Castro Vows Cuban Socialism to Survive Bush

[Khephra]

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro on Saturday dismissed Bush administration plans to speed up political change in Cuba and said his government -- in power since 1959 -- will continue building a socialist society at the U.S. doorstep.

Castro said Cuba had survived the antagonism of the world's most powerful nation for 45 years and will continue to resist.

``This revolution will leave a lasting mark in world history and has nothing to be ashamed of,'' Castro said at a massive May Day rally in Havana's Revolution Square.

more......................

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-cuba-mayday.html

[Zinfandel]

1. I have nothing against socialist or capitalist but I despise Bush fascist

INDEED!

[flowomo]

2. Why not? He's survived:

Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton.... why should Bush II be any trouble?

[Judi Lynn]

63. An look at Ashcroft (on Cuba) reveals that before Bush got him

for the Attorney General's job,(after he lost Senate re-election in Missiouri) John Ashcroft SUPPORTED better relations with Cuba. Odd, isn't it?The Cuba Project also sponsored a daylong conference in June 2000, "The Domestic Economic Impact of U.S. Unilateral Food and Medical Sanctions: Case Study Cuba. "More than 120 members of Congress and their staff and representatives from corporations, labor and the media attended the conference in the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D. C. , hosted by then U.S. Senator John Ashcroft, who was a leader in the push to ease the embargo on sales of U.S. food and medical products.
(snip)http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/uscuba/

Just working for _Bush has compromised Ashcroft on a firm stand he took on US-Cuba relations he had maintained throughout Bill Clinton's presendency.

[Mika]

3. That NY Times story tells lies

NY Times fabrication are between hyphens. (eg: --in power since 1959 --)

NYTimes --> Cuban President Fidel Castro on Saturday dismissed Bush administration plans to speed up political change in Cuba and said his government -- in power since 1959 -- ....

Wrong!

Fidel Castro became President of Cuba in 1976

Dorticós Torrado, Osvaldo
http://www.bartleby.com/65/do/Dorticos.html

1919–83, president of Cuba (1959–76). A prosperous lawyer, he participated in Fidel Castro’s revolutionary movement and was imprisoned (1958). He escaped and fled to Mexico, returning to Cuba after Castro’s triumph (1959). As minister of laws (1959) he helped to formulate Cuban policies. He was appointed president in 1959. Intelligent and competent, he wielded considerable influence. In 1976 the Cuban government was reorganized, and Castro assumed the title of president; Dorticós was named a member of the council of state.

The Cuban government was reorganized (approved by popular vote) into a variant parliamentary system in 1976.

You can read a short version of the Cuban system here,
http://members.attcanada.ca/~dchris/CubaFAQ.html#Democracy

Or a long and detailed version here,
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0968508405/qid=1053879619/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-8821757-1670550?v=glance&s=books



______

NYTimes --> ... that Cuba -- a one-party state -- ...

Nope. NY Times wrong again,


Here are some of the major parties in Cuba. The union parties hold the majority of seats in the Assembly.

http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/cu.html

* Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) {Communist Party of Cuba}
* Partido Demócrata Cristiano de Cuba (PDC) {Christian Democratic Party of Cuba} - Oswaldo Paya's Catholic party
* Partido Solidaridad Democrática (PSD) {Democratic Solidarity Party}
* Partido Social Revolucionario Democrático Cubano {Cuban Social Revolutionary Democratic Party}
* Coordinadora Social Demócrata de Cuba (CSDC) {Social Democratic Coordination of Cuba}
* Unión Liberal Cubana {Cuban Liberal Union}

Plenty of info on this long thread,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=6300&forum=DCForumID70


http://www.poptel.org.uk/cuba-solidarity/democracy.htm

This system in Cuba is based upon universal adult suffrage for all those aged 16 and over. Nobody is excluded from voting, except convicted criminals or those who have left the country. Voter turnouts have usually been in the region of 95% of those eligible .

There are direct elections to municipal, provincial and national assemblies, the latter represent Cuba's parliament.

Electoral candidates are not chosen by small committees of political parties. No political party, including the Communist Party, is permitted to nominate or campaign for any given candidates.

[billhos]

11. looks too me

like the internet has finally come to Cuba. I can't explain the responses to this article as anything but propaganda from the Castro regime. Of course Castro has been in power since 1959. The afore mentioned president prior to Castro was obviously a front and a sham just like the elections. Why don't you pull your head out of the party newspaper and look at the country crumbling around you. As the pictures shown later on this thread would show if you showed close ups.

[Mika]

23. I've been to Cuba - as close up as you can get

"Of course Castro has been in power since 1959."


Just because that's what you and the US government propaganda agencies say doesn't make it true. Just ignore the facts and they'll go away.

-


"The afore mentioned president prior to Castro was obviously a front and a sham just like the elections."


Cuba changed its system of government in 1976 via a popular vote. Osvaldo Dorticós was the president of Cuba until 1976.

Please, do tell us what you think Cuba's form of government is.

-


"Why don't you pull your head out of the party newspaper and look at the country crumbling around you."


First off, the country crumbling around me is the USA. Second, I have been to Cuba many times - but it took special permits from US gov jackboots - Americans can't pull their heads out of their collective ass regarding seeing Cuba for themselves as their own government denies us our freedom because of some fantasy that we must give up our freedoms to somehow help Cubans in Cuba gain more freedom.


-


"As the pictures shown later on this thread would show if you showed close ups."


Really? As I've mentioned, I've been to Cuba many times and I can assure you that Cuba IS NOT crumbling. Granted, Cuba is poor but it surpasses the USA in many areas of representation and freedom (such as their health care and education systems). Cuba's economy is growing, but Cubans would do much better if the USA would just drop the age old and failed policy of embargoes on the island and the travel sanctions placed on us Americans by our own government.




Funny how one can make sweeping pronouncements about a place that they know only from US propaganda, especially from a country where one can access a bounty of information via numerous non government sources. We all have a brain - pity we don't all use it.

[Judi Lynn]

24. You've got THAT right, Mika. Holy moly.

You have to look forward to sometime in the future when these folks finally learn what it is they didn't know when they were sounding off about Cuba. There are going to be some very sheepish people.

You'd at least think they would listen closely enough to start picking up the hint that they've been given stories about the place that should be tested, in light of the fact every other country in the world is coming and going from that island.

Why do they never take time to wonder why it is that the Cuban "exiles" come and go to Cuba regularly, and why it is that they are never thrown in jail, if they have to "escape" from Cuba in the first place!

