An incisive analysis of Castrogonia’s politico-economic disaster, and of King Raul’s willful blindness.
Worthwhile reading, for sure.
From Diario de Cuba
The energy that Castroism is stifling
by ROBERTO ÁLVAREZ QUIÑONESIn recent weeks the regime of General Raúl Castro has “spooked,” and is now galloping in the wrong direction, in defiance of time and history. The economic crisis is compounded daily, and the dictator and his military junta, far from taking steps to unshackle Cuba’s productive forces, are restricting and choking them more and more.
Price caps on taxi drivers, prohibitions against street vendors hawking fruits and vegetables, the nationalization of agricultural markets based on supply and demand, and bans on the self employed in Varadero, are just some of the Stalinist measures exacerbating the severe economic crisis.
Turning its back on the people, the Government is thus recklessly staving off the emergence of a massive and vibrant private sector, the only force that can rescue the country from this crisis, and that will be, necessarily, that which rebuilds the devastated Cuban economy.
Meanwhile, poverty, despair and unhappiness grow amongst Cubans. The economic, social, political, moral and even anthropological cataclysm caused by Castroism is now of such a magnitude that it is difficult to assess the disaster. Yet, this diagnosis is the first thing that must be done to rebuild the country.
It is a historical shame that Cuba is the only Western country that is actually less advanced than it was in the mid 20th century. The same cannot even be said of Haiti. Many Cubans on the island would be happy if the country enjoyed the same standard of living it did 60 years ago today, when it was one of the highest in Latin America.
So, although it seems a Kafkaesque absurdity, Cuba today is socioeconomically below zero, which it needs to get back to, going on to build a future. The situation is that serious.
Much more HERE
And yet again, “General Castro.” General, when not even one of his fraudulent four stars is genuine but due entirely to crass n-e-p-o-t-i-s-m. I have to assume this is carelessness on the part of the writer, but it is still unseemly for any journalist, let alone a Cuban one, to throw around such a bogus title as if it were legitimate. No doubt some would call my objection nitpicking, but when it comes to Castro, Inc., which is built entirely on lies, not even a single one of those lies should go unchallenged.