Cuba, great if your not cuban.

[Ignite]

im here reading some threads (pretty much went through everything that came up on the first search page for 'cuba') and i have some thoughts i want to lay out and get some feed back from all of you true socialist/communists/capitalists..

as a cuban american with ALL of his family EXCEPT his parents IN cuba these are the things ive noticed..

the education is wonderful, so wonderful in fact that neuro-surgeons ride a bike to work (11 or so dollars a month) and then work side jobs to make ends meet.

cuba is very advanced in medicine, buy you cant buy a fucking pack of asprin for pains if your life depended on it (unless ur a tourist).. on the other hand my uncle has prostate cancer and is doing well..

someone on this board mentioned going to cuba and the food being sketchy.. you are not eating traditional cuban food.. there isnt MUCH to make food with in cuba.. farmers cant farm, and what little there is happens to be old and of low quality... want good cuban food, go to miami.

a us dollar can buy you the world in cuba, food, drugs, 12 year old hookers.. but how in the fuck would the cuban people get a us dollar?? heh.. do the math. those food stamp books they give the people doesnt cover much..

a gallon of milk a month per child? no anti-biotics? no over the counter medicines... wtf? i remember visiting friends of family and a child with a 104 fever for 2 days, the look on the parents face was horrible.. we took medicine and a dose of Motrin and 20 minutes later the childs fever was rapidly reducing... there was nothing they could give at the hospitals...

i agree with much of Ernesto's views, but Fidel? he is fucking killing the people..

some one on here said "the cuban people are a people of revultionaries, if they didnt want fidel they could revolt" well with what weapons??

and after 40+ years of mental slavery and being spoon fed PROPAGANDA (have you ever actually listened to this fucks speaches?..) what do you expect them to do?? there is nothing they can do..

the embargo is partly to blame for these mishaps, but fidel still does dealings with other countries, he still drinks his wine, drives his import cars, and seems to be the fattest cat on the island.

i think the us has done more bad than good with the embargo, and they will rape and pilage the mountain sides of cuba with their marlboro men and porno film studios...

fuck fidel.

fuck the states.

"the first duty of man is to think for himself" - Jose Marti

...quite honestly unless youve been there or know people who are from there...you probably only know as much as you sold.

[sapho]

Your opinion is respected.
No one said that Cuba is a perfect country. Cuba is poor but it does very well compared to other countries in Central and South America.

Education is free. (Private college in U.S costs thousands of dollars)
Health care is excellent. (45 million in the U.S cant afford it)
Everyone read/write. ( 40 million functional illetarates in the U.S)

Fidel may have abused his power, but he has done good things for the people.
Before the revolution, only the rich and the elite lived well.

Perhaps if Che Guevara had lived, things would be a lot better in Cuba.
You have to admire that Fidel(no matter what you think of him) still is in power and the U.S has not been able to overthrow him from office.

[Subversive Pessimist]

Health care is excellent. (45 million in the U.S cant afford it)

Not excellent. Read about Fidel Castro's (the guy at the forum) vacation in Cuba.


Everyone read/write.

96 percent.


( 40 million functional illetarates in the U.S)


Documentation?

[Guerrilla22]

the education is wonderful, so wonderful in fact that neuro-surgeons ride a bike to work (11 or so dollars a month) and then work side jobs to make ends meet.

cuba is very advanced in medicine, buy you cant buy a fucking pack of asprin for pains if your life depended on it (unless ur a tourist).. on the other hand my uncle has prostate cancer and is doing well..

You aren't taking into account the reason, why there is no medicine in Cuba. They've had access to medical supplies cut off to them by most of the western world for nearly 50 years now, at any rate the medical proffesion is quite advanced in Cuba and compared to other nations that have been subjected to an attempt to blockade them into submission, like Iraq and North Korea, and even compared to the rest of Latin America, Cuba has done very well for itself.

[Sabocat]

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97%
male: 97%
female: 97% (1979 est.)

Link (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html)

By my estimates, figuring a population of 300 million, that 3% works out to about 9 million.

[Knowledge 6 6 6]

Ignite...man preach on!

I totally agree with what you're saying...finally someone has made this issue more aware.

I've always been saying that this Castro character has misused communism and fighting for a socialist state, when he lives like some king.

It was all for fidel in the end...it was never about the people. At least someone who has almost all their family living in Cuba can finally testify to this.

I'm totally with Ernesto and Fidel when it comes to opposing american imperialism. I'm with Ernesto moreso, because he fought, and gave his life to such a good cause. I'm not so sure fidel would've willingly died, unless he knew it was absolutely inevitable.

[Subversive Pessimist]

From what I've heard, Fidel was anti-communist before and after the revolution.

[sapho]

Before the revolution, Cuban people had nothing (unless you were very wealthy).
Fidel changed that...Now the Cubans have "something".
Like I said, Cuba is not perfect (which country is?).