People with even slightly active minds start feeling uncomfortable with the conflicting information, and it prompts them to do a little research, in many cases.

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Mika]

42. billhos

"There was no popular vote in any real sense. I think everyone reading these threads knows full well that any vote was unaminous, and not because they had any choice."


Hmmm... it seems that more and more people reading the "Cuba threads" are becoming aware that Cuba does have a democratic system, and that 99% of info that the US government and its corporate media minions permit Americans to see is anti Cuba propaganda.

Of course, they actually read the links and the suggested books posted within these threads.

No, I don't live in Cuba. I wish that I could, but Cuba has a hard enough time as it is and simply can't afford an open immigration policy. One day though.....


--


"There is no point in arguing this further, Castro will shortly be irrelevent."


Not unless you has some real points to make, other than the familiar smears.

As one of 607 representatives in the Cuban National Assembly Castro will be irrelevant one day, but the socialist democracy that the Cuban people have forged over 45+ years will be completely relevant for Cuban's future. Cubans in Cuba don't fixate on Castro, other than the fact that he is a living revolutionary hero - one among many.


--


"And if anyone still actually believes in him....."

The people who believe in (and fixate on) Castro are the enemies of Cuba. Castro is their god, all encompassing. They need Castro in order to continue their US taxpayer funded cash cow foundations in Miami and Washington. They need a single symbol to focus the pea brained public on. To demonize. Because, if the American people would inform themselves and/or could actually go to Cuba and see the island for what it is and for what the Cuban people have done under the most austere conditions (with the largest superpower focused on the demise of Cuba's sovereign government), then they would be appalled at what their government has been doing to the people and nation of Cuba - and they would be awe inspired at the ways, means, and purpose of the good people of Cuba.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Just Me]

35. For crying out loud,...

,...people who shout from the other side of a self-imposed "fence" seem obsessed with crises.

:grr:

[9215]

69. Good post Mika!

If Cuba is maintaining itself under the kind of hostility the US has had toward it during all these years I wonder what it would do if hostilities ceased?

What the US capitalist/fascists fear more than anything else is Cuba as a good example of an alternative to what we have in the USA. It is also, IMO, a primary reason why Venezuela is being messed with so much lately: it is a country that refuses to knuckle under to global capitalists.

All I want is for the truth about Cuba to come out so that the US Public can see for themselves. That is all. It would clear up all this controversy.


PS. I spent a year in Guantanamo (GTMO)back in the early 70's and had to go through a couple of months of Marine infantry training in case Cuba attacked the base. So I guess I can't claim to have never been there. :evilgrin:

[Tinoire]

25. Never mind

I'm going to be nice. Your profile is really too delightfully refreshing.

[Mika]

4. May Day photo at the Plaza of the Revolution in Havana, Cuba

Yep. They sure do hate Castro there. :crazy:

[dai]

5. Havana

Looks like a gorgeous city.

[Mika]

6. Its beautiful

There's the New Havana with new and modern hotels, bars, clubs, and restaurants ...





.. and the Old & Historic Havana (the only part that the US press show Americans)...

[Judi Lynn]

27. Mika, that's gorgeous.

Within time, all the old useable buildings will be refurbished.

I have read that Cuba, after 1959 had to spend its revenue on creating a universal educational program for all its people, and establish health care, running water, plumbing and electricity for so many who actually had been living without it, and the matter of shoring up and restoring the old buildings in the old section of Havana simply had to be put on the back burner.

Cuba travelers have remarked how odd it has been that when our own reporters go to Cuba for live tv shots, they invariably make their segments from the oldest section of Havana, and have never wandered off to the new buildings. Simply strange, and misleading.

I found out the restoration was going on when I read an article about Eusebio Leal, who is in charge of the restoration of the very old landmark buildings in Old Havana. He sounds fantastic. He's mentioned in this article:

Havana is polishing its old city
By Richard Chacón, Globe Staff, 4/25/2001

HAVANA - Adam Guerrero isn't sure what Ernest Hemingway would say about all the ruckus going on outside his old room at the Ambos Mundos Hotel.

The cacophony of hammers, drills, trucks, and shouts from construction workers in this section of Old Havana might have been enough to drive the American novelist out of the fifth-floor refuge in the hotel where he did some of his best writing.
(snip)

But in Castro's Cuba, no rebuilding program, no matter how many foreign tourists and dollars it attracts, can happen without serving a social agenda. In Old Havana, that means moving many of the area's 70,000 residents out of cramped, makeshift dwellings to new housing and teaching them how to live in them, whether they like it or not.
(snip)

But other families have had to leave the old neighborhood altogether. When planners conducted a neighborhood census to determine who would be given provisional housing, they discovered thousands of new arrivals, mostly desperate migrants from the provinces who had come seeking better opportunities during Cuba's economic crisis in the mid-1990s.


