When I went to a lecture about the Cuban economy last year, the lecturer ( a professor from the University of Florida) explained that Castro is trying to build up his dairy cattle industry but that it won't work because of Cuba's climate. That he could much more easily and cheaper buy powdered milk. Le ronca los cojones is right. Keep your people starved to try another whacky experiment (one that failed before).

My only hope is that this makes people levantarse en masa against the bearded stooge.

You can extend shelf life of fresh milk but you'd need an effective distribution system, which without free markets, Cuba will never achieve.

Extending Shelf Life of Milk
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3301/is_7_103/ai_89883266

How very sad.

Yet - we keep hearing about the squalid state of the economy and the desperation of the people ... day after day, year after year, from one source or another. There's a well-established cottage industry in Miami that has flourised for a long time by pumping out this message over the air waves. But nobody does anything. Not the people in Cuba, certainly not the US govt., which can't make up its mind whether it wants to wind its butt or scratch its watch when it comes to Cuba. There's no oil there, and no nukes yet.

It's my humble and unsolicited opinion that until the people in the island decide it's best to die fighting than to continue living like that, nothing is going to happen; and the screws have to get tighter and tighter on them before they take that step. They've been adjusting and adapting to the gulag for so long. The dissidents, bless them, are great; but that's not enough. The people themselves need to get together and get rid of this scourge. Other oppressed countries have done it. Why not us?

How much is a Cuban peso relative to a US dollar these days?

"Castro is trying to build up his dairy cattle industry but that it won't work because of Cuba's climate. That he could much more easily and cheaper buy powdered milk."

Nonsense. Climate has never hampered the dairy industry in Florida or Jamaica and Cuba lies in between.

Gigi, I think the answer to your question about why people in Cuba are not willing to fight and die is not their apparent lack of courage but, rather, that they are willing to fight and die but not for what you think they should.

Probably part of the plan to end brown outs by March as promissed by (c)agastro. If people have no refrigerators and 2 burner stoves, they cant use as much electricity. As the demand for electricity is reduced, so are the brown outs. This is the enforcement of the enviromentalists dreams. Conservation above production.

Me da pena my hermano, ver a tu familia sufrir esa mierda.

In 1850, Narciso Lopez offered Texas independence leader Mirabeau B. Lamar command of an expedition to liberate Cuba. The hero of the Battle of San Jacinto and former Texas Republic president responded with a nine page letter in Spanish that is the the Texas Archives at Austin. He told Lopez that the Cuban people would not rise up because "el pueblo cubano ha llevado sus cadenas por tantos años que cree que es parte de su propio ser."
After 150 years, the Cuban masses have not been able to shake off that mentality and still go to the Plaza of the Revolution like sheep when they are called out to a Castro speech.

Gigi, I think the answer to your question about why people in Cuba are not willing to fight and die is not their apparent lack of courage but, rather, that they are willing to fight and die but not for what you think they should.

Posted by: Seaga at February 20, 2006 11:22 AM

What do you think they are willing to fight and die for?

I echo Rey's sentiments, Val.

I know I will be making harsh generalizations here, as attested by the exampe of Val's family (and many of our family members who remain on the island). But for the most part, let's think for a moment about who stayed and who left. The vast bulk of people with the drive to make things happen have left or are continually leaving the island in one way or another. The vast bulk of those who remain have either lost hope and are resigned to allow fate (and castro) to carry out their future, or they are in jail or dead! Those fatalistic, make-do-with-what-you-have (yes, even resourceful) ones have to be reawakened to the possibility of a better future somehow. How do we do that? I am tempted to say that Cuba needs to be opened up more...and I don't mean to those opportunitic governments who don't ask anything in return. I mean the US can exert some leverage (the promise of large investments to make the Canadians and Europeans look sick) and initially demand some restrictions on trade and formal relations (people-to-people exchanges to prevent castro from lining his pockets) that can have the kind of impact the Cuban people so desperately need. Some of these initiatives exist, but not enough leverage is exerted to make them flourish. If only the people could be exposed to a little taste of what's outside of the regime, then there could be some movement away from it. The castro goverment hates competition because they know they can't compete. Let's give it to them! One simple and, in my opinion, doable thing is internet access. A brave man (Guillermo Fariñas) is putting his life on the line for it. If the US could push more for this one thing alone, people could discover alternatives (educational, ideological, economic, etc.) easily. I wonder what those resourceful Cubans could do if they had access to ebay? The whole island would become a cottage industry! How cool would that be! There's more to Cuba than beaches. Its people are its best resource. What would it take for Bill Gates or Dell or whomever to donate technology to Cuba for this enterprise?

Waiting for YOUR answer, Seaga .....

gigi,

don't hold your breath...when confronted with facts some people are just left speechless-

Guys,

I banned Seaga. You cant expect me to let this guy come here and take a shot at my wife and not get banned.

ji, ji! pa' fuera!

You mean delacova's feelings. I posted above him.

conversion rates 24 pesos to 1 USD or 1 Cuban Convertible Peso to 1 USD.

...of course this is also dependent on daily salaries in Cuba. 5 USD is a cheap lunch here, but it might be a weeks wages in Cuba. I really dont know.

Those who blame capitalists for being rich and neglecting the poor, wish to replace the system with socialism or some other form of government, thereby getting rid of the rich.

So, instead of the rich, those living in big homes and having special privileges are the leaders of a new group, but again, once they are in power they look the same as rich capitalists and take the best of everything "because they deserve it." The difference between the two is that the capitalist is willing to work for it and the socialist is willing to kill in order to steal it.

The throne and the castle are replaced by the Rolls Royce and the 20,000 square foot home, and then, under castro-ites, by taking over the better homes and throwing those who don't agree with them in prison.

Since they have no guns with which to revolt, those with ambition vote with their feet...or become balseros. Repression must always be a part of socialism because there are many who simply want to strike out on their own, independent souls, who will risk all in order to accomplish their own desires in their own way.

It's called, I believe, the human spirit. That's what castro wants to stifle and that's impossible to do to a good proportion of the people. You cannot stifle the yearning for freedom, you cannot crush it, you cannot starve it out of people no matter how hard you try.