Cuba

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appleman2006
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Cuba

Post by appleman2006 »

I am curious as to whether anyone else on here has ever been to Cuba. I just got back from a visit to that country due to a board I sit on deciding to have their biannual meeting there. It is not a place I ever really aspired to visiting but I did find it interesting. I realize that five days in Cuba does not make me an expert in Cuban affairs or history but I did learn some things and I am curious as to whether my observations match up to anyone else's that has studied or visited the country.
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Josh
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Re: Cuba

Post by Josh »

I remain curious how we have so many conregations in Cuba.
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ohio jones
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Re: Cuba

Post by ohio jones »

appleman2006 wrote:I am curious as to whether anyone else on here has ever been to Cuba.
Oh yes, many times. Not the Caribbean one, though.
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Josh
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Re: Cuba

Post by Josh »

ohio jones wrote:
appleman2006 wrote:I am curious as to whether anyone else on here has ever been to Cuba.
Oh yes, many times. Not the Caribbean one, though.
Been to Cuba in NYS a few times myself.
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Soloist
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Re: Cuba

Post by Soloist »

appleman2006 wrote:I am curious as to whether anyone else on here has ever been to Cuba. I just got back from a visit to that country due to a board I sit on deciding to have their biannual meeting there. It is not a place I ever really aspired to visiting but I did find it interesting. I realize that five days in Cuba does not make me an expert in Cuban affairs or history but I did learn some things and I am curious as to whether my observations match up to anyone else's that has studied or visited the country.
I know Cuba only from the US military base prospective... as a side note, we still have active land mines surrounding our base.
I know a little of the history from when we had open gates and trade went in and out, but nothing related to Christianity.

Presently Cuba's leaders is supporting North Korea at least thats what the media says.
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Bootstrap
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Re: Cuba

Post by Bootstrap »

ohio jones wrote:
appleman2006 wrote:I am curious as to whether anyone else on here has ever been to Cuba.
Oh yes, many times. Not the Caribbean one, though.
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Bootstrap
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Re: Cuba

Post by Bootstrap »

appleman2006 wrote:I am curious as to whether anyone else on here has ever been to Cuba. I just got back from a visit to that country due to a board I sit on deciding to have their biannual meeting there. It is not a place I ever really aspired to visiting but I did find it interesting. I realize that five days in Cuba does not make me an expert in Cuban affairs or history but I did learn some things and I am curious as to whether my observations match up to anyone else's that has studied or visited the country.
Nope, never visited Cuba.

I'd be extremely interested in what you observed.
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MaxPC
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Re: Cuba

Post by MaxPC »

appleman2006 wrote:I am curious as to whether anyone else on here has ever been to Cuba. I just got back from a visit to that country due to a board I sit on deciding to have their biannual meeting there. It is not a place I ever really aspired to visiting but I did find it interesting. I realize that five days in Cuba does not make me an expert in Cuban affairs or history but I did learn some things and I am curious as to whether my observations match up to anyone else's that has studied or visited the country.
I'd be interested in your perspective, A-man. The last time I visited Cuba was in October 1952: before the start of Castro's revolution. I recall a warm place with brightly painted buildings and a tourist atmosphere.
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RZehr
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Re: Cuba

Post by RZehr »

I have a brother that lives in Cuba.


Cuba, Missouri.
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appleman2006
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Re: Cuba

Post by appleman2006 »

MaxPC wrote:I'd be interested in your perspective, A-man. The last time I visited Cuba was in October 1952: before the start of Castro's revolution. I recall a warm place with brightly painted buildings and a tourist atmosphere.
1952? Wow! Yes that was 7 years before the revolution. Probably the only thing that has not changed is that you still see a lot of 50's era American cars on the roads. :) You are getting to be a rare breed as there are less and less people around that remember those days in Cuba.

I tried to have an open mind as I visited the country. I really did. I had heard Canadians that had visited, raving about how progressive and wonderful Cuba is and how happy their people are. After all they have free health care (the best in the world some claim) free education including university for those that have high enough marks, totally organic agriculture and the people are so friendly and happy. Also they insisted everything was so very safe in that you did not have to be worried about being mugged. The weather is wonderful and the beaches are the cleanest you will find anywhere.

Well here were my observations in the brief time I was there. The water on the beaches was extremely clear and clean largely due to the fact that the beaches were manmade and so there was not a lot of sand to cloud up the water as in Florida. And the weather was wonderful 3 out of the five days I was there but that is not anyone's fault of course. I was very impressed how fast they had the damage from Irma cleaned up. It is obvious how important tourism is to them. And yes I did feel relatively safe from being mugged. It is a police state after all and thieves are not dealt with lightly.

But there the positives stop in my mind. I cannot speak on the healthcare. As I understand it, even doctors earn only about 160 pesos a month, about 4 times more than the average person. As to education. My guess a better word for it would be indoctrination. Maybe not that much different than our universities now that I think of it. But the best jobs are in tourism simply because a hustler can probably make three or four times his salary in tips if he is really good at it and is not afraid to almost beg. Out of Cuban's 11.4 million people 1.7 million work in tourism. The birth rate in Cuba is 1.4 and there is no immigration so our guide was pretty open about the fact that they had major problems ahead of them. The average age in Cuba is 46. Anybody see free healthcare disappearing in smoke? As to agriculture our guide told us that only a very small part in the middle of Cuba was actually good for growing things although something tells me with a good fertilizer and pest control program there might be a lot more land that would be workable if there was an incentive to actually make it produce. One person I know who has visited the interior and that knows a lot about growing things informed me that it appeared to him that there was a lot of unused land that could of been productive with the right TLC. Apparently they import the vast majority of their food.
We were told by our guide that the average Cuban spends 80 percent of their income on food and the food is a best mediocre. They of course have free housing but it is crumbling at least on the outside. I am told it is often nicer on the inside because that is where they spend their money. Old Havana I found to be very sad. The beautiful old buildings are crumbling before their eyes. Havana is almost 500 years old but unless something changes many of those old buildings will simply not last much longer.
As to the happiness of the people? Well I saw a lot of men sitting around in groups in front of buildings simply smoking and drinking rum. Rum is very cheap there BTW. The employees at least on the tourist areas seemed to be primarily women with some exceptions. And yes they were almost always smiling with big smiles while they served you. And yet when I looked into their eyes I saw sadness, emptiness and worry.
And everywhere I heard their distain for America. They blame all their troubles on the American embargo in spite of the fact that they can trade with 90 percent of the other countries in the world. But they are quite open about the fact that in order to survive they need American tourists. I saw a number of very large Hotels that were being built with the hope of better relations with the US. But apparently Trump's election has stopped any further builds. :)

All in all to me it was a sad reflection of what socialism does to a country. I pray that some how things can turn around for them. I saw the large statue of the Cuban Jesus looking out over Havana. I pray that they can come to know the Jesus that walked the shores of Galilee. Me thinks that would go a long way to solving their problems.
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