Doug1943 wrote:Cuba gets excellent results in education -- at least in their mathematics education, which is something I know about.
They are way ahead of other Latin American countries.
A lot of people think of Cuba as a kind of Carribbean North Korea. Not true. It's not a democracy, no question. And its economy is terrible -- everyone there knows that, including, especially, the leadership.
How can Cuba go forward, to take advantage of their excellent educational system and the entrepreneurship of their people, while retaining, and adding to, the conquests of their Revolution?
If you'd like to see Cubans, and others, discussing these issues -- or even to contribute to the discussion yourself -- you should look at a remarkable online Newspaper, published in both English and Spanish: The Havana Times, at HavanaTimes.org.
Here's a link to an interview, now several years old, with its editor, in a British communist newspaper: https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/848/m ... restroika/
If you're a genuine hard-core far-right type, then you won't like The Havana Times.
Here's the lowdown on it from the far right: http://havanajournal.com/politics/entry ... propaganda
But everyone else should have a look, and then subscribe (for free).
Thank you for this Doug. I will subscribe. Mexico has direct flights to Havana from various Mexican cities. Also, Cuba has requirements for its foreign residents. It is very similar to requirements many nations all over the world have. Don't have a criminal record, do not be fleeing from the law in your own nation, you need to be financially solvent and not fleeing from debt in your own nation, and you need to bring some kind of value to the nation. If you want to get fast track visas in many nations all over the world the basic requirements: 1) Don't be a criminal, 2) Don't be with contagious diseases, 3) Don't be in debt and prove you can sustain yourself financially while there, 4) Have skills that contribute. Most countries like people like that in there.
Cuba is no different. Cuba in my opinion needs to liberalize on internet use for education purposes. I would not want some dirty porn and negative crap that kids might see. Have to have the restricted anyway for minors.
They should develop their own computer coding. Invest more in selling their great pharmaceutical stuff like drugs that tackle lung cancer effectively all over the world. But again? The USA puts artificial pressure on that. Mexico ignores it mostly. A lot of nations in Latin America ignore the rules set by the USA.
The hotels, restaurants and tourism tours are thriving. They should continue to use funds from that to rebuild and refurbish public civic buildings that they do now. For example the Bellas Artes building that is used by the Ballet school in Havana has been completed using the money from tourism in various hotels and restaurants owned by the Cuban government.
They have a ballet school that is the biggest school in the entire world. El Ballet Nacional de Cuba has over 3000 active students. The biggest one of its kind in the world. More than Paris, London, Moscow, New York by far. They should continue to invest in the arts and expand that.
The next big explosion is in art forms, all of them. Music, dance, theater, acting and film, writing, and publishing and disseminate all that information and artistic production outside in areas that the USA embargo can't really manipulate.
Another possible thing is to use a model of their own national currency with a very unregulated style like Crypto currency but for the Cuban government to stimulate its economy from. But without the energy waste. The double CUC/Cuban Peso thing is cumbersome. I think Latin America might benefit from uniting many nations economically in the future. So that the benefits of that boosts revenue for governments needing a higher GDP.
The reason why the coral reefs are healthy in Cuba is because the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and they no longer were using artificial fertilizers and chemicals for their crops. They went back to old fashioned manure and natural fertilizers and the runoff of that that went into the ocean from the rivers were no longer imbalanced in nitrogen levels. From 1992 to now, the reefs recovered fully and also Cuba prohibits strictly over fishing and over use of the ocean fishing areas for commercial purposes. It keeps the fish at a healthy balance as well.
I think also they need to allow much younger generations to run things. Older and old men and women making decisions about what should get accomplished is a big mistake in government. Got to allow the youth to have a large say so in their own futures.
They should not fear fraud from the Yankee interference excuses from the past. Even with massive fraud the Mexican Right was defeated. They need to trust in that process.
They also need to get a lot of varied consumer goods produced and also imported. Mexican furniture, appliances, consumer goods are very high quality. So are Brazilian goods, Bolivian agriculture, and many others, the PRC trades bicycles too, and many other goods. They should strengthen all ties to other countries.
The brigades of medical doctors to South America, and Africa have been incredibly successful. They should keep that up.
So many things that can be improved. But they did well considering the realities of the other islands and other smaller nations in the same region. Most of Central America is right wing and pro capitalism. They have huge exodus of their people due to bad economic conditions and crime. All taking place under capitalist economies that are underdeveloped. Yet the socialist model having a bunch of Cubans leaving on boats to get to the USA to become consumers and middle class? Is the direct responsibility of any form of socialism. It is never people wanting to buy stuff and live with large amounts of income compared to their native nations. No.
Foolish people thinking you get to the USA are Latin American, don't speak English, have low or mediocre educations, and have been in the working class your whole life and voila! The American USA system is going to make you middle class. Right away. It doesn't happen that way. They usually find out they won't get to the middle class status about 5-10 years into their stay in the USA. Many of them go back to their home nations. Even in Ellis Island in the NYC many immigrants packed and left the USA en masse all the time. No one does the research on that because it doesn't fit the American Propaganda of everyone gets the American Dream narrative. It doesn't really happen for vast amounts of immigrants.
But no one talks about the ones who don't make it in the USA and fail economically to rise through the socioeconomic ranks.
There are a lot of them. Many have children that become a first generation American, and or they get locked up for crime, because they are between two worlds---an American one,that only respects people with wealth and possessions, and external markers of success like banker, doctor, or lawyers, or business people with large amounts of profit margins. They can't do it (become wealthy within one generation) for many reasons. Then you got the other half that feel they are not like their parents. They are no longer Mexicans, or Salvadorans or Cubans, but some hybrid and without any real roots, and they are neither here or there. They face discrimination and they face frustrations. Because their parents don't really get the culture they tried to move to--it is a value system they did not grow up in, and it is tough to adjust to it all, they never got to have opportunities, how the entire system is geared to give advantages to those in the right neighborhoods, with the right set of pre-requisites, and it doesn't include foreign immigrants with no command of the English language and an 8th grade education. Their kids are out there floating about values. Getting mixed messages.
All this is hard. And tough. The solution is to allow sovereign and independent nations to make their own decisions. Ultimately they people who are born and raised there? Have the biggest investment in making it work. Manipulating countries and using force and selfish interests to force things out of the less militarily or economically powerful nations to capitulate to those who don't give one damn about the other people in other nations? Won't work. It just won't.
- By skinster
- By litwin