More on the recent "reforms"

Here's what I personally think about all the recent "reforms." Feel free to contribute, disagree, whatever.

Raul is being smart here. It seems like each week there is a new "reform" that the MSM eats up and reports on. All eyes are focused on Cuba to see which small reform will come next. Nobody, except for Cuban and Cuban-American bloggers, is really second-guessing these reforms. Nobody is paying much attention to the fact that there are still political prisoners in Cuba or to how the education and health care systems are in a state of decay. Instead, everyone is focused on toasters, microwaves, computers, cell phones and, now, hotels... none of which are affordable anyway. They're all distractions.

Furthermore, we all know that Cubans' low wages render them unable to purchase a cell phone, computer or hotel stay without foreign assistance. Therefore, any time a documented purchase of these items occurs, the government has a better grasp of who's getting money from exiled relatives. Also, the Cuban desire for these items will prompt a cash infusion from said exiled relatives as Val just wrote about.

Aside from providing a distraction, why else would a Communist regime allow such "evil toys of capitalism" into their country? When I heard about the cell phone "reform" the first thought that popped in my head was monitoring. I read reports a while back that technology had progressed in wireless cell phone tapping, to the point that a security agent can utilize the microphone in the device to listen to you even when the phone is turned off. Call me a hardline skeptic, but if I were a Communist regime that wanted absolute power over its people, I would certainly utilize this technology to monitor them. This "cell phone reform" could easily be the CDR welcoming 21st century technologies. In my opinion, Cubans do not have more freedom because they can now own and utilize cell phones... they actually have less.

Posted by Monica at April 1, 2008 10:48 AM

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Posted by: Peter Perez at April 1, 2008 01:32 PM

Posted by: Monica at April 1, 2008 02:16 PM

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