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Mighty Hiker
climber
Outside the Asylum
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It's not clear to me that the Cuban health care systems owes all that much to Castro. In any case, the brutality, repression and poverty that ensued overwhelms anything good he may have done.
Castro was a nasty, authoritarian son of a bitch - as with so many Latin American leaders over the last two centuries, many of them corrupt, right-wing, US-backed military dictators. He seems in fact to have been less corrupt and more egalitarian than many of those despots - many of them rulers of Cuba. (Plus he played semi-professional baseball, in the USA.) The problem the USA had with Castro is that he challenged the Monroe Doctrine, and the roots of its empire. And, of course, that he dared stand up to US corporate interests. He refused to be the American's son of a bitch, which was real offence for those who believe that the US had a hegemony over Latin America.
And there's no mistaking that Castro toppled a truly ugly dictatorship, and at the time there weren't many, if any, alternatives. The US has never apologized for its sometimes-atrocious behaviour toward Cuba, and Latin America generally. No wonder many Cubans wanted change, any change, in 1959.
It will be interesting to see what becomes of Cuba in the next while. No doubt corporate interests and right-wingers will continue to fantasize about a return to the pre-Castro era. Not going to happen.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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DMT, they coulda had all the Zhigulis and Fiats they wanted. Oh, and Hugo woulda been
happy to sell them venezolano heaps, too.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Mr Milktoast writes:
"Every single one of the folks making this point fails to observe or admit the principle reason they Cubans don't have modern tools and equipment is the embargo the U.S. enforced upon them for decades."
Everybody trades with Cuba but us.
The Germans trade with Cuba. Germans make decent tools.
Sweden hasn't embargoed Cuba. How come Cubans aren't driving around in Volvos and SAABs?
It's because modern tools and cars cost money, and Cuba doesn't have any money because their economic system produces no wealth.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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How could that be? President Obama said our Cuba policy wasn't working.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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The embargo had nothing to do with Fidel preventing 'his' people from becoming the Carib
Silicone Valley or anything else that only requires an educated and motivated populace. Isn't
it obvious by now that top-down rigidly controlled economies without any entrepreneurial
spirit are hopeless? As Chaz noted there were plenty of countries willing to trade with Cuba,
before and after Russia supported them.
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FRUMY
Trad climber
Bishop,CA
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ludicrous at the least.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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So the Cuban embargo explains the failures of all the exact same economies like E Germany,
N Korea, USSR, Poland, etc? Your denial of reality is ludicrous. Cuba had a beggar's banquet
going on for years while it was supported by the USSR yet it failed to thrive. They could have
utilized all sorts of resources from Angola but they didn't. Morons can't manage an economy
in which it is illegal to start a business, but maybe you geniuses could?
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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DMT is spot on...
both mexico and canada passed their own laws to attempt to neutralize the u.s.' attempts at strong arming foreign companies out of dealing with cuba. the e.u. pursued complaints for a time through the wto...
again this isn't a defence of castro, but at least two [the u.s. govt and fidel] definitely both played at a game that fUcked the cuban people...
one of the little known clauses to the more recent helms-burton act was that ships docking at cuban ports were not allowed to dock at u.s. ports for six months. doesn't take a genius to imagine what that would do to an island nation's trade, even if it didn't originate in the u.s.
even more overtly insidious is that under helms-burton "any non-U.S. company that deals economically with Cuba can be subjected to legal action and that company's leadership can be barred from entry into the United States. Sanctions may be applied to non-U.S. companies trading with Cuba."
no, to claim that the cuban reality was all the castros doing is to once again stick one's head in the sand regarding the u.s.' treatment of not just cuba but most of central america.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Cigars are rationed in Cuba because of the U.S. trade embargo.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Does anybody know where the worst violations of human rights take place on Cuba right now? You know, this camp. Guantanamo...
When it comes to Castro, Mighty Hiker gets it right...
"It takes a chief to catch a thief"...
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EdwardT
Trad climber
Retired
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The vehicle carrying Castro's ashes broke down and had to be pushes.
How apropos.
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Larry Nelson
Social climber
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Does anybody know where the worst violations of human rights take place on Cuba right now?
Probably only high level Cuban Communists (edit: and "interrogators"), would know if their torture is an order above or below our waterboarding.
Anyone else is guessing.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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What were the 3 biggest improvements/changes which Castro brought to the Cuban people?
VVVVV
VVVVV
vvvv
vvvv
1. Breakfast
2. Lunch
3. Supper
:) :) :)
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