"Apartheid" was the word used in the 80s to rally everybody around the cause of the unjust 'whites only' rule in South Africa. Where are the same agitators, demonstrators and activists? Where are those that cry out for social justice so often the two words have become a joke? Where are all of those limousine liberals that clamor for "fairness" and "equality"? Where are they in the cause of modern Cuba? Where are they when "apartheid" exists ninety miles away?

It is obvious to me and others that the maintenance of the status quo in Cuba is more important to the self-image of the left than any 'justice' or 'fairness' or 'equality.' The modern left (with notable exceptions like Nat Hentoff) seemingly prefers the death of the populace of Cuba rather than come face to face with the smug hypocrisy and errors that have condemned almost three generations of Cubans.

The truth in Cuba today is so terribly sad and there are so very few voices willing to stand up scream and rail at the top of our lungs about it.

Disheartening, because those "tourists" are the same that are always saying "in Cuba people are warm, and happy, and friendly and always smiling and dancing..." As one can see, they don't give three flying cowpies about those warm, happy, friendly, smiling and dancing dark skinned natives. They just don't really care.
How's the hotel??? Are jineteras allowed back into the hotels??? Are those well endowed guys back from the shelter????
They don't give a fuck about the people who live with the little dignity that the tyranny has not been able to strip from them. Or who withstand the constant insult of the "tourists" that think that every woman they see in the street is a fleeting whore. Well, they always say that before cagastro "Cuba was a brothel", maybe they have a different name for what goes on now, but I don't know the word.
Yes, Cuba had prostitution. As every other country in the freaking Planet Earth. Now, well, it's a rampant phenomenon fueled by the moral crisis brought by a regime that outlawed the traditional family values, morals, religion, ethics, and whose most outstanding piece of work has been the distruction of the family as the unit of a civilized society.

Not to get off topic but here's a site showing some major damaga made by Dennis in Cuba.

http://www.escambray.islagrande.cu/Esp/Noticias/huracanDennis.htm

Very well said Val. Maybe they'll read your post and realize how shallow their concerns are. I doubt it, because Cuba atracts the bottom of the barrel type of tourism. The cheapskates, the ones who couldn't afford to go anywhere else, the sex tourists, the drunkards.

Moneo, you are right that many leftists are unable to come to terms with the fact that they have backed the wrong horse for decades - and it does show their hypocrisy vis-a-vis the apartheid and other injustices.

There are the useful idiots who mindlessly contribute to castro's regime and then there are those on the left who have a public voice who are not "useful idiots," but who are collaborators deliberately manipulating the public, including government officials by withholding, or censoring information about castro.

Ok, it seems to be my fate to deconstruct flimsy statements by dubious people all the time.
The "tourist" that goes to Cuba is a mixture of all things. Many good people go there, and I have met several of them, in and out of Cuba who after seeing what they see there have returned only to perform really well towards the demise of the beast. Then you have the sex tourists, the same crapbags that go to every destination where the locals are exploited and coerced into prostitution. But there's a bunch who are convinced leftists and radicals, liberal sandalistas who go there to feel superior to the "poor brown locals" and to support the misgoverment of Cuba, there, and at their return to the States or wherever they are from.
Of course, I don't write with watered down ink or nor I have watered down blood.

"hese words pierce my heart like a blunt dagger. A whole country lay in ruin, not just from a terrible storm, but from decades of governmental destruction and mismanagement and oppression, and the outside world is only concerned, it seems, about the one place where Cubans arent even allowed to go to freely."

I am sure those who go to Varadero aren't interested in anything else other than the beach and that they don't lose their reservation. I am not surprised at all.

Nor do you have a watered down self-image, eh?

Whatever. Me, I'm not surprised by the searches for "sex tourism". The tourists I met in Cuba, and I met quite a few because of my work, were either Canadian secretaries looking for mulatos, Spaniard drunkards looking for mulatas, Germans looking for both or Mexicans who couldn't afford Cancun. They all look at the poor brown locals as if they were in a zoo.

