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Odds and ends
- The Duke University library has posted an archive of photos by Deena Stryker, taken across Cuba in 1963-1964. This one of La Rampa in Havana is dated February 1964. (H/t Cuaderno de Cuba).
- Azerbaijan’s culture and tourism minister says his country is interested in participating in oil development in Cuba.
- There’s no Cuban government approval, but once again there’s an announcement that the Carbonera golf/real estate project will go forward. Since foreigners can’t own real estate in Cuba, the idea is to sell 75-year leases of properties. This time, the company says it expects approval soon, with marketing to begin next month.
45 comments:
Seems as how the entire Latin/Carribean region is expected to contract economically this year, a 1% gain in Cuba would be (once again) above the regional average (I think for 5 or 6 years straight now). Mexico is forcasted to decline 3.7%, for example (by the IMF).
It is not clear if the economy forecast is based on a true GNP measure, or in a Gross Social Product meanure. If the latter, the scope of the economic contraction could be even larger as private economic activity is not reflected. It would be interesting to see the original study rather than just the newswire.
Vecino de NF
Those Carbonera guys are living in a dream world. They obviously don't have enough experience in Cuba to understand a) how long the approval process can take EVERY step of the way, and b) how long it actually takes to build something of quality and on that scale in Cuba. I would bet a lot of money that in 5 years they still won't have anything completed.
How is it that Cuba looks BETTER AND MORE MODERN in the early 1960s than it does today??? Educate us leftside....
How is it that Cuba looks BETTER AND MORE MODERN in the early 1960s than it does today???Look at pictures of Chicago, Miami or Mexico City from the 60s. They all look much better as well. Just in different ways that Cuba. The US and capitalist cities got cluttered with all kinds of crap profit-maximizing architecture and tore down much of the good stuff, while Cuba spent its money on less flashy projects out in the hinterlands and areas that capitalism had left behind. Havana suffered... but is still a million times more attractive than San Jose or Santo Domingo, for example. They still have their cultural and historic patrimony.
I also notice this photographer Stryker did not photograph much of the poor rural areas, or the towns run by American interests where the poor lived on one side of the track without decent housing or sanitation and the rich had everything. Much of the photos were of the Revolution's early projects - the Art School, the housing in Havana del Este, etc.
Lefty's rant: "The US and capitalist cities got cluttered with all kinds of crap profit-maximizing architecture and tore down much of the good stuff..."
While in the First Free Territory of the Americas, the "good stuff" fell down all by itself, without any help from construction workers beginning new buildings. But Lefty forgot to mention Castro's "construction boom" for prisons!
As usual, Lefty should be ashamed of himself, but people have no conscience.
You really want to talk about prison construction? Another area where the US is the shameful leader of the world, incarcerating well more than twice the percentage of Americans as Cubans (738 vs 297 per 100,000). And how have prisons fared in Russia and Eastern Europe now that there is "freedom"? There's been a 50% rise in prison population in Russia, Bulgaria, Poland, Solvakia, an 80% rise in the Ukraine and a 150% rise in the Czech Rep.
And the buildings falling over in Havana is a result of having more historic buildings facing harsh elements than anywhere else in the developing world. Sure, if capitalism was allowed and rents were raised dramatically to "market prices," many buildings could be fixed up. People would be pushed out of the old areas of Havana and only the rich and speculators would own Havana's patrimony. Instead Cuba has embarked on a much praised program to rehabilitate based on a logical, well-thought out plan that seeks to maintain people in their old buildings and neighborhoods. It has been a wild success - and is expanding to Centro Havana now.
I am sure the Cuban people are as thrilled as you are leftside...
i thought the cuban government never released any negative news?
there are 11 million people in cuba, some are happy, some are sad, what is this insistence on painting everyone with the same brush. how utterly childish
Anonymous 9:13PM,
I would add that most of the 11 million people in Cuba would like to better their living conditions and they do not see anyway to do so under current circumstances.
Vecino de NF
Did the "living conditions" of the former Soviet Republic improve after capitalism ravaged their land? No. By any human development measurement, the result has been a disaster. Only if you care about land values and the purchase of Western consumer goods did things improve. Are the dispicable living conditions of those tens of millions of poor uninsured people without any sense of dignity in this, the richest country of the world, something Cubans should strive for? Will Cubans amazing sense of justice and solidarity suddenly melt away, allowing its citizens to be subjected to the whims of the market - unemployment, homelessness, lack of health insurance, privitized schools and all?
yes indeed leftnut, let's take a poll of the former East Bloc countries: you want to return to Soviet Communism or leave things just as they are now?
if you believe they will anser return to Soviet Communism, you're more of a crackpot than everyone already thinks you are.
Cubans who are happy:
1) Party elites, who have access to all they need based on professed loyalty to the Maximum Leader.
