Reply #47: If the Republicans will ever give up their crooked election controlling [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

and we get a chance to have Democrats represented in the U.S. Government once again, there will be SO MUCH WORK to do, right? Holy moly.

You've heard Cubans boast that there are millions and millions of homeless children in the world and not one of them is Cuban. Good one.

Found this interesting info. written by an American who made her first trip to Cuba:

It was surprising to be in a large city and to see no homeless people. In my own youth, I had never expected to see homeless families in the United States, but now they are commonplace. I was also surprised to see no military presence in Havana—even the police I saw carried no apparent guns--and there seemed to be no restrictions on where I traveled in or outside the city. (I learned that travel restrictions to Cuba are imposed by the U.S. government, not Cuba—Cuba being the only country in the world to which our own government restricts travel.) I felt safe in Cuba. When women colleagues and I went out at night, no men followed or accosted us, and I even walked several blocks back to the hotel alone a few times. I had been afraid to bring my camera in case I inadvertently took a forbidden picture and had it confiscated, so I traveled only with a disposable one. Yet no one seemed to care where I went or what I photographed. People were open and welcoming. They seemed to speak freely, some few indicating they did not like Castro, but most expressing pride in their country's accomplishments under his leadership despite the punishing trade embargo of nearly half a century imposed by the United States. Instead of the ban on outside news I had expected, U.S. news programs were readily available on televisions in tourist hotels and could be viewed at least by the staff. I was surprised to learn that the churches were never closed in Cuba, and although church members were once barred from high government office, even those restrictions no longer exist. Our taxi driver explained that people who owned houses before the revolution and who stayed were able to keep their houses and that these houses are inherited by family members. However, no one can build a new house without a clear need and permission from the government. Larger estates were broken up, and former mansions are now divided into apartments to house several families. Every family can rent a beach house from the government at a nominal fee for one week a year. Our taxi driver also spoke of having rights that we in the United States do not have, for example the right to have a job and the right not to be fired or laid off if they perform their work well because of the strength of labor unions.
Indeed, several Cubans we met spoke of their liberty and the equality/equal rights of all people in Cuba, although I have read of persisting homophobia and saw evidence of economic inequities. Instead of viewing Castro as a dictator, they insisted he was their elected president and their liberator from a brutal dictatorship fifty years ago, who is now using the country's resources to meet basic human needs—food, housing, medical care, education. I learned from an article I read after returning home that, although Cuba has difficulty acquiring medicines (even aspirin was scarce in pharmacies), they have one of the best healthcare systems in the world, with care focusing on preventative medicine and provided free. Education, through medical school, is free to those with the interest and ability, and Cuba has opened its medical schools to aspiring doctors from numerous developing nations. Doctors, however, earn less than taxi drivers, because the economy now is heavily dependent on tourism and taxi drivers can earn tips in addition to their salaries. A college professor talked about the extensive system of democratically elected committees that he hopes will help keep the system together after Castro's death, if Cuba does not face a feared invasion from the United States. Cubans were well aware of the W.T.O. and N.A.F.T.A. and the dire results of economic globalization on their Latin American neighbors. While they would welcome expanded trade opportunities, they do not want them at the expense of their social system, which strives to meet the needs of the poor rather than exploit them and which they see as a better model for the global community.
(snip/...)

http://www.berea.edu/cltcr/zephyr/barbarawadeprose.htm