Posted on 02/26/2008 7:59:45 PM PST by oldleft
HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- Cuban President Raul Castro is taking over leadership of a country whose government believes its citizens are not working hard enough.
The state-run newspaper recently ran an article headlined "Work: Option or necessity?"
The writer pointed out that, judging by the number of people in the streets during the day, many Cubans don't seem to be on the job.
They have few motivations to buckle down: Salaries average about $15 per month on the island, and Cubans get monthly food rations even if they don't work. Watch a report on the realities in Cuba »
"There is a strong desire to protect and to gradually increase the incomes and savings of the population, particularly of those least favored," said Raul Castro, 76.
The black market is so widespread that Cubans have coined a special term for breaking the law to make ends meet: "resolver" -- literally, "to resolve."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
What do they expect, its Cube for Gods sake...and it’ll take his own hand to make that place civilized...
It had a higher GDP than most European nations - including Denmark and Spain. It had a higher percentage of college graduates than many US states.
but but but Wikipedia says that Cuba has world class biotechnical and pharmaceutical industries. How can there be low wages or badness?
The joke within Cuba is that Raul is fond of young boys....
“... Not many realize that Castro took power AFTER the revolution. Between the revolution and his seizing of power the US recognized the new government, and had actually had relatively warm relations with the Urrutia government. Castro didn’t just overthrow Batista, a dictator. He also overthrew Urrutia, a democratic socialist.”
Same thing in the Soviet Union; Lenin overthrew the democrat Kerensky, not the Tsar.
What jobs..?
The only way Cuba’s problems will be cured is with two words: free elections.
Bull. Cuban civilization was a joke and still is. The reason they did well economically was the involvement of American corporations.
I don't suppose they would be referring to Communist tyranny, oppression and slavery, would they?
Cordially,
Well, when you put it like that, who can fail to be convinced?
Cuban civilization was a joke and still is.
People who have musical taste already know that the joke is entirely on you at this point.
The reason they did well economically was the involvement of American corporations.
American corporations were involved in the economies of almost every Caribbean and Latin American nation.
Puerto Rico was even part of the US and was still much less prosperous at the time.
US corporations accounted for a significant percentage of the Cuban economy, but for well less than half, directly or indirectly.
The notion that US corporations constituted the mainstay of the Cuban economy is ahistorical - this was a myth promoted by Castro.
It allowed him the propaganda claim that his revolution was simply an act of just revenge against Yanqui imperialism. It also allowed him to characterize his land seziures as part of that process, even though less than 10% of the land he seized belonged to foreign citizens or companies.
There is more to pre-revolutionary Cuba than you "learned" by watching Godfather II.
What’s interesting to me is that Fidel and Raul have seven sons between them, and not one has been groomed for power.
Cuba was so screwed up that it was successfully invaded by a madman with less than a hundred men in a pleasure boat called Granma. I'd like to add that all the middle class Cubans I worked with were embarrassed to say they were Cuban. They all claimed they were really from Spain with a short stay in Cuba. Like I said, Cuban civilization always has been a joke. Even a few Cubans know, though most think their mierda doesn't stink.
Rauhl, feels better, he wants to go for a walk...
“Bring out your dead!”
They ain’t got another 50 years left on that gene pool
Yep, by then all those '55 chevys will be 100 years old and the company that buys GM will want them back for their antique car museum.
The mob had about as much influence in Cuba as it did in the USA. The main use that the mob had for Cuba was that they could hold summit meetings a half-hour from US soil in complete freedom from FBI surveillance.
You should see Godfather II - it's an enjoyable movie and it carries the added benefit for you of reinforcing your ahistorical notions about Cuba.
Cuba was so screwed up that it was successfully invaded by a madman with less than a hundred men in a pleasure boat called Granma.
That's Castro's version of history again. It's not quite that simple.
In 1952 there was a three-way presidential race in Cuba between Agramonte, Hevia and Batista. Agramonte and Hevia had both agreed that if elected they would appoint Ramon Barquin their secretary of defense. Barquin was a career soldier who was loved by the rank and file for cleaning out corruption in the armed forces. Batista considered Barquin a troublemaker.
Batista sezied power in 1952 because he was losing the election and knew that the opposition had not yet coalesced behind either Agramonte or Hevia.
As a result, his government was very unpopular and the armed forces hated him for keeping their favorite commander in unoffical exile as a diplomat in the US.
Castro's group used cash given to him by ousted Cuban president Carlos Prio Socarras to bribe army officers and allow him to gather men and materiel.
Between 1953 and 1959 Castro's forces barely recruited 1,000 men (as you point out) and also didn't fight any actual battles. They tried to take the Moncada Barracks in 1953 when the commander there wouldn't be paid off, and they were almost all killed. For two years Castro was in prison. In 1955, they got started again, but most of their activity between 1955 and mid-1958 was fighting and killing other small revolutionary bands that refused to join them, like the RD.
It wasn't until the spring of '58 - when Batista was at the low ebb of his popular support - that they made a move.
They entered Las Mercedes and had a skirmish that left 30 combatants dead.
Then they marched through a bunch of towns without any real encounters with the military until they got to Yaguajay.
They attempted to take Yaguajay by force, but the Cuban army fought until they were out of ammunition and then negotiated a surrender.
Then they went to Santa Clara, where they captured a civilian train loaded with military weapons, had a street skirmish with Cuban soldiers who were evacuating to defend Havana.
At that point, Batista realized that he did not have the support of the armed forces so he resigned.
Manuel Urrutia - a respected judge - became interim president, not Castro.
Later in 1959, Castro forced Urrutia out and seized power just as Batista did - unlike Batista he began consolidating his power by killing all of his political enemies.
Castro's forces never encountered any major military force, never fought a serious battle and never sustained serious casualties for a reason: no one took them seriously until Urrutia was forced out and it was then too late.
I'd like to add that all the middle class Cubans I worked with were embarrassed to say they were Cuban. They all claimed they were really from Spain with a short stay in Cuba.
Uh-huh. As a native New Yorker I have worked with plenty of people who are professionally headquartered out of New York and who refer to themselves as "New Yorkers" - even though most of them were raised in unfashionable places like Ohio and Kansas and Colorado. I don't believe that Ohio is therefore a joke - merely that most professionals are social climbers and like to seem more sophisticated than their background suggests.
Like I said, Cuban civilization always has been a joke.
You keep saying that. You offer no evidence, but you do keep saying it.
Even a few Cubans know, though most think their mierda doesn't stink.
And you reveal that your comments derive from a personal prejudice against Cubans, not from any real knowledge.
Before Castro came to power? What, in the 50’s? That doesn’t impress me. The only good thing that ever came from pondering on the past is hopes and dreams. Lets worry about the here and now shall we?
More stuff to back up your claims:
http://www.nocastro.com/documents/facts/fatherland.htm
http://www.nocastro.com/documents/facts/zenith.htm
I don’t know why people here would want to attack the only hispanic group in this country that has consistently voted Republican. At least they are not consistently voting for the Dems, jeez.
When I tell people my background, I tell them that my parents were born in Cuba but grandparents were immigrant Spaniards from Spain for one reason - because it is true. Also Cuba only became an independent country early in the 20th century. Spain has much more history; that and along with the prestige of royalty. :-) So sure, of course Cubans will emphasize their Spanish/European ancestry. So what you state is so true about the New Yorker/Ohio Midwest thing. in relation to when Cubans emphasize their Spanish/European ancestry.
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