Oct 17 - 46/45 - McCain +01
Cuba After Castro
I wonder what will happen in Cuba when Castro dies. The White House seems to thinking about it too. On December 19, 2005 Secretary of State Rice convened the "Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba." She said, "Reconvening the Commission at this time sends an important message to the people of Cuba, the current dictatorship, and our friends and democratic allies: after 46 years of cruel dictatorship, now is the time for change in Cuba." I agree.
Castro responded, "I am going to tell you what I think about this famous commission, for the democratic transition in Cuba: they are a group of shit-eaters who do not deserve the world's respect. In this context, it does not matter if it was the mad woman who talks of transition - it is a circus, they are completely depraved, they should be pitied." Lovely.
I wonder what plans Fidel has in place for after his death? If Castro were to die, it would be a huge opportunity for President Bush and for his brother Jeb in Florida. The capture of Bin Laden or the death of Fidel would be huge boosts to this President. FYI: The Republic of Cuba website.
Castro responded, "I am going to tell you what I think about this famous commission, for the democratic transition in Cuba: they are a group of shit-eaters who do not deserve the world's respect. In this context, it does not matter if it was the mad woman who talks of transition - it is a circus, they are completely depraved, they should be pitied." Lovely.I wonder what plans Fidel has in place for after his death? If Castro were to die, it would be a huge opportunity for President Bush and for his brother Jeb in Florida. The capture of Bin Laden or the death of Fidel would be huge boosts to this President. FYI: The Republic of Cuba website.
By Kyle - 12/28/2005
13 Comments:
If the US treated communist Cuba the way it treats other communist nations/dictatoriships, Cuba would be a lot better place then it is.
I don't know a great amount about the topic, but someone that studied Cuba a great deal used to painfully speak of what happens when Castro dies. The place will be exploited by Americans, without much in return to the people....according to this person (which I tend to believe, because they were very knowledgable on the topic)
It'd be nice to think that after some intial period of economic recovery Cuba might be able to once again become a nice vacation spot. I know that for a number of members of the retired population (including my grandparents) this was once a popular honeymooning destination. I imagine it will end up in a state similar to the Dominican Republic. For the most part, Americans are going to be the ones who profit from the "opening" of Cuba to tourism, etc., along with those few Cuabns who control key property/industry. Still, I would think the average Cuban would also benefit from more jobs associated with the increased toursim and cash inflow.
In no way am I saying Castro is not a nut job ect...but just remember that every Cuban has healthcare and can go to the hospital without having to call a number and get approval, even if they have insurance.
If your interests lie with excellent public healthcare and education, the best example of this is Singapore. While the individual freedoms we are afforded in this country are limited by comparison, Singapore has far and away the best healthcare system in the world wiht a lower cost pr person than the U.S. But, the people there also tolerate things like state mandated fat camps for kids and the like. It is a prime example of the interesting trade-offs between "freedom" and social programs/services.
to me the trade-off should be b/w Expensive health care and Cheaper health care. That is where the debate should be.....not whether or not people are entitled to health care.
i say there should be a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing "a right to health care". Then let the courts figure out what that should entail, if the politicians won't.
The argument with healthcare for all is that the healtcare is crappy, thats what I have heard from the people that are against goverment healthcare...it makes sense though..so I want healthcare for everyone, but good healthcare.
I know a Canadian that just gained her citizenship in the States and she said the healthcare in Canada is one of the only good things there. There are limits, but its more then enough, but she did not talk about the quality of it that much either.
