Esto es por cierto. Es lo que se llama "Apartheid Turistico".

B-b-b-b-ut I thought fidel had the problem solved by his tiny-cow program we learned so much about. I guess tiny cows mean tiny milk, just enough for the sandalistas to write home about.

It's, you know, great of all of us overweight Americans to make fun of the poor little cuban children having to drink powdered milk, but at what point to we just give up and send some help to these people by lifting the embargo? Just a thought. I mean, dammnit, if we're going to end up sending fuel and food to North Korea then we better damn well consider doing the same for Cuba. I'm so over it...the selfishness of the dictator. F*** it.

j.scott, surely you know that just about every other country in the world trades with Cuba, and that the US isn't the only country in the world that produces food. And that Cuba is not naturally a nutritionless desert. The lack of fresh milk has nothing to do with the embargo.

Scott, I have to agree with Andrea. Its not the embargo that keep milk out of peoples kitchens in Cuba. Its fidel. And no matter how many millions of gallons of milk we would export to Cuba, the result would be the same. Or worse.

When I was a young man our family (6 of us)we were not well off. I lived in a housing project in Detroit, and we had only powered milk for a long time, for those of you who never tasted it, it taste like crap. This is worse than having to be naked and a leash around your neck, held by a us soldier. Powdered Milk is real torture.

Andrea, Val, I realize the shortage has nothing to do with the embargo, not directly. --s

J. Scott: Cuba used to have six million of cattle heads in 1959, when the population was six million. The population now is 12 million, but the cattle heads have fallen to 1 million. On top of that, the cattle is ill and starving. Whose fault is that?

The embargo is designed to harm the Cuban economy. Truth be told, it does that, but not nearly enough as Socialism does. But that's not why I support the embargo. I support the embargo because it is self-defense; the money Fidel loses that way cannot be employed in financing leftist guerrillas, or in developing bio weapons he can sell to his friends the Iranian Mullahs.

Chavez sends castro almost "free" oil at below market rates, 56,000 barrels a day and I hear he turns around and sells it on the world markets to make a profit on the differential. The scumbag knows no decency. Hospitals go without power so that fidel can have his gold.

Critics of the sale of food to Cuba have charged (perhaps with some justification) that much of the food purchased from the US winds up in tourist hotels and doesn't benefit the average Cuban. At the very least, it appears that Cubans pay a very hight price for US food products. The last time I checked two years ago a box of Muellers egg noodles cost $5 in a Havana dollar store, more than twice waht the same box would cost in a US supermarket.

Cubans are currently PAYING LESS for the same box of Mueller's, than I would pay at Meijer. The non-special Meijer's price is $1.09 and in Cuba it's 25 CUP or one CUC.

In June and July it was introduced at Harris Bros. for .45, as a special introduction price. It sold quickly. I bought several each day.

It's not a zero-sum tourist-Cubano game. The Cubans are benefiting from American shipments of commodities, and they ought to continue to be shipped.

Have any of of been to Cuban Hotels? The food is awful at Tropicoco and Rancho Luna, and not a great step up at the so-called 4 and 5 stars. Club Arenal, which is geared largely toward Italians, has nothing on a Holiday Inn brunch or an IHOP breakfast.

The everything for the tourist, nothing for the Cuban position is weak. The employees of the hotel taking food home for their families would think so.

Tourists don't go to Cuba for Food Network style spreads.

Justiz,

How many tourists are issued ration cards when they arrive in Cuba? What percentage of the Cuban population works for the tourism industry? Do Cubans have access to not onlu Muellers pasta but everythin else that a tourist has, however un-tasty it may be?

I dont see it as a weak agrument at all. There are haves, and there are have nots.

Some backpackers are so intent on getting into the system of the country they are visiting, they would accept a ration booklet.

What percentage of the Cuban population speaks two other languages to qualify for most of the tourist-related positions?

Carlos Trecero, Epoca, Isla Cuba wouldn't exist if they depended on tourist business alone. Many other CUC stores in the repartos are totally dependant on Cuban customers.

I'm quite fond of the ration soy yogurt. The orange and strawberry are very tasty.