Fidel Castro: Cuba's Communism Not Working

jimpeel

jimpeel

Well-Known Member
He finally admits it is a failure regardless of what Michael Moore and Sean Penn might think.

SOURCE

Fidel Castro: Cuba's Communism Not Working

Published September 09, 2010 | Associated Press

HAVANA -- Cuba's communist economic model has come in for criticism from an unlikely source: Fidel Castro.

The revolutionary leader told a visiting American journalist and a U.S.-Cuba policy expert that the island's state-dominated system is in need of change, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has taken pains to steer clear of local issues since illness forced him to step down as president four years ago.

The fact that things are not working efficiently on this cash-strapped Caribbean island is hardly news. Fidel's brother Raul, the country's president, has said the same thing repeatedly. But the blunt assessment by the father of Cuba's 1959 revolution is sure to raise eyebrows.

Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine, asked Castro if Cuba's economic system was still worth exporting to other countries, and Castro replied: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore," Goldberg wrote Wednesday in a post on his Atlantic blog.

The Cuban government had no immediate comment on Goldberg's account.

Julia Sweig, a Cuba expert at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations who accompanied Goldberg on the trip, confirmed the Cuban leader's comment, which he made at a private lunch last week.

She told The Associated Press she took the remark to be in line with Raul Castro's call for gradual but widespread reform.

"It sounded consistent with the general consensus in the country now, up to and including his brother's position," Sweig said.

In general, she said she found the 84-year-old Castro to be "relaxed, witty, conversational and quite accessible."

"He has a new lease on life, and he is taking advantage of it," Sweig said.

Castro stepped down temporarily in July 2006 due to a serious illness that nearly killed him.

He resigned permanently two years later, but remains head of the Communist Party. After staying almost entirely out of the spotlight for four years, he re-emerged in July and now speaks frequently about international affairs. He has been warning for weeks of the threat of a nuclear war over Iran.

But the ex-president has said very little about Cuba and its politics, perhaps to limit the perception he is stepping on his brother's toes.

Goldberg, who traveled to Cuba at Castro's invitation last week to discuss a recent Atlantic article he wrote about Iran's nuclear program, also reported on Tuesday that Castro questioned his own actions during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, including his recommendation to Soviet leaders that they use nuclear weapons against the United States.

Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba has clung to its communist system.

The state controls well over 90 percent of the economy, paying workers salaries of about $20 a month in return for free health care and education, and nearly free transportation and housing. At least a portion of every citizen's food needs are sold to them through ration books at heavily subsidized prices.

Cuba says much of its suffering is caused by the 48-year-old U.S. trade embargo. The economy has also been slammed by the global economic downturn, a drop in nickel prices and the fallout from three devastating hurricanes that hit in quick succession in 2008. Corruption and inefficiency have exacerbated problems.

As president, Raul Castro has instituted a series of limited economic reforms, and has warned Cubans that they need to start working harder and expecting less from the government. But the president has also made it clear he has no desire to depart from Cuba's socialist system or embrace capitalism.

Fidel Castro's interview with Goldberg is the only one he has given to an American journalist since he left office.
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Almost, Mink. That it's making it's way outwards from Cuba into the press IS news.

Raul is more liberal than his brother, but also has a better grasp on how to ease Cuba back into a quasi-capitalist economy. It'll happen eventually, but the timing has to be very slow and very precise, or the loosening of the communist system will unravel into an ungodly mess with hyper-inflation etc...
Eventually..perhaps within a decade..Cuba will be a social-democracy with some measure of capitalism, a relaxed embargo and a brighter future.
 
perhaps the official admission itself, but the info has been making it's way out of cuba for decades.
 
The info about the communist market degrade or the info about it being the position of the Castro boys that they realize and are willing to admit it to themselves and others that it's failed?
 
Cuba's Communism is succeeding just like all communism does

I hear that they are looking at the Canadian socialist model
as a solution. Unlike the Chicoms who in the early 70’s
with Nixon’s help, saw that capitalism was the way to go.
 
MrBishop said:
Almost, Mink. That it's making it's way outwards from Cuba into the press IS news.

Raul is more liberal than his brother, but also has a better grasp on how to ease Cuba back into a quasi-capitalist economy. It'll happen eventually, but the timing has to be very slow and very precise, or the loosening of the communist system will unravel into an ungodly mess with hyper-inflation etc...
Eventually..perhaps within a decade..Cuba will be a social-democracy with some measure of capitalism, a relaxed embargo and a brighter future.
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Yep. Maybe then we can start importing all of those fine-ass classic cars they have that were trapped there after the fall.
 
Some of them are in impressive condition. :)
IMG_8179.jpg


Sugar, cigars, rum, nickel and cobalt.

The tourism would be a hellova way to get back those dollars back into the infrastructure repairs. Havana is nice, but with some cash coming in, it'd positivity glow!
 
They're already 'green'

Very little pollution other than that caused by cars and tractors. No massive industrial complexes to really foul things up.
 
2minkey said:
can i get a cord 810?
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1930's? The answer would be a maybe. I did see some serious antiques while in Habana. Jim's right and wrong about the condition of the cars though. They try and keep their cars in excellent condition, but often inherit cars that were mistreated and can't find parts for fixes, so the motor is often in miserable shape.
 
MrBishop said:
1930's? The answer would be a maybe. I did see some serious antiques while in Habana. Jim's right and wrong about the condition of the cars though. They try and keep their cars in excellent condition, but often inherit cars that were mistreated and can't find parts for fixes, so the motor is often in miserable shape.
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Watch the program HERE and you will see the lengths they go to to keep these cars on the road. There is some nice iron down there.

The one guy said that they cannot get brake fluid so they make their own out of shampoo, oil, and detergent.
 
jimpeel said:
Watch the program HERE and you will see the lengths they go to to keep these cars on the road. There is some nice iron down there.

The one guy said that they cannot get brake fluid so they make their own out of shampoo, oil, and detergent.
Click to expand...

Dude...I've been there a few times and have family there. I've seen first hand both the good and the bad cars...hell, the Russian cars are miniscule. Make Mini's look like Caddy's :p

Plumes of blue or black smoke coming from tailpipes is almost the norm.

The video is nice. I've watched the first half but had other things on my plate and couldn't finish it.
 
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