Lissandra's Thoughts

2007-11-17T09:38:00.000-08:00

I must be missing something.

It is astounding and a wonder to me how rediculous some bootlickers can be.
Whenever anyone in any blog, brings up the real conditions inside Cuba, there is always some nut out there that brings up the embargo as the end all reason for the inhuman conditions.

First off, why is the American Embargo in place? Well, contrary to most people’s belief, the American Embargo was not placed by the angry Cuban exile community in Miami. It was put in place long before there were any Cuban-American political officials, by the American government in response to the unlawful appropriations of American properties in Cuba. These properties were valued at 1 billion dollars in 1960, as of 1996 it was estimated to be 7.7 billion dollars, I can’t imagine what it would be worth today.

Through the years the embargo has been modified so that today what exists is a whisper of an embargo, basically prohibiting the extension of any credit by an American bank and The World Bank to the Cuban Government. Cuba can purchase all kinds of agricultural, and medical supplies among other thingsssss. Don’t take my word for it, visit THIS site and you’ll see it for yourself.

These very same people that cry about how the situation in Cuba is like it is for Cubans because of the embargo fail to explain to me how the following is the fault of the embargo.

• Cubans not allowed on properties for foreigners, unless they work there.
• Cubans not allowed to travel without expressed government permission.
• Cubans not granted exit Visas when foreign countries have extended entrance visas to same individuals
• Cubans not allowed in hospitals for foreigners.
• Cubans not allowed to study what they want.
• Cubans rotting in jail for having a different ideology than that of the government.
• Cubans rotting in jail for writing news articles.
• Cubans not allowed access to the internet.
• All Cubans in general treated as second class citizens while foreigners are treated as first class citizens
• Cuba doesn’t have more than one political party.

Tell me what any of those things have to do and how they’re related to the US embargo on the island. Now as for the food, lets review all the things purchased by Cuba from the US with regards to food.

Keep in mind these are values in the “thousands of dollars” so that when the number is 59,228, we multiply that value by 1,000 as in the case of meat and poultry. These numbers do nott include the items purchased from other countries or the 100,000 barrels of oil a day being imported to Cuba from Venezuela.

(In thousands of dollars)

product

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Wheat

22,789

36,736

57,516

50,705

47,199

Rice

6,266

10,778

64,048

39,204

40,999

Meat,poultry

23,350

37,034

63,034

65,788

59,228

The list is much much longer. Where did all that food go?

And here’s an EYE OPENER,here you'll see $7,000 in pleasure boats and motors last year, and under Toy, games, sporting goods you'll see $13,000. As far as I know, none of that is digestable. There are other curious items like these, you'll see.

Did you have a look see what interesting items have been purchase by the Caribbean crybabies? So what’s all the crying and bitching about on the part of the Cuban Government? It is about credit folks. Goods and products on credit that the Cuban Government has absolutely no plans in paying once it is given.

Cuba has one of the lowest country ratings in the world, barely ahead of Sudan, and Haiti. Euromoney Magazine rated Cuba the riskiest country to invest in out of a survey of 167 countries.

The Soviet Union tubed up to $4 billion dollars a year into Cuba before the Soviet collapse. The Cuban Government defaulted on most of its international debt in 1986 and does not have access to credit from international financial institutions like the World Bank, which means Havana must rely heavily on short-term loans to finance imports, chiefly food and fuel. Because of its poor credit rating, an $11 billion hard currency debt, and the risks associated with Cuban investment, interest rates have reportedly been as high as 22%. In 2002, citing chronic delinquencies and mounting short-term debts, Moody's lowered Cuba's credit rating to Caa1 -- "speculative grade, very poor." Dunn and Bradstreet rate Cuba as one of the riskiest economies in the world. You can read the above stated here

Below a list of Cuba’s foreign debt:
FOREIGN DEBT SNAPSHOT
(All amounts are converted to U.S. dollars.)
EUROPE: $10.9 billion. Paris Club creditors (Source: Banco Central de Cuba.) In 1986, Cuba suspended payments of the debt. Despite on-going negotiations, Cuba has yet to service its debt to the Club since issuing a moratorium in 1987.
Eastern Europe: $2.2 billion.

