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Cubans call them "Palestinos" (Palestinians) because they live like displaced refugees. The majority hail from distant provinces in the east of the island, where living conditions and money-earning opportunities are inferior to Havana.
State controls on housing and jobs make it hard for Cubans to move about the island to hunt for a new life, so simply moving to the big city sets in motion a series of illegal acts. Their shacks are built without permits, which makes their new home illegal and prevents them from applying for government jobs or state food rations. Most work illegally on the black market, raising pigs and chickens in their back yards, or, like Balmaseda, operate small unlicensed businesses from their homes
.In a speech in July 2007, Raúl Castro said a Cuban state salary was "clearly insufficient to satisfy all necessities." He noted this brought "social indiscipline" and black marketeering.
Due to the economic crisis, the government appears to be taking a lenient approach to the squatters. A law that requires illegal squatters to be evicted and returned to their home towns is not being enforced.
Nor is the state doing anything to prevent squatters from stringing illegal lines to state utility poles to get free electricity. Indeed, Castro has publicly advocated formalizing the squatter communities and incorporating them into local municipalities.
As squatters are being formalized, the legal housing is crumbling, literally.
In downtown Havana old tenement buildings collapse on almost a daily basis, leaving piles of bricks and rubble in the streets. The government tries to prop up the facades with wooden scaffolding, but most of its resources go into construction of new hotels and stores for the tourist industry, Cuba's top foreign currency earner.
"The whole city is falling down," said Miguel Martinez, surveying the rusty skeleton of a recently collapsed apartment building.
Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
reply to post by jibeho
so the racism in Cuba isn't Cuban racism insomuch as appeasement of European racism? How does that make Cuba look bad in any sort of way?
If i am running a cocktail lounge, i sure ain't hiring a big, old, fat, beard sporting man to be the cocktail server. It fails to meet the expectations of my customers. The sorry old misogynists that they are.
If you want to improve the living conditions of Cuba, then welcome them into the international community. Being from the "land of the free", it sure seems that America likes to deny freedom an awful lot.
Originally posted by WhiteAlice
Kind of humorous to note that Cuba is actually one of the biggest tourist destinations for Canadians as it is a tropical get-away that is fairly cheap because, well, we don't go there. About a million Canadians are tourists in Cuba each year.
www.tripcentral.ca...
Looks pretty actually.
I was also told to stay out of the Treme in the late afternoon in case I couldn't make it back to the Quarter by nightfall. Every city has an impoverished underclass. Same admonitions exist, even in Toronto. Fact is, I have likely seen more evidence of racism in my visits to the US than I have in Cuba.
Originally posted by jibeho
reply to post by JohnnyCanuck
Did you visit and hang out in Havana's Afro-Cuban shanty towns? Doubtful...you would have never been granted access.
Do I really have to explain that tourism attracts hard currency for the Cubans to function on the world market? It's not like they are getting any credit from the States. The hotels, btw, are generally constructed by Spanish firms and co-managed for a set number of years until the Cubans assume responsibility. Pretty darn safe place to travel, too.
Originally posted by jibeho
reply to post by Michelle129thAnd Cuban govt. $ is being spent to support tourism and to build new govt. owned hotels. Too bad they don't have enough money to repair and replace the govt. supplied housing that is literally collapsing on a daily basis. Good for the tourists who want a cheap vacation though!!!
Originally posted by jibeho
Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
reply to post by jibeho
so the racism in Cuba isn't Cuban racism insomuch as appeasement of European racism? How does that make Cuba look bad in any sort of way?
If i am running a cocktail lounge, i sure ain't hiring a big, old, fat, beard sporting man to be the cocktail server. It fails to meet the expectations of my customers. The sorry old misogynists that they are.
If you want to improve the living conditions of Cuba, then welcome them into the international community. Being from the "land of the free", it sure seems that America likes to deny freedom an awful lot.
Are you Blind?
Oh, so its all our fault ? Great escape from a very complicated situation. Good Luck!!
The luxe-hotel is a joint effort between Cuba and China that will cost approximately $117 million (51 percent Chinese capital and 49 percent Cuban). According to reports, the hotel complex will have 650 rooms and cover an area of about 19 acres in the "Marina Hemingway" tourist center in western Havana.
This isn't the first project Cuba and China are working on together - China is Cuba's second-largest trading partner, so it's no surprise the two friends have joined together to create a luxury hotel for tourists. The two countries have a total of 13 projects currently in development and spanning various industries including mechanics, communications, agricultural production and tourism.
So go visit, take a look around and report back to us, eh?
Originally posted by jibeho
[Your tourist dollars are certainly not being used to solve the housing crisis in Cuba. So who is getting rich in Cuba?? Please answer honestly. The Chinese? The Cuban Govt., Other Foreign Investors? or The people Cuba?
Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
Regardless of whether or not the ban should remain, it was put there for a very good reason.
Which is well-remembered by those around in the early 60s.
No fan of the current administration, but the current reasons are here:
www.ehow.com...
Why the Ban Continues
From the beginning, the large Cuban communities of vital Electoral College states such as Florida and New York have been largely pro-embargo and therefore politicians have continued to uphold the travel ban. Also, as Obama outlined in 2009, the United States is waiting on Cuba to demonstrate to the world its desire to open its society before the trade and travel restrictions can be fully removed. Obama explained that this must include a release of political prisoners, ending government fees taken out of money sent from abroad (especially from Cuban-American relatives living in the United States and letting U.S. telecommunications companies enter Cuba.
www.ehow.com...edit on Sun Apr 7 2013 by DontTreadOnMe because: tags
Why don't we ban travel to really horrible countries, like Saudi Arabia? I am not saying we should,but why the double standard?
Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck
So go visit, take a look around and report back to us, eh?
Originally posted by jibeho
[Your tourist dollars are certainly not being used to solve the housing crisis in Cuba. So who is getting rich in Cuba?? Please answer honestly. The Chinese? The Cuban Govt., Other Foreign Investors? or The people Cuba?
Originally posted by Spider879
reply to post by EarthEvolves
Why don't we ban travel to really horrible countries, like Saudi Arabia? I am not saying we should,but why the double standard?
Because who get to be our "friends" is not dependent on how they treat their citizens but how loyal they are to us as governments.
Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
reply to post by jibeho
Until you go for yourself, you are taking the word of a government that I am sure you have admitted is corrupt.
How ironic that the one who is bad-mouthing the country the most is forbidden by his government to find out for himself.
Originally posted by jibeho
I thought I was taking the word of the thousands who once lived there and the thousands who still do or still have family living there..... At least those who are not afraid to speak out...Classic! Yet again more ignorance towards Cuba's govt... You know, the govt. who still holds the key to everything in Cuba.