Old news by now, but just in case you missed it. Raul Castro was unanimously elected as Cuba’s new preisdent yesterday. Raul has been acting as President since Fidel’s intestinal surgery in 2006 sidelined him from official duties. The vote yesterday just made his title official. Many hope that Raul with at least begin to open Cuba up to state-run capitalism (oh-so different from socialism?) and help create a connection with the international community that was not allowed to exist because they didn’t want to deal with Fidel.
[pictuerd above: Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, Raul Castro, Fidel Castro]
What does everyone think about this tho, I’m wondering? Because, as far as I can tell, doing business with Raul is essentially the same as doing business with Castro. I mean, Raul could shock us all and open the government up for elections and all that – but odds are that he’ll simply continue on as he has been, maybe changing the title of his form of government to something a little less anti-capitalist [like 'state-run capitalism', which is basically a nonsense term for either socialism or communism, like Phil said]. So, if our government opens relations now that Castro is out, doesn’t that just prove that this embargo, etc, has all been nonsense from the start? I mean, we do damn near all our business with China, and they’re far worse than Cuba has been or ever will be. Shit, we’re even boys with the Russians at this point, and we still hate on Cuba? My ninjas, PLEASE! Ridiculous.
eyo… i know i dont comment around these parts too much but here goes.
first up phil yuh large… i like to see all of these posts one here.
just wanna say a few things about the drop tho… i dont know what u mean by ‘many’ hope that raul will changed to a more mixed economy (which is essentially what cuba has had since the early 90s anyway). does this refer to many cubans? or many people in the us state department and south florida? secondly, its not fair to say that cuba hasnt had relations with the international community because in actuality its just the us at this point that has an issue with them. the only way that the us will dead the embargo is if the cuban government completely surrenders sovereignty and decides to go back on various aspects of the revolution that it is hard for anyone to truly disagree with (like universal healthcare, education, a dedication to internationalism etc)
so i for one dont share the hope that raul will do anything dramatic, and fuck things up for everyone. to respond a little to ryan, i dont really know what good “elections” in the type of fanfare-circus-obamadrama way that we see in the us would do in cuba. for one, there is no pre-existing system of political parties that would be able to participate in this sort of election, unless of course you confider the CANF and friends who would undoubtedly step in and seize power. I think this kind of elections at this point in cuba might just cause a whole lotta problems. And about the state-run capitaism thing, i dont think it is nonsense just because its not clearly “capitalism” or “communism”, i feel like these are cold-war era binaries that have been put in place to make it seem like there is no other solution than to follow one of two extremes. If you look at the caribbean region alone, there is actually a rich tradition of this sort of ‘middle road’ economies in the twentieth century (the 70s in JA and Guyana under Manley and Burnham, and Grenada under Bishop until the invasion in 83) So for me, the mixed economy/state capitalism thing seems logical, and like i said, cuba has been moving in that direction since the beginning of the special period.
and… i think its pretty clear regardless that the embargo is about some bullshit and it always has been, its really just a question of when our elected officials get the tessicles to man up and say ‘sorry, we fucked up’.
oh well, itll be interesting to see what happens with all of this for sure… is it being talked about a lot back home? over here i havnt really heard any discussion, but i dont think ppl are as polarized about the issue here.
would love to hear some more of ur guys thoughts on the matter.
a luta continua
t.b. oflongs
First of all, thank you trizlam for being the ill educated ninja on the subject matter. As always, your input is greatly respected and appreciated in full effect. Please allow me to clarify my wording.
I reference to ‘many people’, you are right. This is directly refereing to the US gov’t (State Dept.)/ main stream media sources, and what I think is the uneducated thought process when considering our comrades off of Florida. I should have clarified, but i just wanted to get the news up there. This site, by and large, is a critique of american governmental happenings. And my limited exposure to the issue has lead me to believe that Cuba struggles for a satisfactory seat in the big-boys club of international politics (hence that comment). If you consider the US to be a globally dominating hegemony whose influence effects its close allies, Cuba’s want of normalized relations is stymied. Point being, should the US raise it’s embargo, a lot of other doors get opened up too. I am probably way wrong, just trying to think it through.
As far as changes internally in Cuba, I whole-heartedly agree with you on the issue of democratic reform. That’s not something to be rushed into, nor is it a necessity.
@ philsalterego, So let’s get this straight. You don’t believe in God, you don’t believe in the U.S gov, what else don’t you believe in? Is there anything you do believe in?
Maybe this guy should read the comment about binaries