Russia: Estimated at roughly $20 billion.
Canada: $73 million (Excludes short and medium-term commercial debts to Canadian suppliers.)
ASIA
Japan: $1.7 billion (Japan is Cuba’s principal creditor, excluding the former Soviet Union.)
China: $400 million.
LATIN AMERICA
Argentina: $1.58 billion. (Cuba’s second largest creditor behind Japan.)
Mexico: $380 million.
Chile: $20 million.
Venezuela: $266 million. (Mostly in unpaid petroleum purchases, even under highly favorable terms.)
South Africa: $85 million
Folks that is over 39 billiong dollors in debt!
Now with all of this why should the US lift the embargo and extend Cuba any credit?

If you’re interested, here’s some more background on Cuba.

2007-11-15T09:10:00.001-08:00

GIVE UP THE RIGHT TO VOTE FOR FREE TUITION?

Well here is what a poll at NYU revealed: POLL . Am I in the Twilight Zone?? If this poll is acurate and 66% of our college students are ready to give up their RIGHT to vote in exchange for free tuition, we have got BIGGER problems than the war in Iraq or Iran and nuclear weapons. That's just my opinion.

2007-11-15T08:53:00.000-08:00

SLEEP WITH PIGS, WAKE UP IN SHIT...

2007-11-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

HISPANIC??

The police in Chandler Arizona are offering $25,000 reward for the help and capture of a suspected serial rapist, dubbed the "Chandler Rapist" . The suspect is described as Hispanic, 28 to 40 years old, short with a muscular build, dark hair and hazel or brown eyes.

Personally, everything else after the part of "Hispanic" is much more helpful than the word hispanic on its own. I don't have a problem with the police describing the guy as a hispanic male, as long as it comes with the rest of the description, as stated above, but in my town, that will not get you an arrest.

I don't know how it is out in Arizona, but where I live [Miami] most of the people are Hispanic. This being said, a white, black, brown, red, and olive skin person could fit that description fine. You see, having a Hispanic ethnicity doesn't guaranty your skin color. In essense, the Arizona police's description of the suspect, umbrellas every Hispanic, whether you're white or black. You can be 28 to 40, have a short muscular body with hazel to brown eyes and be white, black, grean, purple, and still be hispanic.

What I'm saying is that the "Hispanic" term is so broad, at least in my home town, it would get you nowhere fast when trying to catch a suspect. I think the Chandler Police Department should have included the color of the suspect's skin in their information report and not just the man's ethnicity, which I believe should very well be included in their report as that is another helpful detail in helping catch the suspect.

2007-11-11T04:30:00.000-08:00

PORQUE NO TE CALLAS?!?

I don't agree wiht most of the opinons of Prime Minister Zapatero of Spain, but I must congratulate the man for having called out the ape B/K/A Hugo Chavez at the Iberoamerican Summit in Chile yesterday, after the ape called Aznar the previous prime minister, a fascit. I love the way he said, "Mr. Chavz, Aznar was democratically elected by the Spanish Citizens"

Check out the 3 plus mintue video here:

2007-11-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

THE FACE OF A TERRORIST MASS MURDERER at THE REAL CUBA

Che Guevara was an international terrorist and mass murderer.
During his vicious campaigns to impose communism on countries throughout Latin America, che Guevara trained and motivated the Castro regime's firing squads that executed thousands of men, women and children.
This poster reveals the truth of this criminal's cruel, murderous hypocrisy and acknowledges his countless victims, known and unknown.
All individuals used in this photo montage were murdered by che and the Castro regime.

To see the image that was created using the photos of the peolple he murdered CLICK HERE

2007-10-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

Who is Oscar E. Biscet?

Get your answer here , here and here here.

Then tell my why there are people who say they want the truth to be known, yet are finding idiot reasons for bashing this action.

You can read the The Miami Herald's piece on the medal here , where you'll find they've quoted Dr. Biscet's wife:

In a phone conversation from Havana, Morejón thanked Bush for the award and called it ``a recognition of our political prisoners.''
''It is important that in this world someone remembers us,'' she said.

