Please Stop Saying You Want to Go to Cuba Before It’s Ruined

[Coventina]

90. Having just returned from Cuba, I have a quasi-rebuttle.

I take the author's points, and he/she makes some very good ones, but a lot of the points are really one-sided and make me wonder what the author's background and intentions are.

The first paragraph about the "starving farmer" killing "his" cow. A totally ridiculous scenario, as the farmers LEASE the cows from the government. This is a practice decades old and is not a surprise to anyone. The farmers lease the cows and in return are able to use all the produce from said cow(s): milk & manure. They can then sell the dairy products or manure for their own profit, or consume them at home, or use the manure on their own fields. I saw MANY farmers selling their farm-made cheese along the roads of Cuba.

Having said that, Cuba is not even suited to large-scale beef production. They simply don't have the land and space. Raising beef takes a LOT of natural resources that Cuba doesn't have. But, the writer doesn't mention THAT reality.

I visited many farms, and they all seemed pretty well-managed and prosperous. I would argue the country folk are doing better than the city-folk. The soil is incredibly fertile, and the tropical climate keeps the crops well watered.

Yes, the government stipend is not enough to live on. Nobody even tries to live on it. Private enterprise is EVERYWHERE in Cuba. There are over 200 government approved occupations in the private sector. More are promised. But for the time being, everyone is busy making it work. Do some people fall through the cracks? Sure! They do here as well.

I went off on my own, unsupervised, in many Cuban communities and nowhere did I see child prostitutes (or any prostitutes for that matter) or anyone starving.

I also call bullshit on the feces covered hospitals. Yes, many of the neighborhood clinics are understocked. Yes, you often have to bring supplies from home. But cleanliness is a value shared by ALL Cubans. Visit any public restroom. There might not be toilet seats, and you cannot flush your paper, but the bathrooms are maintained to a high level of cleanliness by the ever-present bathroom attendant.

Poor medical care exists HERE as well. Anyone told to elevate their feet for a stroke can easily get other opinions, as Cuba has the highest number of doctors per capita in the world. Every family has two or three. Don't like the instructions you got? Consult your cousin instead.

And, this writer seems to conveniently forget that the embargo was for the US! Cubans have plenty of other cars on the streets: Toyotas, VWs, BMWs, Audis, etc. Granted, only the better-off have fancy new cars, but saying that's ALL THEY HAVE is an outright lie.

This article sounds like a right-wing rant to me.

My $.02 based on my direct observations.