2) Cubans with access to dollars.
Cubans who are unhappy:
All the rest.
Leftside,
Do you disagree with my point or are you arguing against Cuba moving to a capitalist system?
Vecino de NF
how does anyone even try to attempt speak for 11 million, of course they'd like better living conditions, who wouldn't. end the embargo and the threats and lets see. they were much better off before the special period, now they are still recovering from their great depression. same as what happened here in US back in the 30s. so to say something that sweeping makes no sense.
if 99 per cent of the cuban population were so unhappy they'd revolt and get rid of the govt as they have done in the past.
Anonymous 9:24PM,
My point was not only that most of the 11 million Cubans would like better living conditions but but that "they do not see any way to do so under current circumstances". BTW I do not pretend to speak for anyboby else but just pass on my observation based on extensive anecdotal evidence (we can not easily refer to a poll because those are property of the Central Committee or their methodology is flawed due to many legal, and social obstacles).
Vecino de NF
Anonymous 9:26PM,
You have a valid point but please remember that large segments of the Cuban population did revolt during the 1960s and early 1970 by either confronting the government using violent means or leaving Cuba. Smaller numbers have opposed the government through more peaceful means since the early 1970s but like they say in Cuba "No es fácil". Any attempt to form an opposition organization in Cuba is quashed in the very early stages. Whether this repression is justified or not is one of the great topics of discussion in this and other blogs. It is an outstanding question whether the Cuban population is truly satisfied with current conditions because any attempt to express an opposing view to the current socio-political order is considered treason under current Cuban legislation and punishable with prison terms. You basically have to be suicidal to oppose the government in any open way. Maybe that's the reason Cuba is one the countries with most suicides per capita.
Vecino de NF
you had to be suicidal to oppose batista; thousands died. fidel and a tiny group accomplished a revolution. today it seems its just easier to shout from the sidelines. you want change, get on the Granpa and do what fidel did. after 50 years its just softer to condemn, and come up with all sorts of chicken..it reasons why the cubans can't revolt. it is because they don't want to.
you can't prove a negative
Anonymous 2:07PM,
Are you endorsing the idea of Cubans from Miami launching expeditionary invasions of and military incursions into Cuba like those that were attempted during the 60s most of the time with active support of the CIA? (That would be a first for this blog.)
BTW you might want to sign your posts to make it easy to respond.
Vecino de NF
no, obviously the best way to change the cuban govt is to starve the people, embargo the country for 50 years, deny your citizens from visiting the country, promote illegal immigration, have a small group control foreign policy, criticize and try to isolate, force other countries not to trade with cuba, develop commissions to decide what type of government another country can and can not have, decide what leader another country can and can not have, make it hard to purchase medicine and food, deny free trade, promote internal dissidents through illegal aid from another country, threaten, terrorize, force the govt into a siege mentality, ignore historical realities in favor of historical fictions, and then try and convince yourself you are doing it for freedom and liberty of the same people you are trying to incite to revolt due to outside forces.
that's how you try and change the cuban government.
So, how's that working out?
yeah, that's right you ignoramus...the US is "starving" the Cuban people. How many billions in US agricultural sales to Cuba are we up to now?
here's the typical gusano reaction, taking one part and putting a ridiculous spin on it. the american embargo has been designed to deny food and medicine. now the cubans can buy food, under strict conditions, but can't sell a thing to usa. so what's the point of the embargo? read history moron, the state dept admitted many times the embargo was designed to make things so bad for the cuban people, including starving them, so that they would revolt.
and all the other points, nicely ignored. but that's typical and exactly why american policy for 50 years has been a complete failure.
and that's why you desperately try and spin things to maintain your historical fictions.
oh, you got it all figured out, anon.
let me tell you something you pathetic wretch. You've got all the bravado of someone who is too chickenshit to live one day in Castro's hell-hole. But there isn't one boot you won't lick or regime crime you won't defend because it's all about hating America -- whose successes and propsperity only magnify your own failures and miserable alienation.
enjoy the rest of your pathetic life you miscreant...
Anonymous 5/23/09 11:21AM,
Thanks for the explanation! Obviously you want to keep the status quo.
Vecino de NF
vecino, what?? the only one keeping the status quo is the US policy of failure.
anon 347
que clase de comer mierde.
you are the classic twisted gusano, the criminals are in Miami, the crime is washington's policy, and i hope you're happy with your support for trying to destroy a people.
yo soy cubano, y tu eres nada menos gusano puro.
i don't hate americans, just losers like you who have no guts, no brains, and no life. 50 years of losing, 50 years more.
Anonymous 12:26AM,
What do you propose should be done?
BTW were you the Anonymous 5/22/09 2:07 PM and Anonymous 5/23/09 11:21 AM or just picking up the baton?
