Intermediaries of Control
The Tenth Congress of the National Small Farmers Association concluded yesterday at a very critical time for the Cuban agricultural sector. While on TV they broadcast the long sessions of a closed-door meeting, in our homes the worry continues about how to find and pay for what we put on our plates. Rice, the daily companion on our tables – indispensable for many, boring for others – is the latest product to be added to the scarcity list. In a country where most people feel they haven’t eaten if they don’t have at least a few spoonfuls of this grain, its absence becomes a source of despair and cause for alarm.
After so many calls for efficiency, the announcement – with great fanfare – of the distribution of vacant land, and speeches sprinkled with calls to work on the farms, the current result is that in the last year agricultural production fell by 13% and livestock production by 3.1%. Clearly slogans and platitudes in the style of “beans are more important than guns†or “we need a complete turnaround for the land,†don’t translate into food. So what is happening? How is it possible that an island covered in fertile soil is full of people anxiously waiting for a few malangas, some bananas, some yuccas. Why has pork become a delicacy that we can only enjoy once or twice a month at an exorbitant and abusive price. How have they managed to relegate many of our tastiest fruits to plates in an album of things that are extinct. Nationalization, control and centralization have led us here and I’m afraid that we are now trying to dig ourselves out of the hole with the same methods that put us in it.
The solutions will not come because a call comes from a military uniform for maximum sacrifice and sowing the earth “for the fatherland.†Nor will it emerge from a conference led by those who, for a long time now, have not bent their backs even to weed the earth. I hope to read in the final report of this agricultural event the will to actually put an end to all the absurd restrictions. Given the gravity of the food situation I thought they were going to stop demonizing and criminalizing the middleman, without whom boxes of tomatoes will not reach the market. We will glimpse the solution to the lack of productivity when they tell us that the farmers can sell their all their products directly to the population – yes, paying taxes of course – but without going through the “droit de seigneur†imposed on them by the State. If they are not allowed to freely buy agricultural implements, to decide what crops to plant, and how to invest the money they earn from their sales, all that will remain will be the minutes of the conference – one more held without major effects on the furrows or on our plates.
Junio 8th, 2010 at 13:05
115Barbara Curbelo
Junio 6th, 2010 at 00:31
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Castrofascism is always trying to associate journalists job with political and even penal issues like the thug curbelo does in this case….. journalist work is to inform and they get paid for do that…….. what yo have to do (if you like so much FOIA and other freedom of information institutions) is to go to the public records where those 14 (not 5 but 14 criminals) criminals acts and recorded trial sessions are stored and learn there the confesions of the crimes made by 5 self and the the other 9 criminals…… go there and learn they are common criminals in a mafia like assosiation for cause the death to other people and to perform terrorist acts that could be used for accusing exile cubans……. that’s the true easy to find.
Here is the real histori os the 5 spies:
Objective of espionage network in jail now in USA.
The civilian targets have been identified as follows: Penetration of exile organizations to accomplish a campaign of disinformation, confusion, animosity and disunion among targeted groups. Another objective was to encourage and to facilitate the commission of hostile actions against Cuba in violation the Neutrality Act of the United States. Also, alleged was the sending of threatening letters to members of Congress impersonating members of Cuban exile organizations. It has not been reported that the 10 had committed any act of violence against the US, although there are documents that mention the preparation of terrorist acts against US Air Force bases in the US. ( 5 )
Here is the complete history:
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/1998/090098a.htm
Junio 6th, 2010 at 00:31
U.S. government — through Radio and TV Martà — had secretly paid tens of thousands of dollars to journalists in Miami, who, during the politically-charged prosecution of the Five, published provocative articles about Cuba and against the Five.
1. Pablo Alfonso Of El Nuevo Herald
Payment - Pago: $58,600 during the trial
Total: $252,325 (11/1/99-8/22/07)
2. Wilfredo Cancio del Nuevo Herald (The Miami Herald)
Was paid $4,725 during trial
$21,800 (9/30/2000 - 11/20/2006)
3. Ariel Remos - Diario Las Americas
$4,725 during trial
TOTAL $24,350 (11/1/1999- 11/20/2006)
4. Enrique Encinosa - Comentarista Radio Mambi WAQI por mucho tiempo que dedico mucha cobertura al caso de LOS CINCO desde suarresto.
Longtime news commentatoon Radio Mambi WAQI, which covered the Cuban 5 extensively, from the time of their arrest
TOTAL (during trial) Durante Juicio - $5,200.00
TOTAL (12/07/2000 – 11/04/2003) - $21,800.00
5. Helen Ferre - Editor of Editorial Page of Diario Las Americas
Paid - $1,125.00 - during trial (durante el juicio)
Paid - TOTAL - $6,025 (2/21/01 - 9/25/03)
Mayo 25th, 2010 at 06:27
-”Force does not constitute right … obedience is due only to legitimate powers”-
Jean Jacques Rousseau.
Mayo 24th, 2010 at 13:05
Sigmund Freud
Mayo 22nd, 2010 at 23:31
109Damir
Mayo 22nd, 2010 at 19:00
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well thug, you presume to be literated and to know so well contemporary philosophy………
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey thug……. hey you…….. are you there?????…… I make a question in comment #111……. did you quit or don’t you have answers????…… don’t hide thug.
Mayo 24th, 2010 at 06:04
#110
Jose Marti -” … was an ignorant”-.
-”Socialism is not an ideology”-
“Only a stupid retard can say that”
Good one … keep them comming, the more you talk, the more you show who & what you are.
There is no need for discussion w/you … since you do yourself jsutice on yuour own.
Keep up the good work!!!
Mayo 22nd, 2010 at 23:31
109Damir
Mayo 22nd, 2010 at 19:00
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well thug, you presume to be literated and to know so well contemporary philosophy……… can you put aside for a second your irrational offensive language and make a supreme effort with your disfunctional and single solitary neuron and tell us why marxism has never survived in any country and why all “communists” countries has ended married with international capitalism and transformed in wild capitalists countries….. including Cuba???????
If capitalism is so bad as you state it is no normal to happen!!!!
Mayo 22nd, 2010 at 19:00
And using your other alter ego, you confused little mental retard, you quote someone who is a symbol to you and your opponents.
And all of you are wrong. See, Marti’ may have been a lttle better educated than even you are (you should be ashamed of yourself for that), but he was an ignorant.
Socialism is not an ideology.
Only a stupid retard can say that.
There you go. Now even you should know who and what you are.
By the way when will you ever contribute anything intelligent to the actual theme of your, sorry “Yoani” posts?
Other than your immense stupidity and ideolgycal bullshit in no way connected to the thoughts you under the “Yoani” pretext are offering here. Because, as we know from her own words, the internet is hard to come by and it costs a lot of money.
And Yoani seems to have it under her fingers 24/7. That must cost a lot of money, hey? And she is still free, instead of rotting in some prison where she should have been looong ago for what she herself said is a crime in Cuba for which one goes into a dungeon for a very long time.
It’s a rhetorical question. Everything I ask of you moron is rhetorical because you cannot offer any arguments. Way beyond you. That is why your posts are so short. “thug” and “castrofascists”, and you are spent. Gone.
Just as a real luser is. Debating beyond crude few words you had mastered so far in your sordid and empty life is a no can do.
But you can wank, hank, yubano in your mental fraudster way a lot. Hey, I bet you are writting from some penintentiary institution in the usa! That would explain the access to the internet and your 24/7 presence. And all those aliases you are using to create the feeling of multitude…
Dear Marx and Engelsd…I could go belting your arse forever. It’s fun.
But i have life and family who mean a lot more than you so you’ll have to wait for my next response.
Feel free to spill more crap while I am away. No one expects you to say anything smart anyway, so give it all you’ve got. (use the dictionary, to enrich your poor vocabulary…)
Mayo 22nd, 2010 at 18:44
106 from a fraudster, who wants himself to believe he is not alone. I suggested long time ago to try a dictionary to diversify a little and enlarge your poor vocabulary (thugs and castrofascism are the only words you seem to remember).
Sounds bizarre that someone with so little culture, so much ignorance and so little brain dares to talk about “arguments” when the only thing you can produce is a handful of recycled “words” you have heard in your local “we hate castros” church.
Yeah, losing an argument against the smarter by far lefties must hurt a primitive wrong-whinner like yourself.
Go, write more of “thughs” and “castrofascism”.
Will make you feel better, hopefully. Smarter, never. Just a little bit better until another leftie kicjk your ignorant arse hard.
As if that is a difficult task with anyone like yourself. Your history is full of crimes and terrorist acts you now are accusing others of committing.
Did not your other boss said, “those who are innocent of any crime cast the first stone”?
How dare you to question that freak? You are going straight to hell for all your sins…
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 11:56
Dedicated to the defenders of the regime & supporters of the reBolution:
-”Socialist ideology, like so many others has two main dangers. One stems from the confused and incomplete readings of foreign texts and THE OTHER FROM THE ARROGANCE AND HIDDEN RAGE OF THOSE WHO, IN ORDER TO CLIMB UP IN THE WORLD, PRETEND TO BE FRANTIC DEFENDERS OF THE HELPLESS SO AS TO HAVE SHOULDERS IN WHICH TO STAND”-
-Jose Marti
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 10:52
102Damir
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 09:22
“”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”
Again, personal attacks again, …….. this thug do not realize that its incapacity to find arguments can be its disgrace with superiors???????
Please, some one explain to him that he has become a very incovenient person for castrofascism ……. it can be very dangerous for him….. regime does not forget those that make it apear like a defense less bold criminal…….. I don’t know why little damir make me recall Cristinito Hernandez as deffense lawyer!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA……….. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 10:39
101Damir
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 09:16
“”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”
Personal atacks…… that’s all you can…….. no a single argument, not a single line to try to deny what I wrote…….. I know…… you can’t……. I am very happy because with supporters like you castrofascism is soon out of the little credibility it still has among some ideological retarded that mistakes fascism for socialism!!!!
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 10:30
94Barbara Curbelo
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 22:4
———————————–
Castrofascism thugs can’t bring here any prove of terrorism practiced by antifascism cuban fighters but a lot of propaganda and some episodes from the time when cuban nation fighted castrofascism violence with violence….. this is not the case of the cuban nation that can bring thousands of well documented terrorism actions of castrofascism on cubans escaping tyranny, thinking different than tyranny or making oposition to regimen crimes.
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 09:30
And this pathetic cry from someone who insults people who dare to post here things that he doesn’t approve of:
“The matter still the same, ideologues who only know to impose the execution of their ideas on the regular people.
It never surprises me how the vicious & loud they can get when they feel personally threatened on their personal stands.
If they become the recipients of the treatment like they dish out … they cry foul; if they are called to the table to account for it … they pass on the blame.”
alberticus, the victim… No one loves him. Only his alter-egos, siggie and humper. And maybe the other two nicks, all his…
Never one to actually write something constructive, are you?
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 09:22
Siggie, humper, what’s the difference?
None.
This in the post 97 by the humper: first an article, hten at the bottom, he even doesn’t bother to cut this out, the thief…
“Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7ae9…..ab49a.html”
Which part do not redistribute or post to the web is hard to grasp, you bandits? Uncivilised bunch of terrorists. Lowest of the lowest humanoids polluting this little planet with your useless existencies and unsavoury, violent ideologies. I sent an email to the authors. They may even shut this site down if they choose so. After all, it is only fair to disable the crooks and thieves. That is how even in the usa things work.
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 09:16
Post 93, from teh usual party-liner siggie the fraud.
The subject of the article is not your deviant nazist political orientation. You have made that aspect of your sordid life cleat. You support Miami-based murderers and terrorists, we get that. The point of your empty existence is that aside from repeating the words of others (tireless copy and paste of other people’s articles, a violation of their copyright by the way - that makes you a thief) you’ve got squat to comment on what even your Yoani is writing about (that being you and the other two losers hiding behind a couple of other nicks).
You are using these pages for a self-promotion and a billboard for your outdated and terrorist intents.