Families originally from Old Havana - and they must prove it with goverment documentation - are given first priority to stay in a renovated building. Thousands of others have been reassigned to new housing developments in Alamar, an eastern suburb about 10 miles outside Havana, or they have been sent back to their provinces.
(snip/...)

~~~~ link ~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cuban Restoration Project Pins New Hopes on Old Havana

By Scott Wilson, Washington Post, Monday 25 December 2000;
Page A30
HAVANA - "In each neighborhood, revolution," reads the sign on a sooty Communist Party building in Old Havana. Just next door, there are signs of a different sort of revolution sweeping through the graceful stone buildings and broad plazas.

Workers are salvaging Havana's romantic old quarter from the ravages wrought by centuries on the Atlantic seafront, meticulously restoring block by block what was not destroyed by pirates or the privations of the U.S. trade embargo.

"There is so much work," said Roberto Perez, a former veterinarian who has taken a more lucrative job on an Old Havana construction crew, "so much, that I expect to be working here for at least another eight years.

A New World outpost of wooden huts and fortune hunters almost 500 years ago, Old Havana is now a cornerstone of Cuba's financial future. The restoration is motivated both by a desire to preserve the area's history and the more modern considerations of luring tourists and their foreign currency to the Communist island.

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43b/196.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, May 2, 2004
Eusebio Leal Splenger



Doctor in Historical Sciences and Professor in Archeological Sciences, Eusebio Leal Splenger has been distinguished in a very particular way thanks to his leadership in the whole restoration labor of Casco Histórico from Havana, which was declared by UNESCO Patrimony of Humanity in 1982 . Faithful successor of the late Dr. Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring, who was his professor, Eusebio Leal is currently heading the Museum of the City and the Historian Office.

He has been also in charge of outstanding works, highlighting the restoration of Palace of Capitanes Generales, the former Goverment House which is used nowadays as Museum of the City headquarters in Havana City. In 1981 he was conferred the responsability of guiding the works of Casco Histórico de la Habana. On April 16th, 1986, works of Fortaleza San Carlos de la Cabaña and later on, Castillo de Los Tres Reyes del Morro started as part of the restoration process of this protected area by an UNESCO declaration.

He has been conferred the honorable title of Professor Emerito, associate titular and honor guest of national, Latin American and Caribbean Universities; he is also member of Academy of history and Language, cultural and academic institutions holding orders, distinctions and other Cuban and international recognitionss. Eusebio has delivered masterful and academic conferences at High Studies Houses, Museums and Scientific Institutions in Cuba, North America, Canada, Latin America and Caribean, Europe and Asia.
(snip)

http://www.soycubano.com/pena/literatura/eusebio_leali.asp

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reviving Havana
A striking city crumbling from postrevolutionary neglect is being restored to attract tourists, whose dollars then finance social services, all under the watchful eye of the man some call the ''snake charmer.''
By DAVID ADAMS

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 10, 2001



Eusebio Leal, restoration author


restoration project

(snip)The early years of the revolution focused on raising living standards in Cuba's impoverished countryside. The city could wait, Cuba's leaders decided.

But from the beginning, Leal warned against postponing maintainance work too long. After most of the city's wealthiest people fled to Miami, the city's historic buildings were occupied by poorer residents with no way of keeping up their new homes.
(snip)

http://www.sptimes.com/News/091001/Floridian/Reviving_Havana.shtml

On edit, adding photo:

Havana

[Mika]

48. LudiLyn, thanks for those fantastic links

You are a wealth of information, LudiLyn. You are always coming up with relevant information and fascinating stories. Thank you.

A BIG :thumbsup: :thumbsup:



Cuban youth protest US occupation of Iraq in front of US interest section, Havana - March 22

[Judi Lynn]

55. Hi, Mika! Just look at that photo! Now that's cool..........

I LOVE that sign. It's hilarious. You surely found something not representative of our traditional propaganda offerings. I just love it.

The intensity on the faces of these young peeps is notable. They all look so alert, and so bright, and so well behaved, as in well-balanced, mature, conscious!

You probably have noticed that almost all the photos which get circulated in our own media are taken on deserted streets of the old parts of Havana. We would never even guess that any of these people exist, from the photo shots we usually find.

I hope they gave _Bush's Interests Section head, James Cason, a royal pain in the keister. He should be run out of there on a rail.


James Cason founds the Cuban Young Liberal Party in the home of the mercenary Osvaldo Alfonso, president of the Liberal Party.

Here's the woman whose secretary testified against her in the trials, affirming the fact she was accepting $$$ from American gov't sources for years, Marta Beatriz Rocque, with the second in line at the Interests Section, Louis Nigro, "Martha Beatriz y Louis Nigro, Deputy Principal Officer of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba.
I'd like to see the reaction to any American who has been living on support from Cuba over the years, cranking out volumes of anti-American drek, coming and going from the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C. at all times of the night and day, having full access to their copying machines, long distance calling, etc., having photos taken gazing into the eyes of the Cuban Interests Section leader. That really wouldn't go over here:

[Aidoneus]

7. A remarkable photo..

inspiring, thanks. :toast:

[Mika]

9. It sure is

Castro was driven to the Plaza in AN OPEN JEEP - no bullet proof stretch limo.




Castro takes the podium on an open stage - no bullet proof glass, no armor vest. No phony printed doublespeak backdrop.
Castro glances at a few short notes for a two hour in depth presentation - no tele-prompter.





Will you see giant posters of Castro or statues of Castro anywhere in Cuba?

Nope. They don't exist.


I wish there were many DUers there so we could get an in-person May Day report. I wish I were there.

But.. noooo. We American DUers can't go to Cuba. Thanks to the pandering to the most extremist minority of Miamicuban exiles - by both parties.



Viva Cuba!

[lumpy]

31. Thank you Mika

Thank you for standing up for Cuba. I have no other connections to Cuba other than the interest I have had in that country for many years starting from it's revelutionary transformmation led by Fidel Castro. I had heard first hand of the rot from people who had visited that country when it existed under the repressive leadership of the despised dictatorial government before Castro led the fight to truly free the people. Cuba has managed to survive against all odds and vicious propaganda dispensed by many a US admiistration and Cuban expatriots who still, to this day, would like nothing better than to disrupt and bring an end a brave experiment to bring social integrity and equity to the Cuban people. My heart is with the Cuban people who deserve nothing less than to be let alone to continue with their lives, to live in peace and prosper in the right for true freedom. Thank you again for easing the concern I have felt for many years.

[Just Me]

8. Those photos are beauties,...

,...why would anyone want to destroy THAT?

[Mika]

10. Because Cuba represents successful resistance to US imperialism

