Has anyone on here been to Cuba?

[Texas Cowboy]

that news to me Willi....I can see it now. trouble over the horizon! Let big business/capitalism take root or not? That's a biggie!!!

[El Capitan]

...Habana is a pretty special place right now...much as it was back in the 50's and 60's...complete with everything from that era... the cars, the houses in Old Habana are unbvelievable, and believe it or not it's pretty safe to walk around at night, as long as you stick to the main drags.

All I can see happening if Fidel kicks, and the U.S. get's a foot hold along with big biz (the Canadian's, Italians, and French are already there) without some sort of plan in place for succession...is that it'll be turned into one Huge Bordello. Very much the same as what happened with the former Iron Curtain countries in Eastern Europe once Democracy and Capitalism came in...in the 70's and early 80's, you could walk anywhere, at anytime in Warsaw, Prague, Riga, Sarajevo...now, walk around in any of those cities at night, and you'd be lucky not to become a statistic that got repoerted to the Embassy the next morning.

Whore it all out, and collect the money...especially true now that Oil Reserves have been found offshore of Cuba...isn't what you want to see happen there..IMHO. There has to be a plan...or one of the last true latin throwbacks will become HISTORY...and did I ever mention the Cubana's are pretty hot!!!

[willi22]

I just got an email from a friend down in Havana and she says that eveyone thinks he is dead. The main reason that he has never been overthrown has been that the people there are more scared with what would happen if he were gone. At least they know what they have with Fidel!

It will be very interesting to see if that place becomes a destination for gringos looking for latinas..... many beautiful women!!!

[Cubafro]

Well I have to say first of all that I`m sad to see that people(not u guys) are so impatient to see him( el maximo) dead....
I don`t want to imagine how it will be without FIDEL....For sure he did bad things but lot of good ones too...I imagine my island with tone of casino, drugs, pimp(like some ``business man``..
I spoke with my family in CUBA, and all agree in one thing, it will be a ****in big mistakes to let ``uncle sam`` coming in with his capitalism...look in all the countries where the US governement decided to controll; it`s completamente desordenado!!!!
RAUL will maybe continue his brother work but I feel he will be more open for the cubans and as soon as we don`t loose our ``virginity`` we`re good to go.
Pido disculpas si hablo de esta manera pero son mis sentimientos como cubano que hablan!!!

CUBA

[El Capitan]

Cuba...hermano, estamos en acuerdo. QUe dejamos todo para gobierno de Los Estados, vamos tener un gran quilombo alla. Sabes que conozco su pais, y me encanta Habana como esta. Solo el pensamiento/la pesadilla que puede ocurrir alla que los capitalistas se aterrizan alla....se me hace sentir triste.

Mis pensamientos son con su familia...y que Dios bendiga La Cuba...

[Cubafro]

Gracias por su palabra EC(hermano)
Me digo que CUBA debe quedarse libre de las manipulaciones capitalistas solamente [img]smile.gif[/img]
Me siento triste tambien...no es que amo o soy de acuerdo con la politica de FIDEL, pero hay una cosa es que este gran hombre es un dictador pero ama su pais verdadero; eso lo creo

CUBA

[El Capitan]

Cuba brings up a valid point...and one that really bears some thought by all of us. Cuba, as it is at the moment, does have it's problems, but, as Cubafro said, there's probably not too many people in Cuba that feel that Fidel doesn't love his country. What, if Fidel should pass on, would Cuba look like without him at the helm? Although I'm grateful for the opportunities that this country provides me, and all of us...I think we should think about what effect we as a country have around the world, just because we can...and whether it's the right thing to do. Just because it work's for us (and it's really not...), does it mean that it's right for another country?

JHMT = Just my humble thoughts...

[LastLion]

I hear what you are saying el cap. I also have real ear when listening to Cubafro. I think he has muc to teach us. On that same topic, I watched some show on prostitution around the world, and I felt very sad for the Cubanas, of all the places they showed(by the way colombia was not one of them) the women of cuba who are doctors lawyers still have to prosititute themselves, the only worse place i saw was russia, so what does that say about democracy and capitalism. If Fidel was gone I bet it would get worse before it got better.

Unfortuantely, I still believe it would get better!!!!!!! Not to doubt the Cubafro, but CUBA is just way out there. There are half that love Fidel and half that don't unfortuantely the half that don't are dead, in prison or in MIAMI!

[El Capitan]

...I'd like to say that I agree with you LL, but I've seen what happened to Warsaw, Prague, and a few other countries after unbridled capitalism came rolling through...yes, there were massive infrastructure improvements, better stores, better buildings, better transit systems...all of which is great...but at the same time, they stole the spirit and soul of the Cities. Now, everyone's just out for themselves...chasing the almighty dream...imagine...after 50 years of oppression...going from 0-60 without a plan, and without the proper person to implement it. Does Cuba deserve to join the rest of the world? Absolutely!! But not at the cost of losing her soul and spirit...which IMHO resides on the Island...not in Miami.

[LastLion]

I think I will have to start up a new topic, I think I could expand on it here, but it might be bigger than CUBA & fidel! Anyways, I will think on it, as I ponder on why and how these world dictators and rulers who slaughter and imprison people for not thinking the same way as they do. And how they have been able to maintain "what we consider to be traditional values".