Boing Boing: Ibrahim Ferrer on billboard in Cuba protesting US antiterror policies. ⇒
31 May 2005, early afternoon
Most of the Cuban music I've heard is really good.
This is a post from my link log: If you click the title of this post you will be taken the web page I am discussing.
BTW if this is really his message, I feel for him. I believe he was denied entry to the US for the Grammy’s. But really instead of worrying about America, how about fixing your own damn country for a change? What is Cuba famous for today: cheap brothels and cocaine parlors?
Yes I also love the Buena Vista Club. I think they have a new cd out.
by Sunny on June 3 2005, 1:22 am #
I think Cuba is famous for it’s amazing agriculture industry, high education and literacy rates, cigars, great music, and a biotech/pharmaceutical industry.
by ramanan on June 3 2005, 1:23 am #
Actually I am glad they are educated, have the highest number of doctors per capita etc. It just goes onto prove that in a communist, one party, totalitarian country, one can find some positives. Too bad that if they opened their mouths in dissent, they would be in jail. But what is free speech when you have a hotshot biotech indutry? If only the people were not dirt poor and could afford all these doctors and medicines.
by Sunny on June 3 2005, 7:12 am #
I won’t pretend Cuba’s perfect, just like I won’t pretend it’s a hot bed of hookers and coke heads.
by ramanan on June 3 2005, 10:58 am #
Who says I am pretending? I was stating facts.
I think you said it though: nobody is perfect. So before they point the finger at somebody else, they should point it towards themeselves. But its a lot easier to play the victim card.
by Sunny on June 3 2005, 11:04 pm #
Free speech isn’t free speech if it’s limited to “zones” far from the eyes and ears of politicians.
I think Cubans would be in a much better situation if the American government didn’t make it illegal to trade with them. Banning their own citizens from doing so is one thing, but if I ran a business here in Canada and entered the US even if it’s to get on a connecting flight I could be arrested, which is ludicrous. If the goal is to remove a communist dictator from power and replace him with freedom loving capitalism, why prevent trade? The US should be selling everything they can to Cubans and going “See? This is what communism can’t give you.”
by Dave on June 4 2005, 1:33 pm #
I think the embargo is stupid. Of course the embargo has done very little to stop the flow of US dollars into Cuba though. Money sent by Cuban exiles ends up into Castro’s coffers via Dollar stores where things can be bought in exchange of US dollar bills. Of course, this happens because of the lack of free trade.
Capitalism only works in a free society. When individual rights are protected, property rights are guaranteed etc. Free trade by itself will not change a totalitarian society. It will actually make the people in power more stronger. Lifting the embargo in Castro’s Cuba only helps the bad guys.
How can Cuba solve its problems? Just like any other poor country in the world—create more wealth. Give the individual the opportunity for free enterprise. Only then will foreign investment will flow in. The embargo, although stupid, is irrelevant without a free society in Cuba.
Also another neat ephemera about the Cuban embargo. The day JFK declared the embargo, he ensured that one of his staffers had picked up all the Cuban cigars available in the Washington, DC area. It just goes to prove what a farce the embargo really is.
by Sunny on June 4 2005, 4:47 pm #
Westerners bitter since Cuba closes doors.
“Western companies welcomed in Cuba as heroes a decade ago for bucking the U.S. embargo are packing up and leaving as the Communist government rolls back market reforms and squeezes out intermediaries.”
Yeah, they are going backwards. But I am sure America is responsible for this as well.
by Sunny on June 4 2005, 6:35 pm #
An embargo only causes the poor masses to suffer because they end up without jobs, food, medicine, etc.
The “elite” who are in power (and those, ostensibly, whom the embargo is trying to topple) actually gain in power. They already have riches and an embargo does little to stop this. (e.g. Just look Saddam’s palaces). The poor become more desperate, and without trade, etc. to give them alternatives, they are force to turn to the despots to give them what they need to survive, thus strengthening those already in power. (At the masses become even more dependent upon them).
If the embargo against Cuba was actually effective then why has Fidel Castro been in power for almost half a century!
(Please feel free to enlighten me and point out an embargo that has actually topple a government at any point in history…)
by Ryan on June 4 2005, 10:58 pm #
Ryan, huh? Where did I say that embargo is effective? This comment starts off with “Embargo is stupid”. I think you misunderstood.
My point was that any society that wishes to reap the benefits of capitalism has to become a free society. That is the requisite. Just trade and commerce will not topple a despot. It would only make them stronger.
The Reuters story that I alluded to goes on to prove my point.
So what I am saying is that embargos or trade agreements will not usher in any changes. The change can only come from the inside. And only the Cubans are responsible for that.
by Sunny on June 5 2005, 12:00 am #
Sunny, please re-read the last sentence of the second paragraph in the comment that you reference. It says “Lifting the embargo in Castro’s Cuba only helps the bad guys.” Can one not infer from this statement that you believe there is some value/effectiveness in the embargo?
Now, the second and third sentences of your first paragraph include ”...the embargo has done very little to stop the flow of US dollars into Cuba though. Money sent by Cuban exiles ends up into Castro’s coffers via Dollar stores...”.
It sounds to me like you are saying that Castro is obtaining some benefit from the embargo. i.e. ‘Exiles’ in America send US dollars to their relatives in Cuba. They spent this money in Castro’s stores. Castro ends up taking a cut of that money and the people become dependent on his stores for their needs. Did I interpret that correctly?
If so, then isn’t this a concrete example of what I said in the second paragraph of my earlier post?
by Ryan on June 5 2005, 2:01 am #
Lifting the embargo in Castro’s Cuba only helps the bad guys.
Yes, the countries that are active trading partners with Cuba are helping the bad guys stay in power. And if America started business with state owned industries in Cuba, it will only strengthen the hold of Castro.
The embargo has done very little to stop the flow of US dollars into Cuba though. Money sent by Cuban exiles ends up into Castro’s coffers via Dollar stores.
That was an example of how ineffective the embargo really is. It has ended up being nothing for than a moral stand that is untenable and impractical. The US will never lift the embargo because it will be perceived as a defeat / failure. This position frankly is stupid.
I am not the most coherent person. My point really was that for Cuba to fully benefit from free enterprise, it has to open up. It is a two-way street. Embargoes, or trade relations will not fix the problem. The US embargo has been useless; trading with Europe and China has made Cuba more centralised. Your point that trade will weaken the ‘elites’ is not really true. The Reuters story shows otherwise. Yes, free trade by itself won’t create a democratic Cuba. The “universally educated” Cubans have to realize that their fate is in their hands.
Ryan there is little point in bickering about whose fault it is. Let’s think of solutions. How can we help the common man in Cuba help himself? How can we empower him to better his life, fight for his rights? Because trade and commerce in a statist Cuba will not do it. Cuba needs another revolution because Castro is not dying anytime soon.
by Sunny on June 5 2005, 2:30 am #