No Gansibele, I have a real personality. I don't go where I am not liked for example, and I denounce you here once and again because you want to disrupt this blog by diverting the attention from the real issue to whatever else in order to take this blog from discussing the damage done by cagastro to Cuba and to Cubans and concentrate in your own self esteemed deprived persona. Besides being a communist in disguise, a stupid liberal inebriated of your own propaganda, you are a good employee for your handlers. That's why I am feeding you a rotten potion. Go look at yourself in the mirror. Puke on a washable surface when you're done. Again, everybody notices that you need attention and I would venture to say that you need profesional help. Maybe as your job as an informer you saw a lot of tourists. Too bad you learnt so little!

I thought I might find some real sympathy and caring (or at least information) for the many Cubans who are struggling to get their lives together right now. No, instead I find the same sort of lies as always.

Val, how can oyu claim that tourists were bused out and the locals were now, when you surely know that Cuba's public evacuation and emergency preparedness are the best in the Carribean (so said the UN experts last month). Reports have over a million Cubans been moved to higher ground. In the US, if you don't have a car or can't afford a hotel room, you are in tough luck.

And why would a bunch of extremist capitalists like yourselves expect a foreign tourist to give a damn about a poor Cubanos over own? Just like the Miami Cuban establishment ignores the poor being shot every night in Little Haiti.

Myself, I will scrape together as much as I can for the next Pastors for Peace caravan and make a donation to the Red Cross because I admire the Cubans on the island for their pan-humanitarian ideals where everyone's blood is regarded as having equal worth. You all ought to be ashamed.

I don't think I have to remind anyone on here that I am AGAINST travel restrictions,but,my convictions are for other reasons besides enjoying a sip of a Daquiri in El Floridita as so many seem to go to Cuba for just that,cheao thrills etc...

To me,to be able to travel to Cuba freely means,unity amongst family,the right to see and help them without having to hear news that yet another of my family members has died while I am stuck here not being able to offer emotional support,live and in person would be the way to offer such support,not a phone line.

However,it does make my skin crawl seeing people who have booked their vacations during the unexpected time frame that Dennis happend to pass by Cuba,while only worried if the beach is free of debris to enjoy and if the liquor is flowing freely at hot spots.

I never encourage anyone to go to Cuba for the sake of getting smashed at the Jazz cafe,I encourage people to go to Cuba to see what Cuba is like while helping the people,booking a night at Mejia Cohiba at $150 a night is not helping the average Cuban. Book a casa!

Those who go for cheap debauchery to take advantage of a young woman's financial situation who sells herself for $20,to me, is nothing more,what I am sure will be Satans bitch one day,but also,the scum of the earth,those are the kind of people who do not need to go to Cuba and shouldn't be allowed to do so.

You cannot enjoy any country that has much re-building to do before you help with the re-building process,once that is accomplished,then go to El Floridita an enjoy a cool Daquiri as you have earned it,other then that,stay the fuck out of Cuba!

BTW Val,you have mail,think you'll get a kick out of exposing that asshole!

Woooooooo.....Hold on their Cowboy Mathew!

How can Val claim Cubans were not bussed out of Varadero as tourist were?

I'll tell you how he can claim that!

I got the information myself while online chatting with a friend who happens to live in Varadero (near the toll bridge) who saw it with his own two eyes,a bus carrying tourists to safety while it was only half full,and all the while Cubans screaming for the bus to stop only for it to continue on it's merry way,now that's how Val can claim what is said!

He himself didn't find it odd one bit,in fact he told me he is so use to things like that,that it doesn't even faze him anymore as I was bitching about it to him all he told me was to chill out,it aint no biggie..now go fucking figure!

Matthew, boy, before you drown in your on puke, I mean in your own brain-mouth diarreah, go read our postings depicting the hurricane life blow by blow. Then go to hell man. Don't worry about the pitstops, just go to hell. This is in my name and the name of those in Cuba who despise types like you as much as I do.

"Just like the Miami Cuban establishment ignores the poor being shot every night in Little Haiti."

Matthew, I take it you don't live in Little Haiti? Because I live pretty close by, and it's nowhere near the crime-infested area your post seems to imply. Haitians are poor people, but proud and hard-working. Since you seem to like pointing inaccuracies.

