Venezuela-Cuba cable to be laid in early 2011

Source: Associated Press

Venezuela-Cuba cable to be laid in early 2011
By IAN JAMES

Work to lay an undersea fiber optic cable that will dramatically improve telecommunications in Cuba should begin by February, Cuba's ambassador to Venezuela said Friday.

Ambassador Rogelio Polanco said the line should start working in mid-2011 -- about two years after initial projections.

Venezuela's government has an agreement with Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent SA to produce and install the fiber optic line, a project first announced in 2007.

Cuba is the only nation in the Western Hemisphere that is not linked to the outside world by fiber optics. Instead, it relies on slow, expensive satellite links because the U.S. government's embargo has prevented most trade between the island and the United States and has made companies in other countries shy away from doing business with Cuba.


Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9J0URMG0.htm

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(My emphasis)

I expect to see more of this kind of development in Latin America over the next few years as the US MSM gets more and more shrill about the Bolivia ran revolution. The USA is become more and more irrelevant to the developing nations....and that is a good thing for the world.

Interesting tidbits of info from persons who have actually been to Cuba (☛imagine that!? ) ...

http://cubafaq.tripod.com/internet.htm

Did I mention I'm Canadian/Irish?

... and that is that internet access is very limited due to the US extraterritorial sanctions on Cuba.

The US restricts access for Cubans, and then the US, along with several human rights watcher NGO's, almost universally blame Castro for it. :crazy:

It kinda puts reports like this (below) into perspective ...

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/category,COI,,,CUB,49d4758f24,0.html

Once you filter thru the RW NED/IRI/Freedom House/ cubanet.org fabricated bullshit - that many "rights" and "freedom" watcher NGOs simply ditto- there is some info within --> Cubans do have somewhat limited access to internet, but that limitation ("Castro's censorship" according to RW agenda propaganda) is due to costs associated with technical limitations such as low bandwidth availability (due to US sanctions) and outdated telephone line/switching/relay node infrastructure. Of course, costs are hard to cover in Cuba. Cuba is a poor Caribbean island that is subjected to a myriad of US extraterritorial sanctions specifically designed to cripple the economy and infrastructure of Cuba.

Never mind the facts of the matter ... Castro did it! :eyes:


--

More Freedumb House BS ...


:rofl:

Motivated as I am to understand--I mean, truly understand--the world outside of our U.S. "Alice and Wonderland" bubble--especially the amazing peaceful, leftist revolution in Latin America--it's not so easy to identify and examine every stray bit of BS that still rattles around in one's brain, from the intense propaganda that we are subjected to. I welcome this new information, that the embargo, of course, is why Cuba has no fiber-optic cable connection, which, of course, greatly curtails Cuban telecommunications, which, of course, gets blamed on the Cuban government, by rightwingers and corpo-fascists who love the embargo because it greatly curtails Cuban telecommunications, development, trade and access to the outside world--a perfect "Red Queen" loop of imperial insanity. (Lewis Carroll is really the only political commentator that we need to consult to understand U.S. government--that is, U.S. multinational corporate/war profiteer--policy.) (If the roses are naturally white, you paint them red, because the Red Queen will chop off your head if you don't.)

Funny and tragic at the same time--as all good humor is, I suppose. Would anything be funny if we were not tragic creatures, aspiring to live forever, lured by Hubble images that we provided for ourselves with our own very fine telescope to examine objects 13 billion light years away, near the beginning of the Universe and wanting to understand everything, and still not having a clue as to how to feed every thinking creature born on earth, or how to stop war? "How like an angel/how like a god...!" Yet, how actually unstable we are, how wrong we often are, how blind we often are and how funny we almost always are, even in our most wretched exhibitions of human folly.

I laugh with you...

:rofl:

...and...

:cry: :grouphug: :cry:

I strongly suggest that you read the article in the October 2010 issue of Harper's Magazine entitled "Thirty days as a Cuban: Pinching pesos and dropping pounds in Havana," by Patrick Symmes.

in the October 2010 issue of Harper's Magazine entitled "Thirty days as a Cuban: Pinching pesos and dropping pounds in Havana," by Patrick Symmes. It will, perhaps, sober you up a bit.

:sarcasm:




Been there. Lived there. Seen it.

---

Also, where did you stay, and how much did your stay cost (excluding airfare)? I'm curious about going myself.