This is for those out there who actually questioned Dr. Biscet's reaction to receiving this award and recognition. Why else you idiots, would he be writing to the press rather than his wife when he's allowed to write if he didn't want attention to the horrors that are going on in Cuba? Why else whould she have put out a video some time back about the cell that he was confined to and shoved it off for all in the world to see, for shits & giggles???

Here's another piece by a very well known Cuban writer who resides in Spain, click here

2007-10-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?

How would you feel if a well known rich man jails your mother in his basement because she doesn't think that he ought to take his children’s food away from them and give it to the poor down the street? What would you think of that same rich man if he’d jailed one of his children for saying he wanted the food his father was giving to other children?

He doesn’t feed his two prisoners, or his other children. He beats his two prisoners and tortures them, but everyone up and down the city loves this rich man to death because he's been so good to everyone and has stood up to another man they all hate.

The press conveniently ignores that he’s got his maid, your mother, and one of his children in a jail. Whenever they see you coming they close their doors, so as not to here your ranting and raving, or to deal with your rabid hatred of this man, who is so good to everybody else. Some have even told you in your face that what’s a little beating when he does so much good around the city. You tell them that the children he has not jailed are starving, but they answer you back with, “Oh but he sends them to school and they have very good healthcare.”

You know his children are not that well taken care of medically because it costs him too much, and your mother, you cry for her, she nurtured you, you were born from her and you know she is deteriorating by the day, soon there will only be a whisper of what that great lady use to be.

You sit there and run up and down the street telling these people that your mother is dieing, and that his children are also, that this isn’t the great man he wants everyone to believe. You try to save your mother and his children on your own, believing that if nobody else will do something, you might as well do something.

The city folk, learn of your plan and hold you back. Finally one day, the rich man that everyone hates, heads your call, and starts yelling it from the ramparts. He starts bombarding the people with the truth, yet because they hate him, nothing he says is heeded.

Since he can lose a lot, the hated rich man tells you that the scum’s children must come out and tell the people what is happening to them. The children and the babysitters must do something for themselves before he can lift a finger to help them.

You try to get these messages to his children and the babysitters through any means possible and a group in the city says that you’re trying to outsmart one man’s sovereignty over his house.

You’ve tried screaming, crying, talking, showing, but nothing. How would you feel? Can you even imagine something like that? Can you come up with a reason as to why so many are willing to look the other way? Can you rationalize that they do it because they hate the other rich man, the one who’s willing to help? Who will you go to, if he’s the only one willing to help? He’s the ONLY one who gave you a bedroom to sleep in when your mother was taken from you.

**Now go back and read it, but this time you're Cuban, your mother is Cuba, the children are Cubans and the city is the world**

2007-03-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

AT MY FAVORITE BLOG

Discussing Racism is Cuba pre and post Jan 1, 1959. Poster Manuel A. Tellechea sited the following EXCELLENT piece by Mr. Fontava. I would like to know how Hollywood's, Washington's and the MSM's experts in licking fidel's boots, would answer this. Too bad they're too busy licking to take the time to think rationally and save their tongues the bad taste of shit.

Mr. Fontava's answer to the question of racism in Castro's Cuba.

