Fidel: 'Cuban Model Doesn't Even Work For Us Anymore'

[groovedaddy]

There were many odd things about my recent Havana stopover (apart from the dolphin show, which I'll get to shortly), but one of the most unusual was Fidel Castro's level of self-reflection. I only have limited experience with Communist autocrats (I have more experience with non-Communist autocrats) but it seemed truly striking that Castro was willing to admit that he misplayed his hand at a crucial moment in the Cuban Missile Crisis (you can read about what he said toward the end of my previous post - but he said, in so many words, that he regrets asking Khruschev to nuke the U.S.).

Even more striking was something he said at lunch on the day of our first meeting. We were seated around a smallish table; Castro, his wife, Dalia, his son; Antonio; Randy Alonso, a major figure in the government-run media; and Julia Sweig, the friend I brought with me to make sure, among other things, that I didn't say anything too stupid (Julia is a leading Latin American scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations). I initially was mainly interested in watching Fidel eat - it was a combination of digestive problems that conspired to nearly kill him, and so I thought I would do a bit of gastrointestinal Kremlinology and keep a careful eye on what he took in (for the record, he ingested small amounts of fish and salad, and quite a bit of bread dipped in olive oil, as well as a glass of red wine). But during the generally lighthearted conversation (we had just spent three hours talking about Iran and the Middle East), I asked him if he believed the Cuban model was still something worth exporting.

"The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore," he said.

This struck me as the mother of all Emily Litella moments. Did the leader of the Revolution just say, in essence, "Never mind"?

http://www.readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/102-102/3260-fidel-cuban-model-doesnt-even-work-for-us-anymore

[dipsydoodle]

1. That's because the US embargo has made it so.

However what goes comes around. Cuba recently announced the sale of land on 99 year leases for development as golf course, hotels , villas whatever. Obviously this will only be of benefit to developers in the EU, Russia, China etc who have no such embargo against Cuba.

See here :

A new law published last week loosened property rules to allow 99 year leases for foreigners as part of a package of measures introduced by President Raul Castro to scale back the state’s near total dominance of the economy while attempting to generate new revenue for a government short on cash.

http://www.propertywire.com/news/south-america/-cuba-real-estate-boost-201008314451.html

btw - if anyone is think of slipping over from the US be aware that they don't accept cards issued by US banks, you cannot use US mobile phones there and there are surcharges for changing US $'s which are not applicable to changing Euros.

Eat your hearts out suckers. :rofl:

[old mark]

2. Welcome to the world, Fidel. I hope we can start getting along a little

in the very near future.

You never had the answers, but you looked great in that old uni...

mark

[asjr]

3. I can remember when Cuba, especially Havana

was the place to go for fun and games. It was party-all-the-time for Americans. Of course, Battista was in charge then and he took his share of the winnings and life was not good for ordnary Cubans, but I suppose what goes around does indeed comes around.

[groovedaddy]

4. If Cuba had been given the same trade status as China, where would they be now?

Well, besides within the sphere of U.S. economic inluence.

[asjr]

5. I have thought for years and years what life

in Cuba would have been if we hadn't put an embargo on them. I was a child in Cameguay briefly in 1943 but I do remember the lovely people there.