.. not to mention that it is a well rounded socialist system. (Sets a bad example, ya know ;-) )



Learn From Cuba

“Cuba has done a great job on education and health,” Wolfensohn told reporters at the conclusion of the annual spring meetings of the Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “They have done a good job, and it does not embarrass me to admit it.”

His remarks reflect a growing appreciation in the Bank for Cuba’s social record, despite recognition that Havana’s economic policies are virtually the antithesis of the “Washington Consensus”, the neo-liberal orthodoxy that has dominated the Bank’s policy advice and its controversial structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) for most of the last 20 years.

Some senior Bank officers, however, go so far as to suggest that other developing countries should take a very close look at Cuba’s performance.

“It is in some sense almost an anti-model,” according to Eric Swanson, the programme manager for the Bank’s Development Data Group, which compiled the WDI, a tome of almost 400 pages covering scores of economic, social, and environmental indicators.

Indeed, Cuba is living proof in many ways that the Bank’s dictum that economic growth is a pre-condition for improving the lives of the poor is over-stated, if not, downright wrong. The Bank has insisted for the past decade that improving the lives of the poor was its core mission.

Link contains Cuba's stats that surpass the US's in critical areas.

[bemildred]

15. Well rounded DEMOCRATIC socialist system.

Very "bad" example.
:-)

[lumpy]

34. FDR introduced the idea

of a Democratic social system that took hold during his presidential tenure. Banking/economic regulations, the concept of social security/medicare, voting/women's/black rights, union voice, conservation of public lands expounded by Theodore Roosevelt are democratic concepts that appear to be taken for granted by many Americans. The Republican capitalists helped by some on the Democratic side of the aisle have tried and have succeeded in many areas to dismantle the concept of Democratic socialism. Economic/social/banking regulations have been slowly eroded during the years thank to those who desire unshackled capitalism which could lead eventually to fascism. Those who cannot see this happening are blind. The attempt to fully privatize such institutions as the US Postal System, public works, the military, parks systems, health care, public schools, etc. should be a wake up call to take the blinders off.

[bemildred]

38. FDR simply realized that the sort of monopoly capitalism

popular with the US ruling elites will not work without
large helpings of government regulation and manipulation,
and he put those mechanisms in place because he wanted to
keep the monopoly capitalist features, which you notice
were never touched other than rhetorically. The current
ruling classes seems intent on proving the point that
FDR understood all over again. Maybe this time we can
succeed in replacing them with a truly representative
government.

[lumpy]

44. Most likely the most important

regulations that were put into place during the Roosevelt tenure were banking regulations that kept in check money/funding/economic manipulations that was a factor in bringing about the 30's financial depression and Wall St. collapse. Those regulations have been eroded since starting around the 60s with the savings & loan scandals. Under banking regulations,with some exceptions, banks were not allowed to over-exceed their loaning capablilities without having available funds. Banks were, in most cases, limited in having out of state branches under the regulations. Traditionally banking has been the backbone of economics in most countries. An unstable banking system is a component in economic instability leading to monopoly and economic power being in the hands of a few. This is the power of unleashed capitalism which in turn leads to the diminished power of unionism, job equity and public ownership of utilities and services.
And then we have the abysmal tax loopholes purchased from politicians by big-money.....Don't want to even think about that.

[Tinoire]

26. Beautiful photos. What a successful country

Free education! Health care for all! Living wages! Affordable housing!

Gee why would we have a problem with that.

Oh yeah... no corporations.

[makhno]

40. Quite right

When people tout Cuba's poverty as a failure of socialism, they conveniently forget the hardships imposed by forty odd years of American economic warfare. When Cuba finally joins the ranks of US puppet states and the living standards plummet to Haitian or Dominican standards, believe me, not a single story will mention the economic hardships, other than perhaps in relation to the mythical "legacy of socialist mismanagement."

For a small, poor country at war with the most powerful state in the world to still be able to educate and take care of its citizens is amazing.

[Mika]

46. "When Cuba finally joins the ranks of US puppet states" HUH?

"When Cuba finally joins the ranks of US puppet states and the living standards plummet to Haitian or Dominican standards, believe me, not a single story will mention the economic hardships, other than perhaps in relation to the mythical "legacy of socialist mismanagement.""


Don't bet on any of that. Seriously.

[makhno]

47. I hope it doesn't happen

But the odds are against the Cuban people. It doesn't look like the US will ever allow the relations between the two countries to normalize, and once Castro inevitably passes away, there will be a tremendous pressure to install a pro-US government, no matter the social and economic cost. Hopefully, the EU will step in to oversee truly democratic elections and keep the situtation stable.

[Mika]

50. These times are now 'post Iraq' - the worm is turning

When the meltdown occurs in Iraq, and the US becomes the official pariah of nations, NO ONE (except fascists and the Batistanos in Miami) will support any kind of US imperialism in Cuba. NO ONE.

--



"Hopefully, the EU will step in to oversee truly democratic elections and keep the situtation stable."


Hmmm.. the EU doesn't have the US fixation on Cuba. All nations within the EU have full and normal diplomatic and trade relations with Cuba. They, like Cuba, have parliamentary style representational democracies.


Look, I don't mean to lecture, but have you read any of the links I've posted? Cuba has democratic elections, I've seen it for myself. I was in Cuba during an entire election season in 1997-98.


I'll post it again (in bold, so you can more easily read it)

http://www.poptel.org.uk/cuba-solidarity/democracy.htm

This system in Cuba is based upon universal adult suffrage for all those aged 16 and over. Nobody is excluded from voting, except convicted criminals or those who have left the country. Voter turnouts have usually been in the region of 95% of those eligible .

There are direct elections to municipal, provincial and national assemblies, the latter represent Cuba's parliament.

Electoral candidates are not chosen by small committees of political parties. No political party, including the Communist Party, is permitted to nominate or campaign for any given candidates.

[makhno]

51. Not disputing any of your points

But it's naive to think that the US will not try to subvert Cuban elections through the usual means - financial and terroristic if need be. The EU's role could be in providing observers to ensure that the US keeps its hands off the island, just as the EU has done in countless other countries with which it has diplomatic relations.

Look at Venezuela and Haiti if you want a taste of things to come.

[Mika]

53. Cuba cast off those chains in 1959

"Look at Venezuela and Haiti if you want a taste of things to come."


You've got it backwards. Cuba is WAY ahead, walking point.

The Cuba of old (pre 1959) was like Haiti/Ven.

Then the Cuban people had had enough. It is no longer. Cuba is fully sovereign - and no longer licking US jackboots.


Venezuela and Haiti have Cuba as a model to look forward to!


Even the World bank admits it,

