Talk:Cuba

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US embargo

US embargo is the reason for Cuba's economic difficulties, not an opressive/backwards regime. The reason why old cars are still used is because of the USA's economic sanctions against Cuba. You could argue that if it truly was not a backwards regime, new transport would have been developed but it is only a small island. If Cuba was the size of the USA, their economy would be progressing faster and better, more energy efficient cars would have been developed by Cuba's far more (in comparison to the US) creative and intelligent people. ^{— Unsigned, by: 81.96.237.53 / talk / contribs 16:31, August 13, 2010}

Why don't they just import cars from other countries? Also, if Cuba is so great, then why are people leaving the country by the boatload? If Cuba where the size of the USA, it would be a somewhat weaker version of the old USSR. --Onion^talk/edits 21:33, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Where do you suggest they import cars from then? People are leaving the country to see the world, I doubt a given Cuban person would rather live in the USA, where if they got injured, they would spend their lives paying either profiteers from insurance companies or expensive, overpaid doctors. Cuba would not be like the USSR in any way because Cuba does not adopt the Leninite idea of a planned economy and has a much superior education system to evil capitalist societies such as the US.

There are many car companies around the world in countries like Japan, China, and European countries.The United States is where Cubans are going, and I don't think they have tourism in mind when they crawl into a tiny, uncomfortable little raft. If Cuba has a better educational system then the USA, then why is Cuba so downtrodden? Also, declaring that capitalist societies are "evil" is not logically sound. --Onion^talk/edits 19:24, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Cuba's downtrodden because of the fundamentalism inherent in Castro's Communism -- central planning, repression of freedom of speech, etc, etc. That doesn't mean that they can't do *something* right. EVDebs (talk) 20:04, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

My point is that the United States is better run economically then Cuba. Communist countries tend to become stagnant, especially when they are small and non-industrial like Cuba. --Onion^talk/edits 20:35, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

This is largely true; Marxist socialism is a demonstrable failure economically. But the US still suffers from massive income inequalities and tries to pretend it doesn't -- instead of repression, we have denial. In absolute terms, yes, the US is generally better off than Cuba by a substantial amount. But in many ways we're still not even close to a perfect system. Really, this isn't complicated. The US is unquestionably more prosperous than Cuba, but it does not necessarily follow that a) we are in any way perfect or b) that Cuba may not do some things better than we do. EVDebs (talk) 21:06, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

This "Guillermo Farinas " person seemed to have been released as a tactic, in order to get him out of the country. --Onion^talk/edits 21:37, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

I disagree, but I cannot prove that he is not an exeption.

While the embargo is a factor, remember that before the fall of the USSR Cuba could trade with the whole Communist block, and got as much Russian help (both technical and cash) as it could desire. Despite of that, in 1989, after three decades of revolution, Castro's wealth-creating archievements were to grow sugarcane and tobacco... basically regressing the island's economy to the 18th century. --Xyr (talk) 21:52, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

It was not a 'Communist' block just because their (the USSR's) International was called Comintern. It was three decades of reform more than anything, but I agree that they could have made better use of Comintern's support.

This article needs a lot of work. Lyra § talk 21:47, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Isn't Cuba counted as a country living rather sustainably (at least compared to the way Uncle Sam leads his life)? I'd be pleased to see some summary about it here --88.112.90.198 (talk) 12:55, 21 December 2014 (UTC)

The Current State of the Embargo

Multiple diplomats, US military officials and businessmen are now calling for easing (or even lifting) the embargo. The embargo has been eased, even if it hasn't been lifted (if I recall correctly only congress can do that, and they won't). Alsto003 (talk) 06:54, 30 March 2015 (UTC) Alex

2021 Cuban Protests

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Cuban_protests

Something worth mentioning? I know it's been only 2 days, but this might be worth following up? 2A02:1812:2C66:D000:2410:C686:75DF:1972 (talk) 13:24, 13 July 2021 (UTC)

Havanna Syndrome

Is there discussion about making more of a focus on the more rational answer of mass hysteria/functional disorders rather than energy weapons that seem to violate the laws of physics? ^{— Unsigned, by: 2601:204:cc01:4210:7094:724d:6990:3904 / talk}

The 2020 National Academies of Sciences did not mention mass hysteria/delusion in their report,[1] perhaps because the symptoms (including chronic and heterogeneous symptoms focused on vestibular and cognition symptoms) did not match how mass hysteria is typically described (multiple people experiencing some of the same symptoms of hysteria). Bongolian (talk) 19:44, 15 September 2022 (UTC)

Batista

Why does this article gloss over the social conditions that led to the Cuban Revolution in the first place? It glosses over sixty years of history between the Spanish-American War/Cuban War of Independence and the Cuban Revolution and acts as if Castroism came out of nowhere. One day the country was a paradise, the next a socialist shithole. No, Fulgencio Batista, the US-backed dictator of Cuba, was a brutal piece of shit. To quote the Wikipedia article:

Back in power and receiving financial, military and logistical support from the United States government,[7][8] Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans.[9] Eventually, it reached the point where most of the sugar industry was in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land.[10] As such, Batista's repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships both with the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts.[9][11] To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions. These murders mounted in 1957, as socialist ideas became more influential. People were killed, with estimates ranging from hundreds to about 20,000 people killed.[12][13][14]

In line with insurgency theory, this predictably only led to a strengthening of popularity of the dissident movement. Carthage (talk) 11:30, 12 December 2023 (UTC)