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The US has been the the only major country sanctioning Cuba for a decade and a half, but the economy has only gotten worse. Sanctions may explain why they has

by Aunche 2y ago

The US has been the the only major country sanctioning Cuba for a decade and a half, but the economy has only gotten worse. Sanctions may explain why they has lagged behind in tech. It doesn't explain why Cuba needs to import 70-80% of their food despite being a fertile tropical paradise. https://www.wfpusa.org/countries/cuba/#:~:text=Cuba%20imports%2070%20to%2080,slated%20for%20social%20protection%20programs https://www.wfpusa.org/countries/cuba/#:~:text=Cuba%20import....

cardanome 2y ago
> It doesn't explain why Cuba needs to import 70-80% of their food despite being a fertile tropical paradise. There have been famine and starvation before the communists took power. I don't think Cuba has ever been fully food self-sufficient. Not many countries are. Not to mention agriculture needs access to fertilizers which the sanctions make harder to get. The more important part from your source: > The largest island in the Caribbean, Cuba is one of the most successful in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Food-based social safety nets include a monthly food basket for the entire population, school feeding programs, and mother-and-child health care programs. This is a big achievement. Also it doesn't make sense to compare Cuba with the richest Western Countries. Communist revolutions tend to happen in the poorest countries of the world. Saying they are poor because of communism is confusing cause and effect. If we compare Cuba to her peers in Latin America, especially Haiti, then Cuba is doing vastly, vastly better. Cuba is doing really well on the human development index, providing free health care and decent education for all.
- krvajal 2y ago
  what food basket are you talking about? that thing only exists in the news. in reality why dystopian reality you live in? Cuba better than Haiti??? You are reading to many fake news. Cubans are travelling to Haiti to buy food and medicine. Cuban healthcare good? You are joking right? If you need surgery have to bring your own equipment, including chirurgical globes and syringes. You have to either buy it in the black market or have a relative in a capitalist country to send it to you. Dont even get me started on education. Happy to provide you more details and break the bubble you are leaving in.
  - cardanome 2y ago
    I have lived in Cuba for one and a half years and have studied there. The education system is in same aspects superior than the one in my home country, Germany. I have visited schools and the education level of the vastly higher. The knowledge of the children greatly impressed me. In fact you could talk the average person on the street about complicated issues regarding history, philosophy and economy. Many where even multi-lingual. It is true that Cuba has trouble getting some medical equipment due to the sanctions but she also has a for a small island impressive pharmaceutical industry. There is a great medication for diabetics that would save many lives if it were allowed to be exported in the US. Not to mention having developed their own covid vaccine. You are probably living in a exile-Cuban bubble.
    - nec4b 2y ago
      Potemkin villages for the young foreign revolutionaries and misery for the locals.
      - cardanome 2y ago
        I was able to travel the whole country freely. I didn't stay in some touristy hotel, I lived among Cubans. There is literally no way my experience could have been controlled by the state. People were not afraid to talk critically about their government with me and did so often.
        nec4b 2y ago
        People are starving, leaving the country in millions, but you are still adamant they are delusional and live in a bubble. Maybe, just maybe you haven't saw and understood everything while visiting?
        cardanome 2y ago
        No one is starving. Ever heard of something called propaganda? Are you still searching for the weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein had? These people are literally paid by the government to spread anti-cuban propaganda. It is even on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Herald#21st_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Herald#21st_century > On September 8, 2006, the Miami Herald's president Jesús Díaz Jr. fired three journalists because they had allegedly been paid by the United States government to work for anti-Cuba propaganda TV and radio channels. > Less than a month later, responding to pressure from the Cuban community in Miami, Díaz resigned after reinstating the fired journalists, saying that "policies prohibiting such behavior were ambiguously communicated, inconsistently applied and widely misunderstood over many years".
- Yawrehto 2y ago