I'm thinking about going for approximately three weeks, so information for a period of time comparable to that would be good.

....interesting, and illuminating!

http://designcrack.com.nyud.net:8090/v2/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/suspicious2.jpg http://2.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_DTETUuPEyl8/Rq4VVGOFSaI/AAAAAAAAANU/wLIwg3OLwzE/s320/arte2.gif

Scares those of us who've known him for ages to death. We're all shaking in our boots in the Latin America forum. What ever you do, don't make him mad! Whooooo!

http://wanderingjew.typepad.com.nyud.net:8090/photos/uncategorized/2007/03/27/apocalypto.jpg

I managed to marry upward.

I had been to Cuba many many times prior, and afterward.

without the benefit a family guide. Out of curiosity, does your Cuban family acquire its groceries principally at the CUC stores?

"Out of curiosity, does your Cuban family acquire its groceries principally at the CUC stores?"

No.

---

he looks like an old tired hugo chavez.. Like seeing the future..

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6874LC20100908

Maybe they can route though China to censor searches for obscene things like "democracy".

Oh ... wait ... :eyes:

Can they vote for that?

Or will people still be arrested for the "crime" of setting up internet links?

Internet access is limited in Cuba due to the lack of bandwidth (that's why the Ven-Cuba broadband cable is so important). This very lack of bandwidth and high speed infrastructure (both made difficult by the US sanctions on Cuba) makes internet expensive and slow.

The Cuban people have approved of the necessary prioritization of WWW access - education, research, healthcare, and government. It is their elected representatives in the National Assembly who manage this (via communications committees, much like the US. If they didn't and everyone logged-on, then the entire system (slow and limited as it is now) would crash with overload. If Cubans don't agree with their representative's actions then they can recall said rep using the open accountability sessions mandated every 6 months for every rep. If a rep fails to get a vote of confidence (at least 50% +1 support of the electorate) then a new full selection and election process in that district is mandated in six weeks. Cubans by and large support the prioritization scheme for now. They want functional internet for their education, research, healthcare, and government infrastructure.


Duly noted that you have access to internet without using a licensed and legal (permitted) ISP account. :eyes:

in relation to this story. Plenty of details on tapping operations during the carter administration. A person willing to do a mental situp would ask themselves why cut a cable that can be tapped? Interestingly another guy who hated his job disclosed that information to the USSR, for $5000. Not quite for Lulz, but still not much. Pelton, manning, same story.

Hell by 2011 there may be no embargo because cuba moved to a market economy and held open elections.

I love your persistent (but wrong) repostings on Cuba's democratic process - that, actually, is fully open for all to see during election season.

It would be nice for Americans to be able to go to Cuba, but America's "open democracy" government has travel banned Americans from seeing Cuba for themselves, so all we're left with is uninformed regurgitated BS.






edit: FYI, I have been to Cuba during campaigns


Lot's more info on Cuba's electoral processes in this very informative thread by DUer Mika ...

the state apparatus. I have been to cuba, nice place, nice people. They were kind enough not to stamp my passport and did not make me pay a bribe to get off the boat I was crewing on. $100 bucks in the passport was standard rate at many places in the carib.

Raul Castro was elected to the Cuban Head of State position by the Cuban National Assembly (which is the elected parliament, from which any cabinet position must be from). Raul also is the elected Assembly representative of Santiago de Cuba.

Pavulon, you carry on as if Cuba has no legitimate electoral processes. You are wrong.

Fidel did not pass control to his brother. The Cuban constitution mandates parliamentary structure and command structure. If the HoS is unable to perform the duties, then the VP assumes the HoS position temporarily until the next election (similar to the US).

The Cuban elections resulted in Raul being elected to his Parliamentary seat, and then the elected parliament electing Raul to the Head of State position. The Cuban Head of State isn't a strongman that rules by decree. In fact the Cuban head of State has no more than one vote in the Assembly (parliament).

The most powerful political person in Cuba is the President of the Cuban Assembly - Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Alarcon



Of course, I know that you know these details. :eyes:

I know that you know better, because you have participated in prior threads where your claim has been debunked.

Not sure why you repeat the accusation. Hmmm.

From an earlier thread where the same accusation of no opponents running against Fidel was made;

------

Cuba: Before and After the 1959 Revolution
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4653650



Representative Fidel Castro was elected to the National Assembly as a representative of District #7 Santiago de Cuba.