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/learn.htm

Some senior Bank officers, however, go so far as to suggest that other developing countries should take a very close look at Cuba’s performance.

“It is in some sense almost an anti-model,” according to Eric Swanson, the programme manager for the Bank’s Development Data Group, which compiled the WDI, a tome of almost 400 pages covering scores of economic, social, and environmental indicators.

Indeed, Cuba is living proof in many ways that the Bank’s dictum that economic growth is a pre-condition for improving the lives of the poor is over-stated, if not, downright wrong. The Bank has insisted for the past decade that improving the lives of the poor was its core mission.

[makhno]

54. I don't think we're talking about the same thing

Again, I fully agree that Cuba should and does serve as a model for Latin American development. However, this does not insulate it now or in the future against American subversion. The Venezuelan and Haitian examples do not pertain to how the country is run today. They show what the US is ready to do in order to ensure that a compliant puppet government is in place in what it considers to be its God-given spheere of influence. It will pump money into "opposition" candidates' campaigns, it will create, train and arm "opposition" militias, it will compromise and provide intelligence on "anti-American" candidates. Once Castro dies, the security apparatus that has been limiting US involvement in Cuba will be weakened. Actors will emerge on the Cuban political scene who will see a pro-American stance as a good way to acquire power and privilege.

Let's not claim that Cuba is somehow magically insulated from American subversion because of its revolutionary history and educated society. We need to be vigilant.

On edit: take a look at post #37 below. That's what I'm talking about - "hastening democracy", "working with opposition groups". The oldest plays in the imperialist book.

[Mika]

56. We are. Anti Castro is an industry w/window dressings

I know full well the extent of American attempts to overthrow the Cuban government. Some serious, most as window dressing as cover for the US taxpayer funded anti Castro industry - which, if you have been watching the machinations of said industry, is money funneled back to political campaigns of US politicians on both sides of the aisle. These said politicians are only too willing to expend more millions of taxpayer money on these "anti Castro" & "hastening democracy" foundations and working groups, like the CANF, Cubanet, BttR, etc.

Its a campaign funding cash cow (with our tax dollars).

Believe me, NONE of these working groups or foundations really want Castro to be gone. No Castro = no anti Castro funding. (Btw, another living Cuban revolutionary war hero is Fidel's brother, Raul, the tactical brains behind Cuba's revolutionary war and currently minister of defense. If the US is on a war stance against Cuba after Fidel leaves Raul Castro is more than likely to be elected as Head of State of Cuba.)

The occasional serious attacks on Cuba, of late via US funded Miamicuban exile terrorists, serves the purpose to only further consolidate the Cuban people behind Fidel's "rhetoric", their sovereignty, and further unite the Cuban people in their struggle against US imperialism. After all, President Castro and Raul Castro are living successful revolutionary war heroes, and people do rally behind them.

It all serves a puprose. To keep the US taxpayer funding rolling in.


Remember, no Castro (including Raul) = no anti Castro funding.

[Mika]

58. On a pro-American stance

" Actors will emerge on the Cuban political scene who will see a pro-American stance as a good way to acquire power and privilege."


I can honestly tell you that Cubans are pro American. Castro included. they have been seeking normalized relations with the US for 45 years.

Cuba seeks to buy (and does buy) US products, seeks to sell their products to us, seeks Americans as tourists, seeks American/Cuban professional & cultural exchange. Cuba has offered, with no strings attached, what little assistance it could during many US disasters including 9-11, and has welcomed US assistance in their own disasters, provided that there are no strings attached.


Cuba is pro American, but anti US government hegemonic policies.

Cuban citizens wants to be able to show their pro American stance to Americans, and American citizens want to show their pro Cuba stance to Cubans - but the American government prevents any of this from easily happening.

Too bad we Americans can't get to Cuba easily to see this for ourselves.

[Mika]

45. Tinoire, nothing is free

"Free education! Health care for all! Living wages! Affordable housing! "


Hard work. Devotion to thier children. Sacrifice. Cross generational devotion to service. Struggle. Impoverishment. Patriotism. Nationalism. Accommodation. Fear of failure. Sweat and toil. Devastating hurricaines. Fear of another US attack. Defense. All while maintaining and creating what is uniquely Cubañia.


Please don't forget that the Cuban people don't live in utopia. They worked DAMNED HARD marshalling their scant resources to provide for all of Cuba - but especially for their children and their future.


America did all it could to trip this up for 45+ years. :puke:

Its far past time to make amends.


Viva Cuba.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Cuba broke its own Guinness record for the most chess players at once

Last Updated: Friday, 30 April, 2004, 02:37 GMT 03:37 UK


Cubans set new world chess record


Che Guevara's statue towered over Santa Clara's record-breaking game
Cuba has broken its own world record for the most people playing chess at the same time.

About 13,000 chess fans gathered in the central Cuba city of Santa Clara for the mass game.

Former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov took part in the event, held in a square dominated by a statue of the Che Guevara. himself a keen player.

Some 11,320 Cubans, including President Fidel Castro, set the 2002 record, but the president did not play this time.
(snip)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3670451.stm

previous years




Bobby Fischer with Fidel Castro

[Just Me]

13. Cool. Geez, I can't even find someone to play chess with me.

Those pictures are so warm. I mean, the people look very warm.

[Judi Lynn]

16. You're right, Just Me.

Real observations like that bring a grasp of things which elude others, I'm sure you may have discovered.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

21. Cuban people are very warm, as a rule. eom

[MisterP]

22. I wanna see Chimpy try an' play chess:

Secret Service Agent: "No, Mr. President, you don't eat those...you--(tug)--don't--(tug)--eat those!" (rook flies out of Bush's mouth)

[llmart]

66. Oh, Big Deal! So they play chess.

I'll bet they don't have "Survivor" and "Fear Factor" and "American Idol" though. And how good are they at Game Boys? So there! (Sarcasm intended.)

[Just Me]

67. *LOL* Yeah,...imagine connecting to people rather than "the tube".

Imagine living in "reality" rather than the dream that corporatists have SOLD to their thirsty, empty "consumers",...who the corporatists make feel ever more "empty".

Such a sad state of affairs,...a late 1984 prediction come true.

:cry:

A slow, but rude awakening. Humanity will prove an "Age of Awareness",...in my humble view.

[llmart]

68. Yes, it is very sad..

the state of our country and it's people (at least the majority of them). People look at me like I have two heads because I've never seen one episode of these stupid shows, or because I couldn't pick out Brittany Spears on a magazine cover to save my life. I read a book once "Cultural Creatives" that made me feel better - not so alone because I don't "fit in" to mainstream America.

By the way, a friend of mine's son went on a vacation with another friend to Cuba. He's about 25 and very adventurous. He loved Cuba. Said he could get in through Mexico somehow. I don't remember the details.

[Judi Lynn]