" You can kill the revolutionary, but you cant kill the revolution".---Rage.


P.S: Love that quote.

[Rex_20XD6]

I like Cuba because they’re fighting so hard against the US government.

[Knowledge 6 6 6]

if that's you're only reason...man I feel sorry for you.

[celticsocialist]

Wtf has a doctor in Cuba making $11got to do with anything? $11 in Cuba is not the same as $11 in the US or UK. Castro is far from perfect but all this bullshit about him living like a king and the people of Cuba struggling is utter shite. Of course there is poverty there but it is still better off than most latin american nations. The state will take care of the people from the cradle to the grave so to speak. ie education,health care, care of the elderly. It has hit hard times but the US is making it as hard as possible so lets not blame Fidel entirely.
My impression is that most Cubans are still behind Fidel and probably more so because of the way America has treated their country.
As for the shit about 12 year old prositutes :rolleyes: Like it or not crime,prostitution,drug abuse etc are MUCH less frequent now than before the revolution. Probably less than any country I can think of.
And yes I have been there and made up my own mind.

[che's long lost daughter]

I feel for you Ignite. Life in my country seems as bad as how life in Cuba is. I think even worse. But I hope you won't blame Fidel for every bad thing that is happening in Cuba. Let us give credit for what he has done. Life may be hard (as what you think) in Cuba but if it weren't for Fidel, life would have been harder.

[encore]

Cuba is doing a shit ton better than a shit ton of other countries.. remember that.

[Knowledge 6 6 6]

Fidel has done good in some respects and bad in some respects as well. Let me explain...

I've always made the argument that Castro willingly knew of Che's death before it happened. We've had many debates on this matter...and quintessentially, the conclusion that I have drawn is that Castro knew very well of Che's plans of a world revolt against capitalism. Castro knew that once he attained power in Cuba, Che's services were no longer of any great use. Che's idea of going to the Congo could not have pleased Castro any more...he knew he had to get 'rid' of Che, and he put the offer on the table. Without really knowing what Castro's intentions were of course.

Castro has done one thing that I haven't seen many leaders today do - that is, unite such a diverse populous of people. Cuba, much like many islands in the Caribbean has such different ethnicities, and for Castro to unite them is a feat in itself. He established a sense of Cuban pride, hence the people supported him, and still do. If you ever see Castro in Cuba, you know he gets swarmed by locals no matter where he goes. The people love him there.

But I believe that Castro's the typical machiovellian prince ideal. Do whatever one must in order to be at the top. If you've studied Castro, you know that he's a cut-throat person. People who spoke against Castro's cuban revolution were killed...how's that equality? How come someone cannot have a differing viewpoint?

Anyways, for those that defend Castro, to a degree your remarks are sustained. But, if you defend Castro on the sole basis of him fighting against American imperialism, or defeating an evil empire, then you need to think twice.

Castro living like a king is true. If you want westernized media to prove this, take a look at Oliver Stone's 'Commandante' film. It proves this point to a great extent.

[fuerzasocialista]

What Fidel and el Che did in Cuba is a great reminder of what could be achieved if the right conditions exist. Back home, we ain't got jack shit; No medicine, no electricity, no food, education is down the toilet. Foreign and domestic private interests are carving up the island for itself and all we do is sit there and watch because half of us are too stupid to realize whats going on or we just don't care. The almighty dollar and/or Euro runs the show. We are in desperate need of a revolution. No better example of that than what happened in Cuba 1959.

Fidel defying U$ imperialism is partly as to why I admire him. But the way he united the poor in revolt is to me the reason that I admire him most. Perhaps if the embargo wasn't in effect things would be different. Perhaps if the U$ didn't give the cold shoulder to Fidel after the revolution, things would be different. Perhaps if JFK would not have been assassinated, things would be different. But those are all ifs...

There have been a few Cubans here in the U$ that have told me behind closed doors that they have nothing against Fidel but only wanted a better quality of life than they would have had if they'd continue to stay in Cuba. But they have the luxury of claiming political asylum. The Hatians and Dominicans don't. If you want to see some grim shit, go to Haiti and Santo Domingo. Hatians and Dominicans flee on rafts much more than Cubans do but you don't here shit about that on the news. At least in Cuba there is some law and order. In Haiti, there is no regard for Human life. In Santo Domingo if you call the cops, they don't even show up.

[sapho]

I see it like this. The older folks in Cuba, who remember how Cuba was before the revolution, support Fidel a lot. These people understand that life somewhere else would not be good. The younger generation are influenced by american ideas, and they are the ones who want to probably flee Cuba.

When Fidel passes away someday, I only hope that Cuba does not go back to the pre-revolution days, when most people had absolutely nothing. Whatever people think of Fidel, I believe he did the best he could do, with whatever he has.
The U.S government only tells us the bad things about Cuba, and avoids telling Fidels accomplishments for its citizens.