  >If we compare Cuba to her peers in Latin America, especially Haiti... Haiti has a complicating factor. After winning independence from France, France told Haiti to pay 'debt' back to France. In the end, it had to pay 112 million Francs, which is an amazing sum for a newly independent country, and I think that it's unique in history, a government demanding that exorbitant of a payment from a newly independent country. It took until 1947 for Haiti to finish paying, 122 years of payment. You can't get over that sort of thing easily. Wikipedia has a good article on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti_Independence_Debt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti_Independence_Debt. In another article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_debt_of_Haiti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_debt_of_Haiti) it's said that Haiti's debt is mostly from that demand. That said, Cuba's life expectancy (Cuban GDP per capita: $7,486 or so, as of 2021) is equal to or greater than much wealthier countries, like Lithuania ($30,577), Oman ($46,574), Seychelles ($30,126), or Russia ($26,120). In 2020, its life expectancy surpassed the US! Cuba has consistently outperformed countries like Lithuania, Russia, and even the world in life expectancy (counting since 2000), all of which have much greater GDP per capita. See https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy and https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy-vs-gdp-per-capita https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy-vs-gdp-pe....
  - derektank 2y ago
    It wasn't the independence debt. Haiti was a poor country in the 40s and 50s but not exceptionally poor compared to other peer countries. What set Haiti up to be the basket case it is today was the decades of corruption and malgovernment that occurred under the dictatorial rule of the Duvalier family.
thiagoharry 2y ago
> The US has been the the only major country sanctioning Cuba for a decade and a half Which is enough, as the US controls the emission of dollars, have monopolies over several technologies and, as it extends the sanctions even to the ships that trade in Cuba, disallowing them to enter in US, on practice it difficult trades between Cuba and any other country. > It doesn't explain why Cuba needs to import 70-80% of their food despite being a fertile tropical paradise. Modern agriculture depends on machines and fertilizers. And if you go without modern technology, climate change and shortages of water can be an even greater blow to your production. You will produce food, but will be susceptible to famine crisis, as were all countries before sufficient technological development. Moreover, Cuba is also not an agrarian country. The urban population is greater than the rural, like in any modern country. Remember that societies without much technology had to have a much greater part of population in rural areas instead of cities to be self-sufficient in food.
- altvali 2y ago
  I'm not educated on the subject. Why can't Cuba import the fertilizer and build the machines? There are open source blueprints, like the Global Village Construction Set.
  - hkt 2y ago
    Foreign currency the US is Cuba's most logical export market. So, with a shortfall of dollars/etc, importing things is problematic. So Cuba's reliance on importing food - especially from the US - looks like a spiral: eating today taking precedence over planting etc. I don't know as much about this next part, but seeds are also harder to import. I'd hazard a guess at there not being much capacity in that market unless you're buying from Monsanto or the like, which seems not to be an option in Cuba as those (American) companies are not exempt from the embargo, unlike exporters of food and medical supplies.
    - kgwgk 2y ago
      It’s funny how Monsanto is such an evil company [*] that it harms so many countries when it sells to them - and Cuba when it can’t. [*] According to many people, I’m not talking about the parent comment.
pyuser583 2y ago
Cuba’s attitude towards US sanctions is: “bring them on!” Even before Castro came to power, Che Guevara planned in enacting extreme tariffs to keep American money out. He used 19th century American tariffs to justify this. Cubas government is far more interested in maintaining control than opening up to trade. They are willing to advertise to tourists, which brings in cash without shaking things up. But they aren’t willing to make the adaptations international trade requires.
Scoundreller 2y ago
The US excluding otherwise Visa Waiver Program (VWP), aka ESTA, eligible citizens from using VWP if they have visited Cuba since since 2021 is probably bad news for Cuba. Bad news for citizens of these countries that would have visited Cuba if they also want to visit USA and don’t want to bother with US visas: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-...
sillywalk 2y ago
> The US has been the the only major country sanctioning Cuba for a decade and a half It's had an embargo against Cuba since 1962.
fiachamp 2y ago
In Cuba, the only wealthy people are government bureaucrats. As always, communism becomes dictatorship and the people suffer most. Top down control of economy doesn't work. I went to numerous tobacco plantations in Cuba and they told me the government takes 90% of their harvest and they're allowed to keep and sell 10%. I stayed with an OBGyn who gets paid $80 USD/month. He built his house out of cinderblocks. That's how you get rewarded for your 'free' education. Anyone glorifying communism is a fucking idiot with no life experience.
- pixl97 2y ago
  Turns out authoritarians can ruin any kind of government.