14. U.S. Baptists churches take a stand against U.S. travel ban on Cuba

Alliance adopts statements on marriage, Cuba at meeting
April 30, 2004 - Volume: 04-40

By Sue Harper Poss and Robert Marus


DAYTON, Ohio (ABP) -- In its recent annual meeting, the Alliance of Baptists adopted statements of concern about the politicization of gay marriage and the United States' relations with Cuba. The progressive group also elected a female chaplain from Baltimore as its new president.
(snip)

The resolution on the U.S. and Cuba is the latest in a series of statements the group has adopted calling for normalization of relations between the two countries. It commended the House and Senate for recently passing bipartisan legislation containing provisions that would have lifted the ban, but condemned a House-Senate conference committee for "capitulation…to a threatened veto of the legislation by President Bush."

The Alliance cooperates in a missions partnership with the Fraternity of Baptist Churches in Cuba, one of the communist island nation's two Baptist conventions.

The statement also voiced objection to the Treasury Department's 2003 decision to freeze the issuance of licenses to educational institutions for travel to Cuba. It particularly criticized the agency's assignment of 17 percent of workers in its office charged with monitoring foreign assets to enforcing the Cuba travel ban.

In addition, the statement condemned the agency's focus on "pursuit and prosecution of those who choose to travel to Cuba without licenses rather than pursuing its congressionally mandated mission of tracking and freezing the assets of terrorists."
(snip)

http://www.abpnews.com/abpnews/story.cfm?newsId=4240

[ConcernedCanuk]

17. While the US's tourism decreases, Cuba's tourism INCREASES

.
.
.

AND

one of the big increases is from the Poodle's Empire!

I guess he doesn't control his citizens as much as the Boy King does.
__________________________________________________

British sun-seekers help Cuban tourism recovery

By Anthony Boadle

HAVANA, April 30 (Reuters) - British tourists seeking Caribbean sun and beach have spurred the recovery of Cuba's tourism trade, which grew 13.6 percent in the first quarter of this year, the Cuban government said.

Despite world security concerns and the SARS scare, British tourists have flocked to communist-run Cuba in growing numbers, and charter companies are increasing weekly flights from eight to 12 a week.

Rebeca Jara, sales promotion director at Cuba's Ministry of Tourism, said arrivals in the first three months of 2004 were up 13.6 percent over last year's first quarter.

"We are on track to meet our target for this year of 2 million tourists," she told reporters.

Jara said British tourism grew 37 percent in the first quarter to 32,616 visitors, and became the fastest growing European market for Cuba in March, though still behind Canada Italy, Germany, France and Spain in overall numbers.


______________________________________________________________

Geee, most of the US's allies are actually ENJOYING Cuba,

well I guess some of us are border-line "ex" allies? :shrug:

[Grey]

19. Holiday in Cuba,

We have just returned from a two week stay in Cuba and It was lovely. the people were so nice and the weather was "tropical" the Rum was flowing at about $10.60 for a 26 oz of 12 year old necture, I gotta tell you it was sssoooo Good. The people we met our 2 week bus tour all over the island were just great.we went into farmers markets and cafes, and chatted with the people there, nothing was hidden from us, It's hard to control people on a bike, or as several did use roller blades. We stopped at several schools to drop off pencels and paper, Baseball caps ete. and were treated as plesant guests, a nice break in the day,
The way they spoke of Castro was as if he was a really nice man, with a very difficult job.They seemed to think of him as really smart and hard working, It was odd when "Carlos" our guide, pointed across the square and said" That is Castro'office over there. Just a simple building.
The people are enduring hardship because of the "embargo" and doing it with digniy and pride, just the nicest people you would like to meet, on the streets and in the byways,we were treated with respect ant dignity.

Thousands of Canadians and not an insignificant number of Americans choose to holiday on the island,and we have to tell you, you would not be dissapointed. I would say however, maybe you would like to leave the "much washed tee-shirt" with the flag across the chest at home.
just an Idea.

[ConcernedCanuk]

20. you would like to leave the "much washed tee-shirt" with the flag . . ."

.
.
.

at home you said . .

Surely not the Canuk flag??

You must mean the Star StRangled Banner? :freak:

[Vogon_Glory]

29. Nonsense, Pack Some Of Those Older Clothes

Nonsense, pack some of those older clothes, at least the ones without the hyper-patriotic slogans on the front and the Stars and Stripes on the front (Why be an obvious target for CANF and GOP tattletales?). Pack those summer clothes that are slightly dowdy or that you've grown less fond of. Lighten your suitcase when you finish your trip to "Forbidden Island" and leave them behind. They'll find a happy second life after you're done.

[Judi Lynn]

61. It's great reading your remarks.

Some of us who are shut out of Cuba by our own pResident are just dying for authentic accounts of experiences visiting Cuba.

Last fall we almost had it made, with both our Senate and House of Representatives passing amendments to drop our travel ban by a Large majority, but the effort was destroyed in committee, after hours, by Republicans who were desperate to keep this from going to the President where he would insist on veto'ing it. This would have called attention to his Cuba position which is at odds with the majority of Americans who actually want the travel ban removed.

So his administration simply took this amendment out of action behind our backs.

Getting clean renderings of travel experience in Cuba is completely refreshing to us Cuba enthusiasts. (No, we're not "Comrads" as suggested by the occassional visiting poster here!)

[Minstrel Boy]

18. Fidel's May Day speech focused Gitmo

Granma headline: One of the most grotesque cases of human rights violations exists in Guantánamo

PRESIDENT Fidel Castro analyzed various aspects of the international and national situation and recent events at the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Geneva at the end of the central May Day event here, which brought together more than one million people in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución.

Cuba’s presentation in Geneva of a resolution on the prisoners held by the United States in Guantánamo, the leader affirmed, will go down in the history of revolutionary diplomacy, because there the hypocrisy, constant lies and cynicism were exposed and the current masters of the world were dealt a crushing blow.

The president reviewed the results of the U.S. anti-Cuba resolution in the HRC and how Washington and the European Union committed the error of overlooking the fact that one of the most grotesque cases of human rights violations exists on the Guantánamo Naval Base, where the United States has created that horrific prison camp where it is holding hundreds of people, with no identity, no trial, no guarantee of physical integrity, no procedural or penal law and no time limit.

...

After covering national issues such as the various plans underway in relation to public health, democracy and the struggle for the return of the five Cuban heroes incarcerated in U.S. jails for combating terrorism, Fidel moved on to various international themes. These included the economic order, the monetary system and its disastrous repercussions; unequal terms of trade; the events of March in Spain – the exceptional and almost exclusive work of the Spanish people and in particular its youth – Venezuela; and the war on Iraq, whose only solution is the withdrawal of the U.S. troops.

