it would be a true democracy within 10 years. Then the Cubans in Miami could sue for lost property. American investments would overwhelm any new leader who takes over from the Castros.

Yes, citizens of the world, behold the magical power that AMERICA possesses. America brings something called "true democracy™" as a gift to the world.
Cuba is, and has been, open to the world all along. It has been the USA that has maintained the standoff. Cuba has waited. And waited. And waited. Almost in a time freeze. No improvement in education. No improvement in health care. No improvement in living conditions. No improvement in civil rights. No improvement in women's rights. Because, without Americans, and American corporations, and the American military, all present, there is no future.
People from all over the planet (except the USA) go to Cuba and observe this standstill in time.
Now, CUBA HEAR THIS ... the world agrees, without America, there would be no True Democracy™.

working as prostitutes because that was the only way to make a good living. Right now, if you go there as a tourist, restaurants are totally empty until a busload of tourists happens to come by. The locals are not wealthy enough to eat out and have a dynamic economy. All cubans would be very much better off is the US would stop the embargo.

I agree on dropping the US sanctions impacting Cuba.
The opening comment of your post is denigratory doggerel. Shame on you.

Last edited Thu Mar 7, 2013, 12:57 AM - Edit history (1)

get cultural information on them and stories. Another story that has been in the news is Canadian wreck divers partnering with Cuba wreck divers to look for treasure (wrecks along the Americas are all tapped out because people have been at them for so long, but in Cuba nobody had the money to wreck dive until these partnerships with countries that do trade with cuba. Another example of pent up wealth that would be more than opened up if the USA would just stop the embargo. That way cubans would be much better off).

Fuggin incredible sophistry!

Also, I think you are mixing up the US's extra territorial sanctions aimed at crippling Cuba's economy, and the US's ban on US citizens traveling to Cuba.

The Cuba Prostitution Documentary (2011)

http://www.fastpasstv.ms/movies/the-cuba-prostitution-documentary-2011/

"Photographer Andrew Lindy travelled to Cuba and made a film about prostitution in Cuba. You may like or dislike his approach to this "hands on" film project."I certainly tried to explain that I was not looking for prostitutes, although I did explain that many people use prostitution as a means of income subsidy. Cuban people are lovely and honorable. If I have a particular point or criticism, it is that people are struggling to make ends meet. 80% of the economy is black market, and there is a general sadness in people because they lack opportunity. However it is not a restlessness. My sense is that opportunity is so scarce that creative drive is quite rare, which means that restlessness is not likely to occur". "


This isn't the documentary I heard. But with 80% of the economy black market it does tell a tale that is typical of communist countries.... lack of opportunity in the command economy. Cuba to its credit has tried mixed market ideas in the last 20 years. But they need more investment. The people in cuba will be better off if they have more opportunity that American investment will bring.

Thankfully, she also had Panamanian citizenship, so she was allowed to leave the country with her mother to the US, and since her mother was Cuban, she earned her US citizenship quickly and came to live here in Miami and actually got the chance to have a good life. She's doing quite well for herself now, studying chemistry in hopes to become a psychiatrist. Something that she would not have been able to do in Cuba, simply because they earn a misery there.

The things she tells me about the reality of the country are what you consider "hyperbole". Wanna go see if Cuba is the utopia that you think it is? Ask somebody who actually lived there to see how things really are. Or better yet, go see it yourself.

Still looking for those posts of mine claiming that Cuba is Utopia.



[FONT color="RED"]"Or better yet, go see it yourself."[/FONT]

So, you've been there when?

have loved ones there, but have worked there in various capacities, yourself!

Oh, fucking well!

... that something his GF would not have been able to do in Cuba would be to study chemistry and then on to study psychiatry. WTF? Cuba trains more Drs per capita than any other nation, as well as many thousands of students from all over the world. Poster seems in the dark on this topic.
In Cuba she could have earned her degrees for no cost. But, as the poster reveals, his half Cuban GF left Cuba because she is in health care for the money.
No loss for Cuba.

How limiting that must be, how unfulfilling!

Imagine the drudgery of saving lives, healing wounds, restoring lost health, etc. And doing this in clothes perhaps bought in another year. Oh, god, would there be no end to your suffering?

You are so right, it's NOT Cuba and Cubans' loss at all.

The brain trust reps who try to launch that one periodically always target the current Cuban government for these ravings, don't they?

They're off by only decades and decades, unfortunately.

Please see an assortment of articles published well BEFORE the revolution, back when the Miami "exile" Batistianos were fully in charge of things in Cuba:

CUBA TOURISM
1950-1959
CUBA AIRGUIDE .. Tourist Magazine June 1954
TOURIST SUPPLEMENT to Cuba Airguide June 1954 which includes Miami
Guide to Havana, Cuba .. U.S. Navy Fleet Publication 1954
CUBA AIRGUIDE .. Tourist Magazine March 1956 [Reproduced in total]
Cuba Gambling Mecca .. Gambling Mecca of the New World 1956
NIGHT CLUB IN THE SKY .. Cubana Airlines' Tropicana Special 1957
Havana Crossroads of the World 1958 ..

http://cuban-exile.com/menu1/%21tourism.html


CUBA - MIAMI
ENTERTAINMENT - ENTERTAINERS
1950s


[ Main Site Menu ] [ SEARCH This Site ] [ Index to Site Documents ]


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There has much discussion about the night life in Havana taken to the extreme. This section contains various contemporary articles which shed some light on the "inside" of Cuba's night life. In comparison, the nightlife of Miami is offered. In most cases we have selected the most inflammatory articles to let the reader view from the extreme.
Some more tame vacation targets of many mainstream Americans are also listed. For more on general tourism, go to the Tourism Menu.

