Beautiful Havana

[church mouse guy]

Havana has been lovingly cared for by the blood-caked murdering hands of Fidel Castro and the blood-caked murdering hands of his alcoholic brother Raul.

Here is a less than 30-second clip of a central Havana neighborhood:

https://youtu.be/UPdj7LNlMcI

If you would like a tour of Havana in 20 minutes, look at this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jY8RdDkPK8

Raul, who has been ordering the arrests and beating of the Ladies in White in numbers since before Easter, is going to the Vatican on Mothers' Day to meet with the new Pope who is on a campaign to revive the marriage of communism and Catholicism called Liberation Theology. They both probably hate the Afro-Cuban Ladies in White.

Havana, in all of its current beauty, is the new destination of aging hippies who can indulge their lifelong perversions for $10 per night in the hotels and restaurants all of which are totally owned and operated by the Castro Communist Party.

Of course, the US Chamber of Commerce and the Business Round Table are salivating like the hippies because the average Cuban makes $20 per month and a US business man might throw in an extra two cents and hire a lot of people to make Apple watches or something.


Cuba, once one of the richest nations in the world per capita is now at the very bottom with North Korea. And North Korea and Cuba have the same types of governments where the money is all at the top and the people eat grass.

Cargill and other agricultural giants want the American taxpayer to feed the Cubans by buying products from Cargill and giving it to the Cubans so that Fidel and Raul can keep their blood-soaked billions. And the American people are just stupid enough to subsidize the Castros.

 

[annsni]

My daughter was there last July and our church has a close relationship with local pastors in Cuba and the first video is quite accurate but doesn't even show the depths of the carnage in that country.

 

[Zaac]

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.

 

[annsni]

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.

It's way more than that.

 

[church mouse guy]

Havana is a liberal Democrat paradise. It compares to North Korea in quality of life.

The communists don't like nice things. The communists took one of the richest countries in the world and made it the poorest by stealing everything for themselves and pursuing a war policy for 50 years. The blood-soaked money of the Cuban people is in the bank accounts of the bloody Fidel and the bloody Raul Castro families and their friends.

As the short video says, the pictures of central Havana show one of the best parts of the city.

 

[poncho]

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

 

[church mouse guy]

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...mploding-into-chaos-and-violence-9194697.html

See, Poncho, you have me confused for someone else. It is the Democrats who want to intervene in Cuba and who have announced new ferry service there. We already have a fully-staffed diplomatic building there. It is the Democrats who want the American taxpayer to give Cargill, Inc., and others several billion dollars to put in the pocket of the super-rich Castro brothers.

Ironically, the GOP (except for Rand Paul, who seems to have some affection for Castro) who wants to continue the policy of JFK as enunciated by Secretary of State Dean Rusk at an Organization of American States meetings so many decades ago.

I just think it is sad that Cuba went from being the richest country in Latin America to being the poorest country in the world next to North Korea, but that is communism for you. Central Havana will have to be razed one day because the pictures that you saw were the best part of the town.

Actually, many countries in Latin America are now poorer than some African countries.

Obama is in search of a legacy, but I think that his legacy will be that of the most pro-communist American leader ever.

 

[poncho]

See, Poncho, you have me confused for someone else. It is the Democrats who want to intervene in Cuba and who have announced new ferry service there. We already have a fully-staffed diplomatic building there. It is the Democrats who want the American taxpayer to give Cargill, Inc., and others several billion dollars to put in the pocket of the super-rich Castro brothers.

Ironically, the GOP (except for Rand Paul, who seems to have some affection for Castro) who wants to continue the policy of JFK as enunciated by Secretary of State Dean Rusk at an Organization of American States meetings so many decades ago.

I just think it is sad that Cuba went from being the richest country in Latin America to being the poorest country in the world next to North Korea, but that is communism for you. Central Havana will have to be razed one day because the pictures that you saw were the best part of the town.

Actually, many countries in Latin America are now poorer than some African countries.

Obama is in search of a legacy, but I think that his legacy will be that of the most pro-communist American leader ever.

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.

 

[church mouse guy]

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.

Well, Poncho, as a mild Calvinist, I believe in total depravity so I don't understand how you think that the rich and powerful don't run the world all over. In Castro's Cuba, Fidel uses military power and human rights abuse to cower the population into submission. In this country, a representative government, the rich have control of many representatives through money. They used to call that vested interests.

The Democrats are using the smear of racism to stir up blacks and gays against the national interest and it is all funded by rich Jews who hate everything and everybody.

Obama's legacy is one of hatred and not one of achievement. Even if Obama were successful in executing his foolish plan for Cuba, it will go down as just a waste of scarce American money because the Castro brothers have made it clear that they are going to continue their Stalinist state. Obama's notions of cheap Cuban labor and lavish US taxpayer gifts to the Castro brothers will not improve things in Cuba anymore than they would in Venezuela or North Korea.

Latin America is sinking in poverty and once again veering towards communism in the foolish notion that communism means wealth in spite of the absence of any example of a nation made wealthy by communism. Latins have adopted the insane idea that communism is the best system but that it just as not been properly tried even though Stalin murdered millions trying to make it work.

While General Raul Castro visited Russia and dropped by the Vatican to meet with the leftist Pope, his security forces at home continued their repression and public beatings of even the Ladies in White. Raul is a literal lady-killer.

 

[FriendofSpurgeon]

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.

 

[poncho]

Well, Poncho, as a mild Calvinist, I believe in total depravity so I don't understand how you think that the rich and powerful don't run the world all over. In Castro's Cuba, Fidel uses military power and human rights abuse to cower the population into submission. In this country, a representative government, the rich have control of many representatives through money. They used to call that vested interests.

