The following is another MSM editorial, this time from the Russian News and Information Agency, that, while I dont quite agree with everything it states, gives an arguably reasoned and sane interpretation of today’s Cuba, and speculates on her future:
Cuba: a short-term political forecast
14:48 | 01/ 12/ 2006MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Romanov) – Making political forecasts is not unlike trying to predict the weather or earthquakes-it is easier to guess what will happen in two years than tomorrow morning, so I will not aspire to absolute precision. I am merely reasoning on what is likely to happen to Cuba after Fidel Castro vanishes from the political arena.
I left Havana a few days ago having listened to many Cubans’ private opinions. Every forecast I heard was sufficiently grounded but, at the same time, open to doubt. Indicatively, only one of my Cuban acquaintances did not expect any big changes after Fidel quitting. “Raul [Castro] has planted his army chums everywhere. Many hold key economic posts. So we shall stay quiet and docile,” he said, half joking.
His words offer an interpretation contrasting to what he evidently meant. To quote another forecaster, “Raul’s army buddies are sitting pretty in corporations with overseas capital and foreign managers. They saw at once which side their bread was buttered on, and are corrupt. So instead of being the pillars of the present regime they could become the United States’ fifth column. They may yet prove the White House’s helpers-much more efficient than loud-mouthed Cuban immigrants in Miami.”
I found it hard to raise any objections to either opinion-after all, I was a foreigner, and my informants both lived in Havana.
As I arranged all forecasts I had heard according to the degree of plausibility, I came up with the following. Cuba is evidently ready for change. It is equally clear that a transitional period will precede far-reaching reforms, and Raul Castro will, most probably, come into the limelight during that time. But then, he is an ailing old man, and does not have his elder brother’s public support. I talked to many Cuban taxi drivers, and almost all of them turned out to be ardent Fidelistas. No one had a kind word to say about Raul Castro, who was their former commander as Cuban defense minister-the majority of government-employed Cuban taxi drivers are retired soldiers. My conclusion is then that Cubans will not remain “quiet and docile” during the transitional period, which can turn out to be much shorter than expected, and may have unpleasant surprises in store for Raul Castro.
Read the whole thing here.
It is interesting that the present Cuban government has so little to show for its almost fifty years in power, that La Plaza de la Republica (now La Plaza de la Revolucion) and the former Blanquita theater (now the Karl Marx) are show cased as if they had been built by them. It seems that the “free” university education is limited to communist party members, and I read a figure of about 6,000 for enrollment in Havana University, which when I was there were 17,000 students…
Yet foreign journalist seem to believe all that nonsense…..
Could somebody check my figures
I prefer my loud-mouthed Cuban immigrant friends in Miami to raul castro’s army buddies any day.
The one thing I disagree with the article is that Cubans are well educated “thanks to Fidel Castro’s domestic policy.” Although the books are provided by the cuban regime, the fact that all of them were re-edited and changed after 1959 is because most of them were re-printed to favor the communist side and to indoctrinate children in this sense. Of course, all history books that cuban children use are biased and none of them mention the fact that Che Guevara, the Castro brothers and the 26 of July Brigade terrorized citizens by putting bombs in public places and kicking off the food plates of patients in hospitals before 1959, or that there were firing squads held in Cuba and people were sentenced to 20-30 years without due process of law, or that there were political prisioners in Cuba.
In fact, the reason why most cuban kids and adults are well-educated is because they are preparing themselves for the future of coming here to the United States or to any foreign country. Indeed, these are the people that actually get to come here to the US and that in most cases become very succesful or at least part of the middle class because of their knowledge and their willingness to work hard.
For example, my dad was teaching my brother and I English since we were 4 to 5 years old. And he had taken and paid for English classes when he was in 5th grade. He would always ask my grandpa to send him books and Electronics magazines in English so that he could be up to date. And we learned English in Cuba reading “Fun with Dick and Jane” and listening to the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Alanis Morissete, and other english songs (which my dad had taped when he was young from the VOA, something made illegal by the Cuban regime).
