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Odds and ends
- Speaking of straws in the wind, at Penultimos Dias there’s an item on the Battle of Ideas, Valenciaga, the Mesa Redonda crew, and what keeps them busy. And Rui Ferreira cites a report in a Chilean newspaper that suggests that Raul Castro’s speech last week was written by Carlos Aldana, the sidelined former ideology chief of the Communist Party.
- Shoot Down, a new documentary on the 1996 downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes and the events leading up to it, is to be released in October; here’s Pablo Bachelet’s preview in the Herald.
4 comments:
A reggaeton star who is a doctor... only in Cuba. His music is terrible by the way.
As for Sanchez's assertion that the Cuban youth are "a mostly apathetic and alienated 'lost generation'" - this seems like a awfully broad brush. I met dozens of people my age and younger, and nearly all seemed like visions of ambition and social concern, compared to the apathy and alienation I see in America every day.
Also, this reporter Sanchez claims El Medico was given no reason from the Ministry of Public Health for not being able to leave. I'd bet a nickel than the reason is the same as for all Cuban doctors who recieved a free doctor education - that he must pay back the State through service before qualifying for a exit visa. This is in order to resist brain drain, which is devastating every other developing country's health sector.
the only thing leftside, is that every Cuban professional is educated (or is it edumacated?) for "free". Then they are "given" a "salary" of 12 dollars a month. And then they are not even free to choose to move to another province to look for a better opportunity in life and profession. Nice, isn't it?
In the case of the doctors, they are banned from leaving Cuba, at the discretion of the government. Have you heard of Hilda Molina? Google is your best friend, buddy....
There's no brain drain in Cuba, there's brain flushing, as the tyranny is flushing out Cuba's best educated citizens who are left with no other option that leave their country. Finally, you're paying for your education with the total lack of liberties you have in Cuba, "education and healthcare" for slaves were free too, in the eighteenth century. That's why an accomplished artisan born into slavery couldn't leave the plantation, Leftside. That's exactly the same concept. Don't take freedom for granted!
But well, I wanted to address another item here....
In Cuba, there's no tradition of speech-writing or speech writers. We have reports of a certain rapprochement with Aldana, on the left field side, if one will. But nothing official yet. There are a lot of raulistas who envy and despise him, and who fear his competition. So, he's been kept at a distance. Raul writes -and in the best Cuban tradition- improvises most of his "speeches", which are to my knowledge the worst exercises in "revolutionary oratory" that the Cuban population has sustained.
The "team of advisors" of raul castro suggests themes of interests, and raul castro himself addresses them, writes them and delivers them in the form of a speech, on which more than half are improvisations and "jokes". Rest reassured, there are no speech writers at the fourth floor of the Minfar.
Unfortunately we in American know what happens when health care is left to the market... whole counties are left without doctors, not to mention the rest...
Cuba has far less brain drain than any other deveolping country on earth, despite what common perception may be. Cuba is overflowing with (well trained and educated) brains.
Where did you read that I propose for anyone to leave health care to the so called market forces?
Cuba has less brain drain, because.... they are not allowed to leave the country freely. In case you missed it, it's a brain flush leftside. The conditions of life, the repression, and the lack of liberties are such that people have very few options left to themselves. Ah, of course you can always count with the Clinton fathered, Bush maintained dry foot wet foot to contain the Cubans professionals in Cuba.
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