Here's a list of some of the other candidates on the 2003 slate for Santiago de Cuba (Castro's home district).

http://www.granma.co.cu/secciones/candidatos/prov-13.htm

JUAN ALMEIDA BOSQUE

Nivel Escolar: Universitario. Ocupación: Miembro del Buró Político, Vicepresidente del Consejo de Estado, Comandante de la Revolución. Se incorporó a la lucha revolucionaria desde el 10 de marzo de 1952. Participó en el Asalto al Cuartel Moncada. Formó parte de los expedicionarios del Granma. Fue ascendido a Comandante y en marzo de 1958 organizó el III Frente de Operaciones en la Sierra Maestra. A partir del 1o de Enero de 1959 ha ocupado distintas responsabilidades. En octubre de 1965, al constituirse el Comité Central del Partido Comunista de Cuba, fue designado miembro del mismo y de su Buró Político. En septiembre de 1968 fue designado Delegado del Buró Político para la atención al sector de la construcción y en septiembre de 1970 Delegado del Buró Político en la provincia de Oriente. Es presidente de la Asociación de Combatientes de la Revolución Cubana. Se le otorgó el título de Héroe de la República de Cuba y la Orden "Máximo Gómez" de 1er. grado. Municipio: Santiago de Cuba

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ADRIÁN FONSECA QUESADA

Nivel Escolar: Medio Superior. Ocupación: Estudiante. En la Enseñanza Primaria y Secundaria alcanzó resultados docentes satisfactorios y ocupó diferentes cargos en la organización pioneril. Presidió la FEEM en Bayamo e integró su Secretariado Nacional. Participó en el XIV Festival Mundial de la Juventud y los Estudiantes. En el SMG obtuvo varios estímulos y condecoraciones. Estuvo al frente del trabajo de la UJC en su compañía y perteneció al Comité UJC de la Brigada. Comenzó sus estudios universitarios en la Universidad de Oriente estudiando Comunicación Social, en 1er. año fue Secretario General de su Comité de Base, integró el Consejo de la FEU en la Universidad, siendo su Vicepresidente, y al comenzar el 2do. año fue Presidente. Municipio: Santiago de Cuba

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FIDEL CASTRO RUZ

Nivel escolar: Universitario. Ocupación: Primer Secretario del CC del PCC. Presidente de los Consejos de Estado y de Ministros. Comandante en Jefe de las FAR. Desde 1945 se integró a las luchas políticas estudiantiles. Concibió y dirigió el asalto al Cuartel Moncada. Fundador del Movimiento 26 de Julio. Organizó la expedición del Granma y dirigió la guerra de liberación que culminó con el Triunfo de la Revolución el 1o de Enero de 1959. Dirigió y participó en la defensa de Playa Girón. Fue Presidente del Movimiento de Países No Alineados. Ha impulsado y dirigido la lucha del pueblo cubano por la consolidación del proceso revolucionario, el avance hacia el socialismo y la unidad de todas las fuerzas revolucionarias. Ha sido electo Diputado a la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular desde la creación de aquella en 1976 y desde entonces ha ocupado por elección los cargos de Presidente del Consejo de Estado y Presidente del Consejo de Ministros. Es el principal impulsor y organizador de la intensa Batalla de Ideas que hoy libramos, dirigiendo las campañas, programas y acciones que desarrolla nuestro pueblo. Municipio: Santiago de Cuba

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CARLOS ALBERTO CABAL MIRABAL

Nivel Escolar: Universitario. Ocupación: Director de Biofísica Médica. En 1971 inició su vida laboral como Jefe del Departamento de Física Electrónica en la Escuela de Física, en este mismo año fue promovido a Subdirector de la escuela y luego a Director. Fue Subdirector de la Unidad Docente de Moa; Decano y fundador de la Facultad de Física Matemática, jefe de grupo de RMN. Desde la fundación del centro de Biofísica Médica en 1993 ha sido su Director. Milita en el PCC desde 1976. Desde 1991 es miembro del Comité Provincial del Partido. Fue Delegado al IV Congreso del PCC y Delegado Directo al V Congreso. Ha participado como ponente y autor en más de 70 eventos científicos a nivel nacional e internacional. Desde 1993 es Diputado a la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular. Municipio: Santiago de Cuba