All three “soldiers” that you losers think you are can kiss each other culo and hope for a positive outcome. But from there only one outcome comes out.
I thought you should know that, so that you are ready when the shit starts pouring in, as opposed to out of, your criminal mouth.
See, you haven’t got anything intelligent and valid to add to any debate over and about Cuba. Only your immense hatred. Pointless, senseless and quite idiotic, and still just the hatred.
Your lives are very empty and shallow. One-sided and closed to what makes the real democracy work: compromise, civilised approach and openess to discussion.
That is why you are just a bunch of bitter and failed immigrants with no future.
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 05:18
Humberto … Humberto … thanks!
And thanks to the ever present “friendly translator” … when this is over .. I’ll still will thank you for “being here”!
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 03:59
I LOVE THIS GUY!! I’M GOIN TO SEND HIM ONE OF MY AUNT’S FAMOUS FLAN!
MACLEANS.CA:Human rights abuse in Cuba: Canadians should be alarmed-by John Geddes on Thursday, May 20, 2010 -
When Canadians concern themselves with human rights abuses these days—if they do at all— their minds tend to turn to jailed Chinese dissidents, to detainees in Afghan prisons, and maybe to Omar Khadr, the young Canadian citizen still held by the U.S. at Guantanamo Bay.
There’s good reason to worry about any or all of these issues. But it seems strange to me that Cuba, so long a focus of fascination for many Canadians, rarely seems to register on our human rights radar. It should, and maybe it soon will.
It’s taken one dissident Cuban hunger-striker’s death to attract a bit of the world’s attention, and another’s sickness to hold it. Orlando Zapata Tamayo died in February and Guillermo Farinas Hernandez has been hospitalized since March.
The hunger strikes create a contentious backdrop for the planned visit of the Vatican’s foreign minister, Archbishop Dominique Memberti, to Havana next month. The Catholic church is increasingly active in Cuba, as its old Communist regime struggles to counter the recent uptick in international attention to the way it crushes dissent and silences debate.
Earlier this month, PEN Canada, represented by novelist Yann Martel, among others, joined an international “Freedom to Write in the Americas†campaign. Although PEN takes aim at the repression writers face in other Latin American countries too, it’s hard to miss the fact that of 30 writers imprisoned for their work in the Western Hemisphere, 26 are in Cuba.
Canadians should be at the forefront of protesting that outrage. After all, we know Cuba better than just about anybody: Canada is Cuba’s largest source of tourists, with 818,000 of us traveling there in 2008, nearly 35 per cent of all visitors to the island. That’s a lot of contact. It shouldn’t come without a sense of obligation to speak out and exert pressure.
Some argue that talking too loudly about Cuba’s systematic violation of its citizens’ human rights is counter productive. John Keenan, writing in the Guardian today, reports that two British professors, commenting on the release of PEN’s report Freedom of Expression in Cuba, “called for journalists to tread lightly when highlighting human rights abuses on the island, for fear of strengthening the Castro regime’s argument that the sovereignty of the island is under siege.â€
It’s hard to accept that cautious approach when dissidents are starving themselves to death for the right to free expression. And when Human Rights Watch has recently documented and reported on the extent of government repression in Cuba, painting a disturbing picture in this gripping New York Review of Books essay.
For Canadians, I think, proximity matters. PEN reports that “only China, Iran and Burma imprison more writers [than Cuba does] for exercising their right to freedom of expression.†But China, Iran and Burma are a long way off for most Canadians, whereas Cuba is one of our favourite destinations for a week of sun and sand.
On Feb. 25, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon issued a statement decrying the death two days earlier of Orlando Zapata Tamayo. We can only hope that, behind the scenes, the Canadian government is doing all it can, and not simply waiting for the next dissident to die.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/0.....e-alarmed/
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 03:29
“LA CHINA”& “THE MUMMY” ARE BEIGN “COOPERATIVE”? LETS SEE WHAT THEY GOT IN RETURN!
AFP:Cuba ready to resolve political prisoners issue: Church-By Isabel Sanchez
HAVANA — President Raul Castro is ready to consider resolving the thorny issue of Cuba’s jailing of political dissidents, though talk about releasing them was off the table for now, a Catholic Church official said.
“This issue was talked about and I believe both sides are ready and want to resolve it and we hope this will be done. I believe this will be done,” Cuba’s Episcopal Conference leader Archbishop Dionisio Garcia said after an unprecedented discussion with Castro on Wednesday.
Asked whether the talks might lead to an agreement to free the political prisoners, Garcia responded cautiously.
“There will be a process and this process has to start with small steps and these steps will be made,” he told AFP.
“We hope that the conversation will go in that direction.”
Garcia was accompanied at the meeting in Castro’s office by Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who also said the “positive meeting” with the president raised hopes of a breakthrough.
Ortega said that while “we hope” political dissidents will be released, “regarding the sick ones, we expect it,” for humanitarian reasons.
Dissident groups say there are more than 200 political prisoners held in Cuban jails. Amnesty International considers 65 of them as prisoners of conscience.
Cuba denies it holds any political prisoners and calls dissidents “mercenaries” funded by the United States and a conservative Cuban-American “mafia.”
Several of the detainees have gone on a hunger strike and are in poor health. Orlando Zapata died in jail in February after not eating for 85 days.
The Catholic Church has pressed Castro’s Communist regime on the issue, without, however, resorting to confrontation.
It has persuaded authorities to drop a ban on a group of wives and female relatives of jailed dissidents known as the Damas de Blanco (the Ladies in White) holding a public march calling for their loved ones to be released.
Garcia described the talks with Castro as “very cordial” and ranging across several topics “of common interest.”
Ortega said the Ladies in White were also discussed at the meeting.
The Cuban government’s mouthpiece newspaper Granma noted the meeting but did not mention the political prisoners issue.
It said Castro and the two Church officials spoke on “various subjects” including “the favorable development of relations between the Catholic Church and the Cuban state.”
The meeting came ahead of a June 16-20 visit by the Vatican’s official in charge of foreign relations, Monsignor Dominique Mamberti, who is scheduled to meet Cuban leaders on the occasion of 75 years of ties between the Communist island and the Holy See, and to head a Catholic “social week.”
In 1998, when the late pope John Paul II made the only visit to Cuba by a pontiff, then-president Fidel Castro released more than 300 political and ordinary prisoners.
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....q1K4SP7M4A
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 03:10
For Barbara Culero,
FINANCIAL TIMES:Cuba mulls future as sugar industry dissolves-By Marc Frank in Havana-May 18 2010
From sugar bowl to empty cup: it is a sign of the times that Cuba is opening up sugar production to foreign investment for the first time since the industry was nationalised in 1959 as the communist-run country seeks to reverse a relentless decline in output.
Cuba was once the world’s largest sugar exporter. But, according to a local expert, it “has been reduced to rubble by poor state management, a lack of capital, sanctions, hurricanes and other factorsâ€.
Sugar production is expected to weigh in at around 1.1m tonnes this year, compared with 8m tonnes in 1990 before the Soviet Union collapsed and the poorest result since 1905, according to a rare recent admission by Granma, the Communist party daily.
Negotiations are under way with several groups to co-administer some of the eight largest mills, built after the revolution, say foreign business sources and Cubans with knowledge of the industry. It is a big shift in policy under Raúl Castro, president, whose brother Fidel insisted the island knew as much about producing sugar as anyone.
A big obstacle is the US Helms-Burton law, penalising investment in properties expropriated from US owners and containing a yet-to-be implemented chapter allowing Cuban-Americans to sue investors who “traffic†in their expropriated properties.
All but eight of Cuba’s mills were built before the revolution and therefore nationalised, and most plantations are lands expropriated by the government after Fidel Castro took power in 1959.
The Cuban sugar ministry will be replaced this year by a state-run holding company, similar to those that run the oil and nickel industries, the sources said. Cuban sugar minister Luis Manuel Ãvila resigned earlier this month. His deputy, González Orlando Celso, is destined to be the island’s last such minister.
“Sugar cane is part of Cuba’s patrimony . . . It is no accident that the harvest is carefully followed, unfavourable results [are] painful and the subject of much comment. It is indispensable to put sugar back in the place to which it corresponds as an important factor in the economy,†said the long Granma article, announcing this year’s dismal results and apparently preparing the public for the changes to come.
Fidel Castro promised to rid the land of its one-crop economy upon taking power in 1959, but was quickly seduced into supplying the Soviet Union at padded prices instead. By 1990 Cuba was the world’s largest sugar exporter and the crop accounted for 90 per cent of export earnings. The ministry presided over 156 mills, a vast railway, numerous ports and half the country’s arable land.
But Cuba is no longer a market force, sugar accounts for under 5 per cent of exports and just 60 mills still work, of which up to 20 will soon close.
That Cuba is no longer a one-crop economy deserves applause. The export of medical and other technical services accounts for more revenues than all other sources combined, followed by tourism, nickel, refined oil products and pharmaceuticals. But the near destruction of the sugar industry was never part of the plan.
The crisis reflects a broader one in manufacture and agriculture in this semi-tropical land where coffee production has fallen from 60,000 tonnes in 1960 to 6,000 tonnes this year, citrus output will be 40 per cent of what it was a decade ago and more than 60 per cent of all food consumed is imported.
A report by Raúl Castro’s cabinet last year cited an “accumulated decapitalisation of the economy and need to reinsert Cuba into the world economy. . . â€
Raúl Castro has made reversing agriculture’s decline his signature issue since taking over from his brother in 2008, but so far with poor results.
He has raised prices the state monopoly pays for produce, reduced bureaucracy and reorganised labour at state farms. He has placed more emphasis on private farming by distributing fallow state lands and decentralised some decision making, but he has stopped short of loosening the state’s grip on supplies for the sector and food distribution.
In its latest concession to farmers’ demands for more autonomy, the government announced on Sunday that private farmers will purchase supplies directly in future, instead of having them allocated by the state,
But Marino Murillo, economy minister, said there were no plans to eliminate the state’s monopoly of food sales.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7ae9.....ab49a.html
Mayo 21st, 2010 at 00:06
SANDOKAN - DO YOU ACTUALLY READ THIS STUFF SOMEWHERE, OR DO YOU JUST MAKE IT UP AS YOU GO ALONG?
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 23:35
Has been worth so much suffering? Where is the so cackle “achievements†of Castro’s government? How the 1958 figures of rice production would be now if free enterprise and democracy would have continued in Cuba during those 50 years? Why Cuba is the only country in this Hemisphere where all economic indexes have gone down in the last 50 years?
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 22:43
#90 - The terrorists are in Miami, not Cuba. That is precisely why the 5 had to come to Miami, because it is there that terrorism which poses a threat to not only Cuba’s national security, but to US citizens travelling to Cuba is financed and launched.
The Government of the US did not accuse them of terrorism. The trial should have never been held in Miami, because as we can see just from this BLOG alone, it is impossible for a Cuban national to get a fair trial in Miami, as established by the US Constitution.
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 22:21
79Barbara Curbelo
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 10:19
#76
Damir,
……Revolutionary Cubans know how to honor people who could have easily sold out themselves, their history, and their nation; but instead chose the hard and difficult road of resistance. It is a price they gladly pay for their cultural autonomy and their independence……………
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
curbelo brigade are talking about same degenerated cubans that sold the country to the empire they simulate to fight…… i would like to see if the foolish brigade can deny the following facts:
The first disgrace castro brought to Cuba was the capital escape….. and not only castro…… each time a political problem affects a Latin American country like Venezuela under Chavez “clownship†the capitals of this country leave temporary or permanently to a more quiet place….. to where leave the capitals??? well, they use to leave to a rich and stable country…. in America this rich and stable country is USA. It was the first “present†of castro to USA: Both human and economical capitals left Cuba to USA after castro started his madness same in Venezuela. Then came the turn of the tourism industry…… castro needed to isolate the Cuban people in order to indoctrinate it and keep it away from “bad influences†of foreign people, so he closed the country for more than 20 years and killed the huge tourism industry Cubans had built. It was the second big present of castro to USA. The cuban tourism industry went to engross the already huge tourism industry in Florida and Puerto Rico. Eventually Dominican Republic, Bahamas and Mexico also got a piece of the pie.
