Cuba crumbling

[W.G.Ewald]

Cuba literally crumbling as Castro’s dream nears death - NYPOST.com

Havana, a once-glorious architectural gem, is falling down — literally. Much of the central city is crumbling and building collapses are common because there is no maintenance. Many people live without running water, and roosters can be heard crowing a block from the nation’s capitol, which is shuttered for “renovations.”

The sight of American cars from before 1959 plying the streets is charming but an indication of chronic stagnation. Going to the rural areas is like boarding a time machine to the 19th century. Farmers plow by walking behind two oxen, and horses provide basic transportation. Public “buses” consist of horse-drawn wagons

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[asianobserve]

How can you say that? Cuba is the beacon of communism's validity. It has the best health care in the world. So even if Havana's residents are crushed under their collapsing buildings they will be resurrected by their most able medical health workers... This is communism man!

[parijataka]

I was about to write about their health care system! Nowadays Cuba also has a flourishing medical education sector.

[asianobserve]

If only Cuban government can be a little bit open-minded, they can reap a windfall from their excellent health care. They can venture into something called medical tourism targeting the citizens of the great evil next door who need medical help but can't really afford American health care (of course they have to negotiate with the US government on American visa restrictions). As they are very close to Florida they can entice the vast number of retirees there to stay in Havana's nostalgic urban buildings or suburbs economically.

[The Messiah]

If only Cuban government can be a little bit open-minded, they can reap a windfall from their excellent health care. They can venture into something called medical tourism targeting the citizens of the great evil next door who need medical help but can't really afford American health care (of course they have to negotiate with the US government on American visa restrictions). As they are very close to Florida they can entice the vast number of retirees there to stay in Havana's nostalgic urban buildings or suburbs economically.

The ego of the yanks is massive and it got hurt after the revolution. Ernesto guevara himself went to kennedy to have a partnership after the revolution and was rejected and trade embargo was imposed on cuba by usa and followed by its "allies". Cuba only jumped into the soviet camp officially as a last resort. I suggest you read up history.

As a matter of fact yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the trade sanctions imposed on cuba. If for example toyota starts a factory in cuba then it cant export the cars to usa because anything more than 10% cuban parts or labour cannot enter usa so this reduces the scope of fdi.

Q: But don’t you trade with all of the other countries in the world?

A: The truth is that we cannot trade with everyone. No article produced whose components are more than 10 percent Cuban can enter the United States. So, if a Japanese company wants to use our nickel, then it is restricted from exporting its products to the US if they contain that metal from Cuba.
What’s more, they prohibit us from buying anywhere in the world products containing more than 10 percent US components. The blockade prevents it and punishes any company that sells such products to Cuba.

We are also affected in financial transactions. We cannot open accounts in banks if they have operations that take place in a subsidiary bank in the US. Therefore, especially with globalization, it’s very difficult to operate under those controls.
All vessels docking in Cuban ports suffer a penalty that prevents them from re-entering the US for 180 days. Who’s going to accept coming to the Caribbean with a prohibition from landing on our island when they can go to other more important ports in the region?
There are US laws penalizing foreign investment in Cuba. They punish such investors.

[asianobserve]

I don't know about Che's overtures to Kennedy. Anyway, we're no longer talking about history here. The above suggestion was made in light of the recent positive gestures from the Americans, which I think can be worked on even more on both sides.

[civfanatic]

I read through the full article (there wasn't much to read). It was full of factual errors, one of the most glaring of which was this:

Castro himself almost died in 2006, although of what remains a mystery. He still heads the Communist Party, but is rarely seen and there are rumors he suffers from dementia. His brother, Raul, runs the government, though it’s not clear he could survive Fidel’s death.

Fidel resigned from the Communist Party in April of last year. He no longer holds any positions in the party or the Cuban government, so whether or not he has dementia is irrelevant since he is in retirement.

Overall the article was extremely biased with little or no backing in its assertions. The fact that the New York Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch and is widely known to publish sensationalist and blatantly conservative material doesn't help its case.

