To my dear compatriots..
It’s too late to place a bet on the timing of the retirement of one aging dictator.. But you can still get odds on another this elected representative..
On the day that 81-year-old Cuban leader Fidel Castro announced he would no longer be the country`s President, Paddy Power said it was offering odds of 4/5 on the Democratic Unionist leader to stand down this year, the year of his 82nd birthday.
It’s “an opportunity to make progress towards a peaceful transition to a pluralist democracy..” More on what next [for Cuba] here.
Good stuff DK.
Strange how some people can suspend reality to make their version seem valid..
I’ve personally witnessed the abuse of everyday citizens by the communist oppressors. This whole health care ruse is laughable. Some parts of Havana resemble a sci-fi movie, after the nuclear holocaust . In the Varadaro marina, I watched 2 vintage patrol boats leave at dusk every night, loaded guns and all (keeping people in, or killing them). The average Cuban citizen is not allowed into any of the vacation complexes at all. People are waiting to roust them. A Cuban looking fellow was with us, and was rousted a few times. We had to wear identity cards around our neck in some PUBLIC areas so as not to get rousted. Not that I look like a Cuban but they had been embarrassed a few times with the other fella.
The average citizens are nice people, living under extreme poverty conditions. A few bombs went off while I was there, attributed to the Miami expat mafia. I carry no water for those knuckleheads either. No need to go back to Cuba, they’ve got southern Florida locked up. The average Cubans are wonderful people, here and there. The communist murderers are not. Take a trip, they love Euros.
>>So will you be emigrating to Cuba any day soon?< <
Honestly, as hopefully Cuba moves into a more democratic mode, an easing of a crippling US embargo I reckon it would be a better place to live. Here we have freedom in name only. Police, who are really glorified social workers, young boy's and lassies running wild, knifing anyone that dares to chastise them. This is the reality of Britain, it is no longer moaning from Manchester, dour faced, about all those young wans havin fun. The tyranny of some young people now means that we all cower behind closed doors for fear of being murdered. MP's being bugged, nepotism and corruption on a grand scale, showing our hypocrisy.
However you are right we always have consumerism to aspire to, and wasn't that new advert for puke-inducing tablets really funny. I'm going to vote for that on the £2.50 phone line.
>>It seems that people vote with their feet – when people leave any South American country, where do they go? The US or Cuba?<<
Oh but they leave all of those US friendly countries in droves, where people are FREE to fuckin starve, all in the interests of ‘free trade’ Where children toil in the fields or on the rubbish tip. And you might have missed George Galloway’s point about the plane leaving Easterhouse(substitute Ballymurphy or Rathcoole) with US green cards. The poor will jump at a better life almost anywhere.
The point may have been missed. Cuba is not ideal, far from it. We are not able to judge however, and not just on the above grounds. To me much comment reeks of insecurity from those whose horizons could never contemplate standing outside the white-mans umbrella.
BFB
>>he average Cuban citizen is not allowed into any of the vacation complexes at all.< <
Have you ever been to Jamaica? Same! are they "communist oppressors"? Perhaps the more foolish do not realise that Fidel only adopted the closed society approach as a counter to massive US interference, surely we can be sure that the US would have tampered with any 'free and fair' election. And the marxist model adopted after US owned refineries in Cuba refused to refine oil for Cuba.
>>This whole health care ruse is laughable< <
Sure! we'll just take your word for it.
>>The average citizens are nice people, living under extreme poverty conditions< <
Do you think the petulant and extremely unfair US embargo might just have had something to do with this? Pehaps this is the fault of "communist oppressors" also in your world view. Not sure about your bomb stories, oh and <> Poor or rich, who doesn’t/ Worshipping it is the problem!
Oh that’s right, reading about Kerry Katona’s balls is better that reading propaganda about tractor production and imperialists.
Steady on.
The average Cuban citizen is not allowed into any of the vacation complexes at all.
Not true.
What does the US embargo matter if all other countries (including Canada and the EU) are happy to trade? Smells like a red herring to me.
Cuba seems to me like East Germany. Supposedly excellent health care & zero unemployment, but people fled anyway. In East Germany’s case, all was revealed when the wall came down… wonder how long we will have to wait to see the reality of Cuba?
A further note on the question of Cubans being allowed into ‘vacation complexes’: Cubans can’t afford them. The cost of running them (I’m thinking in terms of the 5 star resorts you get in Varadero) is covered by the tourists who go to them. There is simply no point in your average Cuban going to them, any more than there is a point in someone here who’s totally skint going to the K Club. You do occasionally find some average Cuban citizens who do use them, but it’s normally because of some performance bonus scheme. That is not to say that there’s anything virtuous about the way the system operates, but a situation where you have lots of people being refused admission to places for not having enough money is hardly the preserve of communist Cuba.
>>Oh that’s right, reading about Kerry Katona’s balls is better that reading propaganda about tractor production and imperialists.< <
Hugh - >>Steady on.< <
To be fair hugh, this is something that I agree with DK about!
>>What does the US embargo matter if all other countries (including Canada and the EU) are happy to trade? Smells like a red herring to me.< <
Really! Of late Canada and the EU have been trading DESPITE the various penalties and threats bandied about for any company who has say a US subsidiary. I have not a clue how many companies do business there but I'd put my house on there being a hundred scared off for everyone that does.
>>Supposedly excellent health care & zero unemployment, but people fled anyway.<<
Supposedly? Please tell us more. And we have already covered the point about poor people leaving for richer countries. Any other dead horses to flog?
I certainly didn’t mean the Cubans were looking to book a room at the resorts…I meant they are not allowed on the property, period. No restaurant, no bar….except of course if you bribe your local communist bastard. I witnessed citizens being dragged out of cars, being denied entry to many places, treated roughly on a regular basis. When I asked about it the locals shrugged their shoulders and said if you push back, you don’t come back. I was at an impromptu party with a number of younger Cubans and one of them, after a few drinks stated that he was pissed that the US hadn’t invaded Cuba and freed them from the dictator Castro. None of his friends disagreed. Most, not all, of the population is sick of the oppression. The drug dealers pay off the communist bastards and abuse the locals….on, and on. Communism is bad for the average Cuban. Many lose their lives paddling anything they can cobble together to escape the communist bastards.
‘I meant they are not allowed on the property, period. No restaurant, no bar….except of course if you bribe your local communist bastard.’
Not in my experience. For instance, when I was in Havana, I arranged to meet the parents of a friend of mine in the hotel where I was staying. This didn’t pose any problems for them. We sat down and had a drink together. So either a) they bribed the local communist bastard at 10 minutes notice; b) they were the local communist bastards or c)your account of things isn’t entirely accurate.
Note that I am not denying that the authorities can treat citizens roughly and that there are many instances where citizens may be denied entry to places. All I am saying is that, if you want to complain about poor people being denied access to expensive hotels and the like, you don’t need to go to Havana to find something to complain about.
Here we have freedom in name only.
Priceless.