Not a photo copy of the purchased bill, but facts and numbers, yes. Yes, let us to do that. A lot of them are. Some are not. I don't think sugar is Cuba's most important export, anymore. Cuba also has nickel, tobacco, shellfish, medical products, citrus, coffee, alcoholic beverages. Yes. Including some doctors, I believe I remember reading, who have computers at home. I did not get that one. Some Cubans do have computers in their homes. They are not many, though. Some have computers at work. There are also internet cafes.
Medical Products? and people cant even find aspirin in the stores. Dentist have nothing to kill pain with.
Yes, medical products. Don't believe me? I could give you a source, if needed. Documentation? That would, if it is true, be very serious. Do you have any documentation?
Daily life has become increasingly difficult for the average Cuban. Shortages of food and electricity, a deteriorating transportation and health system, and a drastic decline of basic services provided by the state are creating tense conditions that could lead to increased social unrest. Housing The provision of basic public services has been woefully inadequate, and has noticeable repercussions on daily life in Cuba. Even the very homes that many Cubans live in are a testament to their struggle to survive. The housing situation, particularly in urban areas, is abysmal. The problem is twofold: there is an acute housing shortage in Cuba, and many of the living quarters that do exist are in notably poor condition. It is presently estimated that there is a deficit of 1,600,000 dwellings on the island.(1) Perhaps the most shocking and well-known example of the crumbling housing infrastructure in Cuba can be found in Havana, where an estimated 300 buildings collapse a year.(2) While some are struck by the charm of crumbling architecture, snapping pictures and straining to imagine these buildings in better times, the reality that these unstable structures threaten the safety of thousands of families is unfortunately lost on many observers. Between 1993 and 1996, there were 5,381 partial or complete structural collapses in Havana.(3) It is estimated that over 100,000 Havana residents presently live in unsafe housing.(4) A United Nations program being implemented in historic Old Havana, one of the most densely populated areas on the island, reports an average of nearly two partial collapses every three days.(5) Sixty percent of residents in this beleaguered section of Havana live in homes in poor condition(6) and according to the Cuban government, eighty percent in Central Havana live in housing that is “deteriorated or in need of maintenance, including the units classified as fair or poor.”(7) Nearly half of the capital’s units are in fair to poor condition, and in 2000, approximately 75,000 were being supported with braces, 60,000 were designated for demolition, and 4,000 were in danger of imminent collapse.(8) This situation is not being remedied by government construction or repair. In a rare moment of candor, a government housing official acknowledged that many of the newly constructed units are too small and have been made from low quality materials: cement made from soil, pasteboard and tin.(9) There is also some evidence of buildings that have received cosmetic upgrades, such as paint jobs, being reported as “repaired.”(10) Electricity One of the most pervasive and notorious shortcomings in public programs is the inconsistent electrical service. The phenomenon of apagones, or blackouts, is part of everyday life. The frequency of these blackouts is disconcerting; in 1995, 297 days of the year saw some interruption in the electrical service.(11) In the darkest hours of the post–Soviet “Special Period,” the Cuban government began modifying its power plants to use domestically produced petroleum, which contains elevated sulfur content that is highly corrosive. As a result, the plants are shut down approximately every three months for maintenance - much more often than plants burning cleaner fuels - to counteract the effects of the sulfurous fuel oil.(12) For instance, one Cuban plant was slated for a maintenance shutdown of twenty-nine days to prepare for the heightened summer demand.(13) Presently, about ninety percent of electricity is produced with Cuban crude. (14) Recent developments have plunged the Cuban power grid into a new crisis mode which again places the burden upon the populace. In May, in a catastrophic oversight during a routine maintenance shutdown, one of the main rotors of the Antonio Guiteras power station, the largest thermoelectric plant in the Cuban electrical system, was damaged. As a result, Guiteras, which supplies approximately fifteen percent of the entire national electrical output, will be out for several months for major repairs.(15) Despite the fact that the accident occurred almost four months prior, and the effects have been felt in increased blackouts during that time, the government did not release this information until September. The clarification was finally given to explain new austerity measures, including scheduled rolling blackouts, the closing of over one hundred factories and other means of production until further notice, the limitation of nocturnal security lighting, and even strict guidelines on minimum indoor temperatures for air conditioned businesses.(16) One resident voiced some of the frustration which has become a part of daily life: "You go to work and waste time because if there's no electricity you can't use the computer. You get home and you don't know whether or not you should turn the washing machine on. But the worst is when the power goes off in the middle of the night; with this heat, it's just impossible to sleep without an electric fan."