Chaos in Cuba

[John Hill]

What is that pitiful mewling I can hear?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Probably the Cuban people blaming everyone but themselves for their problems.

[John Hill]

So how is the situation in Cuba the fault of the people there?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

How isn't it?
Anyone pushing Switzerland around?

[John Hill]

Let's see now, 50 years of American supported corruption and exploitation brought to a halt by Castro so America begins a never ending progamme of economic warfare in all it's forms. So yea, I can see how you might want to blame the Cuban 'man-in-the-street' for that.

[Dushan]

And how’s that “corruption and exploitation brought to a halt by Castro” working out? Not so well apparently after 65 years.

[John Hill]

There goes that pitiful whining again...

[tango15]

And how’s that “corruption and exploitation brought to a halt by Castro” working out? Not so well apparently after 65 years.

People I spoke to in Cuba many years ago, when Castro was in power, felt that because the Soviet Union was basically bankrolling the country, all Castro had to do was sit back and light up another Romeo y Julieta. Little or none of the money that was received was spent on improving the infrastructure, or put into the usual schools and hospitals pot. I wonder where it went...?

To my mind at least, the country produces two main products that the world no longer wants. Tobacco, for obvious reasons, and sugar which is increasingly grown as a beet in countries that are far north or south of the tropics, plus there are so many artificial alternatives today. Its biggest imports are corn and wheat, so on the face of it, the solution is simple. Grow more corn and wheat - not difficult in a tropical climate, and less tobacco and sugar, thus reducing the import bill for a country that does not have a convertible currency.

[Dushan]

Central planning didn’t plan for wheat and corn. Can’t do it.

[John Hill]

To my mind at least, the country produces two main products that the world no longer wants. Tobacco, for obvious reasons, and sugar which is increasingly grown as a beet in countries that are far north or south of the tropics, plus there are so many artificial alternatives today. Its biggest imports are corn and wheat, so on the face of it, the solution is simple. Grow more corn and wheat - not difficult in a tropical climate, and less tobacco and sugar, thus reducing the import bill for a country that does not have a convertible currency.

I am fairly sure the climate in Cuba is not ideal for wheat which requires cool temperatures for germination and dry weather when ripening. Corn, I assume you mean maize not the more generic 'corn' of the UK which includes wheat and other cereals? Whatever, maize is grown in Cuba although from what I heard the sweet maize is not common and most crops are types suitable for animal fodder. I wonder if special machinery is required to harvest sweet maize and if there is would they be 'allowed' to buy it?

As for products the world no longer wants there is probably a market to the north that would welcome all the sugar and tobacco they can produce but of course that trade is mostly 'not permitted'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St ... %20history.

In Cuba, the embargo is commonly called el bloqueo (the blockade).[8] The United States has threatened to stop financial aid to other countries if they trade non-food items with Cuba. The US's attempts to do so have been vocally condemned by the United Nations General Assembly as an extraterritorial measure that contravenes "the sovereign equality of States, non-intervention in their internal affairs and freedom of trade and navigation as paramount to the conduct of international affairs".[9] Academic Nigel White writes, "While the US measures against Cuba do not amount to a blockade in a technical or formal sense, their cumulative effect is to put an economic stranglehold on the island, which not only prevents the United States intercourse but also effectively blocks commerce with other states, their citizens and companies.

The USA is very firm in it's dealings with weak countries.

[tango15]

To my mind at least, the country produces two main products that the world no longer wants. Tobacco, for obvious reasons, and sugar which is increasingly grown as a beet in countries that are far north or south of the tropics, plus there are so many artificial alternatives today. Its biggest imports are corn and wheat, so on the face of it, the solution is simple. Grow more corn and wheat - not difficult in a tropical climate, and less tobacco and sugar, thus reducing the import bill for a country that does not have a convertible currency.

I am fairly sure the climate in Cuba is not ideal for wheat which requires cool temperatures for germination and dry weather when ripening. Corn, I assume you mean maize not the more generic 'corn' of the UK which includes wheat and other cereals? Whatever, maize is grown in Cuba although from what I heard the sweet maize is not common and most crops are types suitable for animal fodder. I wonder if special machinery is required to harvest sweet maize and if there is would they be 'allowed' to buy it?

As for products the world no longer wants there is probably a market to the north that would welcome all the sugar and tobacco they can produce but of course that trade is mostly 'not permitted'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St ... %20history.

In Cuba, the embargo is commonly called el bloqueo (the blockade).[8] The United States has threatened to stop financial aid to other countries if they trade non-food items with Cuba. The US's attempts to do so have been vocally condemned by the United Nations General Assembly as an extraterritorial measure that contravenes "the sovereign equality of States, non-intervention in their internal affairs and freedom of trade and navigation as paramount to the conduct of international affairs".[9] Academic Nigel White writes, "While the US measures against Cuba do not amount to a blockade in a technical or formal sense, their cumulative effect is to put an economic stranglehold on the island, which not only prevents the United States intercourse but also effectively blocks commerce with other states, their citizens and companies.

The USA is very firm in it's dealings with weak countries.

I understand that most cereal crops have been adapted to grow in more tropical climates, but I don't know all the details, and even if it wouldn't work in Cuba, they could grow tropical fruits - pineapples, mangoes etc. I take the point about the market to the north, and no doubt there are many who would kill (no pun intended) for a decent Cuban cigar, though I have to say that the price of these, even in duty-free outlets, is very high these days.

[Dushan]

There is a country North of the “country to the North” of Cuba that has no restrictions on imports from Cuba, but somehow still gets its pineapples and oranges from elsewhere. Doesn’t Russia make farm equipment? Surely they don’t use John Deere combines, or do they as they are superior?

[John Hill]

There goes that annoying whining again.

[Dushan]

He was President Roosevelt's handpicked dictator to counteract leftists who had overthrown strongman Cerardo Machado.

I think this is what irks our resident commie defender.

Cuba is one of the last communist hell-holes on earth and those subscribing to such ideology are unhappy it is ending. Of course they never lived under such regime to fully appreciate how evil it is.