[Ray]

Cuba does appear derelict.

However, their education, social services that matter like medical and education is world class.

Human beings would want to have these facilities and that too for free or for peanuts and yet the would love to have the materialistic comforts too!

This is where the issue lies!

[Ray]

Cuba is an ideal location for period movies.

[W.G.Ewald]

Overall the article was extremely biased with little or no backing in its assertions. The fact that the New York Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch and is widely known to publish sensationalist and blatantly conservative material doesn't help its case.

Here is the test. Would you prefer to live in Cuba?

[Ray]

Here is the test. Would you prefer to live in Cuba?

Here is the test.

Are you prepared to live in Pakistan?

It is the same all over!

Let Nations crumble on their own.

Why get blamed for being heartless and imperialistic?

[civfanatic]

Here is the test. Would you prefer to live in Cuba?

No, I wouldn't. Simply because I would prefer to live in my own country, even if it is not the greatest country based on socioeconomic indicators.

And actually I have stayed in Cuba and other Caribbean islands, but that was over 10 years ago and I was not planning on settling there.

P.S. why not respond to the errors that I pointed out rather than ask me an irrelevant question like if I would prefer to live in Cuba?

[pmaitra]

Obama did suggest establishing direct flights to Cuba, but then something went wrong. I am not sure what the Cuban diaspora in Florida think.

Personally, I think Cuba and US should make up and start trading.

[trackwhack]

Cuba Crumbling - The American propaganda machine at its best once again.

Economic Indicator
Per Capita GDP PPP - 10,000 USD (US - 48,000)
Income Inequality - 30% (US is 49%)

So not every American citizen actually earns 48,000 per year. In fact 65% of Americans earn less than 20,000 per year.


Health and Social Indicators -
HDI - 0.776 (Good), (US- 0.910 - very high) US is better
Crime Rate - 4.6 intentional Homicides per 100,000 people (US is at 5.0) Cuba is better
Literacy - 99.8% (US is at 99%) Cuba is better
Infant Mortality per 1000 live births - 5.82 (US is 6.26) Cuba is better
Life Expectancy - 78.3 (US is 78.3) tie

HDI says US is better, but Cuba is not exactly bad ranked 51 among all countries. However every social and health indicator Cuba is better than US. God the fck knows how HDI is calculated and how numbers are fudged.


Environmental Indicator -

Forest Cover - 25% (US is 30%) US is better
Per Capita pollution in tons of CO2 per anum - 2.4 (US is 18) Cuba is better

This is where Cuba is after 50 years of sanctions. And sanctions for what? Because they were a fiercly independent group of people who did not want to obey someone sitting 3000 miles away? Oh, wait a minute, was that not the reason for the American Revolution?

I bow to you Fidel. Hats off.

[civfanatic]

Here is a comparison between socialist Cuba and capitalist Haiti, which I made in an earlier thread.

I think it makes more sense to compare Cuba with its Caribbean neighbors (who share geographic, cultural, and historical similarities) than with a superpower like the United States. But as trackwhack's post shows, Cuba despite its enormous disadvantages has managed to compete well even against the First World when it comes to social development indices.

Some interesting comparative statistics:

Cuba:
Per capita income: $10,000
Life expectancy: 77.7 years
Literacy rate: 99.8%
Overall HDI: 0.760
Infant mortality rate: 4.9 deaths/1000 births
Physicians per capita: 6.4 physicians/1000 population
Unemployment rate: 1.6%


Haiti:
Per capita income: $1,200
Life expectancy: 62.17 years
Literacy rate: 52.19%
Overall HDI: 0.404
Infant mortality rate: 54 deaths/1000 births
Physicians per capita: 0.25 physicians/1000 population
Unemployment rate: 40.6%


Cuba and Haiti both have a similar population and are located just 80km apart. Why are they so different? Some victim of socialism, what?


Statistics come from the CIA World Factbook.