"Unlike Charlie Rangel, Maxine Waters, Dannie Glover, Harry Belafonte, David Kesting and those multitudes of Harlem Castro fans, Eusebio Penalver, a black Cuban, actually lived in Castro's fiefdom. "N----er!" taunted his all-white Castroite jailers between tortures. "Monkey!" they laughed. "We pulled you down from the trees and cut of your tail!" They taunted while throwing him in solitary confinement. For opposing the re-installation of slavery in Cuba, Penalver suffered longer in Castro's dungeons than Nelson Mandela suffered in South Africa's, and more defiantly and heroically.
The man honored by Harlem for his "humanitarianism" and "dedication to civil rights" jailed more of his subjects [per capita] for political crimes than Hitler and Stalin. More uproariously ironic, he is (or was) a lily white European soldier's son who — not only jailed Penalver, the longest-jailed black political prisoner in modern history — but also overthrew a Cuban government where blacks served as President of the Senate, minister of agriculture, chief of Army, and as head of state (Fulgencio Batista).
Today the prison population in Stalinist/Apartheid Cuba is 90% black while only 9% of the ruling Stalinist party is black. Most of Cuba's current political prisoners are black, including Jorge Antunez and Dr. Elias Biscet, a Martin Luther King and Gandhi disciple. Antunez’s 18-year sentence and daily tortures resulted essentially from quoting Martin Luther King in a public square. Biscet's 25-year sentence and daily tortures result from being overheard saying about Castro what the Dixie Chicks, Nancy Pelosi and Charles Rangel bellow into microphones about President Bush.
It’s worth repeating: the November 8 unveiling and celebration is motivated by “Harlem's acclamation for Castro’s contributions to civil rights."
I'll defer to Jorge Antunez's sister, Berta Antunez: "The Cuban government tries to fool the world with siren songs depicting racial equality in our country," she reports clandestinely via a Cuban Samizdat. "But it is all a farce, as I and my family can attest, having suffered from the systematic racism directed at us by Castro's regime. My brother suffers the scourge of racial hatred every day. The beatings are always accompanied by racial epithets. They set dogs on him. They deny him medical attention. They kept him from attending his mother's funeral."
"The racist mentality is so ingrained among Cuba's agents of repression," reports Antunez, "that when mixed race groups are stopped on the street, only the blacks are asked for their identification papers. … The only think I have to thank the Cuban revolution for," she quoted her brother, "is for restoring the yoke of slavery that my ancestors lived under."
The Left's Pin-Up Boy
Please, please, please don't waste your time looking for any mention of these valiant blacks in the mainstream media. Please, please, please don't bother looking for them hailed during Black History Month on NPR, CNN, the History Channel or Oprah. These heroes defied the hemisphere's premier slaver, you see, who also happens to be the left's premier pin-up boy. So their courage, sacrifices and suffering don't qualify as politically correct news and documentary fare.
If the term "slaver" strikes you as hyperbolic, consider this story from last week's Miami Herald: "In reality we were slaves," says Cuban refugee Alberto Rodriguez who before escaping was forced to labor 116 hours a week at three-and-a-half pennies per hour. Amazingly, this labor went on in a shipyard in Delray Beach, Fla. Rodriguez and two other escapees were "employees" of Curacao Drydock Co., headquartered in Curacao but who obtained some of their laborers from the Cuban government. This government, lauded worldwide as a champion of the laboring classes, pocketed the difference between the three-and-a-half pennies per hour and Curacao Drydock's normal wage.
The forced-laborers were rounded up in Cuba and shipped to Curacao where their passports were promptly confiscated. Their "supervisor" was a Fidel Castro nephew. "We worked in broiling heat, in the most dangerous part of the ship, where all of the regular workers refused to go--that's where they forced the Cubans to work," recounts Mr Rodriguez. His co-slave, Luis Casanova, was badly electrocuted but forced to work with blood pouring from his tongue. "They said if we slacked up we'd be taken back to Cuba and thrown in jail."
After these men were shipped to Florida to work for a Curacao Drydock agent, they escaped their slavers and have filed suit against them in Miami federal court under the Aliens Tort Act. Please don't confuse their case with those of illegals who sneak in, clamor for a job, then sue the employer for "discrimination," or some such. This is a totally different animal.
Charlie Rangel raves against Republicans as closet Klu Kluxers. This July on the floor of the House he denounced Republicans' "stinking hypocrisy" for refusing to vote to raise the minimum wage to $7.35 per hour. I’ll be surprised if Charlie Rangel isn’t the keynote speaker at the Central Park celebration for the Stalinist/racist who jailed and tortured black political prisoners longer than apartheid South Africa, and who kidnaps his subjects and rents them out for three-and-a-half pennies an hour."

Exquisite!

2007-02-16T07:47:00.000-08:00

COMANDO F4

In a bunch of radio stations there have been reports this morning of an organization called Comando F4, having entered a military camp in Villa Clara, Cuba and getting away with a number of supplies, such as RPG's and AK47s. I've also seen reports of this on the web.

www.babaluglog.com
http://secretoscuba.cultureforum.net/portal.htm , in this forum the person who broke the news works in the US military and is based in Cuba, but not at Gitmo.

