"La Lucha" For many in Cuba, life is a struggle. This bedraggled fellow was working in the meat department on the second floor of the "Free Market" in Cerro. He was just sitting there, in the near darkness, holding his head in his hands. This scene is repeated daily throughout the Carribbean and Latin America where the support of capitalism and "democracy" has created a small wealthy class in each country with a huge, exploited lower class. One place that has tried to avoid this is Cuba where most of the political leaders have not had amassing wealth as their goal. In Cuba the economy has failed for all, some of this is due to the embargo, some of it is the wasting of Cuban capital in the overzealous effort to export socialsm and revolution during the 70s and 80s, and some of it is the lack of incentives given to those who do produce. Hopefully some form of social democracy will evolve which will accomplish a blend of these goals. Che's dream of the "perfect man" remains just that, a dream.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
"La Lucha" For many in Cuba, life is a struggle. This bedraggled fellow was working in the meat department on the second floor of the "Free Market" in Cerro. He was just sitting there, in the near darkness, holding his head in his hands. This scene is repeated daily throughout the Carribbean and Latin America where the support of capitalism and "democracy" has created a small wealthy class in each country with a huge, exploited lower class. One place that has tried to avoid this is Cuba where most of the political leaders have not had amassing wealth as their goal. In Cuba the economy has failed for all, some of this is due to the embargo, some of it is the wasting of Cuban capital in the overzealous effort to export socialsm and revolution during the 70s and 80s, and some of it is the lack of incentives given to those who do produce. Hopefully some form of social democracy will evolve which will accomplish a blend of these goals. Che's dream of the "perfect man" remains just that, a dream.
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I believe that you are sincere and that you have the best of intentions. But the embargo isn't even partially to blame for Cuba's woes. I won't belabor the point but the embargo wasn't even a factor when Cuba was a client state of the USSR. But Cuba was a money pit. To this day the country still owes Russia billions. That;'s because marxist economies don't work. Today the US is Cuba's largest food supplier and that's with the "cash up front provision". Cuba is free to trade with (and does) with any other country. The US is not the center of the universe. Cuba trades with Canada and Mexico in North America. It trades with Venezuela (which is now subsidizing it) and every other South American country. It trades with China and Japan in Asia. It trades with France, Spain and Britain in Europe. Why should we believe that trade with the US would be a magic bullet? The fact is the embargo exists in name only. So-called embargo opponents really want to extend credit to Cuba which would be a bad business decision as outlined above. Cuba has a nasty habit of not paying off ANY of its debt. Extending credit to Cuba would essentially be a boonddoggle for American taxpayers who would end up paying fidel's bills in a perverted farm subsidy scheme.
Cuba is a lousy place to live for one reason. fidel castro.
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