In fact, I knew many kids in my school who were taking paid classes with private professors (profesores particulares) in order to learn English and many were studying music, arts, ballet, or sports as a means to get out of the Cuba in the future in some “visiting” trip.
Most Cubans are well-educated in math, languages, the arts, and even some technological skills because they know that in the future these might help them get out of Cuba and it will definetely help them when they reach any foreign country.
But in History of Cuba, we would all fail, because most of the things that really happenend and were happening were hidden from us in the textbooks.
Just think about this, the cuban government denied that they were sending cuban troops to Angola, and only after a while, when many troops had already been sent, did they admit to what they were doing. My dad found out because he heard it in secret on the Voice of the Americas, which was seen and termed by the regime as “diversionismo ideologico” (diversion from the communist ideology just for listening to a foreign radio station).
I also dislike how the repoter talks bad about the US.
It was the United States who sent us Freedom Flights in Cuba and it is the US who gave us and gives us political assylum and continually condems the cuban regime for its violations of Human Rights of our cuban families and friends. If the US hasen’t done more is because idiotic Democrat President Kennedy signed a treaty not to invade Cuba. Fidel Castro was not inspired by Jose Marti, he was inspired by Lenin and Marx. Jose Marti wanted freedom and democracy, and cubans have never gotten this from Castro. Before dictator Batista’s coup de etat Cubans had both freedom and democracy and they were never a satellite of the US, in fact 60% of Cuba’s sugar industry (one of the most important industries for Cuban economy) was owned by cuban citizens, not foreigners before 1959. And Cuba before castro was not a haven for “prostitutes” (which it is NOW). Also Venezuela and Bolivia are not “capitalist countries with a market economy, social-oriented statehood, and transition-period democracy” or does he not see how Chavez (who has served 8 years in office already) wants to become the everlasting ruler of Venezuela like Castro. Does he not know that Chavez is forcing citizens to sell their factories and big farms or else they go to jail, and that Chavez is confiscating private property. Are these crimes called “democracy”? Marti never wanted any of this socialist/communist policies, he wanted independence from Spain and freedom and democracy for ALL cubans. Moreover the US has never been “Imperialist” given that they have NEVER HAD AN EMPIRE.
What has Russia done??? Oh yeah, they gave the Castro brothers a 300 million dollar credit line so that the regime could choke up and opress cubans even more and so Castro’s elite of thieves and assasins could live the good life and could flee safely from Cuba without being judged for their crimes in case something stirs up.
Well said, Qbanartemisa. While not a bad observation, there is a lot to dislike in that article. I won’t go into all of them but if it wasn’t for the loudmouthed Cubans in Miami and elsewhere, Cuba would be a lot worse off than they are now. I can’t decide if it is sheer ungratefulness or envy from those who don’t get remittances. Also, even if the education and health care were as good as they say, they pay a very steep human price. Give me my public school education shitty HMO any day. Finally, I’m tired of leftist all over th world accusing the US of being imperialists and letting the Russkies off the hook.
I believe Mr. Pyotr Romanov should look for another job or at least do some research before making such asinine statements! What a joke! castro inspired by Marti? Not in this lifetime! Castro was and IS inspired by adolph hitler, machiavelli, joseph stalin, and karl marx. He used to walk around Habana University with hitler’s “Mien Kemp” and machiavelli’s “The Prince.”
In addition, in his article Mr. Romanov also shows his ignorance about Cuba when he parrots (one of the lefts favorite myths about Cuba) about “the vices for which pre-revolutionary Cuba was notorious.” What vices did Cuba have in 1959 that NO OTHER country had? Could someone please enlighten me? Is he talking about gambling? The same type gambling you could also find in 1958 Las Vegas, Indiana Harbor’s famous “Big House”, Mississippi Golf Coast, Monte Carlo, etc.? As a matter of fact, several cities in the U.S. alone had gambling and casinos YEARS before Cuba ever did. Actually, prior to 1955 the only casinos operating in Habana were the Tropicana and the Sans Souci. Listed below are the principal gambling casinos in operation in 1958 Habana:
TROPICANA – Operated by Lefty Clark. His principal assistant was Pierre Canavase who was believed to have had ties to Lucky Luciano. Both men had been arrested for minor violations while operating in Las Vegas.
