Chaos in Cuba

[Dushan]

But, but, but didn't Fidel promise a bag of rice and two chickens to every family every month?

Cuba 'on verge of total collapse' as country hit by blackouts and runs out of food and power

Cuba is "on the verge of total collapse" as the country has been hit by blackouts with residents taking to the streets calling for "food and power".

The crisis has seen the Cuban government approach the United Nations for aid to address its food shortage. As the Caribbean island goes through its harshest economic crisis in three decades, the communist regime is resorting to hitherto unseen cries for help to other countries.

I think this comes close to "running out of other people's money".

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Reportedly they are back to cannibalism next door in Haiti.
Kentucky Fried Comrade, anyone?

[John Hill]

On the verge of collapse? Does that mean that more than a century of anti-Cuban policies and activities are about to 'bear fruit'?

[GrumpyPilot]

On the verge of collapse? Does that mean that more than a century of anti-Cuban policies and activities are about to 'bear fruit'?

Half a century.

[John Hill]

On the verge of collapse? Does that mean that more than a century of anti-Cuban policies and activities are about to 'bear fruit'?

Half a century.

A bit longer than that, say 1898.

[GrumpyPilot]

On the verge of collapse? Does that mean that more than a century of anti-Cuban policies and activities are about to 'bear fruit'?

Half a century.

A bit longer than that, say 1898.

March 14, 1958

[John Hill]

Half a century.

A bit longer than that, say 1898.

March 14, 1958

December 10, 1898

[GrumpyPilot]

Dec 10, 1898 to March 13, 1958 - a period to be celebrated in Cuban history.
Since then, it has been downhill and the depth of despair can be read in the link Dušan kindly posted.

[John Hill]

Dec 10, 1898 to March 13, 1958 - a period to be celebrated in Cuban history.

Yeah right ....

1903 to 1958: Uprisings, Coups, Dictatorship
1933: Military coup. After the American military quashes three Cuban uprisings in as many decades, the U.S. backs a military coup led by Sgt. Fulgencio Batista. Whether as president or as a strongman behind other presidents, Batista takes control.

1952: Batista grabs power. Deposing President Carlos Prio Socarras, Batista abandons the constitution and halts elections, continuing his corrupt rule that favors U.S. interests and Cuban aristocrats while leaving the poor destitute. One year later, Fidel Castro stages a failed coup.

1920s-1958: American economic dominance. Americans in the Prohibition era swarm to casinos and lavish hotels in Havana. U.S. corporations thrive during the Batista years as organized crime figures find a welcoming and safe “playground” to grow illegal businesses. American tourism to Cuba flourishes.

https://www.history.com/news/timeline-us-cuba-relations

FULGENCIO BATISTA
President of Cuba

Cuban Army Sergeant Fulgencio Batista first seized power in a 1932 coup. He was President Roosevelt's handpicked dictator to counteract leftists who had overthrown strongman Cerardo Machado. Batista ruled tor several years, then left for Miami, returning in 1952 just in time for another coup, against elected president Carlos Prio Socorras. His new regime was quickly recognized by President Eisenhower. Under Batista, U.S. interests flourished and little was said about democracy. With the loyal support of Batista, Mafioso boss Meyer Lansky developed Havana into an international drug port. Cabinet offices were bought and sold and mlitary officials made huge sums on smuggling and vice rackets. Havana became a fashionable hot spot where America's rich and famous drank and gambled with mobsters. As the gap between the rich and poor grew wider, the poor grew impatient. In 1953, Fidel Castro led an armed group of rebels in a failed uprising on the Moncada army barracks. Castro temporarily fled the country and Batista struck back with a vengeance. Freedom of speech was curtailed and subversive teachers, lawyers and publc officials were fired from their jobs. Death squads tortured and killed thousands of "communists". Batista was assisted in his crackdown by Lansky and other members of organized crime who believed Castro would jeopardize their gambling and drug trade. Despite this, Batista remained a friend to Eisenhower and the US until he was finally overthrown by Castro in 1959.

[GrumpyPilot]

"1920s-1958: American economic dominance. Americans in the Prohibition era swarm to casinos and lavish hotels in Havana. U.S. corporations thrive during the Batista years as organized crime figures find a welcoming and safe “playground” to grow illegal businesses. American tourism to Cuba flourishes."

Wow ; thanks for proving my point.
If they stayed the course, cleaned up organized crime like Vegas did throughout the years, Cuba could have become a wealthy world class tourist destination.

