Cuba is such a tragedy – a prosperous and basically decent society, wrecked. The old buildings are like ancient ruins that provide hints of the accomplishment and promise that used to be.
(via Babalu)
Havana’s Deco Ruins
(via Babalu)
Cuba
(via Babalu)
Awaiting the Day
My friend Robert has a thoughtful post about how the Miami Cuban-American community will greet news of Castro’s death.
Even Communists Pack It On
In a previous post, I discussed how obesity levels might just be an indicator of increasing wealth.
The headline of a recent news item reads “30 Percent of Cubans Are Overweight”. Since Cuba is hardly known as a garden spot so far as economic vigor is concerned, this is a pretty good sign that I might be wrong about how more wealth equals larger waistlines.
The author of the news article states that Cubans average over 3,000 calories a day, 30% of which is subsidized rations provided by Castro’s government. Healthy food such as fresh vegetables are prohibitively expensive, and the diet tends towards fried starches and fatty meat.
It could be that food production technology has just gotten so efficient that obesity is in the reach of just about everyone. Except, apparently, for the North Koreans.
This Conference Should Send a Clear Message
Update (Tuesday, June 12): I e-mailed the Gateway links to my Czechophile son-in-law who is spending the summer in Russia; this may just be an accident of where he is and what newspapers he is reading or it may be that our commentators are right – this just wasn’t news. Nonetheless, I tend to see a certain irony – it isn’t news here because Bush has “no credibility” and it isn’t news there, perhaps because Putin has far too much “credibility.”
Gateway Pundit transcribes part of Havel’s speech from the Dissident Panel at the Democracy and Security Conference in Prague; the post includes only a paragraph of Havel’s talk but he quickly mentions topics we often return to on this blog: appeasement of those abusing human rights, the bureaucratic response of the EU to such offenses, and the sins of Cuban repression:
Vaclav Havel (through translater): Let me introduce this now using a specific example- the Cuban example…
…First… they (the EU) decide to invite dissidents to national day celebrations at the embassies. Second… they say we welcome changes but we’d like to be cautious so we’ll exclude dissidents from all of this. And now… I fear that again they are trying an appeasement policy position and I think that this conference should send a clear message to the EU leaders and say that this is not the right way to go.
Quote of the Day
In turn, very few Cubans left their country for good before 1959. Sure, there were some who emigrated to the United States, but compared to the masses [immigrating] from Europe it was a very small group per capita.
If you’ve stuck with me thus far, what comes next should be obvious. Simply put, after castro and his bandits took over in 1959, the boats and airplanes changed directions. They began leaving instead of arriving in Cuba. Estimates place the Cuban-American emigration to the United States at over a million. From a population of 6 million in 1959, that’s staggering. This doesn’t count the many Cubans who emigrated elsewhere in Latin America, as well as to Europe and even Australia. A country of immigrants became a country better known for its human export. A country which boasted sugar among its exports now spits out its own flesh and blood.