Castro Was Not A Great Leader, and Communism/Socialism is Not Great Either.

originally posted by: ElectricUniverse
Castro wasn't a great man. He was, alongside the communists in power in Cuba, a man that didn't care for human rights. He executed people simply for having a difference of opinion, or for not being pro-socialism and pro-communism. He even ordered the execution of other socialists within his "revolutionaries" for noticing and voicing their concern that "communists" were infiltrating the "revolution".

One of the problems why so many people, who never lived their lives as a Cuban, believe the propaganda from a communist regime is because for more than 67 years the regime has had control over information and news in Cuba, and from Cuba. Only during the last couple of years did Cubans begin to use "social media" and voiced some of their concerns, as well as trying to tell the truth that the people of Cuba, my people, have had to live with for decades under a communist, regime meanwhile the rest of the world "believed" the lies and propaganda from a communist dictatorship.

To start, we have to look at some vintage videos which show how Cuba was before the castros and communism took control over the island.

here are some videos showing Cuba before the revolution.

Here is the account of a Cuban woman who was there before, and after the revolution took place, and she explains some of the things that happened.

The government of Batista was corrupt, but still Cubans thrived and were not as hungry as Cubans became after communism took over. If you were not a revolutionary inciting violence you could have a good life in Cuba without getting involved in any type of corruption.

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The chief of Police, the head of the Army etc. went to see Batista, who had returned to Cuba, after going into a voluntary exile in 1944 after the very honest elections when the idiots voted for Dr. Grau. Batista returned under Dr. Prio's regime after he ran for senator [from his exile] and was elected and thus was under legal protection and could come back. Batista agreed to carry out a coup-d'état, in the face of the gangsters' war and lack of security facing citizens. Not a single shot was fired. Batista went to the Columbia Military Camp; the guard said "Who is there?" Batista replied, "General Batista," and the guard's answer was, "At your command, General." People were happy at the time. But Batista had a new wife. She had a child every year, was a very poor woman full of ambition and she wanted money & power. Batista came into power on March 10, 1952 and should have had elections within at least in two years. But he did not. The Army became very corrupt, and Batista's wife's brother was one of the top power brokers. They felt it was their time to become millionaires. The Cuban military planes were used to bring merchandise, all electrical equipment, from Miami. It was sold from a big store at lower prices than its competition. It had electrical appliances and equipment bought in the U.S. with no cost of transportation and no customs duties. People flocked to buy these "bargains" and the other merchants were livid because they had no sales and were losing money. The friends of the military became boutique owners. It was the same thing, they sold cheaper and people went to them to do their shopping.

People were very upset. The communists saw the opportunity. Fidel Castro was a gangster, a coward that shot people in the back, or sent others to be the killers. His was a very black history. But either people did not know or ignored it. When you told people, as I did as a very young student, about Fidel Castro's gangster days they said, "He was very young then, he has changed....." All that people wanted, and mainly the younger people, young professionals, was a fast growing middle class [clean/honest and hard working] with honesty in government. That Fidel Castro promised. However his first action, unknown to people, was to take a check made to the Republic of Cuba for several millions [for products sold] and deposit it into a foreign account of his. This was the beginning of a billionaire fortune.

We know the rest of the story. Fifty years of murder, thievery, divisions...you name it ...it happened in Cuba and the saga continues. The U.S. government has given visas to murderers, to those in State Security, they go in our face with their crimes unrepentant with their money taken from the Cuban people. Living in luxury with their families. Move on....nothing to see here.
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www.sjsu.edu...

A Wall Street Journal article titled "Counting Castro's Victims", states about the possible number of deaths since the revolution as:

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Cuba Archive President Maria Werlau says the total number of victims could be higher by a factor of 10. Project Vice President Armando Lago, a Harvard-trained economist, has spent years studying the cost of the revolution and he estimates that almost 78,000 innocents may have died trying to flee the dictatorship. Another 5,300 are known to have lost their lives fighting communism in the Escambray Mountains (mostly peasant farmers and their children) and at the Bay of Pigs. An estimated 14,000 Cubans were killed in Fidel's revolutionary adventures abroad, most notably his dispatch of 50,000 soldiers to Angola in the 1980s to help the Soviet-backed regime fight off the Unita insurgency.
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The Harvard trained economist Dr. Armando Lago was a Cuban who archived for more than a decade the murders, and deaths of Cubans by the castros since the revolution.

