There are about two million (2,000,000) Cubans living outside of the clutches of the Maximo Satrapa today.
I bet that, if the senile castrosaurius gave his word to leave the place *and* left immediately to go live out the rest of his sad, forlorn, days in one of the many homes he has acquired "en el exterior" through the sweat of the Cuban people, every single one of those living outside of Cuba today would return with $8,000 and build a brand-new house. Or more. I know I would.
And that, my friends, would end the current housing crisis in Cuba.
No fidel, no problem.
Julio

Julio, I wrote a couple of days ago that the response of the exile community to help their brothers and sisters in Cuba after fidel's fall would shock the world. I hope it happens soon.

"It" created the housing crisis in Cuba. Starting with "its" "Urban Reform" edict - and things went downhill after that. What irony now, to be hosting UN housing programs, and the UN (United Nitwits) failing to see the irony of the whole thing...

Gracias a Dios, mom and dad refused to put up one of those "Fidel, esta es tu casa" signs...you don't give your casa to a thievin' dirty, irresponsible and inept housekeeper.

This will probably be an impertinent question, and I pledge guilty of ignorance. How is it possible that people inside Cuba have not rebelled against the castro tirany? Come on! Even the soviets fell down into the dustbin of hisory. I see Cuba from very far away and it seems to me that they're simply waiting for Fidel to die. Is this the correct perception?

if I sound desperate (if I don't I should) is because I see what has happend tou your country and in parallel what is happening to Venezuela and certainly cannot imagine that my country can reach the same situation in a few years. Sadly it can happen. It is happening.

Thanks for your comments on this.

Larry:
First, Kasstro walked into power and immediately confiscated all weapons , and I mean there wasn’t a BB gun left in the country.
Then there was an unprecedented show of brutality, as one by one daily executions were televised. Some of the people executed for no other crime that being Batista sympathizers. That DOES scare a country into submission.
Next you have (what I think it was) the CURSE of our closeness to the USA. Yes I know that sounds absurd but.. It was just way too easy and cheap to climb on a plane ($45 USD) and come to Miami. A lot of people with power money influence and brains took off hoping to come back in 6 months.
So immediately there was a chasm “it is us against them” and KaSStro used it as weapon.
The first few years of Kasstrism , the government lived with what was left behind, money , food etc.
When Kasstro confronts the USA face to face, steals all of the American property and the USA does NOTHING, those in Cuba who did not sympathize were horrified and the second wave of emigration takes place.
I mean if Kasstro can do THAT to the USA what hope is there?
Do not think there was NO fighting , there were for years a movement against Kasstro fighting out of El Escambray but he was (unlike Batista) merciless, and unlike his own "revolution" his controls impeded any foreign aid for the anti-Kasstro movement.
So at this point most of the people left in Cuba were sympathizers (those who couldn’t get out just kept VERY quiet) and Russia had gotten a firm grip on Cuba. The Kennedy -Krushev pact sealed Cuba's fate giving the tyrant the assurance the USA would not invade and that NO invasion would be permitted from USA soil.
As things deteriorated that closennes to the USA again becomes a very handy Kasstrist weapons , and you have the Mariel exodus.
Had Cuba been in let’s say Africa, there had been no choice but to fight , but due to the circumstances in 1980 it was easier to leave.
So again a great deal of the people who didn’t leave in the first and second wave , left on the third.
And AGAIN Kasstro rids himself of a potential debacle.
The ones left behind are tired , his control of the people is so meticulous that you may not move to the house next door without having special permission.
The punishment for killing a cow in Cuba is higher than for killing a man.
Russia collapses and the infamous “periodo especial” begin… Kasstro’s response? .. let them GO , again a pressure cooker about to explode but only 90 miles away was FREEDOM , people took to the waters and became BALSEROS.
So time after time he has been able to deflate potentially explosive situations by taking advantange of the closeness between Cuba and the USA.
Now, the USA is not at all without its faults regarding this.
When two civilians planes with USA flags are downed by Kasstros MiGs all the USA did was issue” notes of protest”
Again, the people within Cuba who LONG for the USA to do something see this as a symbol that the USA plans to do nothing. So what hope do THEY have?
In Cuba you have a population scared to BREATH , most of them born and raised under KaSStro’s tyranny and when you speak to most of them their DREAM is to LEAVE Cuba.. and NOT fight against KaSStro. It is indeed a much easier choice.
As far as your comparison between Russia and Cuba. It took 60+ years for THAT miracle to happen so of his own accord, Kasstro has the same chances for survival (or at least the regimen)
And again NOW at a point of utter economic desperation for Kasstro he lucks out and hits on the likes of Chavez to bail him out and China not far behind.

There’s a myth in Cuba that KaSStro made a pact with the devil, through some Voodoo ritual.
If you believe in these things, it DOES look like he is the luckiest SOB alive.
But part of the myth is that his reign is limited and in exchange for this power he has held, his death will be horrifying and his soul sentences to eternal damnation.
But THAT does little tp console us Cubans.
I think the Venezuelan situation will be FAR different. Chavez has lucked out that the USA’s concerns are more focused on the Middle East. Venezuelans also can not jump on an inner tube and hope to land in Miami. So his reign may turn out to be a little more like Nicaragua. Because I just can NOT belive the USA will permit another Cuba to happen in the Americas

Thanks, KillCastro. That's a pretty sad situation you cubans have. I feel very sorry for the fate of the cuban people, but feel much more worried about our own fate. I read that Castro has agreed to send another 30,000 "advisors" to Venezuela and cannot stop thinking that this is indeed a very good opportunity for him to secure much needed supplies and money, in exchange for creatives and represive ideas to keep venezuelans quiet. So Chávez happy, Castro also and the venezuelans and cubans will be screwed up. However I don't put too much hope on the US dealing with Chávez, and in fact I would not like them to do it. I would rather see our people settle our pending issues with this tyrant of our own.

Larry I commend you sense of independently dealing with Chavez, and it would probably in everyone’s best interest if the USA didn’t even COMMENT about your situation because that gives Chavez a tremendous weapon to quench your fight. He will just tag you all as CIA agents.
He has learned quickly from Kasstro that the best way to control the country is to claim impending doom from the north, assassination attempts etc.
Unfortunately Chavez is crossing some dangerous boundaries in international politics by making the USA the target of insults and threats. It is like the little guy taunting the giant until it reaches a point where the giant just spits on the prick and the whole thing is over.
I just read Chavez publicly threatened the USA that very soon he will be breaking relations, I also hear from my source sin Cuba this is causing GREAT concern in Cuba.
Chavez is a bull in a china shop and apparently lacks the Machiavellian skills of Kasstro and THIS lack of finesse worries Kasstro.
Chavez MAY really think the USA is afraid to act (shades of Noriega) and he may push the USA to a confrontation.
But I still think that Venezuela still has a public voice VERY much against Chavez that has not been muted (GLOBOVISION for example) and that is highly encouraging. The infiltration of Cubans is just down right insulting to the Venezuelan people, and I am sad to say that Cuban troops will not think twice about shooting down Venezuelan civilians. So a foreign invasion is already under way.
I do pray your country can find a way out of this without recurring to USA aid, but I do see a moment when the USA may just HAVE to spit on Chavez and get it over with.