DWB

Of course you are going to say something like that, you live in Miami and are part Cuban. I must ask, have you even been there? Ive been there a lot for extended periods and have hitch hiked across the island, all of it, several times. It's poor, but it's a lovely place.

Sure Cuba has problems, that was not what I meant. I was referring to global problems or issues that involve other countries. However, Cuba is dirty poor and struggling because of the USA. That is a fact. We have them in a headlock and have been chocking them out for years.

SOME Cubans are happy to leave Cuba. The only Cubans I've met IN Cuba who still want to leave, are younger Cubans who are more into getting their hands on the latest fashion brands and making money. Lift the trade embargo and let money start to pour into that country and opportunity and see who still wants to leave.

And yea, you have people who speak out against Castro jailed. So what? They know it's not allowed, and they do it anyway. Pretty fucking stupid if you ask me. Is it a human rights violation? Maybe. The US has done worse over less. No country is perfect. But they people know the rules and choose to break them. The people in Cuba have other small freedoms that Americans don't have, but on the flip side, they don't have the freedom to criticize their government. Break the rules, pay the price.

I know Cuba is not perfect, but it is special. When Fidel and Raul are gone and if the next leader is able to mend the relationship with the USA, "Cuba" is over. The Cubas have no idea how easy they have it right now. Free health care, one of the highest literacy rates in the word, it's safe and it is cut off from the outside world that is just DYING to race in to destroy the charm that is Cuba. Startbucks and McDondalds have already secured private deals for locations along the Malecon in Havana. Think about that. How sad.

What is going to happen is this. American investors (and American Cubans) are going to run in there and take everything. The old cars, the antique furniture, old musical instruments, old bikes, old radios... you name it. The Cubans are going to sell it all to them (or get fucked out of it) and be left holding that glorious green wad of cash and will have lost everything that makes that island so unique. That will be sad. T

hen what you will have is Havana revived and the new tourist spot for Americans, but the Cuban people and smaller cities are going to suffer more than before. No more free health care and now they get a shitty education system. Free food or rations, nope. Because they won't be able to have it with the new way of doing things. Most of Cuba will then turn into another Dominican Republic, otherwise a poverty filled shit hole, that was better off before. It's going to be very sad. Mark my words, this will happen.

The only saving grace to this story is if the USA somehow makes Cuba a state somewhere down the road. That would pull them out of the slump and turn them into another Puerto Rico, and the military will continue to keep the base there, unrestricted, meaning that GIs would pretty much take over the southern part of the island and Santiago De Cuba. This would be about the only option that would save Cuba from totally falling into more despair.