Dr. Lago estimated that there were about 78,000 Cubans who died trying to leave the communist regime. That's not counting the 14,000 Cuban soldiers who have died trying to spread "la revolucion" to other countries, and it does not include the number of Cubans soldiers who were executed by the communist regime which according to Lago's documents are at least 15,000. Nor does it count the 5,300 Cuban farmers who tried to fight castro's regime.

Before the castros and communism took over,Cuba was the wealthiest country in the Caribbean and Ibero-America.

Here is a 2010 study made by Marianne Ward and John Devereux about the decline and impoverishment in Cuba after the revolution.

The Road not taken: Pre-Revolutionary Cuban Living Standards in Comparative Perspective*

Cuba had the third highest per capita income in the western hemisphere. Cuba had higher the income of Spain and Italy. Stores were ALWAYS fully stocked, and people could buy food, or other staples any time they needed or wanted. That was before communism and the castros.

That is until the castros and communism took over.

Here is another vintage video showing how stores were fully stocked, before the castros took over. Havana was a "true progressive city" and not in the way the left thinks "progressivism is". You can turn subtitles on for English subtitles in case you can't hear the commentary.

You have got to wonder, why in this day an age there are still people claiming socialism and communism are great and help the people when so many regimes which embraced socialism and communism turned into the world's worst dictatorships that even incited genocide against their own people.

This looks and feels like its been written by somebody who does this sort of thing for a living

If Fidel could lead Soviet Union, world would have free energy, anti gravity and equality, because with equality flipping burgers does not make you hate white people

a reply to: suvorov

And unicorns would fart rainbows too.

Chavez is not Fidel and CIA undermined Venezuela for 30 years, so if not for CIA, then there would be no little girl slaves on lolitta express from Venezuela

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

What we can learn from Cuba's health care system How does an impoverished country succeed in keeping its citizens healthy?

Cuba is internationally recognized for its achievements in the fields of education and health, with a social service that surpasses that of most developing countries and in certain sectors compare to the developed countries. Since the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and the subsequent establishment of a communist government with one party, the country created a social service system that guarantees universal access to education and health, provided by the state. This model allowed Cuba to achieve universal literacy, eradicate certain diseases, [providing] general access to safe drinking water and basic public health, [reaching] the lowest rates of infant mortality region and one of the highest life expectancies.
operamundi.uol.com.br...

originally posted by: Azureblue
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This looks and feels like its been written by somebody who does this sort of thing for a living

No, it was written by someone who was born in Cuba and saw and experienced the truth people like you want to dismiss and ignore...

originally posted by: suvorov
If Fidel could lead Soviet Union, world would have free energy, anti gravity and equality, because with equality flipping burgers does not make you hate white people

Wow... Listen bud... If Fidel had the lead of the soviet union the entire world would have been in a global war in which communism would impose itself over everyone...

In a letter Fidel wrote to his friend and aide Celia Sanchez Fidel wrote...

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"When this war has ended, a much bigger and greater war will start for me, a war I shall launch against them. I realize that this will be my true destiny."
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www.businessinsider.com...


Or what about what Fidel told Khrushchev in an Oct 26 cable in which he told the U.S.S.R. leader to pre-emptively strike the United States because in the eyes of Fidel the United States is a danger?

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In an Oct. 26 cable to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Castro seemed convinced the Americans would invade Cuba and suggested the Soviets "eliminate this danger" with an act of "legitimate self defense."

Khrushchev felt Castro was advocating a pre-emptive nuclear strike and rejected it, telling him he was satisfied with U.S. President John F. Kennedy's pledge not to invade.
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www.reuters.com...

If it was up to Fidel he would have created a third world war for the past 67 years...

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Don't feed the troll anymore. Dude isn't here for a debate he's here to stir # up.

Cuba considered itself "Communist", not socialist.

The two are not mutually exclusive.

originally posted by: Kettu
Cuba considered itself "Communist", not socialist.

The two are not mutually exclusive.

Nope.

The goal of socialism is communism.
-Vladimir Lenin

The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism.
-Karl Marx

Looks like maybe these commies know something you don't.