This is what is being reported this morning. Is it true? I certainly hope so. If it were true, and in fact Cuban military personnel did indeed help this organization smuggle the stuff out of that camp, then there must be a "big to do" going on inside of Cuba right now. The high ranks of Cuba's military must be running around looking for blood and wanting to see heads roll.

Can't wait for some form of confirmation that this that is being decimated in the airwaves and web world is true!

2007-02-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

Can I have your bones????

I saw this post on The Real Cuba and still can't believe people like Harry Belafonte & Kevin Costner say the idiotic things they say. Well, who ever said that to be an artist you had to be a human?

2007-01-30T19:53:00.000-08:00

He's Not Dead Yet????

This reminds me of the daytime soaps where nobody is ever really dead dead.

Well, the web is coming apart at the seems regarding the newly released video of the supposedly "live" fidel castro meeting with his own special puppet.

I have my doubts, but here are some of the points people have made about this new video throughout the web. They kind of make you think about it.

According the what Cuban television reported, this video was taken just after chavez arrived last night in Cuba. Now if you look closely this video was taped in daytime.
Fidel make references to his fall, yet makes no remarks regarding his current situation
chavez mentions the date, but the image at that point is of him alone and no fidel.
He mentions the painting that took two days to paint again in this video, just as in one of the videos from last year.
A reference to Oscar Niemeyer makes no sense at this juncture, the statement is out of chronological order, as if this the conversation is taking place prior to October of last year.
If you pay close attention he really never drinks the orange juice.

I personally have no opinion regarding the points made above as I have not seen the full video. I have only seen the video in parts because I can't stomach seeing neither of those two clowns for more than a few seconds. All I know is that we will not know he's dead until that government reports it. Until then I will pray to hear official news of his death, and too bad for those who think such thoughts are barbaric or uncouth. In the future, once that government is history, the truth and actual order of events will come to light. I for one won't give a rat's ass how and when he died so long as I know he's dead dead.

2007-01-18T05:26:00.000-08:00

The Face of a Traitor...

Phillip Agee is a true traitor. He was a CIA operative who did work combating communism. He who flew the coop and then proceeded to write a book (Inside the Company) regarding inside secrets of the CIA. I have not read the book, but knowing the little I know about him at this point, I highly doubt I'll ever read it. How do I know whatever crap he wrote is true? He has said, he couldn't figure out why the US wanted to destroy groups who helped the poor, referring to communist groups. I watched a Spanish television talk show last night who gave some interesting and heartburn inducing information about this complete asshole, traitor and liar.

Phillip Agee a guy who told the world he had worked for a sinister government (U.S.A), is now living in Cuba, although not like a Cuban. He is part owner of a travel agency Cubalinda. He flies Americans into Cuba through other countries. He lives there in the lap of luxury and he uses his ties with foreign officials in countries such as Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Bahamas, to fly these Americans into Cuba without a hitch. Of course the Cuban government gets a big chunk of the proceeds or they wouldn't let him operate there.

What really pisses me off about this guy is that he accuses the US gov. of being sinister and defends the communist agenda, all the while living like a capitalist tycoon. He defends a government who holds hostage and rules with an iron grip 11 million poor and hungry people. He's a complete comepin&#.

His business has a site, and there is an icon on the main page that is false according to the gentleman who was giving the information about Mr. Agee's whereabouts. The icon says "ASTA" or American Society of Travel Agents, this gives people the impression that this company is a trusted travel agency. I have written to ASTA to confirm and am waiting for an answer. I will update this as soon as I receive a response.

Delfin Fernandez of Secretos de Cuba brought with him this information last night on A Mano Limpia of America TeVe.

UPDATE - I received a note back from ASTA, thanking me for the alert and advising me that they were going to contact the people at Cubalinda.

2007-01-12T06:44:00.000-08:00

R.I.P

My prayers go out to his family. He was one of the true heroes against the false revolution. Please read more about this great man here, here, and here.