by Aunche 2y ago

cardanome 2y ago

> It doesn't explain why Cuba needs to import 70-80% of their food despite being a fertile tropical paradise. There have been famine and starvation before the communists took power. I don't think Cuba has ever been fully food self-sufficient. Not many countries are. Not to mention agriculture needs access to fertilizers which the sanctions make harder to get. The more important part from your source: > The largest island in the Caribbean, Cuba is one of the most successful in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Food-based social safety nets include a monthly food basket for the entire population, school feeding programs, and mother-and-child health care programs. This is a big achievement. Also it doesn't make sense to compare Cuba with the richest Western Countries. Communist revolutions tend to happen in the poorest countries of the world. Saying they are poor because of communism is confusing cause and effect. If we compare Cuba to her peers in Latin America, especially Haiti, then Cuba is doing vastly, vastly better. Cuba is doing really well on the human development index, providing free health care and decent education for all.

krvajal 2y ago
what food basket are you talking about? that thing only exists in the news. in reality why dystopian reality you live in? Cuba better than Haiti??? You are reading to many fake news. Cubans are travelling to Haiti to buy food and medicine. Cuban healthcare good? You are joking right? If you need surgery have to bring your own equipment, including chirurgical globes and syringes. You have to either buy it in the black market or have a relative in a capitalist country to send it to you. Dont even get me started on education. Happy to provide you more details and break the bubble you are leaving in.
- cardanome 2y ago
  I have lived in Cuba for one and a half years and have studied there. The education system is in same aspects superior than the one in my home country, Germany. I have visited schools and the education level of the vastly higher. The knowledge of the children greatly impressed me. In fact you could talk the average person on the street about complicated issues regarding history, philosophy and economy. Many where even multi-lingual. It is true that Cuba has trouble getting some medical equipment due to the sanctions but she also has a for a small island impressive pharmaceutical industry. There is a great medication for diabetics that would save many lives if it were allowed to be exported in the US. Not to mention having developed their own covid vaccine. You are probably living in a exile-Cuban bubble.
  - nec4b 2y ago
    Potemkin villages for the young foreign revolutionaries and misery for the locals.
    - cardanome 2y ago
      I was able to travel the whole country freely. I didn't stay in some touristy hotel, I lived among Cubans. There is literally no way my experience could have been controlled by the state. People were not afraid to talk critically about their government with me and did so often.
      - nec4b 2y ago
        People are starving, leaving the country in millions, but you are still adamant they are delusional and live in a bubble. Maybe, just maybe you haven't saw and understood everything while visiting?
        cardanome 2y ago
        No one is starving. Ever heard of something called propaganda? Are you still searching for the weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein had? These people are literally paid by the government to spread anti-cuban propaganda. It is even on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Herald#21st_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Herald#21st_century > On September 8, 2006, the Miami Herald's president Jesús Díaz Jr. fired three journalists because they had allegedly been paid by the United States government to work for anti-Cuba propaganda TV and radio channels. > Less than a month later, responding to pressure from the Cuban community in Miami, Díaz resigned after reinstating the fired journalists, saying that "policies prohibiting such behavior were ambiguously communicated, inconsistently applied and widely misunderstood over many years".
Yawrehto 2y ago
>If we compare Cuba to her peers in Latin America, especially Haiti... Haiti has a complicating factor. After winning independence from France, France told Haiti to pay 'debt' back to France. In the end, it had to pay 112 million Francs, which is an amazing sum for a newly independent country, and I think that it's unique in history, a government demanding that exorbitant of a payment from a newly independent country. It took until 1947 for Haiti to finish paying, 122 years of payment. You can't get over that sort of thing easily. Wikipedia has a good article on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti_Independence_Debt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti_Independence_Debt. In another article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_debt_of_Haiti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_debt_of_Haiti) it's said that Haiti's debt is mostly from that demand. That said, Cuba's life expectancy (Cuban GDP per capita: $7,486 or so, as of 2021) is equal to or greater than much wealthier countries, like Lithuania ($30,577), Oman ($46,574), Seychelles ($30,126), or Russia ($26,120). In 2020, its life expectancy surpassed the US! Cuba has consistently outperformed countries like Lithuania, Russia, and even the world in life expectancy (counting since 2000), all of which have much greater GDP per capita. See https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy and https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy-vs-gdp-per-capita https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy-vs-gdp-pe....
- derektank 2y ago
  It wasn't the independence debt. Haiti was a poor country in the 40s and 50s but not exceptionally poor compared to other peer countries. What set Haiti up to be the basket case it is today was the decades of corruption and malgovernment that occurred under the dictatorial rule of the Duvalier family.

