Val I could related to the story
My dad was one of the millions who went to the sugar cane fields in the so called.
“La zafra de los diez millones “ which was a total failure ,castro never made it, not even close to 9 millions .
In Villa Clara was once the province with the biggest production of sugar ,the one with the most ingenios ,Now it’s a wasteland ,no sugar cane , no mangos , no frijoles, even the most common and delicious Cuban fruits la guayaba y el anon are very rare to be found in the country side.

You forgot to mention the third provider of hard currency, Hugo.

The fourth should be Hu
Although the Chinese might have paid for Cuban nickel with useless rice cookers

"can be a thorn at it's side."

Val, what did you mean by this?

Tom,

It means that the more tourism, the harder the regime has to work to maintain its apartheid.

Tocororo,
You hit it on the head. Thats the 1st thing that came to mind. Once his pet project now his supposed plague. There is no way that even his most loyal supporters can avoid laughing at that statement.

What an interesting concept, how did you ever come to it.
It's too bad we could not leverage something like that to our advantage.

In answer to the question at the head of this column, and in view of the graphic illustration of the item directly below this thread, I would have to say: TWO lumps ...y de los buenos!
Val, where did you find this model?
Do you think we can convince her to join the Babalu Rumbera at CubaNostalgia next May?
What a couple they would make... the Fantastic Four!
:)
Julio

Heh, how easy it is to debunk the "Cuban economic miracle".

http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y05/ago05/17a6.htm

No en balde el s'atrapa cubano persigue tanto a Chepe, porque cada vez que 'el hace algo, le pega un golpe contundente al andamiaje de mentiras que ha erigido el r'egimen...
oops... here it is, en ingl'es, so everyone can understand:
No wonder the Cuban dictator persecutes Chepe so much, because every time he does something, he strikes a serious blow against the system of lies built up by the regime.
Chepe was, incidentally, one of those Cubans who was physically prevented by castroite "turbas" from getting to a meeting of dissidents about a week ago.
Then, suppossedly he and Marta Beatriz Roque were granted an audience with a visiting U.S. member of Congress (Specter of Pennsylvania, perhaps?). Has anyone heard anything about what came out of that meeting?
Has the Congressman returned to the U.S.? Made any statements? Issued any news releases? I haven't seen a thing and...
Inquiring minds... want to know!
Julio

every time castro farts changes he's mind.
he smokes cigars and know he saids they are bad and should be used againts the enemy.
now hes trying to related sugar production with the colonization of cuba by the spaniards.
what a fucking joke.I get the feeling that he is running out of excuses ..I guess the el bloqueo excuse is getting everyone tired.

Do you remember when Castro said 46 years ago that the Revolution would succeed even if all Cubans had to eat malanga? Well, not long after he spoke the malanga was banished from the Cuban diet. Castro's explanation at the time was that this tuber was a "vestige of underdevelopment."

By the way, I have never understood the reason that the malanga was never introduced into the Anglo market. They like the avocado well enough. I guess it's because the malanga's hirsuteness would prove offensive to American sensitivities. Still, they could dehydrate it as they do the potato. If there are any Cuban entrepreneurs out there, take heed: The malanga is a "potato" with character whose day has come.

"Esa malanga amarilla
hay que comerla caliente,
yo te la traigo de Oriente,
pa' que la prueba María..."

La fritura de malanga es lo mejor,y todavia no conozco a un cubano que no se alla criado en su infancia sin pure de malanga con mantequilla..
YUMMYYYYYYY !!!!!

No more _azucar_, no more _ron_. Fidelthy is like a black hole into which all joy must eventually vanish.