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MISAEL ENAMORADO DÁGER

Nivel Escolar: Superior. Ocupación: Primer Secretario del Partido en la provincia. De 1977 a 1981 trabajó como Ingeniero y Jefe de Mantenimiento de la Empresa de Automatización del MINAZ, del municipio de Palma Soriano. Luego laboró como inversionista del Central Tunas 1. De 1985 a 1988 se desempeñó como Jefe del Departamento de Industria del Partido Provincial de Las Tunas y fue Director de la Empresa Estructuras Metálicas. Desde 1992 a 1994 ocupó el cargo de Primer Secretario del Partido del municipio de Las Tunas. Teniendo en cuenta los resultados de su trabajo fue promovido a Miembro del Buró Provincial. En el IV Congreso del Partido fue electo miembro de su Comité Central. Fue elegido como Primer Secretario del Partido de la Provincia de Las Tunas desde 1995 al 2001. En el V Congreso fue elegido Miembro del Buró Político. Desde octubre del 2001 se desempeña como Primer Secretario del Partido en la provincia de Santiago de Cuba. Es actualmente Diputado a la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular. Municipio: Santiago de Cuba

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JULIO CHRISTIAN JIMÉNEZ MOLINA

Nivel escolar: Universitario. Ocupación: Vicepresidente Primero del INDER. Desarrolló su etapa estudiantil con excelentes resultados hasta alcanzar el título de Lic. en Ciencias Políticas, destacándose por su participación activa en el deporte, especialmente en baloncesto, donde ha participado en eventos nacionales e internacionales durante toda esa etapa. Integró el Equipo Nacional de Baloncesto hasta ocupar distintas responsabilidades en la Dirección Nacional del INDER, otras instituciones y escuelas pertenecientes al deporte hasta agosto del 1997, que es designado Vicepresidente Primero del INDER. Fue militante de la UJC e ingresó al PCC en 1978. Ha cumplido diferentes misiones gubernamentales por lo que fue seleccionado en el 2000, Cuadro Destacado del Estado. Municipio: Santiago de Cuba

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LUIS ENRIQUE IBÁÑEZ ARRANZ

Nivel Escolar: Universitario. Ocupación: Presidente de la Asamblea Municipal. Fue dirigente de la UJC a todos los niveles y dirigente del PCC hasta 1992 que es promovido a Primer Secretario en el municipio de Julio Antonio Mella. En 1996 fue designado Vicepresidente del CAM hasta el 2001. Posteriormente, fue elegido Presidente de la Asamblea Municipal del municipio de Santiago de Cuba. Participó como Delegado al IV Congreso de la UJC e invitado al IV Congreso del PCC. Es el Vicepresidente del Consejo de Defensa del municipio de Santiago. Por su trayectoria revolucionaria y los méritos acumulados ha recibido varias condecoraciones y reconocimientos. Municipio: Santiago de Cuba

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VIRGEN ALFONSO RODRÍGUEZ

Nivel Escolar: Universitario. Ocupación: Secretaria General FMC Provincial. Ingresó en el ISP "Frank País", de Santiago de Cuba, donde obtuvo los sellos de Oro y de Plata, fue dirigente de la UJC en el Comité de Base y de la FEU a nivel de aula. Participó como Delegada al XIV Festival de la Juventud y los Estudiantes y a su regreso fue promovida a Directora Municipal de Cultura en ese territorio. Se trasladó al municipio Songo-La Maya como Metodóloga de Español-Literatura desde 1991-1994. Al finalizar este año fue promovida a Cuadro de la FMC, donde se desempeña actualmente como Secretaria General de la provincia. Pasó la Escuela Provincial del PCC en el año 2002. Ha sido condecorada con el Sello Educadora Ejemplar, Medalla por 5 años de trabajo ininterrumpido como cuadro de la FMC y Medalla 30 Aniversario de los CDR. Municipio: Santiago de Cuba

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LARIS CORRALES ROBERT

Nivel Escolar: Superior. Ocupación: Primer Secretario del PCC Municipal. De 1981 a 1983 cumple misión internacionalista en la República Popular de Nicaragua. Laboró como maestro en la escuela "José Martí Pérez". En 1984 fue promovido a Director de la Escuela Primaria "Rubén Díaz", labor que realizó hasta 1987, en que pasó a ocupar el cargo de Metodólogo Inspector de la Dirección Municipal de Educación en Palma Soriano. En 1993 fue promovido a trabajar como cuadro profesional del Partido, desempeñándose como Instructor y luego como Miembro Profesional del Buró de Palma Soriano. En 1997 fue promovido a Primer Secretario hasta octubre del 2001. que pasó con igual función al Comité Municipal en Santiago de Cuba, es miembro no Profesional del Buró Ejecutivo del Comité Provincial. Fue Delegado al V Congreso del Partido. Municipio: Santiago de Cuba.