The third present were the commerce industry. Spaniards spent 5 centuries building the Singapore of America in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. When political differences started between castro and USA the huge commerce that went between North America and South America trough Cuba despaired. When castro drove Cuba to the orbit of the soviets and tied the country to the commerce with the communist countries, the huge commerce between Europe and central-south America that went through Cuba despaired. Then Miami took the place of Havana and became what is today: the center of commerce between north and south America and Europe and America.
Who does not remember Che Guevara saying in a crazy speech: “Cuba’s economy is like a dwarf, with a big chest, big and strong shoulders but short legs and arms….. we need to transform this situation, we can afford no longer to have a big “light industry†fabricating consumption items and do not have an “adequate†“heavy industry†that is the ground of the industrialization…… we can no longer afford to depend of the Sugar industry, the agriculture and some cultivations ……..â€
Who the hell said to Guevara he was economy master!!!!!!!
Well, the result of all this madness was 3 or 4 presents more to USA. The cattle industry gone, the Citric industry gone, the media industry gone, the “light†industry gone (of course, no heavy industry were built in Cuba). The last presents????…… The Sugar Industry, the alcohol industry depending of sugar Industry, the new Ethanol industry born after castrofascism killed Cuban Sugar Industry and so attacked by castro because (of course) Cuba is no longer a producer of importance and because castro impoverishing policy!!!!! Bacardi is not today a local rum fabricator in a hot town south of Cuba but of a gigantic American multinational that fabricate since a pen to rockets parts thanks to castrofascism killing of industries in Cuba…………. even the classic Tobacco Industry is on its way of disappearing off Cuba and relocate in Miami. Emigrated Cuban growers smuggled Cuban tobacco seeds and started to grow up the plants in fields with similar chemical composition that Cuban soil in Honduras, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic. In few years these growers got to produce a tobacco ranked among the first in the world.
What’s next???….. Who knows?
Conclusions……. why would USA wants to change so beneficial state of things????
I ma sure that as long USA continue to get so precious presents “the country of the free†will not allow nothing bad to happens to its preferred “enemyâ€.
Our subnormal thugs brigade can write what they please in this blog trying to deny castro, chavez and all others castrofascim imitation of Erodes strategy (1) but facts, history, statistics shows exactly what this new fascism brings on our countries……. Poverty, dependence of USA and Imperialism easy domination over our hemisphere…
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 22:20
USAID invierte más de $2.3 millones en propaganda contra Cuba por Internet
Por Eva Golinger
http://centrodealerta.org/noti.....23_mi.html
Documentos recientementes desclasificados bajo la Ley de Acceso a la Información (FOIA, por sus siglas en inglés), evidencian que la USAID ha invertido más de $2.3 millones de dólares para diseminar propaganda sucia contra Cuba y financiar periodistas dentro de la isla desde el año 1999.
Los documentos, que incluyen contratos originales entre la USAID y la organización CubaNet , demuestran un patrón de financiamiento que aumentaba y se intensificaba cada año en su esfuerzo de promover información distorcionada sobre Cuba – todo con la intención de provocar una “transición a la democraciaâ€, o un “cambio de régimenâ€, en la isla caribeña.
Desde hace cincuenta años, Washington ha estado ejecutando una guerra sucia contra Cuba. Un componente de esa agresión ha sido el uso de los medios de comunicación para manipular y distorcionar la realidad cubana ante la opinión pública internacional, y al mismo tiempo, infiltrar y diseminar información falsa dentro de Cuba.
Luego de los fracasos de Radio y TV MartÃ, los cuales aun existen y reciben aportes financieros de Washington, a pesar de su inutilidad, un nuevo campo de agresión contra Cuba fue establecido a través del Internet. En 1994, CubaNet se estableció como una de las primeras páginas web hechas para diseminar propaganda contra la Revolución Cubana en Internet. Basada en Miami, CubaNet utiliza el dinero de la USAID y la National Endowment for Democracy (NED) - de la cual también recibe aportes multimillonarios, para financiar “periodistas†dentro de Cuba, y promover la campaña mediática internacional contra el gobierno cubano.
Aunque no es secreto que CubaNet recibe financiamiento y directrices de las agencias de Washington, los documentos recientementes desclasificados de la USAID demuestran la estrecha relación de control que la agencia estadounidense mantiene sobre la organización propagandÃstica.
Cuando fue realizado el contrato entre la USAID y CubaNet en el 1999, el sumo de dinero inicial que aportarÃa Washington al esfuerzo de propaganda vÃa Internet fue 98 mil dólares. El dinero estaba destinado a “apoyar un program para la expansión de un sitio en Internet para periodistas independientes dentro de Cubaâ€. El contrato era de un año, con la posibilidad de extensión para el tiempo necesario para ejecutar el programa. El encargado del programa de la USAID era David Mutchler, Asesor Principal de la USAID para Cuba.
El contrato requerÃa un informe sobre el progreso de la ejecución del programa cada tres meses, entregado a la USAID, y un informe anual, que detallaba todo el trabajo realizado durante el periodo anterior.
USAID ES JEFE
En la cláusula 1.6 del contrato entre la USAID y CubaNet, titulado “Entendimientos de Participación Sustancialâ€, se evidencia el control mantenido por la agencia estadounidense sobre la organización miamera. “Se entiende y se acuerda que la USAID mantendrá una participación sustancial durante la ejecución de este Acuerdo de Cooperación de la siguiente manera: Personal Clave: El Asesor Principal de la USAID para Cuba aprobarÃa con antelación la selección de cualquier personal clave y sus alternos. Planes de Monitoreo y Evaluación: El Asesor Principal de la USAID para Cuba aprobarÃa los planes para evaluar y monitorear el progreso de los objetivos del programa durante el transcurso del Acuerdo de Cooperaciónâ€.
Básicamente, el funcionario de la USAID es quien decide quién trabajará en el proyecto de CubaNet, cuál será su plan de trabajo, y cómo evaluará su progreso; en otras palabras, es el jefe de CubaNet.
VIOLANDO LAS LEYES DE EEUU
En los documentos que modifican el contrato original, que son 11 documentos de los años 2000 a 2007, se demuestra el aumento del financiamiento anual del proyecto CubaNet y revelan otros datos sobre la naturaleza del programa. En un documento del 19 de abril de 2005, autorizaron el envÃo de “fondos privados†a Cuba que no provenÃan de la USAID o de otra agencia estadounidense, para “avanzar con los objectivos del Acuerdoâ€. Debido a las restricciones que mantiene el Departamento del Tesoro de Washington sobre el envÃo de dólares estadounidenses a Cuba, según el documento de la USAID, los “fondos privados†se esconderÃan dentro de la autorización que ya tenÃa la agencia estadounidense para financiar el programa CubaNet.
El mismo documento también revela que CubaNet no solo realiza su trabajo dentro de Cuba, sino que también “continúa publicando reportajes…y promoviendo su diseminación en los medios masivos en Estados Unidos y en la prensa internacionalâ€. Está prohibido por ley en Estados Unidos diseminar propaganda financiada por el gobierno estadounidense y utilizarla como “información†en los medios de comunicación. No obstante, el documento desclasificado evidencia que la USAID está en plena violación de ésa ley.
MÃS Y MÃS DÓLARES
Los documentos evidencian también que anualmente, la USAID aumentaba su financiamiento a CubaNet, para continuar con sus esfuerzos de diseminar propaganda contra Cuba. Aquà están las cifras:
Año 1999: $98 mil dólares
Año 2000: $245 mil dólares
Año 2001: $260 mil dólares
Año 2002: $230 mil dólares
Año 2003: $500 mil dólares
Año 2005: $330 mil dólares
Año 2006: $300 mil dólares
Año 2007: $360 mil dólares
Total = $2.323 millones de dólares
La campaña de agresión contra Cuba está más intensa hoy que nunca, y éste año 2010, la USAID maneja un presupuesto de más de $20 millones de dólares para financiar grupos dentro y fuera de Cuba que promueven la agenda de Washington. CubaNet sigue siendo uno de los principales actores en la guerra sucia contra Cuba.
Algunos de los documentos desclasificados están disponibles aquÃ:
Contrato original entre la USAID-CubaNet:
http://centrodealerta.org/docu.....et_199.pdf
Modificación del Contrato USAID-CubaNet, año 2005:
http://centrodealerta.org/docu.....ation_.pdf
Modificación del Contrato USAID-CubaNet, año 2007:
http://centrodealerta.org/docu.....dendum.pdf
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 22:04
80Damir
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 10:32
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dirty agent, all the hysterical explosion that my mistake produced in your ideological-mental retarded person can’t deny the data supplied by the link I posted…. a link that eventually brought facts, proves, study materials to our reader…. that is what surely readers appreciate and not your diarrheic offenses spasms that do not shows nothing but your real defective moral personality. The more you act like a moron the more ineffective as castrofascism supporter you are….. be careful….. your superiors wants result not imbecility.
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 18:11
If anyone here thinks the current Cuban Government is worth defending. Please use your highspeed internet connection to access last nights program (May 19th) of “A MANO LIMPIA” ,found at: http://www.americateve.com where an ex-Cuban high official(JESUS MARZO) goes off on the food rations and why this crisis exists. I hope those who live in Cuba could also have access to that same program ,if so the SECOND REVOLUTION starts and heads would roll. Cubans need to take their protest to the streets and those of us who travel to Cuba to visit family need to encourage CHANGE and give the local population tools to work with.. ie… Cameras, computer memory, usb drives,cell phones with cameras, Sharpie markers,poster boards, and cans of spray paint. LO QUE SE VA FORMAR. I will be there in December and promise to do my part.
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 18:10
Barbara. I will start thinking on joining those voices that claim for the release of the 5 cuban terrorists in jail in the United States when the Cuban government free the more than 60 dissidents in jail in that island. Regarding the Elian case I think to remember that despite the many efforts of the Cuban community in Miami, the rule of law was enforced, and last I heard Elian was a proud member de the Communist Youth in Cuba and his father a member of the Asamblea. I am one of the very few cubans that wants the embargo to be lifted, not because I think is going to help the cuban population, but because it will get rid of the excuse for all the things that go bad in Cuba. I fail to understand this continuous talk about the US embargo, Cuba commerces with many countries in the world, in some cases these countries provide them with american products and they do not sell more because either Cuba does not have hard currency to pay back or have ran out of credit in the world. After 50 years of revolution, economic failure and constant vituperation against the imperialistic neighbor to the north your people still need their business investments and credit.
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 17:58
SO “LA CHINA” & “THE MUMMY” HAVE NOT GRANTED YOANI OR CLAUDIA A VISA OUT OF CUBA TO ATTEND THEIR PRIZES ETC. NOW WHO ARE THE HYPOCRITES? OBAMA OR THE CASTROS?
MIAMI HERALD:-U.S. approvals of Cuba travel providers make big jump-By JUAN O. TAMAYO
The U.S. agency that enforces Cuba sanctions approved 42 new travel and other service providers this year, compared to none in 2009, in what government officials described as a push sparked by changes in the Obama administration policy and the bureaucracy.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also updated its list of “authorized providers of air, travel and remittance forwarding services to Cuba” four times this year, compared to twice in 2009 and just once in 2008.
The increases were driven both by President Barack Obama’s change in policy to allow more U.S. travel to Cuba and OFAC’s effort to clear up a backlog of applications for new licenses that had been pending for several months, said one knowledgeable U.S. official.
Obama lifted virtually all restrictions on Cuban Americans’ travel to the island last year, overturning a Bush administration ruling that had limited their trips to once every three years.
“It’s a little bit of both, policy and bureaucracy,” said the official, who asked for anonymity to speak candidly about the changes. “The people at OFAC had been spending a lot of time [monitoring] the family travel” under the previous administration.