Vecino de NF
yeah, yeah, yeah...it's all the United States' fault. Such a sophisticated worldview -- and you have the guts to call someone else a loser?
and you keep your blinkers on, the United States is 'the moral authority' of the world. like torturing innocents, invading an innocent country. look at the real history, not the propaganda you've obviously swallowed
it's not all american's fault re cuba, you bobo, but those who deny any impact american hostility and criminal policies have had on cuba are living in a alternate reality.
try and read history, to understand why the revolution happened, to acknowledge america's role 50 years ago and the part they play now. and quit crying like a baby "oh, don't blame america,"
what would you call someone who has been on the losing side for 50 years, has no concept of why, continues to cry the same song, and then refuses to acknowledge reality. gusano, loser, take your pick. maybe bully, the world's most powerful nation continuing to punish a small island nation. sick
Anonymous 12:22PM,
Can you please explain how comes the "losing" side in Miami has a higher standard of living than the "winning" side in Cuba, and how comes the "losers" are continously besieged by the "winners" for aid and assistance?
And BTW stop belitling the accomplishments of the Cuban Revolution in its glorious fight against American imperialism and global capitalism by making Cuba into a victim!
Vecino de NF
yeah, poor little innocent Fidel...just standing around minding his own business when the yanquis decided to punish him because he interfered with their obsession to "control" Cuba...what, you get your history from Michael Moore?
youre right, there was no american obsession to control cuba. no, they just wanted to uplift those poor ignorant cubans to show them how to do things right, not to be so ignorant and uncivilized.
yes, you're right, american was the innocent victim in all this, 'oh my, what have we done, we just wanted to help this savages. why is that nasty fidel so mean to us, we haven't done anything wrong'
where'd you get your history from; the planet Zenon?
Anonymous 5/31/09 10:19 AM,
Lay off the victim role already! The Cuban government did what it considered needed to be done, and the US government did the same. The question that you seem intent in avoiding what should be done right now that is advantageous to BOTH sides!
Vecino de NF
give it up, anon, your attempt at sarcasm sucks. That's because you are a True Believer, who actually believes that 10 million Cubans are obsessed with historical grievances like you are. I'll bet what they care more about is the opportunity to be free to make a living and provide better lives for themselves and their children -- something impossible under the suffocating grip of this outdated regime.
I'll agree that sometimes the Cuban history lessons are overdone. But folks in the US are often ignorant or minimize the history of how their actions have often been culpable. It should also not be a surprise that victims will remember history longer.
Leftside,
Agree with your point that "should also not be a surprise that victims will remember history longer". It applies to Cubans on both sides of the Florida Strait because there are victims of the Cuban Revolution and its aftermath on both sides of the political divide.
Much of the enhacement of the victim's role on the part of the advocates or symphatizers of the Cuban government side is due to trying to achieve political or rhetorical advantage rather than any true desire for redress of past grievances. The Cuban revolutionaries engaged in the highest possible geopolitical stakes game, and more often than not they achieved their geopolitical goals.
Vecino de NF
Anonymous of 12:34,
so if you admire Fidel and his regime so much, WTF are doing in the heart of Imperialism anyway? Why aren't you enjoying the fruits of socialism in Cuba and defending the Revolution tehre and not here? Why live in the heart of the US when you can be in Cuba enjoying socialism? You are one big communist hypocrite,Sr, just like Leftside.
And yes, I am a gusano and damn proud of it. So what?
Anon 10:47, Cuba does not need ay more Revolutionaries fighting for socialism or justice. They have a ruling party for that. The US, however, needs every justice-minded person fighting here in their local communities.
hey leftside, you'll find more justice on any city block in the United States than you will in entire countries all over the world.
You mean the block where I work and walk to eat lunch, which begins one of the largest homeless encampments in the entire world (most of which are disabled, veterans or have mental problems)? Or do you mean the block where I live, where at least 2 women and 1 family live out of their cars because they can't afford an apartment? The one woman I often talk to used to live on my block until she lost her job, after her husband died. Her mind started to go a bit and the hospital fired her. With no right to a job and no right to housing (as she would have in Cuba), she's lived in her (non-functioning) car for 8 years. I guess we have different conceptions of justice, as I don't want anything to do with a system that says homelessness and unemployment is natural and just.
you haven't spent much time outside of the United States, have you?
Actually I have spent a fair bit of time outside of the US - living and travelling. While the bounty of the US is something many envy, the distribution (ie. justice) of that bounty is more uneven here than anywhere I have seen. Of course, many Latin American countries followed the US neo-liebral model for the last 20 years, so inequality is terrible in much of this hemisphere as well. But comparing the US to the EU is not a pretty picture for us.
"the distribution (ie. justice) of that bounty is more uneven here than anywhere I have seen."
man, you are certifiable...
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