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ERNESTO STIVENS LAGART

Nivel Escolar: Superior. Ocupación: Ingeniero en Minas de Cobre. En 1984 ingresó al SMG en la U/M 3227 de la provincia de Holguín, estando en las FAR fue designado a cumplir misión internacionalista en Angola donde le fue otorgada la militancia de la UJC. A su regreso a Cuba, se incorporó a trabajar en la empresa minera del cobre, manteniendo una actitud destacada, motivo por el cual cursó estudios superiores, incorporándose en 1989 al ISMM de Moa a la especialidad de Ingeniería de Mina y se graduó en 1994. A partir de entonces se incorporó a la empresa nuevamente en el cargo que ocupa. Ostenta la medalla de Combatiente Internacionalista de 1era. clase, distinción Servicio Distinguido, medalla Victoria Cuba- Angola. Es miembro de la ACRC. Municipio: Santiago de Cuba

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VILMA LUCILA ESPÍN GUILLOIS

Nivel escolar: Universitario. Ocupación: Presidenta de la Federación de Mujeres Cubanas y Miembro del Consejo de Estado. Fue una de las primeras mujeres que se graduó como Ingeniera Química Industrial. Una de las más cercanas colaboradoras de Frank País en la lucha revolucionaria. Miembro de la Dirección Nacional del 26 de Julio, y Coordinadora Provincial de Oriente, hasta que pasó al II Frente Oriental "Frank País". Ha sido elegida, Congreso tras Congreso, como Presidenta de la FMC. Es miembro del Comité Central del Partido desde 1965. Fue elegida suplente del Buró Político en el II Congreso y efectivo en el III, y ratificada como miembro del Comité Central en todos los Congresos. Actualmente preside la Comisión Nacional de Prevención y Atención Social; la Comisión Permanente de Atención a la Niñez, la Juventud y la Igualdad de Derechos de la Mujer y orienta el Grupo de Educación Sexual. Es Diputada a la Asamblea Nacional y del Consejo de Estado desde 1976. Se le otorgó el título de Heroína de la República de Cuba y la Orden "Mariana Grajales". Municipio: Santiago de Cuba

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SONIA DURÁN ROJAS

Nivel Escolar: Universitario. Ocupación: Metodóloga Provincial de Educación. Comenzó su vida laboral en la Escuela Vocacional Antonio Maceo en 1981, donde ocupó varias responsabilidades, entre ellas: Jefa de Departamento de Literatura y Español. Participó en diferentes eventos Municipales y Provinciales de Pedagogía, Lingüística y Comunicación. En 1991 fue promovida a Metodóloga Provincial, donde ha obtenido resultados positivos. Ha sido Presidenta de la Comisión de Ingreso a la Educación Superior desde el año 1991 hasta la fecha. Es Profesora Adjunta del ISP Frank País García. Recibió la Distinción por la Educación Cubana. Es Delegada de circunscripción. Municipio: Santiago de Cuba

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ALBERTO LEZCAY MERENCIO

Nivel escolar: Superior. Ocupación: Presidente de la Fundación Caguayo para las Artes Monumentales Aplicadas. Es fundador de la televisora Tele Rebelde, donde inició su vida laboral como pintor escenográfico, así como del taller de diseño y textos del DOR. En 1973 se graduó en Escultura en la Escuela Nacional de Arte y en 1979 de Maestro en Arte, Academia de Escultura, Arquitectura, Pintura y Gráfica "I. Repin" en Leningrado. Fue nombrado miembro de la UNEAC y de la Asociación Internacional de Artistas Plásticos. Es autor de varias obras de arte. En 1981 pasó a Director del Taller Cultural en Santiago de Cuba y en 1982 dirigió el equipo multidisciplinario para el proyecto de la Plaza Monumento Antonio Maceo. En 1985 fue delegado al XII Festival Mundial de la Juventud y los Estudiantes en Moscú. Ha participado en eventos nacionales e internacionales. Municipio: Santiago de Cuba