Socialism is absolutely necessary for the goals of communism to be realized.

I find it really, really weird.

The people who voted for Trump hate America, or at least they think it isn't "great" anymore. They have a desire to "make it great, again".

They take Russia's side, and make apologies for Russia. They love people who stand up to America.

And in the same breath they turn around and start repeating Cold War McCarthyism rhetoric...

And currently they're using the term "McCarthyism" to describe Democrats who show proof of Russian manipulation/propaganda inside the USA.

The level of doublespeak that's happening right now in America is insane.

When there's an uptick in doublespeak, that just is a symptom of mounting cognitive dissonance, as doublespeak is the only way to fight cognitive dissonance...

a reply to: Kettu

What does this have to do with Castro or the conversation we're having?

a reply to: windword

BS... The water in Cuba is not safe to drink, my family in Cuba have to boil the water every day to be able to drink the water...

Increase in dengue, cholera and other viruses in Cuba

A municipal employee sprays insecticide as preventative measure against dengue in Cuba.
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Poor hygiene, scarcity of drinking water and great amounts of waste dumps that currently thrive in Havana, amount to a highly explosive combination.

In Cuba, the dengue virus is extensively widespread. In a hospital in Santo Suárez, a neighborhood in Havana, the fourth floor is full of children with dengue. And throughout the island, hospitals are overwhelmed with patients suffering from different viruses.

“For a long time, dengue and other infectious diseases have not been under control. It has become a vicious cycle. The yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) thrives in Cuba due to an unresolved problem: the lack of a reliable supply of drinking water 24-hours a day. Broken water pipes, containers without adequate protection, lack of sanitation in the cities –among others- are the breeding ground that has transformed dengue and other viruses into a plague. On top of that, add the tropical climate and excessive humidity," says one epidemiologist. " The most effective dengue deterrent is frequent fumigation and awareness on the part of the public to seek treatment at the first symptoms."

Consuelo (name changed), a physician with 25 years experience, spoke categorically. She opened a large map of the 10 de Octubre municipality and pointed to areas marked in red. “What is now rare to find is a neighborhood in the district where no cases of dengue have been reported. I think we have lost the battle with this disease. There is no sound preventive policy. We cannot prevent viruses such as dengue and many others. We can only help promote through the media that families take preventive sanitary measures such as boiling the water and, in the event that the period of incubation of the disease were already in progress, be ready to act in conjunction within the appropriate network –beginning with the family doctor, the healthcare centers that can provide the proper assistance which will, in turn, report the cases to the higher levels. We are playing with fire. The government guarantees us the medications but in order to counter and eliminate dengue and cholera, more far-reaching measures are needed, which entails expenses in the millions of dollars."

The last official report of dengue in Cuba dates from 2012, citing 63 cases. But last August, the Ministry of Public Health reported the existence of outbreaks of the carrier mosquito in 98 municipalities. The Pan American Health Organization reported 700 cases of cholera in Cuba in the last two years.
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www.martinews.com...

As for the myth you are claiming the "great healthcare system of Cuba is"... Here is what I posted in another thread...

Hospital Calixto Garcia in Habana, Cuba



Of course the left wants to claim all these videos are lies, when the lies comes from the left that claim Cuban healthcare is great...



No subtitles on this one, but the video speaks for itself.

Ambrosio Grillo hospital, Santiago de Cuba.



Hijas de Galicia, Luyanó in Habana, Cuba.



Cuban pediatric hospital La Balear on the Municipal district San Miguel del Padrón.



The left, around the world, would only show Cuban hospitals which can only be used by tourists, or the Cuban regime like the hospital "Comandante Almejeira", "El Clinico Cirurgico", Cuban Hospital "Dukhan,Qatar", The "Cime", or hospitals in the "country club" (a rich section in Cuba) which are some of the best hospitals which are reserved for tourists or for the communist regime top dogs and their families. There are Cuban hospitals that have closed sections which are shown only to "tourists", meanwhile the rest of the sections of these hospitals are falling apart.

Here is the report from another Cuban expat who lives in Argentine and tells her experience in a real Cuban hospital.

