I need help understanding Cuba. This page will be devoted to the stuff I find strange, perplexing, or just messed up. This is not a put down of Cuba, we Americans have a lot of stuff we are criticized for. I just find the country amazing and baffling.
Steve Sack Cartoon-Star Tribune
I don't think anybody can explain how the Cuban economy works; the confusion over a double currency; how people survive on meager wages. Fidel himself is an enigma: exalted and revered, but obviously a cause of a lot of pain and frustration. The tugging of an imaginary beard and eyes shifting around when people are asked a question about him.
The embargo, or el bloqueo, (blockade) as Cubans call it: Why the hell do we still have this?! The cartoon above best describes my thoughts on the embargo. It may have made since a half century ago, but not anymore. I don't understand why most Cubans seem to like Americans, our government certainly hasn't been good to them.
We just went through a painful election and this had become a key topic for the "swing" state of Florida. Obama was starting to ease restrictions, but again it became a political football used in getting Cuban votes. WTF!
Stay tuned.
See post: Fishing with Condoms for example of Cuban ingenuity.
With the passing of Fidel, there was a story about some Quirks of the Fidel economy.