“Not only is this good for people who have been waiting for years to open their businesses, but it allows the U.S. government to address more pressing matters that affect the entire nation,” said Vivian Mannerud, president of the Miami-based Airline Brokers Co.
OFAC reports showed the agency issued 11 “new approvals” on March 8, March 24 and March 31, two on April 19 and five on its latest update of the list, issued May 14, which now lists 224 companies licensed to offer travel and remittance services to Cuba.
No new authorizations were reported in the OFAC updates issued in 2009, though there were dozens of changes to existing licenses, such as new branches and different addresses.
The increase in new approvals is not linked to the recent hike in U.S. travel to Cuba — more than 20,000 people each month now compared to less than 9,000 before Obama eased the family travel restrictions — according to two travel industry experts.
There are already enough licensed service providers to handle the increased flow, and maybe too many, said Pedro Gonzalez Munné, president of Cuba Promotions in Miami.
Other Cuban travel industry experts noted that most of the companies authorized this year have been in the Cuba travel business for several months, usually operating in conjunction with already licensed companies.
OFAC requires new applicants for licenses to have fully established companies — including office space and telephones — but bars them from conducting Cuba business until their applications are approved months down the road, one official noted.
“That’s very unreasonable and unfair,” the official added, asking for anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue. “Did OFAC’s delays force some people to do roundabout work? Maybe.”
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....iders.html
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 14:02
DIARIOS DE LAS AMERICAS: “El paÃs que nos prometieron, sigue sin aparecerâ€
Yoani Sánchez es, quizás, el rostro de Cuba. Cabello largo, crecido aguardando el colapso del régimen polÃtico. Misteriosos ojos y cejas tupidas que reflejan la vivencia personal, la esperanza por la libertad y la fortaleza ganada por la prueba diaria.
Su sonrisa de labios finos no permite imaginar la claridad de su voz, ni la autoridad de sus convicciones, que lastiman a los tiranos.
Esta mujer de cuerpo menudo y que no deja a La Habana, es señal de los tiempos que vivimos. Es como un sólido roble que soporta estoicamente presiones y abusos.
Le han golpeado, amenazado y arrestado. Se le niega permiso para recibir premios internacionales. Su esposo, Reinaldo Escobar, tampoco ha escapado de los violentos.
¿Cuál es su pecado? Ofrecer, a través del teclado agudas pinceladas de la vida cotidiana de los cubanos y la manifiesta incapacidad de sus gobernantes.
Nacida en la Habana en 1975, completó FilologÃa Hispánica y especialización en literatura latinoamericana, con su tesis “Palabras bajo presión. Un estudio sobre la literatura de la dictadura en Latinoamérica.â€
En el 2002 viajó a Suiza. RegresarÃa a Cuba, “contra la opinión de conocidos y amigos, en el verano del 2004â€.
Aunque inició un proyecto de debates y reflexión con la revista Consenso, ya en el 2007 despuntó con su portal ‘Desde Cuba’. Ese mismo año crearÃa su blog Generación Y, “que me permite decir lo que me está vedado en mi accionar cÃvico.â€
En marzo del 2008 el gobierno cubano mostró su gran debilidad y bloqueó los sitios cibernéticos de Yoani. Desde entonces escribe “a ciegasâ€, sin ver sus páginas. Sus amigos fuera de Cuba reciben sus comentarios y los “cargan†en sus portales en 15 idiomas. En un solo mes recibió más de 14 millones de visitas.
El 12 de mayo, sobre “El entorno del sometimientoâ€, escribió que “ahora también tenemos prisiones modernas, con la misma arquitectura que los preuniversitarios (escuelas) en el campo y sin embargo igual de atávicas en sus métodos de sojuzgamiento. No exhiben gruesas rejas, pero sà tenientes que reducen la autoestima, doctores que no están cuando se les necesita y la presión de una doctrina que culpa al reo por no haberse dejado convertir en un ‘hombre nuevo’. En muchas cárceles cubanas se intenta quitarle a la persona el respeto por sà misma… Las paredes de la prisión de mujeres de Manto Negro, por ejemplo, están salpicadas de lágrimas, sangre, fluidos y saliva, también hay nombres y fechas, conjuros, amenazas y promesas.â€
En Twitter lanza frases como, “dÃa de aniversario y recordatorio: el paÃs que nos prometieron sigue sin aparecer por ningún ladoâ€, o que “mis vecinos cuchichean sobre todos esos hombres que vigilan allá abajo. ¡Con tantos brazos que hacen falta en la agricultura!â€, y en relación al impacto de las Damas de Blanco, “hay quienes se han vuelto alérgicos a la ropa blanca y les duele la retina nada más ver tanta claridad.â€
Las verdades de Yoani aciertan pacÃficamente en el blanco.
Yoani pone el dedo en la llaga, como moderna profeta. Por ejemplo, “después de tantos llamados a la eficiencia, de anunciar por todo lo alto la entrega de tierras ociosas y de salpicar los discursos con llamados a laborar en las granjas, resulta ahora que en el último año la producción agrÃcola cayó en un 13 % y la ganadera en un 3,1 %. Evidentemente, las consignas y las perogrulladas al estilo: ‘los frijoles son más importante que los cañones’ o ‘hay que virarse para la tierra’, no terminan por convertirse en comida.â€
Y continúa, “¿qué está pasando entonces? ¿Cómo es posible que una isla cubierta de suelos fértiles esté cargada de gente que busca ansiosa unas malangas, unos plátanos, unas yucas? ¿Por qué la carne de cerdo ha pasado a ser un manjar que sólo se puede disfrutar una o dos veces al mes, pagando por él un precio exorbitante y abusivo? ¿Cómo lograron recluir a muchas de nuestras frutas más sabrosas a las láminas del álbum de las cosas extintas?â€
Sus señalamientos son el justo reclamo por la ineficiencia de los gobernantes. “Las soluciones no van a venir porque desde un uniforme militar se llame al máximo sacrificio y a sembrar la tierra ‘por la patria’. Tampoco surgirán de un congreso dirigido por quienes hace mucho tiempo no doblan la cerviz sobre una pequeña postura, ni siquiera para desyerbarla. Esperaba leer en el informe final de esta cita agrÃcola la voluntad de terminar realmente con todas las restricciones absurdas.â€
Yoani ha sido destacada con prestigiosos reconocimientos y premios. En el 2009 fue uno de los 25 mejores blogs, según la revista Time; obtuvo el “Young Global Leader Honoree†del Forum Económico Mundial, y el Maria Moors Cabot de la Universidad de Columbia, por su labor periodÃstica.
En el 2008 obtuvo el premio Ortega y Gasset; nombrada por la revista Time como una de las 100 personas más influyentes en el mundo; el periódico El PaÃs la seleccionó como una de las 100 personas hispanas más notables; la revista Gatopardo la consideró una de las 10 personas más influyentes; y la revista Foreign Policy como una de las 10 personalidades intelectuales latinoamericanas más importantes.
http://www.diariolasamericas.c.....amp;cha=45
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 13:45
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Raul Castro sits down with Cuban Roman Catholic cardinal in rare meeting-ANDREA RODRIGUEZ -Associated Press Writer -May 20, 2010 .
HAVANA (AP) — President Raul Castro has held a rare sit-down with Cuba’s Roman Catholic cardinal and another top cleric, discussing many issues including a recent crackdown against dissidents that ended only after the mediation of the church.
The meeting with Cardinal Jaime Ortega and Archbishop Dionisio Garcia was a sign of the church’s growing influence on the island. The talks went on for more than four hours, Garcia told The Associated Press on Thursday. Garcia, the archbishop of Santiago, is also leader of the Conference of Bishops of Cuba.
It was the first time the head of the Conference of Bishops has met with the country’s leader in five years, when Fidel Castro was still in charge. Fidel stepped down formally in 2008, turning leadership over to his brother.
“It was a very positive meeting,” said Garcia, who attended the Wednesday afternoon gathering at the Palace of the Revolution, the seat of Cuba’s government. A photo of a beaming Raul Castro with the two church leaders was printed on the front page of Thursday’s Communist-party daily Granma, but the caption said little about what was discussed.
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Garcia did not go into specifics about the meeting, but indicated topics included the government’s decision to bar the dissident Ladies in White from holding weekly marches. The group — comprised of the wives and mothers of jailed political prisoners — were stopped from protesting for three straight weekends in April and pro-government counter-protesters were brought in to shout abuse at them.
The standoff ended after Ortega’s mediation, when the government agreed to allow the quiet protests to resume in return for assurances the women would not expand their activities.
Garcia said that he thought “that there was good will” on the part of the government on the issue of dissidents.
The government denies it holds political prisoners, and says dissidents are paid mercenaries of Washington, which has been at odds with Cuba since shortly after Fidel Castro overthrew dictator Fulgencia Batista in 1959.
Ortega has waded into politics several times in recent months, telling a church magazine in April that Cuba was in its worst crisis in years and that its citizens were clamoring for political and social change sooner rather than later.
The meeting between Castro and the church leaders comes a month before Vatican Foreign Minister Dominique Mamberti is scheduled to visit Cuba for talks on the island’s economic challenges and the effects of emigration and the families torn apart by it.
Mamberti is the first top Vatican official to come since Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of state to Pope Benedict XVI, visited Cuba in February 2008.
Relations between the church and Cuba’s government have often been strained. Tensions eased in the early 1990s when the government removed references to atheism in the constitution and allowed believers of all faiths to join the Communist Party. They warmed more when Pope John Paul II visited Cuba in 1998.
http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....7843.story
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 13:24
ENGLISH PEN ORGANIZATION: Briefing Document - Free Expression in Cuba
On 17th March 2010, English PEN launched a briefing document outlining the Free Expression issues in Cuba. The document discusses the cases of writers and campaigners imprisoned under Article 91 and Law 88, and also takes a strong line condemning the US embargo of the island. We also discuss the difference between censorship in journalism and self-censorship in the Arts, and make positive suggestions for what visitors to Cuba can do to help promote free speech.
CLICK LINK AND THEN CLICK PDF FILE FOR ENTIRE DOCUMENT
English PEN is a registered charity (number 1125610), working to promote literature and human rights. From defending the rights of persecuted writers to promoting literature in translation and running writing workshops in schools, English PEN seeks to promote literature as a means of greater understanding between the world’s people. English PEN’s work is made possible by the generosity of our sponsors, donors and members.
http://www.englishpen.org/writ.....-briefing/
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 13:20
THE GUARDIAN U.K.: Cuba’s world in eclipse-A briefing by English PEN paints a bleak picture, as writers continue to be imprisoned for opposing the government-Thursday 20 May
This week saw the publication of Freedom of Expression in Cuba, a briefing paper for journalists, from the Writers in Prison Committee of English PEN. The launch of the document was a lively affair, with a few members of the audience denouncing PEN for giving succour to rightwing critics of the Cuban government, mostly based in Miami. One man suggested to Carole Seymour-Jones, deputy president of English PEN and chair of the Writers in Prison Committee, that she tear up the document and start all over again.
This is wrong-headed and unfair. PEN certainly paints a bleak picture: “Cuba imprisons far more writers than the rest of Latin America combined. The most recent case list of writers in prison, published by Pen’s international secretariat in December 2009, lists 26 writers imprisoned by the Cuba government. Meanwhile, there are only four other writers in prison throughout the rest of Latin America.”
But the briefing paper does not provide a one-sided condemnation. It points out that the United States embargo has stymied the development of human rights in Cuba. And in a fascinating presentation at the launch event, Dr Par Kumaraswami, lecturer in Latin American cultural studies at the University of Manchester, gave a nuanced description of Cuban cultural life, including an account of the massively successful International Book Fair. Indeed both Dr Kumaraswami and another guest speaker - Professor Elizabeth Dore, professor of Latin American Studies at the University of Southampton – called for journalists to tread lightly when highlighting human rights abuses on the island, for fear of strengthening the Castro regime’s argument that the sovereignty of the island is under siege.