(17) Another more serious consequence of these stoppages is the spoiling of perishable foods. With the average Cuban earning the equivalent of $US10 a month, the unreliable availability of rationed foods and the high prices of staples and other goods at dollar stores, most do not have room in their razor-thin budgets to replace spoiled food that was already allotted for.(18) Water The system of water distribution is also in serious disarray and has proven unable to satisfy the needs of the Cuban population. According to the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, the Cuban government ministry overseeing water concerns, virtually all urban Cubans (98.3 percent) receive water service. Of these, the vast majority, or 83.5 percent, have a connection within the home, with another 14.8 percent having easy access to water, a technical term which implies a water source within 300 meters of the home.(19) Despite these impressive numbers, the reality of water provision in urban Cuba is a very different one. One Cuban government water official anonymously confirmed a common estimate that Havana loses approximately 30 percent of its municipal water supply to leaks.(20) This unfortunately is not a problem that is limited to the capital. Leakage in water systems is a tremendous concern throughout Cuba, with leakage rates ranging from 13.3 percent in Pinar del Rio to 30 percent in Manzanillo and Camagüey to an alarming 42 percent in Santa Clara.(21) This creates a situation where, as a result of these leaks, the amount of water extracted far exceeds the actual need simply to overcome waste and satisfy demand. A report from the Inter American Development Bank listed Cuba as having a ratio of water withdrawal to water availability of over ten percent, which is recognized as an indicator that the water supply is inadequate, signaling a need to either increase supply, limit usage, or both.(22) Poor pumping capacity also limits the number of hours that water is available through these connections. While the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) cited the national average at approximately twelve hours a day, the figure varied from sixteen hours in Bayamo to eight hours a day in Pinar del Rio and Santa Clara.(23) One government employee responsible for the municipal aqueduct for Pinar del Río gave a revealing testimony of the state of urban water service. He confessed that no area of the city receives an adequate supply of water, citing the poor condition of the pipe network, poor electrical service for pumping, and the tremendous waste due to leaks.(24) Santiago de Cuba, the country’s second largest city, is serviced by an aqueduct built in 1927 that has received little maintenance and is inadequate for the needs of the current population. Different areas of the city receive water every thirteen to fifteen days, and some neighborhoods, like the Reparto Abel Santa María, have recently endured 35 days without service.(25) Medicine Even securing basic medicines is often a Herculean effort in Cuba. Reports abound concerning the lack of aspirin, antibiotics, multivitamins, and other pharmaceuticals. Leaders in Havana point to statistics concerning number of doctors and consultations as proof of the outstanding coverage of the Cuban system. For instance, in 2002, there were over 76 million doctor visits or approximately 6.8 per capita.(26) Unfortunately, these numbers actually tell very little about the reality on the ground. For instance, patients may receive a prescription from their doctor, which is valid for a week. With the acute shortage of medication, the pharmacies usually do not carry the necessary medicines, and when shipments do arrive, the pent up demand often ensures that they are gone quickly. As a result, many must return to their doctors every week to have a valid prescription ready in the event that a shipment arrives.(27) Antibiotics are rare in Cuba and are not available in the state-run pharmacies; they can only be purchased on the black market. Pharmacies are not stocked with even some of the most basic supplies, such as aspirin, forcing Cubans into the government dollar stores where they are available at prices in US currency, well out of the reach of many Cubans with no access to dollars. One Canadian journalist found that a tube of cortisone cream cost as much as US$25, the equivalent of nearly two months’ salary for an average Cuban.(28) The privations of life in Cuba have been taxing on its citizens, who routinely depend on their resourcefulness to make ends meet. The black market is booming and theft at the workplace is commonplace. Meanwhile, services provided by the government are lagging far behind present needs: medicines are unavailable, water and sanitation shortcomings increase the likelihood of disease, and housing is inadequate, at times perilous. With the onset of the latest electricity austerity measures, some diplomats and observers on the island have suggested that these everyday burdens placed upon the population may stir discontent to heights not seen in a decade, when a rare public protest in August of 1994 was swiftly and brutally silenced.(29) Historically, in the face of these widespread shortcomings in government services, the average Cuban has seemed more preoccupied with fulfilling basic needs than clamoring for change. While the future is unclear, the present deterioration in basic services and the hardships of daily life facing the Cuban population are unfortunately all too certain.