Inside the Cuban Hospitals That Castro Doesn’t Want Tourists to See
By: Belén Marty - @belenmarty - Oct 6, 2015, 8:17 am

By the time I climbed the steps of the emergency room entrance in San Miguel, Havana, I could already tell that the supposed first-class health care provided in Cuba was a myth. Hospitals in the island’s capital are literally falling apart.

Friends told me to dress “like a Cuban” and not to speak while inside, since my Argentinean accent would give me away the moment I said hello. A member of the opposition Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU) party came along to guide me in my journey to the core of communist-style medicine.
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The scarce equipment available gave the building the appearance of a makeshift medical camp, rather than a hospital in the nation’s capital.

I stood up and continued my tour. Two nurses stared at us but didn’t say a word as we entered an intensive-care unit, where the facility’s air-conditioned area began.

My guide — a taxi driver for tourists who don’t get to see this part of town — told me that all the doctors working the night shift are still in school. Indeed, none of them appeared to be older than 25.

The only working bathroom in the entire hospital had only one toilet. The door didn’t close, so you had to go with people outside watching. Toilet paper was nowhere to be found, and the floor was far from clean.

I saw biological waste discarded in a regular trash can. The beds had no linen, and the only equipment around was the bag of IV fluids hanging above them. All doctor’s offices had handwritten signs on the doors, and at least four patients waited outside each room. The average wait time for each was around three hours.

Orderlies were also nowhere to be seen. A young man had to push his mother on a stretcher until he reached the line of those waiting for an ambulance.
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I left the hospital after a couple hours. Once outside, puzzled by the large bags the people entering the hospital were carrying, I asked my friend to explain.

“Well, they have to bring everything with them, because the hospital provides nothing. Pillows, sheets, medicine: everything,” he said.
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However, Hilda Molina, a Cuban neurosurgeon who turned against Castro, explained in an interview with El Cato that the whole sector is under tight government control, which shuts downs private alternatives or independent organizations.

“These arbitrary measures, aside from many other negative consequences, had a terrible impact, ethically: the sacred doctor-patient relationship was replaced with an impersonal government-patient dynamic. When patients are forced to seek care from government-sanctioned doctors and facilities, they suffer distress, whether consciously or unconsciously, immersed in a deep sensation of insecurity,” she said.

“The regime has neither provided Cubans with equality nor fairness in health care. The ruling elite, their relatives and friends, get better service than the rest,” Molina lamented.

Translated by Adam Dubove.
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panampost.com...

originally posted by: Kettu
I find it really, really weird.

The people who voted for Trump hate America, or at least they think it isn't "great" anymore. They have a desire to "make it great, again".

They take Russia's side, and make apologies for Russia. They love people who stand up to America.

And in the same breath they turn around and start repeating Cold War McCarthyism rhetoric...

And currently they're using the term "McCarthyism" to describe Democrats who show proof of Russian manipulation/propaganda inside the USA.

The level of doublespeak that's happening right now in America is insane.

When there's an uptick in doublespeak, that just is a symptom of mounting cognitive dissonance, as doublespeak is the only way to fight cognitive dissonance...

No, the people that voted for Trump saw Obama's failed attempt at socialism, which he would have pursued until it was full communism, and Hillary would have helped in the socialism quite a bit.

America said NO. A big resounding NO.
Obama has surrounded himself with communists and Marxist loving people. People that adored Castro and Karl Marx.
Obama was mentored by commies.

Good riddance.

a reply to: projectvxn

Socialism can be incorporated into just about any economic system, including capitalism. Communism can't, as it's the entire package.

They aren't interchangeable, otherwise we would call Sweden a communist country.

a reply to: Kettu

Isn't china Comunist and capitalist?

I dont think many thought did think he was a good leader.

Just that most of us thought it was not the USA place or business to interfere.

originally posted by: Kettu
a reply to: projectvxn

Socialism can be incorporated into just about any economic system, including capitalism. Communism can't, as it's the entire package.

They aren't interchangeable, otherwise we would call Sweden a communist country.

Government services does not Socialism make. I wonder why people in the US think this..

Socialism is not a government provided education or health care or any other service.

Socialism is a "political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole."

That "community" is actually the state, but those are just the details.

yay free stuff!!?? no? Oops.

originally posted by: Indigent
a reply to: Kettu

Isn't china Comunist and capitalist?

Communism doesn't exist in the real world. It never has. It only exists on the pages of books.