SANS SOUCI – Operated by Santo Trafficante. Trafficante was a native of Tampa, Florida, where HIS father ran a “bolita racket.” It was rumored that they were members of the Mafia. With relation to Trafficante, the Cuban police worked closely with the District Attorney’s office of Queens County, Brooklyn, New York. In January 1958 Trafficante was questioned by the Cuban National police regarding the highly publicized Apalachin meeting that Trafficante attended in New York. There is a full report made by the Cuban police dated January 23, 1958 that includes transcripts of long distance telephone calls made from the Sans Souci during the period August-December 1957. This report was given to the District Attorney’s office. In addition, “on January 23, 1958 the Cuban Department of Investigation, Havana, Cuba notified the Bureau of Narcotics that Santo Trafficante was registered in their Alien Office under No. 93461.” To say that the Cuban government turned a blind eye to the activities of those operating the casinos is the height of stupidity when there is ample evidence of the cooperation between the two countries.
RIVIERA – Operated by Meyer Lansky, Frank Erickson, Giordino Celline and Ed Levenson. This was one of the most honest run casinos in Habana.
CASINO INTERNACIONAL (at the Hotel Nacional) – Operated by Wilbur Clark. His principal assistants were: Edward Goffredo Cellini and Merle Jacobs. None had any criminal record in the U.S.
SEVILLA BILTMORE – Owned and operated by Amletic Battisti a Italian-Cuban. No criminal record.
CAPRI HOTEL CASINO – Nicolas di Constanzo. Actor George Raft was half owner. No criminal record.
NATIONAL CASINO – Operated by Jake Lansky. Brother of Meyer Lansky. Both brothers owned a mayor part of the casino.
HAVANA HILTON CASINO – Operated by Clifford Jones, Nevada Senator Kenneth Johnson and Sydney Arce of New York. No known criminal records. The Hilton casino began operation in March 1958.
Such WAS the WELL documented gambling situation in Habana at the time the castro brothers took over the country. Indeed, according to the “Treasury Department, United States Customs Service, Habana, Cuba,” in a letter from W.W. Johnson, dated March 1958, (cc: to the IRS) 70% of the casino’s patrons were Americans; the remaining 30% were tourists from other countries and Cuban nationals. To be sure, these casinos/gambling were TRANSPARENT to the over 6 million Cubans living on the island the same way that casinos and gambling in Las Vegas is transparent to the rest of the U.S. population. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that Habana is ONLY A CITY, it’s not the whole country. Was there gambling in Cuba? Yes! Was there prostitution in Cuba? Yes! Was organized crime in Cuba? Yes! But it was never, ever to the extent that you found it in other Latin American countries or even in the United States.
All above notwithstanding, at the time of castro’s attack on the Moncada Barracks in July 26, 1953 there were only TWO casino/gaming houses in Cuba, so his excuse about liberating Cuba from “the vices of pre-revolutionary Cuba” is nothing but a bunch of CRAP the left just love to perpetuate.
Further information:
“Gambling in Last Vegas was legalized in 1931, but large-scale construction of casinos did not begin until after World War II, and for many years they were dominated by individual property holders with Mafia connections.” Casinos/gambling in East Chicago began in the 1920s and on the Mississippi golf coast also in the 1920s. There was gambling on River Boats and cities along the Mississippi way before the 20th century. Should this have been a REASON for a Coup d’Etat in the United States or in any other country? I don’t think so! They WHY is it an excuse when it comes to Cuba?
Times 1958 article http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,862879,00.html
Thomas E. Woods, “The Real Fidel” –
http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods47.html
History of Gambling East Chicago, Indiana – http://online.sfsu.edu/~hl/g.ec.html
Mafia of Chicago – http://www.americanmafia.com/Cities/Chicago.html