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JOSÉ RAMÓN BALAGUER CABRERA

Nivel escolar: Universitario. Ocupación: Miembro del Buró Político del Partido y del Consejo de Estado, fundador del PCC. En 1958 se incorporó como Combatiente al Segundo Frente Oriental "Frank País", tomando parte en varios combates. Al triunfo de la Revolución ocupó los cargos de Segundo Jefe y Jefe de Sanidad municipal en La Habana. Más tarde fue designado Director General ejecutivo y Viceministro de Higiene y Epidemiología del Ministerio de Salud Pública. A partir de 1962 ocupó varias responsabilidades en el MINFAR. Fue Primer Secretario del Comité Provincial del Partido en Santiago de Cuba y delegado del Buró Político en Granma. En 1985 fue promovido a miembro del Secretariado del Comité Central. Fue Embajador de Cuba en la URSS. Es miembro del Comité Central del Partido desde 1975 y Diputado a la Asamblea Nacional desde su constitución. En reconocimiento a su labor, le han sido otorgadas varias condecoraciones. Municipio: Santiago de Cuba


----------

I don't have time right now, but I'll try to find the multi candidate list from Raul's home district in the last election.


I should note that I've lived in Cuba during an entire election cycle and seen it function with my own eyes.

---

I dont care where you lived when GW bush hands off to Jeb Bush, there is a problem. He has been running a communist state and controls the mechanisms.

He was handed power.

But does this mean that the article from the Havana Journal that was linked by Billy Burnette in post #12 (and very selectively quoted from) is false?

And as a follow-up to my questions in post #23, were you able to get a food ration card since you lived in Cuba for an entire election cycle?

with pavulon on ignore... :rofl:

Where father selects son using the SCOTUS

there is not a democratic state working in cuba.

For some reason, in your selective quotation from the article that you linked, you chose not to include the following:

"These 'nomination assemblies' are organized by election officials and the Revolutionary Defense Committees, which keep tabs on residents and are located on nearly every block across the nation of 11.2 million. Nominated candidates vie for seats on municipal assemblies, which help choose candidates for Cuba’s National Assembly. That national legislature in turn approves appointments to the island’s supreme governing body, the Council of State.

Real power has always rested with President Fidel Castro, who has never had to put his job to a free vote. The 81-year-old hasn’t been seen in public since emergency intestinal surgery forced him to cede power to younger brother Raul in July 2006. He officially still heads the Council of State, but unless his health improves, council members could replace him with Raul next spring. . . .

And while the Communist Party runs the government, a third of the 37,328 candidates chosen at nominating assemblies to run for municipal posts won’t be party members, but men and women chosen because their neighbors like them.

Critics note, however, that when municipal assembly seats are determined in a secret ballot election on Oct. 28, the only winners of the more than 15,000 posts will be Communist Party members.

Moreover, the initial nominating that ran until Sept. 26 was by a show of hands, not a secret ballot, which effectively bars dissidents from running, say critics such as Alejandro Tru, of the tiny, opposition Liberal Party of Cuba.

If anyone raised a hand for a dissident candidate, 'there are 1,000 subtle and not subtle ways' to intimidate them into withdrawing their nomination, he said.

Since Cuban elected bodies exist mainly to rubber-stamp government policy, membership doesn’t offer much of a legislative challenge. Nor does it pay much. But it carries a prestige that attracts top artists, singers and authors to vie for seats."

where with VERY few exception only a member of one of the two right-wings of the Corporate War Party can be "elected"?

In Cuba, you should be a party member...

In U.S.A., you must be backed by BIG MONEY...

I'd choose Cuba -- it's easy for me though, I AM a Socialist so I'd have no problem joining the Party... The people who have trouble joining the party in Cuba are primarily paid shills for the U.S. Govt...

I hate corporate/state propaganda.

a country 90 miles or so off the coast of the usa.

castro has out lasted every president since Ike.

most of the cuban adults that came here in the early 60`s are dead.



we still can not accept the fact that cuba refuses to bow down to american imperialism.

....continues to move forward, with or without us....

1. Entirely determined by electronic voting systems, run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, now largely (80%) owned and controlled by ONE, private, far rightwing-connected corporation--ES&S, which just bought out Diebold--with virtually no audit/recount controls;

2. The filthiest elections on earth, drenched in corporate money; and

3. Further rigged by the corpo-fascist media, which effectively controls our public TV/radio airwaves and skews our national political dialogue to the far, far right.

