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Cuba is now full of newer than 5 year old Greenley, BMW, Mercedes, Peugoet,Kia, Toyota, Honda, Mazda vehicles, mostly owned by the emerging middle class in Cuba. Still lots of the old American cars and also many of the Soviet era Ladas. The city buses are new,
We stayed in Havana for a week during which time on a Hop On Hop Off Bus we did go pass a couple of resorts, do not see the reason for going to a country like Cuba an staying in a resort that is not much different that resorts in other countries. Of course that is only a guess never having stayed in any tropic resort so far in my life. Why would Cuba need to send money to the US? They did offer to send doctors and other medical workers to assist in Katrina but were turned down. Cuba needs outside trade for the same reason Mexico, Canada, China, Isreal, the UK and the USA do.
Tourism is the largest source of income for Cuba but that is true in some other countries. Cuba is not a garbage dump of a country. It was the US that turned down Castro so he went to the Soviets during the era that a country more or less had to be friends with one or the other or else. Cuba's largest export I believe is doctors. They train their own unlike Canada and the US which likes to poach doctors from less well off countries so we do not have the full expense of training them.
Cuba is no paradise but it is not a garbage dump and people are freer there then they have been for some time and certainly a better quality of life than some other Caribean countries. They are also well educated and certainly know more about Canada than many Americans I have run into. And the only government employees we spoke to in regards to this was a guard at the large cemetery. We talked with lots of the street hustlers and they are a much happier lot than any we ran across in New Orleans or other cities in the States or Canada.
You certainly do not have to go to Cuba and spend your money there but why is it that others in your country are not free to do so if they wish, at least legally?
I'll turn your question on its head: why is it that no Cubans are allowed to go anywhere legally? Answer that one, and you'll have the crux of the problem in your hand. Hint: it has nothing to do with America....
If that is true, then why are the Castros (and you, for that matter) so adamant about lifting the embargo?
Cuba is doing fine, right? Lots of Canadians, Brits, Russians, etc., bringing in hard currency to fuel Raul's rants and keep those 1958 Oldsmobiles running.
Reality Question:.If Cuba is so okey-doke, why do they need Uncle Sams's filthy capitalist dollars? Heck, they ought to be sending aid to US. And doctors. To perform bariatric surgery on Michael Moore.
In the meantime. Raul can go crap in his hat and call it curls. Let him in stew in that garbage dump of a country. We owe him NOTHING. And if his people are so enamored of half-ass Stalinsim and enjoy being forbidden to log on to the damn internet, they're so stupid they don't deserve our attention, let alone our money. Except maybe in the form of tips...I can visualize Raul as the pimp he is -- he lost his Soviet customers, and the Venezuelans, once Chavez croaked and oil went through the floor. And now -- surprise! -- he wants to invite us to his cathouse.
As freaking if.
The brothers are not really interested in lifting the embargo. It would involve making concessions and loosing their great military-tourist complex..and congress woun't do it while castros are in office.
Why all this propaganda campaign?
It's cyclical, happened during Carter, during other similar populists do-gooder presidents, this time with the pope that is just a peronista clown.
I guess that they want to cleanse their image, sp they'll get more credits, quite unlikely because payment habits.
Raul knows that Venezuela is about to fall sooner or later, and they know it would be a tremendous blow. Just for the same rule, the congress will never lift the embargo while castros are there...and Venezuela, the Cuban colony that supports Cuba, is about to croak.
As to the Canadian that speaks about Cuba, Canadian tourism barely goes out of resorts or the areas in Havanas conditioned for them.
One of the reason cuban minister of tourism...a zero to the left since he's not part of the junta..he's always saying that those people should stay in a motel in Tampa.
I'll turn your question on its head: why is it that no Cubans are allowed to go anywhere legally? Answer that one, and you'll have the crux of the problem in your hand. Hint: it has nothing to do with America....
Yes, they now have "permiso de salida", but the only countries they can go is Ecuador, Venezuela...many times as "misiones" that many use to arrive to the American frontier. Since many have Spanish passports, many travel just to buy and resell things. Miami is now Cuban shopping mall, just as before communism.
I can think of one very real worry about renewed relationships between the two countries. Someone in Hollywood will use this as an excuse for a remake of I Love Lucy!
Cuba is now full of newer than 5 year old Greenley, BMW, Mercedes, Peugoet,Kia, Toyota, Honda, Mazda vehicles, mostly owned by the emerging middle class in Cuba. Still lots of the old American cars and also many of the Soviet era Ladas. The city buses are new,
We stayed in Havana for a week during which time on a Hop On Hop Off Bus we did go pass a couple of resorts, do not see the reason for going to a country like Cuba an staying in a resort that is not much different that resorts in other countries. Of course that is only a guess never having stayed in any tropic resort so far in my life. Why would Cuba need to send money to the US? They did offer to send doctors and other medical workers to assist in Katrina but were turned down. Cuba needs outside trade for the same reason Mexico, Canada, China, Isreal, the UK and the USA do.
Tourism is the largest source of income for Cuba but that is true in some other countries. Cuba is not a garbage dump of a country. It was the US that turned down Castro so he went to the Soviets during the era that a country more or less had to be friends with one or the other or else. Cuba's largest export I believe is doctors. They train their own unlike Canada and the US which likes to poach doctors from less well off countries so we do not have the full expense of training them.
Cuba is no paradise but it is not a garbage dump and people are freer there then they have been for some time and certainly a better quality of life than some other Caribean countries. They are also well educated and certainly know more about Canada than many Americans I have run into. And the only government employees we spoke to in regards to this was a guard at the large cemetery. We talked with lots of the street hustlers and they are a much happier lot than any we ran across in New Orleans or other cities in the States or Canada.
You certainly do not have to go to Cuba and spend your money there but why is it that others in your country are not free to do so if they wish, at least legally?
If you could interpret Cuban tags, you would have found out that those cars belong to:
State corporations
Tourists
Diplomats
Foreign representation
Armed Forces
Private cars...(ladas, almendrones, 15 year old seats and skodas, etc)...yellow tags.
That has been going on since Raul has taken office. Cuba has freed up some of the travel restrictions on their citizens, has opened up for private businesses to be able to operate legally and a few other things. Nothing about other parties being able to run and I have no idea how free their press is. They have also lightened their restrictions on tourists bringing in laptops or cell phones, in fact they never even asked us if we had one and I do not remember if we did bring one with us. The cell phone restrictions have been eased as well.
Not sure what Cuba promised to do under the agreement with the US but what happend above was without any agreements with the outside world. Not sure how it compares to China and never been to China.
Raul is more pragmatical than his brother, and he just as done some cosmetic changes. In other words, he legalized things that Cubans did subrosa, semi-legally.
It would be interesting is Google can now go to Cuba and photograph the island for Google Street View. It would be messed up, because they should photograph Puerto Rico first due to its status as a US territory. In fact, PR should had been photographed a long time ago. I think Guam is photographed and that US territory is in the middle of nowhere in the Pacific Ocean. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if Cuba is the first Caribbean island to be included in Google Street View, especially Havana.
They will never allow that while a Castro is on top. They sure have cameras, but not for google.
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