I see alot of people are ignorant about alot of things; like the fact that it has the best standards of living of any third world country. Or the fact that there are no homeless people in Cuba; not one. They musn't know that education is 100% free for all Cubans from grade school through college, and that Fidel Castro has the highest approval rating in the western hemisphere. They also don't seem to know that no one has starved to death in Cuba in 46 years, that it was the first country in the western hemisphere to eliminate illiteracy, and that the most people to ever die in a hurricane were 16 (as compared to Haiti, which is next door, where thousands have died). They also must not know that the infant mortality rate, inflation rate, and unemployment rate in Cuba is lower than that in the United States. It seems they also aren't aware that Cuba has more doctors and hospital beds (which are 100% free) per person than any country in the world, the most women & Blacks in government in the western hemisphere, and the lowest human poverty index in the third world. See http://www.cubatruth.info
But that aside, this so called "new commission" is nothing new at all; it's an extention of the "Aid to a free Cuba" program, which you can read more about here: http://freepeoplesmovement.org/cppstatement.html
I'D LIKE TO TASTE HER
While your statements may be speculatively accurate, then why do thousands of Cubans each year risk life and limb trying to float away from this socio-political island paradise to the US?
At least twice since 1959 (post-Castro) 25 or more people have died in a hurricane hitting Cuba. While the fact that fewer people have died in hurricanes in Cuba than in Haiti, that is still an awful means of comparison at best. Yes, it does most likely show better preparedness and a better infrastructure, but there is no way to compare the death rates in any truly meaningful way. A different number of hurricanes, with differing severity, hitting different geographic landscapes, with populations situated very differently is not comapring apples to apples as the saying goes. While many of the bits of 'information' you site are interesting and maybe even partially accurate, again, you the websites that this info comes from are both politically motivated, non-academic websites. cubatruth.com does not even list an author or make any references to factual materials, while freepeoplesmovement.org is the homepage for a political group who only sites communist literature and speeches. Using those sources for all your facts is comparable to a person only using either airamerica radio or fox news to gather news. Is Cuba the backwards country we hear about in the U.S. so frequently or is it the 'utopia' you speak of??? The truth probably lies somewhere in between. Your accusations of ignorance may not be incorrect, but to assume information pulled from an authorless website with an obvious agenda is also a bit ignorant in my eyes.
Factually/statistically speaking, Singapore is the most proserous of once thrid world nations, recognized as so both academicaly and statistically. It has one of the fastest growing GDP's, highest standards of healthcare (note: just because it is "100% free" doesn't make it good, affordability, quality, and national fiscal burden also come into play) and education, lowest crime rates, and a quickly growing trade rate.
good point guerrilla. good point darwal.
either way, i think it seems that cuba does not stand to benefit from becoming a total free market stomping ground for the US and big corporate interests.
And for the most part Chuck, I don't think it will. I am of the opinion that there may be enough anti-American sentiment among businessmen in Cuba to stall or slow a full U.S./International corporate insurgency, leading toward what I feel will be a more healthy free market growth escalation. As we have seen in the past with historically totalitarian run countries, especially ones with economies well behind a 'healthy' status, a full-out switch to a free-market doesn't work, i.e. Russia. But, as can be seen in China, a progressive movement toward free market economics is a uperior route. Of course, the 'transition period' for Cuba would not need to be as long due to a much smaller population, simpler infrastructure, and hopefully a more open foreign trade policy. The slower-then-necessary opening of Chinese trade borders is probably one of the only reasons that the country isn't further along economically than it is. Well that and the fact that so much of the population is compacted into ities where you can only have one kid and the rest is spread out in the eastern Asin equivalent of the Appalachians, making a quicker transition between economic ideaology more difficult.
hell, if what that one guy says about Cuba is true (all those nice stats) then resistance shouldn't be a problem.
all i know is that all this anti-Cuba policy, which restricts families from seeing eachother pisses me off.
I agree, but only to a certain extent. For all those people who had family separated in Cuba an the U.S. prior to the establishment of those rules I feel very badly for and do not like the restrictions. But, for those people who separated themselves from their family in the time since the establishment of the restrictions I do not harbor the exact same sentiments, as that was something that should have factored into their decision.
I figure that now that the Cold War is over, once Castro dies people will probably be excited about Cuba being open again, i.e. they will be allowed to "taste the forbidden fruit" etc.
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