2007-01-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

More Surprises, not...

You didn't see this coming?

2007-01-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

Why Are They Surprised??

"However, Chávez, an avowed enemy of the Bush administration and a strong ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro, has startled Venezuelans in recent days with his plan to nationalize the power and telecommunications companies, and his earlier announcement that he would shut down the RCTV television station for violating a strict media law."

You can read the whole article here.

I ask how can anyone inside or outside of Venezuela be surprised or startled as reported in the above article by this man's declarations? He didn't make a hard turn to the left, he's been turning that corner since 1998. After all he did last year, after all the communist and socialist countries he visited last year. After all the speeches he gave last year blasting capitalism, how can anyone with any amount of brain power actually be surprised with his declarations of the past two days? Worst of all, is the media, these idiots all around the world are reporting these events as if it were an earthquake that struck by complete surprise, were these people in a coma for the past 8 years?

Here's some great commentary and links regarding the situation in Venezuela.

2007-01-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

Joke Pink

Cindy Sheehan is not even afraid of looking like a clown protesting for the human rights of the Guantanamo prisoners in a country with a 48 year history of human rights abuses. You can read more on the story here and here.

2007-01-06T10:27:00.000-08:00

Ration Books

I enjoy reading much more than posting, and I think I do my reading a lot better than my writing.

I've not posted anything regarding fidel and or Cuba because I feel that other bloggers I read do a much better job than I ever would do. I always feel I'll sound redundant.

This time is a exception, because I really think people who defend that system of government have absolutely no idea what they're defending, and the ones that do know, imagine themselves being one of the elite government officials rather than one of the slaves that survives under this type of regime.

For that past two nights I watched a show on a Miami Spanish speaking TV station called "A Mano Limpia". It airs on local channel 41, Monday thru Saturday at 8PM EST for an hour. Most of the nights the shows effort is to bring the realities of what is going on today in Cuba, to the public. The show can also be viewed via internet at http://www.americateve.com/. The last two nights the host (Oscar Haza), has brought on a guest who has put together a documentary of the reality of the 1990's in Cuba and the ration book experiences.

The documentary is in Spanish with English subtitles and I'm sure once the fidel and communist era is a past history of Cuba, clips of this documentary will be shown on the History channel. As it depicts and shows real footage of what living with a ration book is like. It was filmed in a pre-castro era department stored named "Fin de Siglo," now reserved for the avante-guarde worker and couples who've applied for and attained a marriage license. Other people have other ration stores available to them with less items. The special items in this store for couples and good workers are for example, a bottle of shampoo for the couple and a bag of cookies for that dedicated worker. In this store's liquor department you'll find available for purchase a tissue paper ornament for your bedside table or a lighter, but no liquor.

For all who do not know what a ration book is, it is a little book that tells you what you can buy and when. From a toothbrush to a pair of shoes and everything in between. The same goes for any appliances, housewares and food. At first that doesn't sound so bad to a person with absolutely no knowledge of all that this book represents. Then you learn that each family gets assigned a number and a letter, and you may only shop on the days assigned to that letter and number. Then you find out that your letter and number get called twice a year for clothing. Once you've fooled yourself into thinking that buying clothing once a year is not so bad, you're told that although there are 4 people in your household, you're only allowed to buy two articles of every type of clothing. Such as two pieces of underwear. Two shirts, skirts or pants. Two pairs of socks or a pair of shoes and a pair of socks, never two pairs of shoes.

Next is the food. Your number and letter get called more often for food and it goes something like this. If there is nobody in your household who is under seven years old, there is no milk for you. If nobody is on a doctor assigned special diet, there is no red meat for you. Chicken is available at a pound per person per week. Rice is 4lbs per person per month. The last one doesn't sound so bad until you remember that the chicken runs out and there are no vegetables to go with that. The rice itself often comes with dirt and other unmentionables, so in the end you have roughly 3lbs of rice. Beans are a staple of Cuban cuisine, and they're not always available, and if they are, they're the same beans for months and months and months, such is the case with lentil beans. Black beans are rare commodity at the store. Two blocks down from that Cuban store are tourists at a restaurant ordering a Surf & Turf lunch, where Cubans aren't allowed to linger outside, not even to catch a whiff of that wonderfully delicious aroma.