Or maybe it's just because of the name?

"Rotten potion" CB? You've been listening to heavy metal for too long.

Better than the communist speeches that you loved and the propaganda you still spew, Gansibele. And yes, I've been listening to rock for the longest time, even when you were a member of the Hitler Junge, oh, sorry!!!! The Communist Youth, that's what I meant! (again, I was one of those guys that ball-less guys like you use to accuse of "ideological diversionism") But well, little boy, you are hungry for attention, that we all gathered. I feel sorry for you. Very sorry. But I ain't sharing a tear for you (now accuse me of listening to the blues too, and you will be right again)

Hey, everybody notice, please. Gansibele is trying to hijack the blog again, distracting our attention from the matter of the topic. Let's give him some material for him to write to his G2 handler... maybe he is the Roach Net, since the Wasp Net was caught. Since he votes Demo-Rat probably he is in the Rat Net, as a sleeper agent.
Ok, back to tourism. I would like to point out that Gansibele said that "because of his job he met a lot of tourists". I said that he probably was one of those poorly paid propagandists that they have in every tour bus or maybe just a stinky informer. What's your take?
Don't be hard on him because he has an inferiority complex and low self esteem.

HOLD ON!!! Aguantate Fuerte!

CB!! Gansibele is riding on your last nerve and loving it!! and to make things more enjoyable for us he found Matthew to bring in more distraction and blah, blah, blah...
LET IT GO CB! Not worth it....reading their post is as enjoyable as pooping in the woods!!

As unfortunate as it seems, Cuba has become a heaven for perverts of all kinds thanks to tourism. That is the reality of a system based on empty promises and a Godless society isolated and opressed.
We hear and deal with this issue constantly,as a Cuban American and I am saddened and appalled.
As long as that senile hijo de puta is sitting in his mighty throne chocking Cubans to death along with his "putas" like Raul, Alarcon, etc.. we will be hearing the same song just like a broken record.

Matthew,

Good luck with the Red Cross. fidel won't let them into Cuba. Of course, you'll blame us for that too.

Too bad the leader of Cuba doesn't share the "pan-humanitarian ideals" you so admire.

Sheeesh. What BS.

Well said Carmen, add to that list of putas the American left who lives in a moral vacuum and in incapable of understanding evil.

US says Cuba has declined disaster aid
Mon Jul 11, 7:50 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States said Cuba had declined its offer of humanitarian assistance in the wake of Hurricane Dennis that killed at least 10 people on the communist-ruled island.

Acting State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the US interests section in Havana informed the Cuban government on Sunday that the United States was prepared to provide "immediate humanitarian assistance of emergency supplies to help those Cubans affected by the hurricane."

The Bush administration had also offered to deploy an assessment team to Cuba to help determine what relief supplies were most needed.

"Unfortunately the Castro government declined these offers," the spokesman said in a statement.

The hurricane that passed over Cuba late last week killed 10 people and temporarily displaced another 1.5 million, according to Cuban government officials.

However, Casey urged individuals and groups to send humanitarian goods to hurricane victims in Cuba through non-governmental organizations.

"We will continue to work through appropriate non-governmental organizations to deliver relief provisions quickly and directly to the Cuban people," he said.

The return of Matthew Glesne! Finished your jinetera tour, I see. So are you going to hitch a ride with the (laugh, cough) "Pastors" for Peace for your next Cuba vacation trip? Calling you a useful idiot is an insult to idiots.

Yuca, sorry to say but an IM report about your friend witnessing a bus of tourists but not one full of Cubans does not equal the truth, nor allow Val to make the sort of generalisations he did. The truth is that Varadero was in fact RECEIVING tourists from the South. There were no reported casualties from in this area. The only ones that did perish are those who ignored orders to leave. Yet the US press seemed fit to print in every article preceeding the hurricane that Cuba has such a good record because it "forces" evacuations.

Regarding Little Haiti, I just googled it and found that it has one of the highest crime rates in the country (along with Liberty City). And Gansibelle, implying that I'm a racist is not good form. My point was that Miami has the highest poverty and crime rates for urban areas in the country. These things are related to the hyper-capitalist spirit and inequality that defines that City.