How light must that tread be? As PEN points out, there are more writers in prison in Cuba than in any other country in the world, except for China and Iran. You can’t pick and choose which authoritarian regime should be condemned or which marginalised and imprisoned writers ought to be supported.
No doubt foreign travel writers will continue to visit Cuba, and will produce reams of blithe copy about Buena Vista Social Club, the Tropicana, and unspoilt beaches. But they should do so in the knowledge that beyond the sun, sea and salsa is a world in eclipse, where people are imprisoned and assaulted for the simple act of opposing their own government.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm.....-of-speech
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 12:53
Add to “control” free medicines …
just tale the ones donated to Cuba by other countries & then sold to cubans on orders by the reBolution’ nomenklatura in dollars mind you.
Do research this sattement for veracity.
Lastly (as it is in the news) how about decree 217?
Lets read it first, read the justifications, look at the geographical area it affects the most; lets look at who suffers the weight of this decree the most.
Eastern part of Cuba … far lands … blacks & mulatos …
However while the decree invoques “national security” & the constitution prohibits discrimination … talk & listen to the people & their reality … yeah I know they are “dissident traitors of the reBolution”
Do research this statement for veracity
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 12:42
In the subject of control …
Lets look at it from the benevolent point of “free education” for the underdeveloped world …
The rebolution brings these students to Cuba, treat them well or better than they were treated in their underdeveloped countries, influence their minds & exploit their vulnerability making them receptive to accepting all kinds of help, influence & new ideas making them pray to propaganda & political indoctrination.
A practice used from on the early 20th century by communist countries to create admires & supporters where there were none, to spread the philosophy thru the world with proven effects.
Done in an open democracy communism & its followers are presented as a possibility for “better world” not withstanding their dismal failure all over the world, in spite of their persistence.
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 11:49
The matter still the same, ideologues who only know to impose the execution of their ideas on the regular people.
It never surprises me how the vicious & loud they can get when they feel personally threatened on their personal stands.
If they become the recipients of the treatment like they dish out … they cry foul; if they are called to the table to account for it … they pass on the blame.
The reality still the same, they make assumptions, about courage, about honesty, about intelligence, just about everything.
Like everything … assumtions are just hot air.
PLEASE … keep on contributing, show the people how you WILL CONVINCE that your ideas are right !!!
PLEASE !!! show them how your IDEOLOGY WILL change their lifes for the BETTER!!!
PLEASE !!! show yourselves, give them a “taste” of yoUr “LEADERSHIP STYLE” !!!
While you are doing that … keep in mind … free will always prevails at the end.
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 10:38
Barbara,
Yes, he’s getting the small steps up and out into the arena. That is how it is done. Not by threats of violence and “big” fatalistic propaganda nonsense of which this comments section is full.
I missed the bit where he talks religion. Personally I am against as religion divides people, but it is his right to believe, if he does. Maybe it is another little provocation. One of those that move the boundaries away from rigidness.
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 10:32
Here;s why siggie, alberto, humberto, yubano, sandokan, whatever are the bunch of hurt idiots (hey, like my new age language? It’s a language I learned from cuban immigrants. A sorry bunch of coconuts…)
By siggie the fraudL
“Cuban purchases from U.S. firms amounted to $4.319 million in 2001, $138.635 million in 2002, and $256.9 million in 2003. Cuba became the 35th most important food and agricultural export market for the United States in 2003, up from last (226th) in 2000. Actual purchases and pending contracts in the first-half of 2004 are at a pace to move Cuba into the top 20 most important markets of U.S. food and agricultural exports. Furthermore, because current U.S. legislation requires that all Cuban purchases from the United States must be conducted on a cash basis, the lack of credit risk associated with these sales makes Cuba one of the most attractive export markets for U.S. firms.â€
The above paragraph is taken of a CASTROFASCIST SITE….. so…… I do not believe you will go against your beloved assasins….. HERE IS THE SITE
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FE480
And when you open the link, you seee a site of the
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA UNITED STATES
YOU ARE AN IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND EVERY SINGLE ONE WHO AGREES WITH YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Geez, I am laughing myself into spasms…a CASTROFASCIST SITE, the UNIVERSITY of FLORIDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU ARE A RETARDED AND MENTALLY DERANGED PROFESSIONAL HATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 10:19
#76
Damir,
Beautiful!
This isn’t a cult to personality; it is an “in your face” response to the absurd US violations of Cuba’s right to self determination, right across from the US Interest Section in Havana; and it is a clear message of revolutionary solidarity.
Revolutionary Cubans know how to honor people who could have easily sold out themselves, their history, and their nation; but instead chose the hard and difficult road of resistance. It is a price they gladly pay for their cultural autonomy and their independence.
The lead singer spoke of their willingness to change whenever change is necessary, but an unwillingness to sacrifice principle. At the end, he also asked God to bless the people.
Thank you so much, I hadn’t seen it before.
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 10:12
A cuban con las balas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
unlike the sad lot here. The cowards who ran away from their country and now courageously are barking from safety at their own.
People like him are the people to mount the change. Cowards like the ones here, are just mierda. No idea, no courage, no creativity. Just anger and violence, hidden in a false pseudo-intellectual “democracy” religion.
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 09:59
Damir,
Once again, brilliant!
These walking contradictions do not want positive and necessary changes to take place in any area of Cuban society, particularly in the business sectors, which might exclude them from the helm.
For some, pending criminal legal matters will preclude them from opportunities even if the blockade is lifted, so good changes will never be enough.
As per comments on Miami radio alone, these aberrant walking contradictions are banking on Cubans there which can be “bought off for $20.00“. That is why they will say on the one hand that the embargo does not exist, so as to not alarm conscientious Americans about their government’s foreign policies; and on the other hand cry out about the awful situation Cubans on the island endure, so as to justify the millions of tax dollars that the US Government squanders on them each year. It is a partnership that goes back for more than 5 decades. In the mean time, schools in Miami for example, have to have metal detectors at each entrance.
They are also counting on the willingness of US mothers to send their sons and daughters to die in Cuba, for their benefit, and that of US corporate interests which are sure to help themselves to prime realty there, once again. But unfortunately for them, American mothers have already endured plenty of loss in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Besides, many Americans who were adolescents and teens during the cold war want to travel to Cuba today, and would not want to miss out on legitimate business opportunities there. Some travel illegally to Cuba each year because they are not buying the scat any more.
So, the walking contradictions must keep Yoani very happy for now, so that they can make their case, even if they might seem perhaps naïve and impassioned; in the hopes that she and others will lead the way for their exclusive ownership of Cuba once again.
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 09:57
To piss off the delusional “democrats” all three of them posting frenetically under ten nicks each:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
Personally, I’d prefer him to venerate the people instead the two Castros, but, the final is what counts.
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 09:20
I hope usanian govt never allows its citizens to travel to Cuba, and its’ companies to invest there. They would ruin the country in a flash. Just look at Iraq, Afghanistan or Kosovo Polje, for example.
One POORER than the other. Some freedom would they bring, with their record shining through.
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 09:17
Barbara, that was great post. Well done. I wonder if the resident nazists will recognise the usa company who sponsored the usanian guy and his travel.
Political euforia they blame their oposition for, is quite a blinding darkness…
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 09:16
Barbara, that was great post. Well done. I wonder if the resident nazists will recognise the usa company who sponsored the usanian guy and his travel.
Political euforia they blame their oposition form, is quite a blinding darkness…
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 09:07
Simba # 66(6)
I suppose you have forgotten the Bay of Pigs, bacteriological & chemical warfare against civilians, food sources, fauna, and flora in Cuba; bombs in department stores, energy plants, and touristy hotels; all of which has been financed from Miami. Not to mention paramilitary groups shooting at tourists in Cuban beaches from speed boats and laughing about it proudly on radio in Miami, as if terrorism against unsuspecting civilians is a badge of honor. Of-course you don’t want to speak about the civilian plane with an entire fencing team on board (minors) from Barbados to Cuba blown in mid air by a bomb; for which Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch have openly taken credit and shrugged it off with a, “So what?”.
Besides, if President Kennedy truly perceived a threat he would have bombed Cuba without hesitation. The situation gave him an opportunity instead to demonize the Revolution for generations to come. Fifty years later, Americans want their constitutional right to travel and to freely associate respected; but you would deny them the opportunity to prove your side of the story. Why? Are you afraid they will see through the farce and ask their government to stop wasting millions of US tax dollars on Radio and TV Marti, Cuban American National Foundation, and other friends of yours, and to stop wasting legitimate investment opportunities for US corporations?
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 09:07
Post 26, you are stupid as the stone under which yo crawled out. Several times I clearly said that I live in Italy, that I am Jugoslav by origin, and that I travel often to Cuba. And I started travelling because just about everyone in my workplace, including my ex boss, a member of a local Liberal party, who even had a business there since 1996, until 2004, when he bancrupted of his own doing. He was insisting on being treated by the laws he was used to, the Italian laws, and ignored blatantly Cuban laws, so he failed.
Interestingly, he is now investing in Cuba indirectly, through a tourist company that is investing in hotels.
So, i took the interest to Cuban laws as a matter of curiosity.
They are quite sensible, and if you “democratic fighters” drop your stupid wrong-wing party posturing and fatalistic-catastrophic doomsday bullshit you are so full of, you may even see that there’s a LOT of space for foreign investment and even for a nice profitability. In fact, and you never say this here because you are all just a bunch of sick liars and hypocrites, the tourist industry does NOT have the insolvency problem. Nor do they have the unpaid bills problem either.
How is that? Because the Cuban government is honouring the contracts and is not impeding the transfer of profits in euros out of Cuba.
Where the main problem lies is in the companies which operate on DOMESTIC MARKET, you dumbfucks. Being operators on domestic market, the government does not have teh euros/yens/dollars to give them to take out.
As simple as that.
These companies are not making foreign money from Cubans, so they represent the NET deficit when they request the hard currency exchange.
But you “democratic champions” are too stupid to even understand that simple and harsh reality of Cuban economy, let alone to admit that the problem is a lot more complex, and a lot less Cuban govt fault.
siggies, humberticos, alberticos and alike sandokans of the “cause” are too mentally deranged (here you go, I must have insulted someone now) to actually think and consider the legal and peaceful instruments at everybody’s disposal for changing the situation.
Not one dumbfuck, and you are small but loud group, even commented on what I suggested as a possible LEGAL and PEACFUL way of helping the Cubans.
No, that would be “helping the brothers”.
Stupid bunch of retarder and old Cuban idiots who were crimsons in Cuba and are crimsons in the usa.
Bunch of idiotic terrorists.
Here you go. I can insult your sorry and useless existenices. Now, get over it and start debating your cases productively, if you even know what that means.
I blame myself for being hopeful. After all, given the “intellectual” insults that you can only come up when one presents you with an opportunity to talk like a true democrats, all you do is go into the hyperventilation and schizorenia. And start insulting as if your balls are being cut off.
Not even realising that that is what, along with the brain, the part missing in your lives.
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 08:51
Cuban Farmers ask the government for more freedom to sell their products
From the Mexican newspaper La Jornada
HAVANA, May 17 – Private farmers, who generate 70 percent of the food produced in Cuba, asked for more freedom to sell their merchandise, while the government announced greater rigor in the control of commerce and the taxing of the farm sector.
The Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of the Economy Marino Murillo on Sunday informed the 10th Congress of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) that the authorities will eliminate the centralized allotment of farming supplies, so the producers can buy them directly at municipal markets.
President Raúl Castro attended the meeting but it was Murillo who addressed the closing session, without responding explicitly to the demands already known and now formalized by the ANAP. The Association has 3,635 cooperatives and 362,440 associates.
The minister only acknowledged that “one of the most discussed topics during this Congress has been that of commercialization.â€
Murillo said the government wants to save about US$800 million (from the more than $2 billion it has to pay to import food) through a rapid increase in the production of rice, beans, corn, milk, meat and forage.