"Once again they are threatening us with measures against the economy and to destabilize the country," Fidel warned, "but we would not hesitate to suggest that the Bush administration should be more serene, more sensible, more prudent and more intelligent."

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/mayo/sab1/fidel-i.html

[0007]

36. Cuba is leading the way in the medical field & education

- Illiteracy rate: Latin America, 11.7%; Cuba, 0.2%

- Inhabitants per teacher: Latin America, 98.4; Cuba, 43, in other words, 2.3 times as many teachers per capita

- Primary education enrolment ratio: Latin America, 92%; Cuba, 100%

- Secondary education enrolment ratio: Latin America, 52%; Cuba, 99.7%

- Primary school students reaching Fifth Grade: Latin America, 76%; Cuba, 100%

- Infant mortality per thousand live births: Latin America, 32; Cuba, 6.2

- Medical doctors per hundred thousand inhabitants: Latin America, 160; Cuba, 590

- Dentists per hundred thousand inhabitants: Latin America, 63; Cuba, 89

- Nurses per hundred thousand inhabitants: Latin America, 69; Cuba, 743

- Hospital beds per 100 thousand inhabitants: Latin America, 220;
Cuba, 631.6

- Medically attended births: Latin America, 86.5%; Cuba, 100%

- Life expectancy at birth: Latin America, 70 years; Cuba, 76 years

- Population between 15 and 49 years of age infected with HIV/AIDS: Latin America, 0.5%; Cuba, 0.05%

- Annual AIDS infection rate per million inhabitants, i.e. those who develop the disease: Latin America, 65.25; Cuba, 15.6

[Just Me]

39. I am listening to Castro speak (on CSPAN),...

,...and,...geez,...I feel like I was born in the wrong country.

[0007]

41. I am also listening to Castro

[0007]

43. ....also check out Castro's May Day Speech

here;

http://www.ratb.org.uk/html/cspeaks/fidel_mayday.html

[Judi Lynn]

49. What about those stats, eh? Amazing.

It's pretty hard to falsify these kinds of statistics, when they can easily be verified.

It's phenomenal by all standards.

I wanted to add something I read in 1999 which was really impressive, and would indicate a kind of community closeness geared to success: the class sizes are very small and intimate, and the teachers actually go to the students' homes, and get to know the families IN PERSON in each student's case. From what I recall, the friendship and coopertion between parents and teachers at this level is exceptional.

Also, in reference to your stat on doctors, it's common for doctors' offices to be located in well-designed patterns in cities so that many of their patients can walk to their appointments, and the offices are arranged with doctors and nurses living in quarters upstairs from the waiting rooms, examination rooms, etc. so that there also is a very close pattern of familiarity over time with all of their patients.

It sounds as if the people involved in these social programs really put a whole lot of time and caring into their planning, and it shows in things like superior longevity and infant mortality statistics.

[Mika]

52. You hit the nail on the head, JudiLyn

Community. That's it.

Cuban's don't complain over the costs of educating and stationing of their health care proffesionals - because it renders results right at home in their neighborhoods, right back to them. No skimming of profits back to golden parachutes for CEO's.- the profit is the Cuban people's gain, equally among all.


One for all, all for one.

Wow! Whatta concept. :-)

[Judi Lynn]

57. That concept seems completely foreign, doesn't it?

It's worth noting that when Cuba has given scholarships to young medical students from the U.S. and countries all over the world, they are requested to go home and work with the poor of their countries.

I think it's so interesting to have seen some of the first U.S. students entering the program, from all over the country, Native American, Mexican-American, African-American, Hispanic-American, and Caucasian all setting their courses to come back here and fill in the HUGE cracks in our medical care system which swallow so many Americans whole who simply can't get insurance.

There are occassional Cuban medical students who have contacts in the States who simply take the great Cuban free medical education and walk off, come to American and start making the BIG bucks, but from what I've heard, most Cuban doctors are 100% devoted to their work, even, in some cases, holding down additional jobs to make ends meet doing things like driving cabs, etc.

I DO BELIEVE in their "one for all, all for one" spirit. That country has seen the ugliness of what can happen otherwise, after death squads, REAL torture rooms, disappearances and murders of suspected "leftists" during the 30+ years in which Batista was president twice, and ruled behind the scenes from the early 30's to 1959.

Yes, Batista's with Eisenhower

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was written for Time Magazine in January, 1959, so the Revolution isn't covered. It might be interesting to some folks:A Short History of
Corrupt Presidents of Cuba

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Page 48
PEARL OF THE ANTILLES

"President of 1,000 Murders." Martí had predicted that "rascals will struggle to infest politics." After the administration of First President Tomás Estrada Palma (1902-06), who died in poverty, Cuba never knew an honest President.

No. 2 retired to a $250,000 mansion;
No. 3 parlayed $1,000,000 into $30 million to $40 million;
No. 4 was known as "the peseta stealer."
No. 5, Gerardo ("The Butcher") Machado (1925-33), coupled graft with terror, rode in a $30,000 armored car, had some of his victims fed to the sharks. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dispatched suave Diplomat Summer Welles to smooth the way for the unseating of the "President of a thousand murders." Welles began a subtle campaign against Machado inside the army itself, and one afternoon Battalion No. 1 of the Cabaña Fortress trained its guns on the yellow-domed palace, whereupon Machado cried: "All right, my boys, I'm through," and flew off to Nassau. A delirious crowd looted the palace, lynched 18 Machado henchmen and terrorists.

After 1933, Cuba had seven Presidents in seven years, dependent always on the kingmaker, Fulgencio Batista, an orderly-room sergeant who filled the vacuum after Machado. Said he: "I think it would be criminal to take advantage of the power I have achieved; I can never become President." In 1940 he became President. After four years Batista allowed his hand-picked successor to be defeated in Cuba's first honest election and retired to Daytona Beach to enjoy his graft. The administrations of Ramon Grau San Martin (1944-48) and Carlos Prío Socarrás (1948-52) respected civil liberties but not the treasury. Prío amassed millions by the time he fled Batista's coup.
(snip/)http://cuban-exile.com/doc_201-225/doc0206.htm

(A word to the wise: This site is controlled by Cuban "exiles"
living in South Florida, so it's good to know the context, since they were living profitably under Batista.)


Bonus photo: what appears to be Fidel Castro as a whippersnapper, before the beard!

[0007]

60. - Here are some stats on education that Cuba should be proud of -

- The first international study of the Latin American Laboratory of Evaluation of educational quality, carried out in 12 Latin American countries including Cuba, produced the following results. I would like to briefly refer to them in detail:

- In Language, 3rd Grade: Cuba, 85.74 points; the remaining 11 countries, 59.11 points

- In Language, 4th Grade: Cuba, 87.25; the rest, 63.75

- In Mathematics, 3rd Grade: Cuba, 87.75; the rest, 58.31

- In Mathematics, 4th Grade: Cuba, 88.25; the rest, 62.04

What is or will be the future of those countries?

According to these figures, of the seven Latin American countries that voted against Cuba, four --Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay-- that had boasted in the past of being the most advanced in the region, fall well behind Cuban figures. In some of these, they reach or scrape past the half way mark in comparison to Cuba, but in others they are very well below. This is the case of pre-school education for 0-5 year olds, for example, that only reaches 15.8% of the children in that age group in Chile as compared to Cuba's 99.2%.

