many people you kill — they can only hang you once,” Fuentes writes.”
“The Havana-born Fuentes was once a member of the island’s intelligentsia who moved in all the best circles in revolutionary Cuba.
Fuentes was imprisoned in 1989, after protesting that Castro has trumped up the narcotics charges of two army officers he ordered executed. After staging a 1994 hunger strike, Fuentes eventually escaped to the U.S.”
http://blogs.chron.com/peep/20.....phy_1.html
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 11:39
Sigmund … Sigmund …
Love your sense of humor as much as you comments.
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 10:31
27
Albert
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 05:21
exile:
………Grow up little boy … is time
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He can’t……. the poor boy did not inherited all needed neurons.
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 05:21
exile:
I think being a ligger is getting to you …
Your consideration of taking a second job is comendable; perhaps your handlers are not paying enough?
It seems as if someone else’s freedom does not concern you but I know that’s just in the surface, I know you care, unless you are lonely or need to call attention to yourself.
Think about the freedom you are exercising just by using the internet; think of the freedom of movement you have.
Think about the food, clothing & other amenities you have access to.
It only depends on having an honest job, being a good standing citizen in your community, a responsible person and a good parent (if you fathered children).
That way of life you take for granted or as an entitlement, you have not earned if one goes by your statements.
But I know better, I hope better …
Grow up little boy … is time
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 05:15
There are so many similarities between our countries that i’ve lost count!!
The same happen’s here;the parlimentarian’s just laze around in the assembly,possibly only there to get away from the household for awhile,whilst some might speak;half of it will be empty.Pretty much everything is passed without opposition,& if it’s something important(read:if the US orders it)then nobody does anything but encourage & salute it like the trained monkey’s who wander our street’s…if i think about it,then they are very much like the little monkeys who wander our streets with their trainer’s; ask for a show,you get one,& at the end the monkey itself comes with the can to collect the money
Diciembre 23rd, 2009 at 01:24
I just read Fidel’s latest “Reflection” -this one on the Copenhagen Summit. What an absolute fruitcake — certifiable nut case. Executed at 8:17 pm on December 19, 2009? Are you kidding me? As if anyone could possibly care what time he signed this rambling piece of garbage. Please.
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 22:12
Look like exile went like the rats went the boat is been filling w/water , swing away w/out answer , I do not think that hi is Cuban ! And he may be working for the Cuban government that is way he is fitting for his subsistence and the easy money. But like always this blog should be open to all the POV w/out exceptions and w/out censoring because this is the space of the new CUBA where every body has equal rights .
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 19:26
COMMUNISM REST IN PEACE
Please, cover your noses. Thank You.
http://www.worldviewr.com/2009.....st-in.html
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 18:47
NEED SOME HELP WITH THE TRANSLATION!
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 18:45
Tuesday December 22, 2009
Open letter to Fernando Rojas
Fernando Rojas
I write with the intention? No counseling. Let’s say my 26 to? I have decided today to serve you for a moment of mother or conscience, as you will read. As? is that I write to Fernando Rojas man and not the Deputy Minister of Culture, the one who quiz? sm? s once-in childhood-his mother told him? Fernandito at ni? as they are given. ?
Say? And you know what weighs in Havana that third person plural, which for the sadly c? Lebre reuni? N that you had with the artists group perfom? OmniZonaFranca tico, one reason held to banish the Poes Festival ? to No End of Cuban institutions was that the boys were gathering? Yoani blogger with an S? nchez. The resolutions and laws that his ministry has been awarded to limit the entry of their establishments and activities are unknown to me, but not of laws of what I speak, because in the waters of the law, Rojas, long ago ba his ministry is not a.
What worries me is the threat? If Yoani S? Sanchez comes, I give myself with a stick?. Serious words, Fernando, for a man. But even m? S deputy minister that serious? Sec? No comments corridors culturosos-aspires to remove the prefix vice of his office. But this is not a rega? Or is m? S a cry for sanity, to civility, intelligence. I remember him for those duties that the government has the paramilitary response brigades r? And ask? Final instance the MIC (Military Counterintelligence), does not seem advisable that a staff member take these tasks on their own, and unless the announcement with antelaci? No, they could ao? two inadequate and filtered Internet.
Dir? To an atmosphere of terror on his person should not, after all everyone knows that Yoani S? Sanchez is a writer and you the Deputy Minister of Culture, palazo image is regrettable and unfortunate.
On the other hand I can estarme mistaken and his deputy is not m: s that a fourth, then a member? You to one of the above organizations that deal hit civilians. In that case his sin is probably the indiscreci? No, because after? S p threatening? Republic to undermine the integrity f? Music of a citizen cost? believe, Fernando, you are not m: s that a Culture Ministry official.