Listening to the New York Times or Hollywood's contingent of wide-eyed Castro worshippers you'd get the idea that medical care in Castro's Cuba makes America's healthcare system look like a third world system. Such claims are pure myth. Dr. Hilda Molina, one of Cuba's top neurosurgeons, a one-time member of the Cuban parliament, and a confidant of Fidel Castro, made the mistake of criticizing her nation's medical care system. Molina exposed Cuba's two-tier medical system that enabled rich foreigners to come in for treatment at first-class facilities in Cuba, paying in dollars, while ordinary Cubans got some of the most atrocious medical care on the planet. According to The American Thinker magazine, Molina was seriously punished for her revelations, as well as objecting to Castro's fetal stem-cell research program on the grounds of conscience. In the end, she lost her job, her parliament position, her livelihood and everything she'd worked for. "Last December, she tried to leave Cuba to visit her Argentinian son, his wife and their children," the Thinker reported. "There was a showdown at the Argentinian Embassy and much to its disgrace, the Argentines refused to give her a visa, shoving her back to Castro's waiting agents on the outside. Nothing has been heard from her since." Dr. Molina was not alone in decrying the shabby state of medical care inflicted on ordinary Cubans under Castro. The American Thinker cited a Cuban source that took on the issue head-on. Wrote the Cuban source, babalublog.com "Every single time the island of Cuba and Fidel Castro's revolution are covered anywhere in the media, one of the points always mentioned is Cuba's free healthcare. You can practically time it. If it's in print, you get the lead issue in the first and second paragraph, a mention of Fidel Castro or one of his cronies in the third paragraph, and then the plug for the lauded free healthcare available to Cubans in the fourth. I don’t think I've ever read an article about Castro or Cuba where the 'healthcare' isn’t mentioned. "Every single Castro supporter clings to this healthcare thing like it is some kind of holy grail. In a debate, the fact that Cuba has the most political prisoners in the world is ignored. The fact that Cubans on the island lack even the most basic of necessities is ignored. Tourism apartheid is ignored. Everything is ignored save for the free healthcare and 100% literacy. "Of course, none of these 'free healthcare!' cheerleaders have ever been to a Cuban hospital. They've never been to a Cuban clinic. Hospitals and clinics serving the average Cuban, that is." The writer then published photographs showing cockroach-infested hospital rooms: "Cockroaches. Twenty-seven of them to be exact. All swept together after having been squashed by patients and patrons of El Hospital Clinico Quirurgico de la Habana." Other photos showed a hospital interior that would be shut down in the U.S. because of its shockingly unsanitary conditions. "Well," wrote the source, "this is just a small reality of Castro's lauded healthcare in Cuba. This is a hospital in Havana, one Castro once called 'one of the most modern and best ones in the country.' The hospital is in the nation's capital and the most populated city in the country. Imagine the conditions of hospitals in smaller cities or rural areas." Moreover "this is not a hospital that caters to foreigners. This is a hospital strictly for the Cuban people. Foreigners are treated quite differently and their facilities are state of the art and, at least, sanitary. The photos, taken by two journalists, María Elena Morejón and Carlos Wotzkow, can be accessed through babalublog.com. Wrote the source, "I urge each and every one of you to check the ... photographs so that next time, when some Fidel-loving apologist mentions Cuba's free healthcare, you remember what they're really talking about: the myth of Cuba's vaunted healthcare system."
BBC Country Profiles http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/country_profiles/1203299.stm [*]Population: 11.3 million (UN, 2005) [*]Capital: Havana [*]Area: 110,860 sq km (42,803 sq miles) [*]Major language: Spanish [*]Major religion: Christianity [*]Life expectancy: 75 years (men), 79 years (women) (UN) [*]Monetary unit: 1 Cuban peso = 100 centavos [*]Main exports: Nickel, sugar, tobacco, shellfish, medical products, citrus, coffee [*]GNI per capita: n/a [*]Internet domain: .cu [*]International dialling code: +53 Now let us see your documentation. Links, please.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call 'Gitche Gumee.' The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy. With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty, that good ship and true was a bone to be chewed when the gales of November came early.
I assume you use Miami-links, and therefore you don't want to discredit yourself. Thanks for the confirmation.
HAVANA (Reuters) - A Cuban dissident who has been on a hunger strike for 36 days to demand unfettered Internet access is refusing medication and his health is deteriorating rapidly, fellow dissidents said on Wednesday. Guillermo Farinas, a 41-year-old psychologist, went on a hunger strike on Jan. 31 to press Cuba's Communist authorities to respect his right to freedom of information and allow him Internet access, which is controlled by the government. Farinas was moved to a hospital in his hometown of Santa Clara, in central Cuba, where he is being kept on an IV drip. "The hunger strike continues. He has been isolated in intensive care since Thursday," said Niurbis Diaz, who worked with Farinas as an independent reporter. "He is refusing pills and injections," she told Reuters by telephone. Cuba, like China, controls access to the Internet. Direct access to the World Wide Web is generally only available to government-approved individuals, but passwords can be purchased on the black market. The postal service offers an e-mail service, but users can only surf Cuban Web sites. International Web sites run by exile groups are routinely blocked by Cuba's state-run servers. The U.S. State Department, in its 2005 human rights report published on Wednesday, said Cuba was a "totalitarian state" that represses dissents, has jailed 333 people for political reasons and severely curbs freedom of speech and information. "The government controlled all access to the Internet and took steps to censor all electronic mail, disallowing any attachments," the report said. Cuban President Fidel Castro's government says Internet access is restricted in Cuba due to the limited bandwidth available. They blame that on U.S. economic sanctions that bar Cuba from hooking up to submarine fiber optic cables and force the country to use satellite communications for Internet traffic. Farina's hunger strike has alarmed other opposition activists. Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya urged him on Wednesday to end his protest. "We call on authorities to respect his rights, agree to his petition immediately, and save his life," Paya said.
Mayn, you guys are hardcore about this stuff ... I say live and let live .. i'm happy doing what I do, hows about you be happy doing what you do, eh?