How were they able to film this documentary? That is simple, it was going to be filmed to show the world at large what a great system fidel had implemented in Cuba. They filmed it with all the permissions granted by the government. The object was to film the day to day activities in the store and have the store clerks show the camera what they offer at the different departments and how you're allowed to purchase the items. If it weren't a reality you'd think it is the best comedy filmed in decades. You'd be spilling your guts laughing if you didn't realize it is the reality these people were living in. I started to wonder what level of stupor these 11 million people have fallen under to accept this as their lot in life.

Once it was edited and complete the Cuban government considered the documentary was anti-revolutionary. Imagine that, THE REALITY WAS ANTI-REVOLUTIONARY! Needless to say it was never aired on Cuban TV and we're lucky that a copy of the documentary survived and made it out of Cuba. I'm sure that in years to come, once fidel and that regime are a past history of Cuba, clips of this documentary will be aired on the History Channel.

For the record, the avante-guarde and couples store is no longer open to the public. The good workers and married couples now receive a permit to shop at a Dollar/Euro store.

There are many people who defend the ration book, and believe it is the only way to establish true equality. These people fail to realize that the government elite do not live by the ration book, they live like the citizens of their much hated capitalist enemy do. To those that think the implementing of a ration book is fair and just treatment of a government, know that the Southern plantations in the US had such a book for slaves. These books stated how much clothing and food should be allotted to each slave by the plantation owner/manager. In this case the words "plantation owners/manager" can be replaced with "the government elite" and the words "each slave" can be replaced by "each Cuban". All this only 90 miles south of Key West.

2006-11-14T12:24:00.000-08:00

Family Trips

I just got back from a trip with the WHOLE family to Orlando, Florida. There were more than fifty of us, and let me tell you it is tiring, but a whole lot of fun. There were so many people, we were forced to form age groups. That way people got to go to the parks they liked best or had never been to. At night was when we were all together, and everyone 55 and older gets to remenise of how things use to be.

Some of the younger ones got to hear stuff for the first time and were shocked to their bones. It is funny how the younger generation doesn't know from the time of infancy how bad things are in Cuba, or how terrible that regime is. I remember I might have not known who the Prime Minister of Canada was when I was in 5th grade, but I sure as hell knew fidel castro was a very bad person. I'm not saying that the younger cousins think he's a good person, but many of them really had no clue of just how bad a person he is or the things the revolution had brought on. I think I was more shocked at their ignorance then they were at the stuff they were hearing.

Some of the 21 & 18 year olds were really dumbstruck to know some of the things that go on overthere. I was glad to see how some of them actually got the older folks' numbers onto their cellulars so they could call them and go visit and hear more stories about Cuba. I think we needed this vacation, and I think we needed it as a family.

Anyway, it was a very good time with el familion. You should all try to catch next year's Food & Wine festival at EPCOT. They had wines from all over the world and I even got to taste mead from Ireland. BTW, that is were the word honeymoon comes from.

I hope everyone of you has or will take a whole family vacation someday. It is a wonderful experience!

2006-11-07T16:55:00.000-08:00

This speaks for itself...

Blog For Cuba if that doesn't work cut and paste on your browser the link

http://blogforcuba.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/11/mensajeros_de_e.html

2006-11-06T19:02:00.000-08:00

Some People Just Don't Understand or Don't Want To.

I was just having a conversation with a person who is from a South American country that will remain nameless. He flat out told me that Cubans were always griping about the poverty that exists in Cuba. He went on to tell me that Cubans should just stop trying to make the world think their poverty was the worst. He told me that Cubans should stop hating fidel castro because the Cubans are poor.

Rather than telling him where he could go stick his remarks, and or telling him to please educate himself, I decided to make some things clear to him. This goes for anyone who has ever uttered such an idiotic statement.

