From our Bureau of Pitiful, Yet Somewhat Charming Attempts at Solving Huge Problems Caused by Socialism
Yeah, this is one of those stories that stir up mixed emotions. Should I laugh or should I cry?
Take a look at Castro, Inc.’s latest response to the collapse of its public transportation system. With nearly 70 % of its buses out of commission — or higher than that in some cities — Castro, Inc. is now offering residents of Havana a few electric tricycles that only seat six passengers and cost 4 pesos per ride.
No word on how these tricycles will be charged in the midst of severe rolling power blackouts, or on what the range of these mini-vehicles might be. No word either if any of these tricycles will be distributed to cities other than Havana.
Tourists, of course, will be delighted to see these charming tokens of Third-Worldism cruising the streets of Havana. Babalu has a suggestion for Castro, Inc.: force the drivers to dress as dandies and cigar ladies. This will delight the tourists even more. How charming, these noble savages! Smokin’ Graciela will love cruising in the front seat.
Abridged and loosely translated from Periódico Cubano
A fleet of electric tricycles is preparing to cover the route between some Havana municipalities, as a way to “alleviate” the situation faced by the decadent public transport system of Cuba’s capital city.
The news was confirmed by Reinaldo García Zapata, Governor of the city, during a brief meeting with the official press at the conclusion of the inauguration of the new public bicycle station at the Technological University of Havana (CUJAE), which was also attended by Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, Minister of Transportation.
The representative of the regime in the capital revealed that the tricycles are currently in the assembly phase for their prompt authorization and start-up.
For its part, the official media outlet Tribuna de La Habana refers in a recently published note that the vehicles will cover the routes between the municipalities of Centro Habana and La Habana Vieja, which has raised controversial opinions among the residents of the city. .
Although the newspaper reveals that the scheduled routes may extend their route to the Plaza de la Revolución municipality, the measure is still insufficient for a city with almost two and a half million people.
Likewise, the newspaper mentions the statements by García Zapata, who admits that the city has a public transport deficit, since only 34 percent of its fleet is in operation.
Whole story HERE in Spanish
This is NOT, of course, a solution. It is the kind of improvised stunt Castro, Inc. has long resorted to in lieu of actually addressing problems and resolving them, which essentially never happens.
I don’t understand. How can a country that was given hundreds of free buses [a country where the talented & creative people are innate mechanics, people who built boats with car motors able to cross the Florida straits, people who routinely restore 1950’s cars] have most of their new fleet of public transportation out of order?
I live in NYC and we have a huge public transportation system. When a bus in NYC goes out of service, it is instantly taken to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s garage where they fix buses. It appears that Cuba has none of that. What kind of morons are running that country? It leaves one speechless.
While we are at it, what happened to the sanitation trucks that Japan gave Havana? There was a fleet of over a hundred and they were never put in service. Were they resold to another country? Or as castro used to do with the Cuban people’s patrimony, sacrifice the Cuban people in order to give it to a poorer country and that way get praise and accolades for being so generous?
They’re not morons, exactly. They just don’t give a shit about “the people” and simply go through the motions, albeit poorly. What they DO care about, which is staying in power, they do much, MUCH better, not least because that’s where the money and resources go.
That’s true. That’s the only thing that functions is the repressive apparatus and staying in power which is what their resources go towards. The money to build a garage to repair buses could better go to buying police cars, or uniforms and amunition for their police force and if the buses break down, who cares. They’ll just blame the embargo, and the New York Times will write an editorial about how cruel the Cuban exiles are.
Let me add a caveat here, the regime is not good at that either, it’s just that the Cuban masses have become so demoralized that the regime understands that it doesn’t have to exert that much energy to stay in power. Just look at the cubanoids who come to the USA, you talk to them about the regime, and they say, ‘castro didn’t take anything from me, you put him in power, you get rid of him.” Another of their favorite lines is, “a mi nada mas que me importa la gosadera.”
castro, inc… wouldn’t have lasted a year in a country like Afghanistan, and longer, but not 64 years and going in Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, East Germany, etc… Let’s face it, as much as it hurts, we have become TOTALLY LATRINE.
Ordinary Cubans know the regime will never do significantly better. The know they either have to get outside help from the “diaspora” or get out. Thus, the regime can keep doing a shitty job as long as its repressive apparatus is effective. Any complaints are simply referred to the “blockade.”