According to reports from local media, the farmers asked the authorities for permission to
• expand to other products the current experience of selling milk directly to the state-owned retail stores;
• deal directly with tourism enterprises without official intermediaries; and to
• negotiate freely with public enterprises, eliminating the existing procedure that makes them pay commissions to government entities.
In particular, the Congress asked for “a review†of the mechanism of transporting merchandise to the City of Havana, whose many stages of official intermediation have sparked numerous complaints from the producers.
“There cannot be a single, centralized commerce when we’re talking about a diversified economy,†said cooperative member Lázaro Hernández from Bejucal, Havana province. He suggested that, to re-launch the products that are scarce, “we must value them at supply-and-demand prices, so the producer will decide to plant them.â€
Juan José Hernández of Artemisa, Havana province, said that, by being obligated to sell only through the Interior Commerce Ministry, the farmers “experience large losses, the products don’t arrive in the best of condition or arrive much too late.â€
By contrast, Murillo asked for rigor in the application of the existing mechanism, through which the producers enter into contracts with the government for their crops, in amounts close to 90 percent, and can sell their surpluses only on the open, supply-and-demand markets. He also announced an official offensive against unauthorized intermediaries.
The opening of a market of agricultural supplies, such as fuel and fertilizers, eliminates one bureaucratic step the farmers must take, but Murillo warned that prices will be controlled.
The vice president said that cooperatives and small-farm owners will no longer enjoy exemption from taxes and that a stricter tax policy will be applied to the sector. A leading member of the Congress backed the idea and proposed “a progressive scale.â€
Murillo reported that, since last year, 920,000 hectares of idle land (out of an available total ranging from 1.2 million to 3 million hectares, according to different calculations) have been awarded in usufruct. But he pointed out that nearly half of the awarded fields remain uncultivated or are poorly exploited
By Gerardo Arreola
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 08:48
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGuipXzxPFY
Cuba’s agricultural future
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 05:24
No one here wishes for anyone to be blocked.
Since the “distance shortest distance between two points is a straight line” prove you are been blocked!
Spreading false rumors to your position … I am disapointed, I expected more class & honesty from you …
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 05:16
… cuban by injection … or cuban by heart …?
Mayo 20th, 2010 at 00:50
Simba Sez: #65 Whoever you are?
“IF THE SCARCITY OF FOOD IN CUBA CONCERNS YOU, THEN ASK THE US CONGRESS TO LIFT THE EMBARGO”
Lift what embargo? There is no embargo of food to lift.
“A SMALL COUNTRY THAT HAS NEVER THREATENED US NATIONAL SECURITY.”
I suppose you’ve forgotten about that little missile crisis thingy of 1962. Obviously those had nothing to do with a threat to the United States. Their intention must have been to use against those war-mongering folks in the Caymans and the Bahamas.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 23:45
ARMANDO - JOIN THE CALL FOR JUSTICE FOR THE 5 CUBAN HEROES THAT RISKED THEIR SAFETY IN ORDER TO FIGHT TERRORISM FINANCED FROM MIAMI. THE ESTABLISHMENT MEDIA IGNORES THEIR PLIGHT, SO THAT AMERICANS WILL NOT KNOW ABOUT THEIR NATION’S DUALITY IN THE WAR AGAINST TERRORISM. IF AMERICANS KNOW, THEY’LL BE AS OUTRAGED AS THEY WERE WITH THE ELIAN GONZALEZ ABSURDITY THAT TOOK PLACE IN MIAMI.
I THOUGHT THIS WAS A FREEDOM LOVING SITE.
IF THE SCARCITY OF FOOD IN CUBA CONCERNS YOU, THEN ASK THE US CONGRESS TO LIFT THE EMBARGO, AND ASK PRESIDENT OBAMA TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS WITH THE TINY ISLAND COUNTRY, AS A CIVILIZED NATION AND LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD SHOULD DO, WHEN DEALING WITH A SMALL COUNTRY THAT HAS NEVER THREATENED US NATIONAL SECURITY.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 23:03
A delegation of businessmen from Spain just finished their trip to Cuba, they met with several Cuban Ministers and the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, they demanded Cuba’s financial obligation with respect to mutual contractual agreements signed.
Mr. Santos in charge of the delegation commented on the series of discussions with Cuba, among them the delay of payment and the retention of funds in bank accounts of Spanish firms. The Cuban government implemented these measures due to their economic crisis and the lack of hard currency.
If you are a businessman in a foreign country and you are thinking of doing business with Cuba as soon as the Embargo is lifted (if we ever come to that), you better think twice before lending a single penny to a country that always renege on their financial obligations. Cuba owes millions and millions of dollars to China, Russia, Canada, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, etc. Cuba is famous for throwing the bait by paying on time for the first few shipments and later on stop payment at all.
So go ahead, lift the Embargo and wait to be paid when Hell Freezes
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 22:29
Albert (qui ose gagne)
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 07:40
sandokan@#30:
thank you for the info … very interesting!
You are welcome.
Castro brothers’ regime imports up to 40,000 tons of seed potatoes annually from Canada, U.S., and Holland. Since the year 2000, has been a declining trend in the production of potatoes, in spite of the fact of the priority in the supply of inputs given to the crop.
The inefficient Cuba regime now imports about 80% of the food it rations to the people. The rationing book accounts only for 1,000 daily calories per capita, a third of the calories recommended by FAO. In 1958 the consumption in Cuba was 2,870 daily calories per capita (source: UNO Demographic Yearbook, 1955-1959. FAO).
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 20:21
YOANI HAS CONFIRMED ABOUT THE EVENTS YESTERDAY AT “EL CAPITOLIO”!
Mis vecinos cuchichean sobre todos esos hombres que vigilan allá abajo. ¡Con tantos brazos que hacen falta en la agricultura! about 11 hours ago via The Visitor Widget
DÃa de aniversario y recordatorio: el paÃs que nos prometieron sigue sin aparecer por ningún lado. about 11 hours ago via The Visitor Widget
Me cuentan testigos que varios turistas se sumaron a gritar tambien “libertad”. Todo fue muy breve pero la noticia ya recorre La Habana about 24 hours ago via txt
Hoy a la 1:00 p.m un grupo de personas desplego carteles de Zapata Vive en la escalinata del Capitolio habanero, gritaron tambien “libertad” 5:13 PM May 18th via txt
http://twitter.com/yoanisanchez
WERE YOU THERE BARBARA CULERO?
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 20:07
Barbara. I am trying to find the relevance of the climbing of the Chimborazo by three young ecuadorians with the theme of the blog regarding the scarcity of food in Cuba. I hope they do not catch a bad cold. Regarding the five terrorists en jail they will remain there until they finish their time. I wonder what will happen to someone who goes to Cuba and try to do something similar to what they did here;in the meantime let me remind you there are more than 60 men in Cuban prisons,some of them very sick, for the simple reason of dissenting from the government. The Castro regimen justifies their incarceration because “they broke the law in Cuba”, which considers dissension a crimen. The same way your five “heroes” broke laws of the country they were living in and now they have to pay, as simple as that. I hope to see your contribution on the subject of this blog “Intermediaries of Control”.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 20:03
According to the ICAO report, the Cuban Air Force shot down the first plane while all three planes were north of the 12 mile limit of Cuban airspace. Afterwards, Basulto trespassed into Cuban airspace, still heading east, for less than 45 seconds. The second plane was then shot down, approximately ten miles farther north. Thus, it is beyond question that one plane, Basulto’s N2506, entered Cuban airspace that day.
Two of the group’s three planes flying that day were shot down. With the downing of each plane, the Cuban pilots could be heard celebrating over the radio. Terms like, “cojones” were repeatedly shouted by the Cuban fighter pilots. In addition, their radio transmissions included statements such as “We blew his balls off! We blew his balls off!” Further, in an oblique reference to the Cuban MiG pilot’s understanding that the aircraft they were attacking were the same ones that had been repeatedly and continuously flying search and rescue missions off of Cuban’s coast, they also transmitted the following, “He won’t give us any more fucking trouble.” Finally, while screaming their celebrations over the radio, the Cuban MiG pilots also yelled, “The other one is destroyed; the other one is destroyed. Homeland or death (patria o muerte), you bastards! The other one is also down.”[10]
Subsequently, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a formal report that concluded, “The fact that weapons of war and combat-trained pilots were used against unarmed civilians shows not only how disproportionate the use of force was, but also the intent to end the lives of those individuals. Moreover, the extracts from the radio communications between the MiG-29 pilots and the military control tower indicate that they acted from a superior position and showed malice and scorn toward the human dignity of the victims.”[11]
The third Brothers to the Rescue aircraft, with Basulto on board, was also identified for intercept and was to be shot down. Two Cuban Air Force MiG-23 jet fighters were scrambled to chase him northward. Thereafter, based on the timing of subsequent transcripts and Basulto’s known position, they chased his airplane across the 24th parallel and into US airspace before the mission was aborted when Cuban authorities apparently realized that they were running great risks flying that far north. According to the U.S. Military, the fact that no USAF F-15s were launched from Homestead Air Reserve Base was a matter of a “communications error.”
“The ICAO report also states that means other than interception, such as radio communication, had been available to Cuba, but had not been utilized, and that this conflicts with the ICAO principle that interception of civil aircraft should be undertaken only as a last resort.[14] Nor did the Cuban Air Force make any attempt to direct the aircraft beyond the boundaries of national airspace, guide them away from a prohibited, restricted or danger area or instruct them to effect a landing.[15]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.....the_Rescue
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth. Its headquarters are located in the Quartier International of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 19:49
THE LATEST NEWS IS THAT A GROUP OF DISSIDENTS STORMED THE STEPS OF “EL CAPITOLIO” the National Capitol Building in Havana WITH SIGNS AND SHOUTED SLOGANS AGAINST THE DICTATORSHIP, INCLUDING THAT “LA CHINA” & “THE MUMMY” ARE MURDERERS IN FRONT OF TOURIST AND OTHERS! SHOULD BE A GOOD DAY FOR CUBA NEWS TOMORROW!
DONT YOU THINK SO? BARBARA CULERO?
Opositores cubanos manifiestan en el capitolio habanero
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvPbbS_rh6g
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 18:44
Three Young Ecuadorians to Climb Chimborazo for the Cuban Five
Three young Ecuadorians began to climb the Summit of the Chimborazo, the highest peak of the Andes in Ecuador at 6,310 meters, to demand freedom for five Cubans imprisoned in jail in the United States for 11 years now after their efforts to thwart terrorists attacks against their country. This latest climb to raise awareness about the case follows another the group did on April 10 at the summit of Cayambe volcano, where a flag now flies demanding that the US return the five to their homeland
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 18:40
Barbara Culelo!
Honey, I have gotten that message a few times myself! Stop crying and say something meaningful and enlighting!
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 18:38
Cuban Cultural Night at Macha Theatre presents a special screening of Women in White documentary by Gry Winther, narrated by Andy Garcia. Q & A with Gry Winther and special guest appearance. Reception after screening with live music and appetizers from Porto’s Bakery.
Macha Theatre 1107 N. Kings Road West… Hollywood, CA 90069 Phone: 323-654-0680
Online tickets at: https://www.goldstar.com/shows/324360
Documentary filmed in Cuba by Norwegian film maker Gry Whither, documenting the plight of ” Las Damas de Blanco” and their imprisoned relatives. If the narrator sound familiar, yes - it is our own - Andy Garcia-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v....._embedded#!
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 18:35
Freud - I’m blocked elsewhere on this BLOG, still!!! So I’ll ask you here:
Why did you think I wasn’t Cuban? This is the problem for you, that I am, and I do not think like you. Imagine that!
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 18:26
#50 Yes, the only thing I cannot do is live in the same place you do, and think differently than you.
Yoani’s Rapid Response Censorship Brigade blocked me from posting comments since early today.
“Service temporarily Unavailable
This server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.â€
I must have really offended that ‘gentile exile extremist elete’, and you needed time for damage control. This is the democracy you yearn to establish in Cuba?