The Democrats are using the smear of racism to stir up blacks and gays against the national interest and it is all funded by rich Jews who hate everything and everybody.

Obama's legacy is one of hatred and not one of achievement. Even if Obama were successful in executing his foolish plan for Cuba, it will go down as just a waste of scarce American money because the Castro brothers have made it clear that they are going to continue their Stalinist state. Obama's notions of cheap Cuban labor and lavish US taxpayer gifts to the Castro brothers will not improve things in Cuba anymore than they would in Venezuela or North Korea.

Latin America is sinking in poverty and once again veering towards communism in the foolish notion that communism means wealth in spite of the absence of any example of a nation made wealthy by communism. Latins have adopted the insane idea that communism is the best system but that it just as not been properly tried even though Stalin murdered millions trying to make it work.

While General Raul Castro visited Russia and dropped by the Vatican to meet with the leftist Pope, his security forces at home continued their repression and public beatings of even the Ladies in White. Raul is a literal lady-killer.

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

 

[church mouse guy]

So you want to give money to the Castros and turn a blind eye to human rights abuse and human trafficking in Latin America in support of the Obama policies.

 

[poncho]

So you want to give money to the Castros and turn a blind eye to human rights abuse and human trafficking in Latin America in support of the Obama policies.

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

 

[church mouse guy]

Russia is involved in Cuba and has been since the 1960s. That was part of the reason that JFK imposed sanctions--in order to stop the spread of war and terror from Cuba, as you know.

Obama wants to undo JFK's work and legacy, such as it is, in order to give himself a place in the history books as the one who gave money to the Castros and allowed the Stalinist island to continue.

 

[annsni]

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.

Most of the cars look beautiful on the outside but on the inside, you just may be sitting on bare springs or a blanket thrown over the seat to cover the bare springs. Or you may sit on a wooden bench that was installed when the seats broke completely. Our friend was told to hang his arm out the door of a lovely classic car he was riding in and he realized why when they went around the turn - the door latch was broken and he literally was holding the door closed. Most cars aren't even one manufacturer anymore but instead, you just may get a ride in a Ford/Pontiac/Chevy and the engine just may be from a minibike and lawn mower.

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.

Actually, Cuban food isn't even sweet, greasy and hearty. Breakfast served to my daughter was crackers with a kind of margarine. Lunch and dinner were rice and beans with no seasoning (no onion, no garlic, no cilantro or anything else you would think of), fried plantains and whatever fresh fruit they could get. If you are really fortunate or have enough money, you can get some eggs (my daughter was greatly blessed that they were able to get eggs since the rice and beans didn't agree with her) and even way more rarely, you can get a pig which will be roasted to feed everyone who could come.

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.

One reason my daughter went was to work with the young girls to give them a "hope and a future". Often they have great education but very little future other than getting married and having kids so many hook up with much older men who might have a little more money and they don't even marry them but just become mistresses.

 

[poncho]

Russia is involved in Cuba and has been since the 1960s. That was part of the reason that JFK imposed sanctions--in order to stop the spread of war and terror from Cuba, as you know.

Obama wants to undo JFK's work and legacy, such as it is, in order to give himself a place in the history books as the one who gave money to the Castros and allowed the Stalinist island to continue.

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.

The Joint Chiefs even proposed using the potential death of astronaut John Glenn during the first attempt to put an American into orbit as a false pretext for war with Cuba, the documents show.

Should the rocket explode and kill Glenn, they wrote, "the objective is to provide irrevocable proof … that the fault lies with the Communists et all Cuba [sic]."

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

 

[church mouse guy]

Look who's changing the subject now that Russian involvement in Cuba for the last 56 years is mentioned.

By the way, the 56-year-old dictatorship of the Castro brothers is the oldest dictatorship in the world at the moment.

You are not alone, Poncho, even the Pope is crazy about the Castros.

 

[poncho]

Look who's changing the subject now that Russian involvement in Cuba for the last 56 years is mentioned.

By the way, the 56-year-old dictatorship of the Castro brothers is the oldest dictatorship in the world at the moment.

You are not alone, Poncho, even the Pope is crazy about the Castros.

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

An association fallacy is an inductive informal fallacy of the type hasty generalization or red herring which asserts that qualities of one thing are inherently qualities of another, merely by an irrelevant association. The two types are sometimes referred to as guilt by association and honor by association. Association fallacies are a special case of red herring, and can be based on an appeal to emotion.

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

 

[FriendofSpurgeon]

Actually, Cuban food isn't even sweet, greasy and hearty. Breakfast served to my daughter was crackers with a kind of margarine. Lunch and dinner were rice and beans with no seasoning (no onion, no garlic, no cilantro or anything else you would think of), fried plantains and whatever fresh fruit they could get. If you are really fortunate or have enough money, you can get some eggs (my daughter was greatly blessed that they were able to get eggs since the rice and beans didn't agree with her) and even way more rarely, you can get a pig which will be roasted to feed everyone who could come.

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.

 

[annsni]

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.

We laugh when we go to a Cuban restaurant because the food is nothing like she had in Cuba when she was there last summer. It's so true that food shortages and poverty are the cause. I think the only animal sourced foods she received from the Cubans was the eggs and that had to be purchased on the black market. Fortunately, I have a friend who sells freeze dried and dehydrated foods and I had gotten her a number of foods including freeze dried chicken and ground beef. She was able to use the chicken (after rehydrating in treated water) to make chicken salad and she would use the ground beef with the rice and she did well. She also had freeze dried strawberries, corn, mango, peas and blueberries which were a hit with everyone!! Oh and peanut butter is a staple that always goes with them.