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[REF: Cabaret Yearbook, Winter Resort Number, Volume One, poss 1956, p20]

HAVANA The sexiest city in the world -- that's what Havana has been termed by world travelers. In the shadow of the presidential palace, in the capital's narrow ancient streets, there is indeed the open practice of the world's oldest profession. But sex in Havana is not cheap and tawdry. Sex is rather in the beat of city life, in the tropical scent of this vast metropolis, in the cosmopolitan outlook of its people. For Havana is a woman, and fickle female that she is, must be entertained. And so cabaret life is rich and exciting, different from anything found in the U.S. It has a rhythm and gaiety all its own -- all but an hour by plane from Miami.

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HAVANA
Cuban Gambling Casinos & The Mafia

NIGHTLIFE

SIN - With a Rhumba Beat -- Prostitution, Politics, Gambling.. Cuba 1950
Havana's Favorite Drink -- The Daiquiri
Havana is a Man's Town 1955
Cabaret's Guide to Havana night clubs and cabarets 1956
Guide to After-Dark Havana night clubs, bars...1956
Havana Nightlife Guide 1956
Havana's Tropicana Is Most Beautiful Club 1956
Havana Night Life by Jay Mallin ca 1956 unpublished work
Havana's Sans Souci Night Club 1957
World's Rawest Burlesque Show by Jay Mallin ..
Havana's Shanghai Theater 1957



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MUSIC
Cuba's Tin Pan Alley 1947 Havana's shabbiest cabarets and voodoo lodges

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GAMBLING - CASINOS

American Gambling Interests In Cuba 1959

HAVANA - Nightlife - Gambling by Jay Mallin ..
Cuba's Capones -- Top dogs in Batista's casinos



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DANCERS -- ENTERTAINERS
Miriam Naves Loynaz: Havana Showgirl 1958
U.S. Stripper Bubbles Darlene Debunks Cuban Song "La Enganadora"
Betty Howard packed Havana theaters 1956
Lovely Latin Cuban Dancer Elvira Padovano a/k/a Chris Mara
Carmela - Cuban Stripper
Tybee Afra Afro-Cuban Rhythm Dancer



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[REF: Cabaret Yearbook, Winter Resort Number, Volume One, poss 1956, p5]
MIAMI

Top winter resort in America, Miami becomes the entertainment capital of America in the winter months. The Florida spa is jam-packed with thousands of vacationists, all well-heeled and out for a good time. Miami does its best to give it to them in some of the plushest niteries in the land. Whether it's an elegant hotel cabaret on the beach, a palatial bistro on one of the bay islands or just a strip spot out in the sticks, Miami is dedicated to giving its winter customers a long-remembered night on the town. Everywhere the theme is the same – girls, some of the best-stacked beauties in the land. For Miami is a city of the outdoors, of sun and surf. And its women have to be the most shapely for Miami's standard uniform is the swim suit.


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Guide to After-Dark Miami 1956 Miami
Nightlife Miami Beach Nightlife 1956Miami
Night Life Guide 1956
Cabaret Guide To Miami 1956

http://cuban-exile.com/menu1/%21entertain.html

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When people know very LITTLE about Cuba, but want to take a kick at the country as it is now, this is one of the areas they think might be worth a shot.

People who travel to Cuba agree there is a much GREATER prostitution presence on Calle Ocho in Miami than there is in Havana.

... the only way for a woman in Cuba to do well is by becoming a prostitute?
It takes a sick fuck to say something so denigrating of Cuban women it is clearly anti Cuban bigotry.
I have never been so outraged at something said here like this all too oft repeated openly bigoted slander. That and the cheering of Chavez' death by similar sick fucks has me ticked off today.

Thanks for your informative posts, as always, Judi.

the difference between pre-revolutionary Cuba and the modern Cuba.

They don't seem to grasp that when the U.S. military used Cuba as a "rest and recreation" spot, it was teaming with a certain kind of behavior, and when Batista allowed the U.S. Mafia the run of the place it was extremely crude for a long time, and was well-known for that. That's when the U.S. Cuban "exiles" were all still living there, of COURSE.

It was known, as can be seen in any number of non-fiction films as the "Whorehouse of the Caribbean".
That's not the way it has EVER been viewed since then.

Some people don't grasp the reality that people who come and go to Cuba have related there are far more people engaged in this work in MIAMI than in Havana. We just don't get leering smirks, or theatrical eyerolls, or any gnarly fingers directed at Miami claiming what a den of iniquity it is there, do we? I don't THINK so.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=511706998872536

What a great idea. Thanks.

until after Fidel takes his long-awaited dirt nap.

Fortunately they can't live forever so time is all it takes. The Cubans want fresh faces and already 2 out of 3 of the demands of the Valera Project have been done (free travel, privatization; all that's left is candidate selection / campaigning).