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 18:20
Is this the lobotomy club?
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 15:42
36Barbara Curbelo
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 12:12
LIFE, LIBERTY AND JUSTICE - #33
Cuba repeatedly notified US authorities about violations by Brothers to the Rescue into their sovereign territory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No Cubans can violate Cuba’s sovereign territory because……. they are Cubans you silly thug…… Brothers to the rescue was humanitarians workers that saved not only thousands of Cubans from a sure death in the sea but many Cubans that would be killed by castrofascism’s coast guard and air force if not those humanitarian workers appeared in the crucial moment and alerted international media, US coast guard and ships in the area to avoid the crime……. this was the great crime of Brother to the rescue, to save theirs landsman and to put in evidence the criminal acts of castrofascism on Cubans escaping in rafts…….. many thousands Dominicans and several thousand Haitians owes their life to those men that castrofascism killed in a coward and treacherous way.
The agent curbelo is always justifying castrofascism crimes with no sign of being ashamed……
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 14:59
Simba Sez: # 45 Life, Liberty and Justice; I think you’re on the right railroad, but possibly the wrong track. I believe it is more likely that juan turned into John The One, and that pinhead piniero, that was Walter Lippmann, has now had a sex change and changed into Barbara. Under whatever name they have the identical personality of a rattlesnake.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 14:18
Since you are unhappy where you live … oppressed & depressed …
but when visiting Cuba (after living at the tender age of 8) “freedom rings” for you, why not stay in “paradise”, renounce all! embrace the reBolution! contribute! & be happy … in paradise …?
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 14:00
or by the member countries just to be precise …
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 14:00
Has anyone noticed who within the UN looks after the:
woman’s right issues ?
enviromental issues ?
democracy issues ?
human rights issues ?
etc. etc . ?
Oh when was the last time rent was payed by the UN ?
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 13:37
Cuba’s DGI controlled w/BAM (Brigada Antonio Maceo)
By the Chief of the Northametican Section of the Americas Department, counselor at the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in NYC
CIRCULO DE CULTURA CUBANA
CENTER FOR CUBAN STUDIES
VENCEREMOS
BRIGADE
NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD
NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF BLACK LAWYERS
PARTIDO SOCIALISTA PUERTORRIQUENO-NYC
COMMUNIST PARTY USA
CASA DE LAS AMERICAS is controlled by DGI thru the Secretary of the Cuban Mission IN NYC
It is from here that most of the “defenders” come from.
They are trained in:
indoctrination & ideology
psychology
organization
propaganda technics
“interview technics” & intelligence gathering …
This information & details are in the web for all to see …
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 13:32
LO que se va Formar pronto, todos apoyan a las damas de Blanco. Cuba esta en candela y una revulucion nueva esta en la esquina. Pa La Calle con los carderos y un palo.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 13:25
Barbara Curbela, your mean spirited comment is not welcome. Your the one twisting facts. The Brother to the Resue did not have on bad bone in their bodies. Their intention always was to help Cubans seeking LIBERTY and a better LIFE. You who supports the brutal dictatorship that oppresses the Cuban population needs to read up on what happened on July 13 on the shores of Cuba where 41 unarmed Cuban civilians 10 of those being small children were killed by CASTRO’s Coast Gaurd. What happens in Cuba is SHAMEFULL, and now the world is getting to know the truth. That incident that killed 41, is also known as el “el 13 de Marzo” as that is the name of the boat these cubans were using to flee the abusive hand in Cuba. Barbara Curbela you calling me ignorant feeds me, so keep up your posts. Enjoy your Liberties and right to free press, WHAT PEOPLE IN CUBA LACK. Barabra I have a feeling you were the other MONKEY “JUAN” , who got his ASS KICKED on this same Blog. Where is your buddy FIDEL today??????
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 13:15
… how about the “summer camps” in: Sierra del Rosado, Pinar del Rio, Guanabo & Matanzas or the existence of Radio China … I wonder how much ready cash does the Cinese goverment “forks out” for that one?
While speaking of peace … undecover & in secrecy teaching & exporting violence & weapons & already having a nascent biological warfare capability …
keep in mind … when che was alive … he wanted to use atomic weapons against the US with ot without provocation, out of pure hate.
Today, it may happen w/biological agents … not for ideals … for greed …
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 13:08
Barbara C your the ignorant one here, shifting facts that the Brothers to the Resue plane may have been USAF owned. Your the dirty ignorant Commie with Terroristic ties. Thanks Albert for that long list of Cuban international campaign to decive and promote TERRORISM and a government sponsored DRUG TRADE. Someone earlier was looking for names of CASTRO AGENTS :: check out this clown: MAX LESNIK.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 13:01
1994 in Cuba was known as “el peridio especial”. The Brothers to the Resue saved thousands floating in the Florida straights. It is ashame that some here want to discredit those brave men who spent “their time” to HELP OTHERS.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 12:59
Cuban reBolution trained past & present “organizations”
EGP = GUATEMALA
ELN = COLOMBIA
LASO =COLOMBIA
M-19 = COLOMBIA
ETA = BASQUE (SPAIN & FRANCE)
FALN = VENEZUELA
FARC = COLOMBIA
FATAH = PALESTINE
PLO = PALESTINE
FSLN = NICARAGUA
IRA = IRELAND
M-6-14 = DOMINICA
MACHETEROS = PUERTO RICO
MIR = CHILE
MONTONEROS = ARGENTINA
MRTA = PERU
NFL = SOUTH YEMEN
MNL = URUGUAY
The trained “cadres” were imported into Cuba, Cuban “advisors” were “exported” to most of the nations either for “military” advise, “interrogation” technics or spycraft.
Some of the “training camps” are part of a very lucrative industry … but not for the people of Cuba, rather for the “nomenklatura” …
Research into the subject will prove that the issues are not as “one sided” as the reBolution represents …
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 12:57
Nina & Life… Pathetic is choosing to be so ignorant, and worse yet; pretending to be so ignorant to deceive other readers.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 12:53
Its a typical tactic to shift the blame on others. That is how the CUBAN GOVERNMENT works. BARBUA CURBELO (HAHA), Grow some balls like Yoani , los Aldeanos, Gorki, and Las Damas De Blanco.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 12:49
Barbara C your pathetic. The plane owned by the Brothers to the Resue, was a an old plane owned by civilians. Your BULL SHIT about it being USAF is CRAP. The Brothers to the Resue collected money from the Cuban exiled community to fly the straights looking for rafters. Prior to Fidel NOONE ever fled CUBA on a rubber RAFT. BARBARA you are a VOCERA DESCARADA. HAHA. BLAME THE CIA??? haha
Fidel is who has FUCKED UP CUBA. GOT IT.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 12:42
Brothers to the rescue have saved many hundred of Cuban rafters who fled Cuba looking for LIBERTY, in the Atlantic Ocean. The planes shot down had no guns. Someone posted earlier about the “TUG BOAT 13 of March”. Whats your justification or twist on that? Another abusive act by a government owned vessel on unarmed citizens. NO excusses.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 12:12
LIFE, LIBERTY AND JUSTICE - #33
Cuba repeatedly notified US authorities about violations by Brothers to the Rescue into their sovereign territory. US authorities did nothing. The unfortunate result, was exactly what the Miami Mafia hoped for, in order to pressure get the “Helms-Burton Bill” passed through Congress and signed by President Clinton.
Brothers to the Rescue was established in 1991 and was officially registered as a non-profit organization, free of political interests. Yet, the leaflets they had previously dropped over Havana, the capital city, were highly political. They had also discussed more ominous plans.
What is shameful and appalling, is that US Representative, Ileana Ros, advocated on behalf of the Cuban American National Foundation to get the U.S. Defense Department to donate or cheaply sell twin-tail Cessna planes of a military design, used by the U.S. Air Force in exploration and combat missions during the Viet Nam War to the organization.
The ’leader’ of this organization, Jose Basulto was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency, got his training in Panama and Guatemala, and infiltrated into Cuba both before, and after, the Bay of Pigs invasion. In 1963, he was infiltrated into Cuba as the radio operator of a terrorist commando group, and he worked for the CIA in Brazil, in 1966. His personal Cessna 337 had “2506″ in large numbers on it. This, as you know, speaks of the Bay of Pig Invasion known as “2506 Brigadeâ€.
The Miami Herald’s July 19th, 1992 edition shows a Brothers to the Rescue plane with the “USAF” (or “United States Air Force”) symbol. It’s unthinkable that anyone with a brain would doubt the gang’s aggressive plans depict a paramilitary, terrorist organization engaged in an open war against Cuba.
As Cuba has rightly questioned and stated, “Would the United States have tolerated provocations like the ones Cuba has had to tolerate? Would U.S. authorities allow planes from Cuba or any other country to illegally enter U.S. air space and drop subversive leaflets? What would have happened if civilian airplanes from Cuba had disobeyed instructions of U.S. air controllers regarding air traffic? Could Cuban civilian aircraft have been allowed to enter air zones of U.S. military bases like Andrews, or Fort Meade, near Washington? And how would U.S. public opinion have reacted to such bravado and impunity of provocateurs like these? Well, the answer is not difficult to imagine. The United States would *not* have allowed this — as a U.S. Defense Department spokesperson recently acknowledged when asked by journalists. Suspicious enough, these events have one common point: the passing, in the U.S. Congress, of the infamous Helms-Burton Bill. Its ultimate aim is to make the world implement a blockade against Cuba following more than 35 years of failure of an economic and financial U.S. blockade.†Cuba further noted, “Evidently, the whole issue has been a conspiracy by the Cuban-American ultra right, in connivance with the most extremist figures in the U.S. Congress; a conspiracy not only against Cuba, but also against the very U.S. Administration, so as to drag it into serious contradiction, and problems of even a warlike nature, in the middle of a fierce electoral fight. The first consequence would be, at least, to see the criminal Helms-Burton Bill finally approved. The government of the United States, which is now taking measures against Cuba, should understand that these provocations are also aimed against it. The U.S. government’s decision to support that bill is, in fact, an open challenge to the overwhelming condemnation of the blockade against Cuba by this assembly“ (UN General Assembly).
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 11:37
Please don’t forget about what happened to the TUGBOAT “13 de Marzo”. A Cuban Government crime against Cubans on Cuban shores. I have been supporting a campaign brought by a Miami TV station Chanel 41, “americateve” program A MANOLIMPIA who is trying to IDENTIFY those who oppress others and especialy LAS DAMAS DE BLANCO. Images of uniformed government employees dressed in Green KICKING old ladies. All those who have lived in Habana should participate and help ID those bullies.
ZAPATA VIVE
Thank You Yoani for your courage, you are unlike the rest of the silent majority who walk the streets in Cuba and live in fear of the CASTRO GOVERNMENT.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 10:53
Everyone should support LAS DAMAS DE BLANCO , they are brave Cuban women who have helped call attention to what happens in CUBA. Yes, the news from SPAIN and the MEDIA ATTENTION is GREAT. Thanks everyone who supports a better life for the majority of the Cuban population and does not support the ruling Military class that crushes the average Cuban person on the libreta.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 10:48
Barbara C, what happens in Cuba and how the average civilian in Cuba gets treated is a shame ( my pets in the USA have a better life and a better diet). The Cuban jet fighter MIGS who shot missiles at the civilian unarmed planes in INTERNATIONAL WATERS where more than 12 miles from the Cuban Coast line, yes INTERNATIONAL WATERS. You are just another APOLOGIST for a FAILED CUBAN REGIME that is near its end. All the wealth that the Cuban generals and their families have STOLEN and EMBEZALED, should be stripped and returned to the CUBAN PEOPLE. The END of the totalitarian Government in Cuba is near its end and all this new news from Spain and other countries is very exciting.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 09:23
Hank,
Unfortunelty, I do agree that we are just waiting for “the biological solution†at this point in time. However, back in ‘96 what the castro bros did was, in my opinion, an act of war. Requiring the US to retaliate in kind. Nobody really knows what was going on behind the scenes in the White House during that time but I believe what Clinton & his advisors chose was a very weak response. I do believe a stategic bombing campaign would have made a better option to choose and would have played out better in the long term. Who knows where US/Cuba relations would be today if Clinton would have had more cojones back then? All we can do now is sit back and suppose hypotheticals of what would or would not have happened. Unfortunelty, we will never know.