Sincerely,
Cadel Claudia De Nevi
http://www.octavocerco.blogspot.com/
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 16:58
ASSOCIATED PRESS ARTICLE: Cuba lets cardinal give X-mas message on state TV
“During the Wednesday broadcast, Cardinal Jaime Ortega will give thanks that more island families can welcome relatives living in the United States this holiday after the administration of President Barack Obama loosened restrictions on Cuban-Americans who want to travel or send money to the island.
The full message airing on government-controlled television was confirmed by Orlando Marquez, spokesman for Havana’s Conference of Bishops, who said authorities also will show a Christmas concert held last week at the National Cathedral.”
“The government never outlawed religion, but expelled priests and closed religious schools after Fidel Castro took power in 1959. Tensions eased in the early 1990s when the government removed references to atheism from its constitution and let believers of all faiths join the Communist Party. They improved more when Pope John Paul II visited in 1998.”
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....QD9COH7J80
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 15:25
You guys keep spewing hot air with “subjects” of the Robolution, you will not change your stand and neither they will. Stop entertaining these scums.
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 14:30
If you lived long enough (like I have) to listen to their empty promises for the last 50 years,you come to the conclusion that in a totalitarian regime everything is sacrifice for the regular Cuban but the same principle does not apply to the Castros, Venturas, etc.
Their dinner table is always full with the best, they ride the best cars, they have access to the internet, they carry a “”Blackberry” with the latest apps, they have access to all international news agencies, they don’t have to wait for relatives outside Cuba to send them euros or dollars, since they control all the money that comes into Cuba and use it for their own benefit, including bank accounts in Switzerland full of millions.
For 50 years they have kept the Cuban people waiting for an invasion that have never come, for 50 years they have pretend to mend their differences with any new US administration but when they see a sign of good gesture, immediately start attacking and blaming the US.
I see hope in this new generation of bloggers and students, they are beginning to see the truth and that is not coming from “Granma”. This new generation is demanding for answers that the geriatric elite is unable to deliver.
Wake up people!
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 14:30
John
What this means is that the dictator is nervous and is very afraid of loosing control.
That is why he is issuing warnings.
If by any chance his older brother goes he will have to run that will put the final nail onto the regimes coffin.
They do feel also that the end is near that is why they issue warnings.
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 14:21
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 12:19
PODER 360 MAGAZINE ARTICLE: What’s happened to ‘Our Man in Havana’?
A Washington-area man has been behind bars in Cuba since Dec. 5, when he was apparently arrested for distributing electronic communications items to dissidents.
Analysts say the arrest might be a warning shot from the Cuba government the Obama administration about continued U.S. funding for programs that support civil society and human rights in Cuba.
““I would say this poor fellow walked into an accident waiting to happen,” Cuban analyst, Philip Peters, wrote on The Cuban Triangle blog. Peters argues that the USAID program in Cuba is seen by Cuban officials as the latest illegal U.S. effort to overthrow the Castro government. “Their security/intelligence apparatus is on the case,” he wrote.
“It’s one thing to run civil society programs in countries where the local government is unopposed, it’s quite another to do so in a communist country that perceives the program as a national security threat,” he added.
Cuba may also try and use this case as leverage in its efforts to win the release of ‘The Cuban Five’ - convicted spies serving long jail sentences in the U.S.. DAI has been working for the U.S. government since 2008 to promote democracy in Cuba through a U.S. Agency for International Development program.”
“Peters, who is vice-president of the Arlington, Virginia-based Lexington Institute, and one of the leading Cuba experts in the U.S., also warned that the man could face a stiff sentence under Cuban law, as could any Cuban found to be collaborating with the program.
“The Cuban Government utilizes the harshest measures to repress the flow of accurate information on democracy, human rights and free enterprise to, from, and within Cuba,” he wrote.”
“”Cuban officials are also upset by U.S. support for Yoani Sánchez, an outspoken and prominent government blogger who keeps in touch with thousands of followers through a highly publicized “GeneraciĂłn Y” blog and a Twitter account.
Last month Obama wrote to Sánchez to express his personal support. “I applaud these collective efforts to empower your compatriots to express themselves through technology. The U.S. government and the people are with you in anticipation of the day when all Cubans will be able to express themselves freely and publicly without fear.”"
http://www.poder360.com/articl.....ticle=3305
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 11:01
Candido @#12
Point WELL taken!
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 10:31
Sigmund Freud
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 (in the last post) I understand why you can not find 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 10:05
Albert:
Do you know the joke of what happened when Castro meets two guys , One Optimistic and One Pessimistic?
I’ll tell you in a second, but, I want to clarify that my intent is not a joke, but it illustrated the Cuban reality.