[John Hill]

It is a pity you chose to chop my quote! You missed this bit

...and little was said about democracy. With the loyal support of Batista, Mafioso boss Meyer Lansky developed Havana into an international drug port. Cabinet offices were bought and sold and mlitary officials made huge sums on smuggling and vice rackets. Havana became a fashionable hot spot where America's rich and famous drank and gambled with mobsters. As the gap between the rich and poor grew wider, the poor grew impatient.

Greed and corruption, and American dream!

[John Hill]

Greed and corruption, the American dream!

[John Hill]

Dec 10, 1898 to March 13, 1958 - a period to be celebrated in Cuban history.

In 1913, President Mario García Menocal announced Cuba's deregulation law, saying that regulated prostitution was "incompatible with ... the spirit of freedom that governs our nation".[19] During the first half of the 20th century, Havana was thought of, and depicted as, "the whorehouse of the Caribbean".[1] Prostitution in 1920s Cuba was a flourishing business, so much so that the Minister for the Interior made efforts to "solve the problem of prostitution".[20] The number of prostitutes in Havana increased from 4,000 in 1912 to 7,400 in 1931.[21] For many men, a visit to a prostitute was a celebrated feature of a trip to the city.[14] By the late 1950s, about 270 brothels operated in Havana, with more than 11,500 women working as prostitutes.[21] The city's Plaza del Vapor functioned as a large marketplace for prostitution.[14] Descriptions of brothels routinely appeared in tourist guidebooks, and there were sex shows and live pornographic theaters such as the Shanghai Theater and the Tokyo Cabaret.[21] The English novelist Graham Greene, writing in his autobiography Ways of Escape, described: "the Shanghai Theatre where for one dollar and twenty-five cents one could see a nude cabaret of extreme obscenity with the bluest of blue films in the intervals."[14] The American journalist David Detzer wrote that, "Brothels flourished. A major industry grew up around them; government officials received bribes, policemen collected protection money. Prostitutes could be seen standing in doorways, strolling the streets, or leaning from windows".[22] Brothels, casinos, and nightclubs were increasingly controlled by organized crime based in the United States.[23] Tourism had become Cuba's second-largest earner of foreign currency, with around 350,000 visitors per year, and the brothels and bars of Havana catered to Americans visiting on weekend excursions. Cuban prostitutes also worked at the US Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.[20] The sex industry in 1950s Cuba was primarily based on the provision of sexual "services" by black and mixed race women to predominantly white North American men. It drew upon a tradition of exoticising mixed-race Cuban women which originated in the work of male Cuban writers, artists, and poets.[24]

[GrumpyPilot]

Greed and corruption, the American dream!

Now you just sound jealous.
But then again, I'm sure it's just paradise on Earth in Cuba just like the DPRK.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Cuban prostitutes also worked at the US Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

Find me anywhere, any country, throughout history, that doesn't have prostitutes next to a naval base.

A comment that screamingly obvious destroys the entire argument, to my mind.
The author will be blaming the Sun for (also ) rising next.

[tango15]

I see little difference between what is currently happening in Gaza and what has been happening in Cuba since 1959. Once the former Soviet Union withdrew its $1 million a day subsidy to Cuba, there was only one way the economy could go. Tourism brings in some foreign currency and provides menial jobs, but Cuba, like Gaza, has no natural resources, and is an agrarian economy. I don't think America has ever forgiven Castro for taking away their island paradise, which was particularly useful following prohibition and WWII.

[John Hill]

Tourism brings in some foreign currency and provides menial jobs, but Cuba, like Gaza, has no natural resources, and is an agrarian economy. I don't think America has ever forgiven Castro for taking away their island paradise, which was particularly useful following prohibition and WWII.

Cuba has not been forgiven and will always be paying the price, just like Afghanistan and of course North Korea plus I presume a number of other countries.

Tourism, I do not think Chuck from Nebraska can freely go to Cuba for a holiday and if I wanted to visit then I guess I would have to go via South America as I believe America blocks (blockades ?) tourist travel to Cuba wherever it can. America of course also blocks US passport holders visiting the DPRK.

[tango15]

They can still travel, subject to the rules in this website. It seems to be aimed more at Cuban-Americans rather than the indigenous variety.

https://hometohavana.com/blog/can-ameri ... el-to-cuba

[John Hill]

Sort of 'free travel' with conditions eh?

[Dushan]

Free with conditions still better than Cubans or North Koreans who don’t have that luxury.