Barbara…I don’t think I want to choose A or B as an answer to your question. It’s not that simple. Comparing apples to oranges is a hard thing to do. Hank’s comment in #29 covers my answer as well.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 07:40
sandokan@#30:
thank you for the info … very interesting!
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 01:40
The total area cultivated in 1958 was 8000 hectares, which produced 125,000 metric tons of potatoes for a population of 6.5 millions. The cultivation of the potato was intensive, with irrigation and fertilization used in 75% of the planted area. During the winter months the potatoes were exported to the U.S., and imported in the summer. This allow, besides having fresh potatoes all year long, saving in warehouse storage and refrigeration.
The potato producing area in 2010 is 15000 hectares, with a production of 183,000 metric tons for a population of 11.5 millions. The per capita consumption of potatoes in Cuba amounts to 50 lb per year, a modest consumption according to FAO.
Potatoes were dropped from the list of rationed foods on November 7, 2009. Cubans can buy as much potatoes as they want, when and if they are available, as long as they are willing to pay as much as 5 times more than they used to.
Dropping the potatoes from the ration book is a way to test the reaction of the people, before making the move with rice and bean that are central to the Cubans diet. It is an attempt to test people reactions before more drastic changes are made.
Mayo 19th, 2010 at 00:16
It never ceases to amaze me how the same tactic is used over and over again in almost textbook fashion. Babs, if you want to engage, you’re going to have to stay on topic and not compare unrelated events.
Your statement is the equivalent of answering the question, “Would you like white or wheat bread with that order?” by saying “Yes, I like yellow, that’s my favorite color! How did you know!?” In other words, Babs, you make no sense.
Mayo 18th, 2010 at 23:22
Danny and Hank, which shoot down is more shocking to the conscience:
A). Adults insistently and deliberately violating Cuba’s air space in defiance of repeated warnings by Cuban authorities
B). The act of terrorism masterminded by Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, in which a bomb exploded in mid-air inside a plane returning to Cuba with the fencing team on board, many of which were under 21 years of age. Orlando Bosch has dismissed the importance of their death on radio in Miami as, “They were only a few black girls“, while Luis Posada Carriles has openly responded, “Yes, we did it, so what?“
Mayo 18th, 2010 at 22:29
Danny,
I don’t know why stronger measures were not taken against the Cuban government in response to the shoot down. I confess that I have not read much about it but suspect that there were other things going on that prevented Clinton from taking a more forceful approach. I’m sure he had to balance the consequences of any response.
Suppose Clinton had fired a couple of cruise missiles at one of fidel or raul’s private residences, what then? I don’t think that would have solved anything beyond the immediate gratification of revenge and killing a bunch of people who had nothing to do with the whole thing. Not a good thing. Would that have been a “proportionate” response? Reagan did that with Libya. And how would it have played out later? Not well for the US I guarantee it. fidel, if he survived, would have used it as he always has.
So here we are stuck in this never-ending stalemate, waiting for “the biological solution” and commenting from a virtual pea gallery.
One very important thing has changed since then, however. There is no way fidel or raul could get away with the same thing now. The regime is much, much weaker, internally and on the international stage. If they were to do the same thing now, the reaction would be much differennt. And that is a good thing.
Mayo 18th, 2010 at 20:28
15Damir
Mayo 18th, 2010 at 08:22
“I as a foreigner know enough of Cuban economic laws to know that it would be quite simple to organise a cooperative of willing people to get the transport of food flowing into the cities.”
“It is a fallacy of wrong-whinners that Cuba does not produce enough food. The problem is the lack of transport from the fields to the consumers.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So you are a foreigner???? from an english speaking country?????….. well, Australia or New Zealand fits your desinformation about Cuba very well…….. because this “falacy” you talk about castrofascism insuficient food production was stated not by wrong-whinners as you said but by the tyrant self…… raul castro stated it ………
“President Raul Castro closed on Sunday the 10th Congress of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) and ratified the confidence of the Revolution in the Cuban farmers and their main task: to produce food for the people.
Raul presided over the final session of the meeting that took place at the Universal Hall of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana.
During the closing session of the event, Marino Murillo, Vice-president of the Council of Ministers, said that Cuban farmers are ready to increase agricultural yield, in order to contribute to the replacement of imports. Murillo underlined the need of increasing the production of root vegetables, vegetables, grains, milk, meat and other lines, so the country can stop buying them abroad”
Here the link (special delivery for cyber thugs):
http://www.5septiembre.cu/inde.....an-farmers
Mayo 18th, 2010 at 20:19
Hank,
Indeed, “Shootdown” was a great documentary. To bad it isn’t that well known. It’s available through Netflix (DVD & streaming video). It really struck me again at the lack of action taken by the Clinton administration. I was living in Miami at the time and that movie brought back all that frustration & sadness I had back then. Just to see no retaliation by the US military after the cold blooded killing of 4 unarmed Americans in intl airspace made me madder than hell. I know its been over 14yrs now, but it still stings to see that those guys died in vain (except for Helms-Burton) & made castro look (once again) like David that took on Goliath. To this day, the Cuban MIG pilots names have not been given to Interpol for possible criminal action in the future. Sometimes I can’t help feel that the US govt is afraid to take any well deserved & long overdue hostile action against castro’s cronies. This “olive branch” technique will never work. Just ask Alan Gross. He’s STILL sitting in a hell hole in Cuba since Decemeber without Obama even mentioning his name in public & last I heard, he’s in pretty bad shape. But I digress. Hopefully, more people will see Shootdown & spread the word about it.
Mayo 18th, 2010 at 15:34
Concubino #13 Thanks.
Mayo 18th, 2010 at 13:25
GOOD MOVE “LA CHINA” & “THE MUMMY”! CALLING SPAIN’S EX-PRESIDENT JOSE MARIA AZNAR A NAZI WILL GET YOU A LOT OF FRIENDS IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD! BRILLIANT!
Por Agencia EFE – Granma ataca de nuevo a Aznar y pregunta qué cobra por “impudicia anticubana”
La Habana, 18 may (EFE).- El periódico Granma, portavoz del gobernante Partido Comunista de Cuba, atacó hoy de nuevo al ex presidente español José MarÃa Aznar, al que llama “caballerito del bigotito tipo Führer”, en un artÃculo dónde pregunta cuánto cobra por “tanta impudicia anticubana”.
“HabrÃa que preguntarle al caballerito del bigotito tipo Führer a cuánto ascienden sus honorarios esta vez por tanta impudicia anticubana, la misma que no deja de repetir en cuanto espacio le ofrecen en sus frecuentes recorridos por Estados Unidos y Europa”, indica el diario.
Bajo el tÃtulo “El servilismo sin lÃmites de José MarÃa Aznar”, Granma critica las declaraciones que efectuó ayer lunes el ex presidente, quien consideró que si Europa cambia la “posición común” hacia Cuba “será cómplice de los abusos, la represión y el terror” del Gobierno de la isla.
Aznar pronunció estas palabras en el acto que la Fundación de Análisis y Estudios Sociales (FAES), que él preside, organizó en Madrid en coincidencia la Cumbre UE-América Latina para rendir homenaje a la disidencia cubana.
El diario oficial cubano (todos en la isla lo son) califica ese acto de “nueva bufonada anticubana en Madrid” y de “otro capÃtulo más de su sometimiento (de Aznar) sin lÃmites a la polÃtica más retrógrada del imperialismo norteamericano”.
El artÃculo atribuye también el acto de la FAES a que Aznar “aún no tiene suficientes méritos para obtener de una vez por todas la Medalla de Oro del Congreso norteamericano, la misma que le negó a pesar de haber dilapidado una millonaria suma del contribuyente español en lobby en los pasillos del Capitolio de Washington”.
Granma le pide al ex presidente que en lugar de “dar lecciones que no le corresponden” se ocupe del “grave caso de corrupción Gürtel”, que califica como “la red de corrupción más extensa” en España.
El de hoy es el segundo artÃculo en menos de una semana que Granma dedica a criticar al ex presidente José MarÃa Aznar por el acto de la FAES en homenaje a los disidentes cubanos.
El periódico también aprovecha su edición de este martes para denunciar en otra nota la “posición común” de la UE hacia Cuba, vigente desde 2006, impulsada por Aznar y que condiciona las relaciones con la isla a su apertura democrática.
“La Posición Común, vinculada al tema de los derechos humanos, es una actitud hipócrita e injerencista con claros propósitos subversivos, además de que dice mucho de la falta de independencia de Europa con respecto a los designios de Washington”, critica el diario.
Agrega que la “posición común” “nació frustrada y de poco o nada ha servido por lo que está destinada a su sepultura definitiva como el prolongado e injusto cerco económico, comercial y financiero de Washington contra la mayor de las Antillas”.
Estos comentarios coinciden con la Cumbre UE-América Latina y el Caribe que se celebra esta semana en Madrid.
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....u1H2bY5dig
Mayo 18th, 2010 at 12:29
Damir
Setting aside all your pseudo-intellectual bullshit, only blockheaded ideologues like you would still be expousing the superiority of marxism over capitalism. Have you had your head in the sand for the last half century you moron? Communism/Marxism has been an abject failure, economically, socially and politically. Communism/Marxism has been the greatest pox on the human race. The history of the 20th century is littered with the hundreds of millions of dead as a consequence of bolshevik/marxist ideology. Your idols Lenin,Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, the Kims, Castro et al, have managed in the name of marx and engels to surpass the barbarity of even the nazis. Your phonie superior attitude doesn’t change the facts you pathetic mongrel. You keep asking for cogent arguments from other blog contributors. Only a brainwashed pinhead like you would still insist on trying to score points arguing for a cause that has already been lost.
Mayo 18th, 2010 at 12:16
Fakira Al Damir:
Maybe you can set up a transportation company from Iran.You got the solution.Now I dare you to go to Cuba and make it work.
Mayo 18th, 2010 at 11:44
so … how about doing some research on say …
1) Cuban agriculture & results of land reform after the reBolution, for the last 50 years.
2) Trade agreements signed w/China, Venezuela, Spain … don’t forget the UE & the USA.
Mayo 18th, 2010 at 11:40
trade agreements that could bring more than bicycles Y buses from China … could bring equipment … for minerals, for the oil … as someone pointed out … when China decides to “invest” it will “protect” the investment … that being the case … only when its convenient to China there will be (as it is) an agreement.
I am sure che is smiling … all the time he spent arguing tha China was better than the old USSR … & here they are … w/all their own brand of capitalist trappings …
Mayo 18th, 2010 at 11:27
Since there is a need for an all out effort of the importance of “national security” for food stuffs production … what has been happening all this years to get to this crisis?
Why is there so much land unused (fallow) or laid to waste because of its depleated nutrients? or mismanagement of water ways?
Its not just the “embargo” … if it was … this effort of “national security importance” would be an exercise in futility. just to make one point.
Perhaps a little research is necessary in order to see what it has happened to the once “paradise of the caribbean”.
Why si the land “exhaused” the natural irrigation system almost destroyed, the equipment non existent … wait … wait can’t blame it on the embargo, since the economic trade agreements w/China have been in place longer than the ones w/Venezuela.
Agreements for arms, equipment & training … or the “agreements” for food stuffs processed in the island & sold overseas … except for the items “liberated” into the black market of course …
Or the agreements for rent-a-doctors: where the reBolution receives payment in kind for goods, while the families of the rent-a-doctors (a number of them) have their families hostage …
So going back to the topic … what is going to be the difference this time from the “other” times when Cubans were asked to “sacrifice”?
Mayo 18th, 2010 at 11:16
Not only arrogant & abusive … also hateful & racist
Good show laddy!