Sorry I should have said the "International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies." They are who I donated to last time - and they certainly work in Cuba as they issued the appeal I responded to.

The Red Cross inspecting Cuban prisons was rejected because it is continually a part of a US sponsored resolution, who's votes are bribed and coerced by the most powerful country on earth (there are always reports of aid programs threatened)... who does not itself allow an independent investigation into its own Cuban prison. And of course, the usually reserved Red Cross has condemned practices amounting to torture taking place there already.

George, maybe little Matt met Gansibele back in one of his trips to Cuba. I mean, he was there meeting jineteras no? And Gansi himself said that he met a lot of tourists because of his job... Well, now we know that he is a darling representative of the oldest profession on Earth!

Matthew-Hyper capitalist spirit? You mean that can do attitude of if I get an education and work hard and don't give up I can attain my goals? Like many Cuban Americans? Jews? Colin Powell? wtf are you talking about?

Kate, you know that we have been called the Jews of the Caribbean many times. Or the Germans of the Caribbean, both as slurs, and always from sandal wearing libzillas. The funny thing is that we have done (all the above mentioned groups, including the American population of German origins) in the same fashion, rejecting the commies, rejecting the fascists, working hard, standing up for what we believe in, and not taking any bullcrap from anyone. Maybe these libs mean a compliment? They have to dance around the truth like their sex god Billy Goat Clinton. What a disastrous bunch.
After reading this blog I can imagine them calling Howard Dean, "Vermont, we have a problem"

the honesty of this posts hits me hard. having been there. alongside the tourists. being there with my cuban friends.

i still wait patiently to hear from my friends in the Yumuri Valley, Havana and Pinar Del Rio.

OG
Good news, maybe one of them reads Babalu and you will get news from them. If this comforts you a little, I just called Havana. There were no reported casualties in Havana or Pinar del Rio. And I know that Yumuri Valley got tons of rain, but I don't know if there are casualties. My prayers are with your friends, for the prompt recovery of their lives.

I am just arrived from varadero to my homecountry holland, safe and with my family. I vistited your country to see with my own eyes the circumstances in with the people live under the todays regime, and not only for my own pleasure, there are cheaper places nearby with sand and sun.
In my opinion Cuba is still in an big economic crises and I hope the people of cubu will survive the long way to a normal life. I will tell everybody in my surroundings about what I have seen for a better understanding of the circumstances in Cuba.

Thanks Rene. Send photographs of the real conditions, if you have them, to all your friends, they say an image is worth one thousand words. I am glad to see that there are people helping us by showing the world what the real Cuba for Cubans is all about: a communist apartheid theme park!

I have to say I am a bit shocked at the amount of negitivity towards the tourists going to Cuba. Tourism is a way to emppoy alot of Cubans, as well it gives them a chance to learn languages and meet people, gain more tips as well as possesions to share with their families.
I am not under the impression that all tourirts who visit Cuba, see the real cuba, Most do not. I have been to Cuba as a tourist 6 times, and I love Cuba. I will continue to return, not because I am trying to give money to Castro, but because I love my Cuban friends, and I feel that I help them when I arrive when items for them, and deliver their letters abroad , bring them packages they have had mailed to me etc.
I am just one person, but I am sure there are many like me, who went to Cuba to relax and to finally see some sun in the sky, but left a changed person, after meeting the people there. With each trip I saw deeper and deeper into the country and its ways( both good and bad).
I was shocked at the living conditions,and stray dogs dying on the side of the road, the wonderful things like seeing a father play ball with his son, moments like that are few and far between here, while children play their video games,and parents ignore their kids. I was deeply affected by the sense of family there and came home enlightened and feeling guilty for the things I do have, that just a short flight away, people were going with out.
So Please don't assume all canadians head to cuba to search for sex(all though that does happen) and don't assume that every cuban who marries a foreighner only does it to leave cuba(although it does happen). Some of us are trying to help, even if it only a little, and even if it only what each of us are capable of doing.
I am a canadian, and I love my country, and I cherish my freedom, but I also love cuba, and I hope that one day, cuba can be free.