Fidel meets with both people and asks for their opinion about the situation for next year.
The Optimist said: Commander, next year will be very hard and I think that we will have to eat shit!!!!!!
The Pessimist replied: I agree with my friend the Optimist, but, I am sure that the problem is that the shit will not be enough for everyone!!!!!!
That will be the Cuban reality!!!!!
Candido
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 08:23
Candido @#10
Perhaps yes … but perhaps no.
While I agree with your feelings, I (like I know you have) have feeling that this time is different.
This time the right tools are been used …
And even if it fails … lets keep on going hermano lets go till we can go anymore … soemone else will p/u from us and go till its done
Viva Cuba!
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 07:22
My dear friends:
Yesterday, after hearing the summary excerpts shown on TV of the Raul Castro’s speech, newly arrived to the following conclusions:
1-The year 2010 will have:
-More repression.
-More abuses.
-More hunger
-More gaps
-Less freedom
-There will be no change,,,, for nothing,,, or anything.
All these situations cause me the following feelings toward the Castro regime:
-More pain
-More disgust
-More courage
-More indignation
-More contempt
Cuba and its people will remain in the same situations for many,, many, many more years!!,,,we will see it!!!!!
Candido
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 06:59
Si Yoani desaparece el discurso politico del cagalitroso y se impone la represion del mamalon militar, ese es el camino menos politica y mas represion, tu misma lo has experimentado, por eso aprovecho la oportunidad que me brinda tu pagina para pedir ayuda a la disidencia anonima, no para la oposicion protagonica, es para los panfilos que estan luchando desde adentro y muy abajo contra castristas que los reprimen y anticastristas que los rechazan y bloquean
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 06:50
Julio @#7
I think exile has never worked in his life, his lack of self respect renders him unable to earn an honest wage in an honest day.
He comes accross as a person beliveng in entitlements, with no earning responsibility.
His social justice is the one that benefits him only.
All his social problems & perhaps his personal problems may be his own doing reflected by his attitudes of “gimmie” & “its not my fault”
Get a job exile, earn an honest living, care for yours in an honest way and come back once you have done so.
Grow up little boy!
If you want to be a man …accept the responsibilities of life, educate yourself.
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 06:24
Exile,
You have not lived in Cuba so you have not a clue about how to survive on 10 or 20 dollars a month with the meager portions of food the regime sells you.
From afar and just listening to the mythical Cuba from the Cuban news cast everything looks rosy but the crude reality for the majority of Cubans is very different than the one they portrait.
These people that portrait themselves as saviors of Cuba have slave Cubans and as you probably know are selling the country to anyone willing to do business with them.
So as you can see the talk some talk but they really walk a very different walk.
The talk they talk is about social justice etc but the reality is totally different.
How can you claim social justice they paid 20 dollars a month?
How can they claim social justice when they keep Cuban citizen in a virtual prison (Cuba)
and repressing peoples liberty? and on and on.
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 05:15
P.S. Street protests are evidently anticipated: http://www.elpais.com/articulo.....iint_4/Tes
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 05:06
As I pointed out in the last post, Castro already admits that 2010 will be catastrophic economically so I’m afraid Yoani’s worst fears are soon to be realised. The correspondent who mentioned that Chavez has his own problems is correct. Already there are Venezuelans pointing out in print that, while they are spending more on Cuba than on education, they don’t seem to be getting much for their money. International insurers now rate Venezuela ahead of Ukraine as the country most likely to go bankrupt in the next 5 years (57.7% probability) and it has the highest inflation in Latin America. According to Chavez, however, the main consideration is that country is beset by enemies, including an imminent threat of invasion from … the Netherlands!
Diciembre 22nd, 2009 at 00:06
So, Raul Castro named 2010 Year 52 of the Revolution. Not that it makes any difference but how about 51?.
I telling you….. these Castros don’t even know how to count and they still are running the country.Pathetic.
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 23:07
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 22:58
Another good one from Yoani. These “diputados” do not represent the people, the obey the dictatorship. I think they go to Havana two times a year to “relax” and eat good, away from their districts. The so called “Revolution” is no longer that. It is a contra-revolution, it is a dictatorship that follow a blood line , like the Russian Czars.How can you still call this a “REVOLUTION” if they have to use violent repression in an attempt to silence a skinny blogger or to push a lonely group of women armed only with flowers?
Diciembre 21st, 2009 at 22:16
Now, now, now Yoani don’t be so negative. Granma reports that 2010 will be named “Year 52 of the Revolution.” Inspiring and riveting stuff. If that doesn’t make a person want to man the barricades in the defence of the “revolution” I surely don’t know what will.
And we have a term in Canada that describes government backbenchers but could also be used to describe the members of your National Assembly. We call them trained monkeys.