[Mika]

62. Thanks 0007. Got a link?

Its not even a case of 'the pot calling the kettle black' is it?

Cuba is neither a pot nor a kettle. Cuba is a democracy.


I would love to get a link to that study, if you have one. :hi:

[0007]

64. Here 'ya go Mika

http://www.ratb.org.uk/html/cspeaks/fidel_mayday.html

:hi:
You'll have a lot to chew on

[JoFerret]

28. I sure hope so

...after all there is no sign of imminent collapse and Bush has only got to December.

[Judi Lynn]

59. If we get lucky, and Bush WILL leave peacefully

it could trigger a week-long celebration in a lot of places!

But before he leaves, he does intend to pressure Cuba as hard as he can.

Does Castro bring fear to Treasury Department?

Who's afraid of Fidel Castro?

(snip)
Why then is the U.S. Treasury Department wasting so much time, money and manpower keeping an eye on this old communist who still enjoys poking fun at the United States?

Maybe the Treasury is still hoping for a payback for the Bay of Pigs invasion that Mr. Castro turned into a rout and an embarrassment to President Kennedy and the United States.

Our Treasury Department heads should be ashamed. Instead of using its resources to fight real terrorist threats, such as Osama bin Laden, it has assigned many agents to keep tab on what Mr. Castro is doing. Almost two dozen agents are busy investigating how those wonderful Cuban cigars are coming into America. If that doesn't keep them busy, they're checking up on Americans who circumvent the regulation against visiting Cuba and do it anyway. (It's easy to get there through Mexico or other foreign countries, in case anyone wants to know.) They also want to know who is sending U.S. dollars to Cuba, who is doing business there and who is violating other provisions of the long-standing embargo.

With our country under constant threat of attack, the Treasury department has assigned four agents to investigating bin Laden's and Saddam Hussein's wealth and how it's being spent. Those four agents opened 93 enforcement investigations in 2003 and collected $9,425 in fines for terrorism financing violations since 1994, according to the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

In the same time, OFAC says the agency initiated 10,683 investigations since 1990 against Castro's regime and collected more than $8 million in fines.
(snip/)

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/opinion/editorials/040502b.shtml

[Vogon_Glory]

30. Boosh Ain't Got What It Takes

Despite the whisperings of the likes of Roger Noriega and Otto Reich, Dubya ain't got what it takes to overthrow the current Cuban regime. Even after Castro passes and more open elections are held, any returning mainland exile is going to find himself or herself facing angry social democratic voters in a ten to one ratio. Formidable odds, even with Diebold and creative vote tally reprogramming.

:evilgrin:

[Judi Lynn]

37. Bush's new Cuba plan to be announced tommorow, Monday, May 3rd.

Posted on Sun, May. 02, 2004

Report to offer U.S. guidance on Cuba policy

President Bush is expected to review a 500-page document with recommendations for hastening the arrival of democracy in Cuba.

BY NANCY SAN MARTIN
[e-mail]


A 500-page report on U.S. policy toward Cuba due at the White House on Monday recommends limiting Cuban-Americans' visits to the island, significantly cutting remittances and drastically reducing the money that U.S. visitors can spend there, activists familiar with the document said.

The recommendations by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba are the result of a six-month review ordered by President Bush to hasten and prepare for a democratic transition in communist-ruled Cuba.
(snip)

The report is divided into five sections, the first dealing with hastening democracy and the others focusing on assistance once change occurs, according to the activists.

The first section outlines ways to strengthen the internal opposition on the island, disseminate news and other information to Cubans, and enforce economic and travel restrictions already on the books.
(snip)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/8570057.htm
Free registration required

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Regarding _Bush's first plan for Cuba in 2001:

NEW BILL FOR FUNDING SUBVERSION IN CUBA
Cuba is not Poland

May 22, 2001

BY GABRIEL MOLINA

(snip)
Senator Helms drew up the 1996 legislation that, among other regulations described as extraterritorial, prohibits Washington from normalizing relations with Cuba without the U.S. Congress certifying that a ‘democratic government’ exists in Havana. That bill was drafted by lawyers working for the Cuban-American Bacardí, Fanjui, and Mas Canosa families, as on this occasion.

In his diatribe, Mas Santos stated that programs should be devised that would provide direct funding and material resources to the democratic opposition and independence groups and individuals in Cuba--such as computers, printers, telephones, cellular phones, fax machines, Internet devices and the latest communications equipment, as well as cordless technology, satellites and more.

Helms’ bill, following that line, and upping the stakes, would authorize the channeling of $100 million USD over a four-year period, in cash, foodstuffs, medicines, computers, telephones, fax and other office supplies and education materials for opposition groups and non-governmental organizations on the island, EFE, AFP and Reuters reported.
(snip)

http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:LiHwnZ-NCiUJ:www.iacenter.org/cuba_notpoland.htm+Congress+fund+CANF&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[Judi Lynn]

65. Six-month US policy review recommends Cuba cash squeeze

Posted on Sun, May. 02, 2004





Six-month US policy review recommends Cuba cash squeeze

Associated Press


MIAMI - A six-month Cuba policy review led by Secretary of State Colin Powell recommends squeezing the pipeline of greenbacks from American tourists and Cuban-American relatives to the communist island, a newspaper report Sunday.

A 500-page report due Monday at the White House was requested by President Bush to prepare for a democratic transition in communist-ruled Cuba. The Miami Herald reported Bush is expected to announce the recommendations he endorses later in the week.

Activists familiar with the document prepared by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba said it recommends putting more teeth into the Cuban embargo but doesn't offer any major new initiatives.

The report proposes cutting tourist spending, travel by Cuban-Americans and the amounts of money Cuban-Americans are allowed to send to their relatives. By some estimates, family money moving from the United States to Cuba reaches as much as $1 billion annually.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/8573842.htm
(Free registration required)

Couldn't this backfire on _Bush?

I saw a "60 Minutes" on Cuban "exiles" sending money to their families in Cuba, and it said that the Cuban "exiles" in the States aer conflicted about this subject, because they all want to be able to send a lot of money to their families, but also want it arranged so that OTHER FAMILIES in Cuba are squeezed dry financially so they will agitate and try to overturn the government.

I have also heard that more recent immigrants here are far, far less political than the earlier ones, and DO come here for financial reasons, and DO want to support their families at home, as the money they earn here goes an astonishingly long way in Cuba.

On edit:

It's been a while since this has been mentioned, but it's so interesting it needs to be restated. One of the Cuba-travelling posters here, a multiple time visitor with friends in Cuba has told us that any American wanting to retire to Cuba, at the end of a career, will NOT be able to receive his/her social security checks there. U.S. law, as it stands currently.