thiagoharry 2y ago

> The US has been the the only major country sanctioning Cuba for a decade and a half Which is enough, as the US controls the emission of dollars, have monopolies over several technologies and, as it extends the sanctions even to the ships that trade in Cuba, disallowing them to enter in US, on practice it difficult trades between Cuba and any other country. > It doesn't explain why Cuba needs to import 70-80% of their food despite being a fertile tropical paradise. Modern agriculture depends on machines and fertilizers. And if you go without modern technology, climate change and shortages of water can be an even greater blow to your production. You will produce food, but will be susceptible to famine crisis, as were all countries before sufficient technological development. Moreover, Cuba is also not an agrarian country. The urban population is greater than the rural, like in any modern country. Remember that societies without much technology had to have a much greater part of population in rural areas instead of cities to be self-sufficient in food.

altvali 2y ago
I'm not educated on the subject. Why can't Cuba import the fertilizer and build the machines? There are open source blueprints, like the Global Village Construction Set.
- hkt 2y ago
  Foreign currency the US is Cuba's most logical export market. So, with a shortfall of dollars/etc, importing things is problematic. So Cuba's reliance on importing food - especially from the US - looks like a spiral: eating today taking precedence over planting etc. I don't know as much about this next part, but seeds are also harder to import. I'd hazard a guess at there not being much capacity in that market unless you're buying from Monsanto or the like, which seems not to be an option in Cuba as those (American) companies are not exempt from the embargo, unlike exporters of food and medical supplies.
  - kgwgk 2y ago
    It’s funny how Monsanto is such an evil company [*] that it harms so many countries when it sells to them - and Cuba when it can’t. [*] According to many people, I’m not talking about the parent comment.

pyuser583 2y ago

Cuba’s attitude towards US sanctions is: “bring them on!” Even before Castro came to power, Che Guevara planned in enacting extreme tariffs to keep American money out. He used 19th century American tariffs to justify this. Cubas government is far more interested in maintaining control than opening up to trade. They are willing to advertise to tourists, which brings in cash without shaking things up. But they aren’t willing to make the adaptations international trade requires.

Scoundreller 2y ago

The US excluding otherwise Visa Waiver Program (VWP), aka ESTA, eligible citizens from using VWP if they have visited Cuba since since 2021 is probably bad news for Cuba. Bad news for citizens of these countries that would have visited Cuba if they also want to visit USA and don’t want to bother with US visas: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-...

sillywalk 2y ago

> The US has been the the only major country sanctioning Cuba for a decade and a half It's had an embargo against Cuba since 1962.

fiachamp 2y ago

In Cuba, the only wealthy people are government bureaucrats. As always, communism becomes dictatorship and the people suffer most. Top down control of economy doesn't work. I went to numerous tobacco plantations in Cuba and they told me the government takes 90% of their harvest and they're allowed to keep and sell 10%. I stayed with an OBGyn who gets paid $80 USD/month. He built his house out of cinderblocks. That's how you get rewarded for your 'free' education. Anyone glorifying communism is a fucking idiot with no life experience.

pixl97 2y ago
Turns out authoritarians can ruin any kind of government.