Cubans: Tell Us About Your Country

[WildCat]

This thread is for Cubans to tell us all about their country - what government policies they like, which ones they don't like, which Cuban politicians they love, which Cuban politicians they hate, their opinions on relations with other countries, etc etc.

We hear so many criticisms and praises of Cuba from outside the country, now it's time to hear it straight from the people who know best - Cubans! Let's shed some light on this tropical paradise!

 

[A'isha]

Do the anecdotal stories of relatives count?

One of my cousins, half Ecuadorian thanks to her father, went to Cuba to study. While there, she married a Cuban doctor.

They came to the US to have their baby.

Ever since then, I've been...slightly dubious about claims like the ones in Michael Moore's "Sicko".

 

[WildCat]

Do the anecdotal stories of relatives count?

They'll do while we're waiting. It was 10pm in Cuba when I started this thread, so they are probably in bed. Or dancing the night away in the wild and crazy Havana night life.

 

[A'isha]

Or unable to get to JREF because web access is effectively prohibited in Cuba, save for a few hotels and business centers catering to foreigners (and their foreign currency).

 

[WildCat]

Or unable to get to JREF because web access is effectively prohibited in Cuba, save for a few hotels and business centers catering to foreigners (and their foreign currency).

I'll wait for our Cuban posters to confirm, though I'm highly skeptical of your claim. I have heard that Cuba is a paradise, though now that I think about it none of the people who told me that actually live there.

But that's what this thread is for, to hear it straight from Cubans.

 

[A'isha]

I'll wait for our Cuban posters to confirm, though I'm highly skeptical of your claim. I have heard that Cuba is a paradise, though now that I think about it none of the people who told me that actually live there.

But that's what this thread is for, to hear it straight from Cubans.

I anticipate with great eagerness the surely-inevitable massive success and impessive postcount of your thread here, then.

 

[geni]

This thread is for Cubans to tell us all about their country - what government policies they like, which ones they don't like, which Cuban politicians they love, which Cuban politicians they hate, their opinions on relations with other countries, etc etc.

We hear so many criticisms and praises of Cuba from outside the country, now it's time to hear it straight from the people who know best - Cubans! Let's shed some light on this tropical paradise!

They have their own online encyclopedia:

http://www.ecured.cu

You may need some spanish to get through that.

 

[MG1962]

I'll wait for our Cuban posters to confirm, though I'm highly skeptical of your claim. I have heard that Cuba is a paradise, though now that I think about it none of the people who told me that actually live there.

But that's what this thread is for, to hear it straight from Cubans.

You might need post your question in a Lucumi language forum. Seeing as you know, English is not that common on the island

 

[WildCat]

You might need post your question in a Lucumi language forum. Seeing as you know, English is not that common on the island

"Although it’s hard to estimate how many people in Havana speak English, it is not hard to find people with whom one can talk. And especially in a university environment, it is not difficult to find Cuban students who speak English with varying degrees of proficiency, from excellent to being able to say a few words. But one thing you can count on: those Cubans – whether university students or people on the street – who speak even a little bit of English will be very keen to practice on you."
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=17434

Shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure they'll be coming here for a chance to improve their skills, they get lots of tourists from Canada snd the UK. Too bad our fascist government won't let Americans travel to Cuba!

 

[theprestige]

They have their own online encyclopedia:

http://www.ecured.cu

You may need some spanish to get through that.

Looks like it uses Wikimedia. The "discussion" tab for the entry on the United States "Estados Unidos" returns some kind of access denied error.

Estados Unidos de América. Reconocido como el imperio de nuestra época,es la nación más poderosa de todos los tiempos... Se ha caracterizado históricamente por despojar por la fuerza a otras naciones y países de territorios y recursos naturales para ponerlos al servicio de sus empresas y monopolios. Con apenas el 4% de la población mundial, consume el 25% de la energía que se produce en el planeta[2], y a pesar de su riqueza más de un tercio de su población no tiene asegurada la atención médica.

"United States of America. Recognized as the empire of our era, it is the most powerful nation of all time... It is characterized historically as having taken by force the territories and resources of other nations, to serve its enterprises and monopolies. With only 4% of the world population, it consumes 25% of global energy production, and in spite of its riches, more than a third of its population does not have medical insurance."

EcuRed's take on Cuba--or Canada, for that matter--is left as an exercise to the motivated Spanish-speaking student. I will, however, note by way of comparison, that the entry for Cuba appears to be a straightforward historio-geographical summary, without any geo-socio-politico-economic editorializing comparisons. Canada's entry seems to be similarly mundane.

The most notable thing about Russia ("Rusia") appears to be that it is the heir of the legal person of the Soviet Union.

 

[theprestige]

Hold on; I take that back about Russia:

http://www.ecured.cu/index.php/Rusia#Consecuencias

Las heroicas jornadas de octubre... estremecieron al mundo. Se abrió una nueva época para la humanidad. Ningún hecho posterior puede opacar la grandeza de los bolcheviques rusos.

"The heroic days of October [1917]... shook the world. A new age of humanity began. No future work can obscure the greatness of the Russian Bolsheviks."

 

[MG1962]

"Although it’s hard to estimate how many people in Havana speak English, it is not hard to find people with whom one can talk. And especially in a university environment, it is not difficult to find Cuban students who speak English with varying degrees of proficiency, from excellent to being able to say a few words. But one thing you can count on: those Cubans – whether university students or people on the street – who speak even a little bit of English will be very keen to practice on you."
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=17434

Shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure they'll be coming here for a chance to improve their skills, they get lots of tourists from Canada snd the UK. Too bad our fascist government won't let Americans travel to Cuba!

And how many Spanish language forums have you participated in?

 

[geni]

Looks like it uses Wikimedia.

Mediawiki. It also has some non standard plugins.

 

[geni]

Shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure they'll be coming here for a chance to improve their skills, they get lots of tourists from Canada snd the UK. Too bad our fascist government won't let Americans travel to Cuba!

That would remove cuba's main selling point to non american tourists.

 

[Rolfe]

A friend was leaning on me to join her at Easter in an early music singing course in Cuba. Bad time of year for me (lambing) and it seemed very expensive, so I declined. She's going, though, so I'll ask her what it was like when she gets back.

Rolfe.

 

[uk_dave]

A friend was leaning on me to join her at Easter in an early music singing course in Cuba. Bad time of year for me (lambing) and it seemed very expensive, so I declined. She's going, though, so I'll ask her what it was like when she gets back.

Rolfe.

IF she gets back. She might get kidnapped and her body parts used for transplants while the remaining tissue is processed into some kind of food to feed the population.

 

[Pardalis]

I wonder how they feel about their new president, how the election process went.

 

[WildCat]

And how many Spanish language forums have you participated in?

We have lote of posters here from non-English speaking countries, from Brazil, from Mexico, from Peru, from Colombia.

I'm sure a Cuban will show up any minute now! Maybe they're lurking and waiting for their resgistrations to be approved.

 

[WildCat]

And how many Spanish language forums have you participated in?

This does give me an idea... I'll find a Cuban web forum and invite the posters there to post in this thread!

My google-fu is failing though, anyone know of a Cuban forum I can post the invite in?

 

[bikerdruid]

That would remove cuba's main selling point to non american tourists.

ouch....