A Tale of Three Videos
Apartheid and irony, defined.
One of if not the first things any castro apologist mentions in any debate regarding Cuba is how La Revolucion eradicated the playground of the rich, imperialist Americans and made all Cubans equal. No longer would Cuba and Cubans bow to the foreign interests and no longer would the island be a brothel for the world's elite. And while it is true that all Cubans are equal now to some extent, here we are fifty years later and the almighty foreigner still reigns supreme in castro's Cuba. The only difference now being that a Cuban can no longer rub elbows with the foreigners. Cubans can no longer stay at any hotel in Cuba. Cant enjoy the same beaches, the same restaurants.
Cubans are second class citizens in their own country. It's called tourism apartheid, and I offer the following three home videos as proof of same.
First up, video of Hotel La Palma. Watch this relatively short clip and see, exactly, what's missing:
Next we have video of a restaurant in Cuba. Again, you'll notice there's a certain omission:
And finally we have Varadero Beach:
So whats the one thing missing from all these video?
Cubans, of course. They arent allowed into the tourist hotels. They arent allowed into tourist restaurants. They arent allowed onto tourist beaches. Unless, of course, they are the Cuban State's indentured servants who happen to work in these aforementioned places. But the official word from fidel castro and all his apologists is that Cubans are all equal.
Well, here's the Cuban equality.
And here is an example of where some "equal" Cubans live.
Need more proof of the apartheid? Here are a few more videos:
Small bikini, smaller brain.: "It's like tasting ass!"
Yeah, it's a fucking palm tree in fucking Cuba, you fucking asshole.
Fat, drunk and stupid. The only way to go through Cuba.
Hasta la victoria siempre, eh comandante?
the videos of the real Cuba are gut wrenching. The video of the tourist hotel is sickening. Sounds like the idiots with the f*cking palm tree were f*cking stoned. Pitiful site.
And these idiots don't realize that with their money, they are supporting a murderer and terrrorist.
'Vile' is too mild a word for these folks.
Ditto on Ventanita's comments.
These "tourists' videos" are the epitomy of the "distortion" of the reality in Cuba. The one with Guantanamera in French as background music could surely be used as a propaganda tool for tourism.
There's "Fantasy land" and then there's the "Real world" ... as a foreigner tourist visiting Cuba, you never leave "Fantasy land". Only a Cuban can experience the reality of almost 50 years under an oppressive, communist regime!
Melek
~~+~~
"Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings." ~ H. Keller
Notice how all of these folks live in FantasyLand; even their favorite political system is "fantasy land." Generations of boobs.
I don't think any Cuban is now equal at all in the island.
This was pretty standard in Soviet Russia as well. There were shops, motels, etc which only tourists could stay in. My Russian teacher used to buy his KGB watchdog/guide something from the tourist-only stores every time he visited because he felt bad for her having to stand in line for shoes and not have the goods available that he could buy.
Tyrrany is all about fear for the citizens of the country and illusion to the rest of the world. If you can maintain this, you cannot be unseated. It's just sick and sad when other nations assist you in both parts.
This is exactly how I saw it. Having been there the last two summers for a total of three weeks..the apartheid is as real in Cuba as you say it is. I have been to the darkest areas of Habana, seen the new paint at Veradera and traveled teh countryside outside Matanzas. The attitude of the illegal Americans there and the legal Mexicans, Canadians and Europeans made me ill.
The horrible thing about Cuba is that Castro has turned it into a very bad copy of what it was. In other words, all of the vices that Castro said that Cuba had pre-59 are now ironically more prevelant than ever and of a deeper, darker hue.
For instance, as Val said, Cuba today is truly a country where Cubans are 2nd class citizens in their own land. Whereas before Castro, Cubans could go to any beach, stay in any hotel, and see what were arguably the best shows in the world [Tropicana floor shows were considered the best shows in the world and in fact today's Las Vegas shows are based on those of 1950's Havana], for free [just the cost of a drink!!!!!], nowadays, even if you had the money to go, you wouldn't be able to go simply because Castro refuses to allow Cubans the same privileges as foreigners. Mind you, this is the same "man" who said that "this revolution is as green as the palm trees!"
In essence, what Castro has done is to DESTROY THE INTEGRITY OF CUBA. How do you destroy the integrity of a country? By putting all of its resources into the hands of foreigners who don't give a rat's ass about the fate of the country. Castro has turned Cuba into one of the caribbean countries that had absentee landlords exploiting it while living most of the year in their estates in England! If there was inequity in Cuba before 1959 {and what country doesn't have inequity? Try joining one of those exclusive country clubs in Palm Springs, you won't get pass the front door!], at least the wealth was in Cuban hands, now its in the hands of Canadians, Mexicans, Italians and Spaniards, etc.. who are helping to prop up the tyrant and like vultures stealing what little resources Cuba has left.
Ray,
Melek
Excellent! and sooo true! I wish you well
~*~
"Socialist ideology, like so many others, has two main dangers. One stems from confused and incomplete readings of foreign texts, and the other from the arrogance and hidden rage of those who, in order to climb up in the world, pretend to be frantic defenders of the helpless so as to have shoulders on which to stand." ~ Jose Marti
Those guys were stoned - the result of the 1960s. Liberalism is a mental disorder. Oh and by the way, SATAN was the first liberal / leftist. Think about it!
When I heard the French words coming out of the first clip my first thought was "tenia que ser". Like Mike said, the video of the real Cuba is stomach churning and heartbreaking. Just goes to show how much the freakin' world is in denial. They're blind!
Man I got earful of that che guevara song too.
The tourist videos are repulsive. There's no excuse for this level of ignorance. "what is that a fuckin palm tree man.." Unbelievable.
French tourists ..... stoned ..... losers .... what else is new? no wonder Paris has been burning lately.
I say, Put them ALL in a burqha; it's what they deserve for contributing to the Cubans' misery. I don't believe for one freaking minute that these people are ignorant of our history. They just don't give a rip.
The uncontrollable descent of 5 million wacky Muslims upon France is fine with me; looks like divine retribution. We haven't seen the end of it yet.
I could be wrong, but I think that the French speaking tourists in the video are Canadians. Whatever flaws France may have at least they have been very receptive of anti-Castro Cuban intellectuals like Reinaldo Arenas and Zoe Valdes and movies like IMPROPER CONDUCT [MALAVAISE CONDUITE] were produced in France and aired on French TV at a time when PBS wouldn't do the same.
Canada on the other hand is a horrible country that stands out with Mexico as the most pro-Castro country in this hemisphere. Who can forget Prime Minister Trudeau and his hideous wife rubbing elbows with Castro? The Canadians are horrible, horrible people who go to Cuba to feel important in the face of hapless Cuban slaves, while they thumb their nose at Americans whom they envy. It is common for Canadian pederasts to go to Cuba to have sex with Cuban children.
Canada is equally being overrun with welfare-hooked Muslims. I guess it's a malaise among French-speaking peoples ....
Either way, so be it.