if you dont read carefully, maybe you missed this part : this part of the city is beautiful but tragic- cubas essential paradox, Like a gulag with sunshine.. all that talk last week about gulag this and gulag that, there you go, a reporter called it..
over all, i thought it was a pretty good summation of the situation..

I am going to print this article and use it in my World History classes in the Fall. Something like this will definately be an effective tool to use when we discuss the various interpretations and effects of communism. Easy to understand for my students when I was in Miami, but in rural Georgia...not so much.

"Like a gulag with sunshine. There is now wealth and business here, and European money operating out of fading beaux-arts buildings, but to instil dynamic fiscal change in a place still so determinedly socialist is almost impossible without huge compromises. The point is lost on Castro's regime, rich and powerful in contradiction but little else."

You're right George. I don't think any US MSM journalist is capable of writing anything remotely resembling the accuracy of that paragraph.

Wow. That was a pretty fair article. Even his obligatory mentions of healthcare and literacy weren't the usual gushing & fawning but seemed a little sarcastic. But maybe I just hope too much. I was glad to see the comments from the young people about wanting freedom. That was a hopeful sign that castro's brainwashing isn't sticking to everyone.