We are a country where the president dragged us into a war that nearly 60% of the people opposed (Feb. '03, all polls), in which some 100,000 innocent people were slaughtered, to steal their oil; where the corpo-fascist press, including once-reputable news organizations like the New York Slimes, colluded on government lies about the war; a country where egregious violations of the Constitution, the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the Uniform Code of Military Justice and numerous other laws and treaties passed by Congress were violated with complete impunity; where the war profiteers and the banksters have robbed us blind--literally, unfriggingbelievable outright robbery--with compete impunity; where outsourcing of jobs and destruction of the US manufacturing base are rewarded with tax breaks; where the rich control the tax code, and where now we are facing Great Depression II because of all of this mind-boggling lawlessness.

And these people scoff at Cuba's elections? That is humorous.

I do have to admit that I participated in the distraction with a post in this thread about elections in Cuba. Nonetheless, it is interesting that voter registrations is perceived to be nefarious ("keeping tabs on voters"). That open non-party candidate nominations is perceived to be devious commie activity. That "dissidents" aren't nominated (with no mention of Oswaldo Paya's nomination or Elizardo Sanchez's nomination) because of commie chicanery - no one will vote for them (because their platforms of privatization and theocratic government are unpopular). Of course, the incorrect screed that the Cuban assemblies don't do much - Castro does it all. How could I forget the insinuation that a "ration card" (aka: food stamps) is needed to survive in Cuba - as if the government discount stores (discount food stamp stores) are the only food sources in Cuba. All anti Cuba agenda based questions, insinuations and interpretations. Like a push poll.


:hi:

(although handy for its photograph). By the way, does anything about that photograph give you pause?

And are you suggesting that Cuban CUC stores are actually affordable for the majority of Cubans? That would be an interesting and remarkable economic turnaround.

The greening of Cuba
http://www.durhamfoodcoop.org/node/231

Organic Farming Takes Off in Cuba
http://www.tierramerica.net/english/2003/0302/iacentos2.shtml

You seem (pretend to be) unaware of the thousands of farmers markets and cooperative markets all over Cuba, where Cubans get most of their food.

---

And I certainly think the farmers markets are a piece of that. But of course, to thrive, they need to be part of a functioning overall agricultural economy:

http://www.farmstory.org/_webapp_3446305/Six_Weeks_Inside_Socialist_Agriculture_Part_II

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130700949

And with increasingly restricted product availability through Cuba's ration cards (which, unlike food stamps, have been issued to all Cuban citizens as an ostensible monthly food acquisition ticket for the past 47 years), the need for a functioning agricultural market place is greater than ever.

http://www.laprensasa.com/2.0/3/309/828264/America-in-English/Cubans-see-their-ration-cards-get-thinner-and-thinner.html

I'll also note that your equation of Cuba's ration cards to U.S. food stamps is rather odd. Your suggestion is that there are, in fact, elite citizens of Cuba for whom the ration cards are unnecessary and meaningless -- and then there are the rest of the Cubans, whose poverty necessitates state food assistance. That doesn't sound like communism. That just sounds like a badly operating capitalist system.

Finally, on the other issue in my post, am I correct that you view the article from which you drew the photograph as false?

I suggest that you do before spreading more of the Empire's propaganda...

You can do it the easy way: http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/byCountry.html#2

Or just fly to Cancun, or Toronto or even Madrid(!) and get a visa and round trip air ticket for Havana at the Airport. Fuck the Feds...

But the bottom line is that "it's the embargo, stupid." In the "new world order" that has pertained since 1945, no one has been allowed to develop an alternative to metastasized capitalism. And so the world will end...with a whimper -- after a lot of short term profit has been made by a few.

Such a beautiful place.

folks were watching USAmerican network television from Miami...

You see, in Cuba they don't need the heavy National Security State apparatus and the M$M propaganda machine to keep everyone in line like in the USAmerikan Empire.

Nice to see you going along with the USAmerikan program...

I'll be amused to see Cuba try.

As discussed upthread, spending time in chat rooms and discussion forums is simply too expensive because of the low bandwidth available to Cubans (due to the US extra territorial sanctions). Imagine spending time forum trolling using a very slow phone modem, and having to pay high per hour rates. This is what Cubans are up against.

Essentially, it is US government policy (in the form of sanctions on Cuba) that forces rationing and prioritization of internet use in Cuba, not Castro.

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