Featured Beautiful Havana

Compared to some of the places I've been, this doesn't look bad at all. It reminds me of a lot of the old European cities .

Pump some money into infrastructure and give them access to a home depot, those streets would look just like a Spanish city.

 

Here's what it will look like after you get your wish and Washington "intervenes" to defend the Cuban people.

Three years after Gaddafi, Libya is imploding into chaos and violence

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/three-years-after-gaddafi-libya-is-imploding-into-chaos-and-violence-9194697.html

 

Obama's legacy is his ability to keep you all divided and fighting over what the democrats and republicans are doing rather than what the people who own and control the democrats AND republicans are doing.

 

I came across this the other day - which is very good. I have edited for content and length. Some of these address the OP. Personally, I don't think people know how bad (and sad) it really is.


Cuban-Americans are a very geographically concentrated group, and if you live in places where you do not interact with them regularly, then you will probably never learn which are the comments and topics that they consider to be in bad taste. As such, I have decided to compile a (by no means exhaustive) list of things that I believe you should not mention to a Cuban-American.

1.Do not go into a diatribe about how you need to see the “real” Cuba before the U.S. goes in and “ruins everything.” Most things there are already ruined. The houses and streets are falling apart, the electricity routinely goes out, food is scarce, and almost no one can afford to buy that smartphone/nice pair of jeans/or basically anything else that you are currently carrying on your person because the average salary is $20 a month. Cuba is not a zoo exhibit you can leisurely walk up to and tap on the glass. The Cuban people have the right to buy and use anything they want to. A corner Starbucks does not equate to Mickey Mouse taking his off costume in front of you, no matter how much it might ruin your fantasy of a communist Disney World.

2.Stop talking to me about how much you want to lie on a Cuban beach. I don’t want to join you. I don’t care about your impending sunburn. I care about my family still on the island. If I go, I will not be lying next to you, sipping a daiquiri. I will be visiting my aunts, uncles, and family graves. There are more important things on that island than your ideal vacation.

3.On a related note, stop insisting that it isn’t fair that you can’t yet visit the Cuban beaches. Cuban citizens were denied access to tourist beaches for 47 years. The vast majority of the population cannot afford to spend a single night in a Cuban hotel. You can wait a couple more months.

4.Do not tell me how much you love Fidel or Che. Many of our family members were murdered by those two. My uncle was jailed and tortured for years. Have you ever considered walking up to a Jewish person and extolling the virtues of Hermann Goring? No? What gives you the right to do the same to a Cuban-American?

5.Not all of us came to the U.S. on a raft. Both my parents arrived on planes. Many others traveled to third countries, crossed the Mexican border, won a lottery, were reunited with family members, or were born in the U.S. If the Cuban-American before you did travel to South Florida in a raft, he or she risked dehydration, exposure, drowning, illness, starvation, and shark attacks to make it to this country, and might not want to relive the experience with you.

6.Stop with the swimming/rowing/paddling jokes. Do you have family members who drowned in the Florida Straits? Many Cuban-American families do. Tens of thousands have lost their lives trying to make that crossing just for the chance of greater economic and political freedom.

7.Do not ask a Cuban-American if he/she has been to Cuba. Many of us have. Many more have not. The topic of whether one should visit the island can be very contentious. The Cuban-American before you would probably rather have a nice, social night out rather than describe the complicated and painful rifts in his/her community to a stranger. Furthermore, visiting
or abstaining from the island does not make anyone more or less “Cuban.” They have their reasons. They don’t need to explain them to you.

8.Stop going on about the cars from the 1950s. Yes, they are beautiful. No, the Cuban people do not drive them out of nostalgia. They drive them because they have no other cars, spare parts, or choice. See #1 about your desire to experience a Cuban fantasyland.

9.Cuban food is usually sweet, greasy, and hearty. The following are not
Cuban dishes: tacos, burritos, tamales, tortillas, flautas, nachos, enchiladas etc. They are Mexican. You like spicy food. That’s great. We do not cook with those spices.

10.Stop calling us “Spanish.” You are correct in noticing that we speak the Spanish language. However, Spain is a country. Cuba is an entirely different country. We are no more Spanish than you are British.

11.When we explain that we are Cuban-Americans, do not immediately retort with: “But you don’t look Cuban!” How many Cubans do you know? Pitbull, Scarface, and Marco Rubio? This is analogous to you going overseas and having someone insist that you can’t possibly be American because you don’t look like Ryan Gosling. Cuba was a destination for immigrants from all over the world. As a result, Cuban-Americans come in every
complexion and background imaginable.

12.Stop asking me about the embargo. I’m tired of reenacting the same conversation I’ve had infinite times as soon as I mention my heritage.
Furthermore, my views are not representative of anyone other than myself.

13.Stop going on about how you love our “caramel complexion.” Firstly, I and many other Cuban-Americans are probably lighter than you. Secondly, stop referring to us—or any other ethnic group, for that matter—as if we
were food.

14.Stop talking about how you can’t wait to hook up with “all the hotties in
Havana.” Many Cuban men, women, and children enter sex work because it is the only way they can access the hard foreign currency they need to feed themselves and their families.

15.The Miami Cuban-American community is no more crazy or passionate than you might be about politics, GMOs, animal rights, the environment, free trade agreements, tax reform, campaign funding, gun rights, etc.
Neither is it monolithic (48% voted for President Obama). Nor is it definitively representative of all Cuban-Americans (sizable populations live in New York, California, and all major metropolitan areas).

If you want to learn about Cuba, Cubans, and the Cuban-American experience—with all of its intricacies, complexities, and contradictions—go ahead: “drink a chair” and sit next to us. Many are willing to explain it to you. Just be prepared for a very long conversation involving you mostly listening in silence.

 

So nothing has changed. You still can't prove what you've been claiming.

 

No I'd rather see you prove your allegations of "Russian aggression" but that doesn't look like it's ever going to happen.

 

JFK also had the Joint Chiefs who wanted a war with Cuba so bad they would murder Americans in cold blood and pin the blame on Cuba to get it.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662

 

Looks who's back to using the old "guilt by association" fallacy. :sleep:

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

 

Actually, true Cuban food is all three. Unfortunately, food shortages and poverty on the island is a major problem, and what you listed sounds about right. Very, very sad. One mission organization that we work with actually buys pigs for their pastors.

Have your daughter stop at Versailles if she goes through MIA - Concourse D for some good Cuban food. Cuban pastries and desserts are incredibly sweet - and should come with a side of insulin. Most pastries are filled with guava and cream cheese, and are covered with sugar. Flan, Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding) and Tres Leches are three of my favorite desserts. Even the cafecitos are flowing with sugar.

Most meals consist of lots of meat and pork (hence the "greasy"). Cuban grocery stores even sell "whole pigs" and not just for the holidays. This is complemented with rice and beans (separate or called moros if combined), plantains, yucca, etc. Spices typically include garlic (lots of), sour oranges, limes, onions and mojo to name a few.

All good stuff -- not to mention the croquestas, sandwiches, mariquitas, etc. However, I try to limit my Cuban meals to only once or twice per week, but had a delicious one last evening.