I asked him the following: If I were to send $50,000 to anyone in your country, could they spend it as they so pleased? Could they use it towards the purchase of a new home? Could they pay off their debts? Could they spend it all in one crazy night in a hotel of their choice? This person's answer was yes to all those questions. If I were to send the same amount of money to a Cuban, that person would not be allowed to purchase a home, or a car, or go spend it at the hotel of their choice. Why is that? Because that person would be Cuban, and Cubans are NOT allowed any of those things. They can't buy and sell property regardless of the cash they have in hand. They can't go to the hotel of their choice to spend it all in one night. It is illegal. They can't go out and buy a computer and connect it to the internet, because that is illegal. They can't open up a business because that is illegal. That is what Cubans gripe about, poverty is the least of the problems.

His answer? "Oh, that's because of the Economic Embargo." Explain to me what has the embargo got to do with your right to sell your home? What has the embargo to with your right to spend the money in any hotel at Varadero? What has the embargo to do with your right to purchase a vehicle from your neighbor?

How far has stupidity reached? Where do you draw the line between ignorance and selective blindness? If you don't know anything about the Cuban ordeal, ask questions, read, educate yourself, but do not make statements that make you look like an ass.

As for the idiot I had the misfortune of speaking with earlier? "Lissy, I need to hear that from and unbiased source, until then I'll hope a strong person like fidel takes my country by the horns and turns things around for my countrymen" My answer? "Dude, I hope God grants you your wish"

2006-11-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

Here's a harsh truth, but someone has got to say it.

First of all, let me tell you I'm a black Cuban-American. My grandparents were Batista sympathizers and they fled with their children. My father finished high school here in the States. He then went on to serve in the Army as there was a draft. When he was done with serving the country he became an electrical engineer. To this day he has yet to call himself an African-American. According to him and the rest of us, we're all Cuban-Americans.

We have a very large family of black Cubans and through the years they've married white Cubans, black Cubans and even some black Jamaicans, as some of the family fled to Jamaica.

Now that you know where I'm coming from, let me tell all the black Americans that came out and started the Cuban bashing when the Ralph Arza incident happened, something that has not been brought up. First of all, Ralph Arza speaks for Ralf Arza. Second you cannot compare it to the Herald fiasco, the Cubans didn't go out and verbally attack all white Americans in this country, they attacked the idiot who spoke in a bad way about the Cubans.

There are very little or no black folks that are immigrants in this country that would ever call themselves African-Americans. They're Cuban, Jamaican, Haitians, Dominicans, Bahamians, or Puertoricans. The truth is that anyone from South Africa whose white can call themselves an African-American too. So looking for a politically correct label other than calling a spade a spade has turned out looking stupid.

The reason for that is while the blacks in the U.S. have decided to keep the chip on their shoulders and play the race card at every turn, blacks everywhere else have used the cards they've been dealt to make themselves a better future and haven't griped about racism at every opportunity.

That being said I know that there are plenty of black Americans that are successful. I don't understand why the black American continues to let extremist groups speak for them. Those groups are the true racists. They are the ones who continue to try to make rifts and canyons between the races

The Cubans came only 47 years ago, without a penny to their names, without welfare and without the language and look what they have accomplished. They didn't form a coalition to force people to accept them. They made lemonade out of lemons. They mopped floors and waited on tables, all the while instilling pride and hard work in their children. Teaching them that the only way to get ahead was to get an education and work hard. Who cares what people thought about the loud and rowdy Cubans. Let them point and let them move away, we're different, so what. Now look at all of those who laughed and moved away. They're moving back like nuts trying to get a piece of the pie the Cubans baked in South Florida.

Blacks from other countries don't want to be called "The Successful Black Man" They want be known as the "Successful Man", period. They don't want special treatment. They know that if you've got it, people are going to want it, regardless of your skin color or ethnicity.

I take offense with anyone who tries to treat me with kid gloves because I'm black. I don't want people around me walking on eggshells because they may insult me and start a riot.

Groups that pretend they're there to help the black man have other agendas, and helping is not one of them. Stop being so blind. Stop seeing everything as a black vs. white issue, it is not. The world does not revolve around us. Life is not about "black", "white", "red" or "yellow" skin. It is about proving you're a good human worthy of respect. Respect comes automatically, if you deserve it...