Extending A Small Olive Branch
Filed under: Politik
Good news! There's now some progress in the relations between Cuba and the U.S.A!
On Wednesday, President Bush announced that the US will allow Cuban Americans in the United States to send cellphones to their family members in Cuba.
It will now be up to the Cuban government to determine if it will allow its people to receive the phones.
Bush added that if they have the cellphones, they should also be allowed to "speak freely in public."
Riiiight. This is a country where you can get arrested for speaking badly of Castro in public.
Let's hope they change that!
Even though the U..S will now allow cellphones to be sent to Cuba (it should take effect several weeks from now) they are still stressing that the long-imposed embargo on trade with Cuba is still in effect.
Bush said, "If the Cuban regime is serious about improving the lives of the Cuban people," it should take the steps to "make the changes meaningful."
Though the best quote of the day goes to Bush's writers, who had the Prez say that it is the "height of hypocrisy to claim credit" for allowing Cubans to have items "they can't afford."
Exactly!
If most Cubans are making just a FEW dollars a month, usually less than $15 USD a month, how can they even afford a cellphone, computer, or even a toaster?
Pay your people now!
Then we'll believe Cuba is truly changing.
[Image via WENN.]
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Yay!
Enough with the Cuba already!
I hope things there start looking up
Bush can lick my bush!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cool, maybe now they can phone someone who cares
yeay!
Cubans have better lives than Americans.
Democracy is not always the only way.
thought Perez said Castro was dead
Cubian!!
cool i guess?
They need a free market system…not communism!
Equal rights for ALL humans!
Perez, you are so naïve…
The USA uses a different cell phone system from the rest of the world. The rest of the world uses GSM and the USA uses CDMA. It's Bush's way of trying to make sure that an American company sets up their own cell phone towers in Cuba, and that the USA can monitor the conversations. People from other countries won't be able to use their cell phones in Cuba. Bush tried to do the same thing in Iraq right after the invasion.
In this case, what you think is a "good" action is very bad for Cuba.
first!
Re: gaga –
Then move your ignorant ass to Cuba you inbred pile of fuck
I agree with you! but at least there are some changes being made!!
[re=2216129]Re: gaga[/re Hey, let's buy a ticket for you to move to Cuba then..and you have many reasons to back up an idiotic statement such as that? The only people democracy does not work for are the despots who want to take and take and suppress the masses.
Baby Steps….in the right direction.
i love cuba
Excellente!
Bush is a MF butcher of the world. Cubans are dictators? THen that makes Bush a f*ing 21st century Hitler
What is a Cuba??
you said it yourself! "the long-imposed embargo on trade with Cuba is still in effect"…. that is what is making the Cuban people suffer… do your research… the US is pissed that Castro kicked out all the US companies and gave the country back to the people of Cuba and won't let the US have it's way… Cuba has a long history of slavery by the light skinned Spanish who fled with all the money when Castro took over. END THE EMBARGO NOW!
Perez - seriously lay off Bush. You know that he does have a say in his speech writing efforts and *gasp* take credit for the things he says. You would be the FIRST to talk about something stupid HE says (not his speechwriters) yet when it comes to good speech, you credit the speech writers. That my dear, is pure hypocrisy.
The Cuban people will have cell phones over my dead and decaying
body, Raul is a boob and Mario is a piece of donkey shit.
Re: mjn – I love Cuba!!!! I've already been there twice!
Who the fuck cares?????????
Perez,
The Cuban GDP per capita is $4000/yr, after a PPP adjustment. A good bit more than $15/month, you dumb fuck.
So often your facts are wrong and your writing is terrible. Good thing that in the American populace, you have an audience too dumb to notice or care.
#4 If you were cuban you would understand! stfu Finally a change. Que viva cubaaaaaaaaaaaaa… Perez Are people are finally getting what they deserve.
I was in Cuba last year and they're doing remarkable well in spite of the US trying to screw them every time they turn around. On a bus tour I did to havana the Cuban tour guide was quite candid about the good and bad things Castro and the government have done, he wasn't afraid to speak his mind. I might add that he probebly collect well over $100 in tips after the tour so I suspect he's carrying a cell phone right now. Americans should make the effort to visit Cuba (via Canada) like a 1/2 million Canadians do ever year. See for yourselves how it is there, your government is not really telling you the truth. Have a look at the biggest diplomatic building in Havana (the US offices).
enough with cuba? are you stupid? its the closet body of land that is not attached to the United States as well as the most volatile one. It is a country that not only supplied the world over with sugar in the early 1900s, it also at one point in time surpassed the luxuriousness of even Las Vegas.
That small island you're so tired of hearing about is SOOOOO insignificant the United States has had a blockade for over 30 years that has done nothing but hurt the United States economy… for what? Obviously, it's not such an insignificant country.
Every day I am reassured that Americans have absolutely NO IDEA what it means to be American because they have no respect for anyone else.
"ENOUGH WITH THE STUPID PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES" would have been a more appropriate comment.
***sorry perez, but clinton has to go-go.
So Bush does something that you praise. But then you say that his writers did it? Are you kidding me Perez? Give credit where credit is due and stop being such a typical liberal moron.
Come on Perez. It isn't up to the government to pay their people. We need to lift the trade and travel embargo. Free trade will improve the lived of Cubans and Americans. We are the ones who are forcing Cuba to stay a closed society. If people are allowed to come a go and do business then you can't keep information out.
by the way, the cuban embargo HAS NOT hurt CUBA at all. Please do some research yourself. if anything it has hurt the American economy not to be able to sell their overpriced merchandise in Cuba. Communist Cubans enjoy all the luxury Europe has to offer. Every other Cuban enjoys being stuck in 1979.
Re: gaga – Wow, how eloquent are you? And your defense of your previous statement that CUBA is better off than the USA…well, I am sold!! Cuba IS much better off…what more would I need then your having been there TWICE! Hey, I was in Puerto Rico once…does it count though since I was only in the airport to change planes on the way to St. Thomas? From what I saw out the windows..it too was great! Awesome and convincing…you will make a great statesperson!
i may not be able to read the comments left on this page ever again. are you people retarded? what makes you think BUSH or any other president of this country would want to let the people of cuba come and go as they please, free trade and all???
Cuba is a GOLD MINE and everyone knows it.
You are an idiot Perez, you have no idea whats going on in Cuba. They have a better life than we do here. They were allowed cell phones before! STOP SPREADING LIES. FIDEL IS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO CUBA.
Cuba is perfect the way it is! OKAY perez u see how bush is fucking up our economy!! why would you want that for cuba! leave cuba alone. The majority of cuba is happy..its only people outside of cuba, or the sellouts that choose to leave in order to take part in a capitalistic economic system that complain. They are just waiting for the embargo to end so they can make some sort of profit!
It's so pathetic that you think you know so much about Cuba simply because you are of Cuban descent. Tell us again about how you know for a FACT that Fidel Castro is dead, Perez. You have no integrity on the matter of Cuba. You only make yourself look like even more of a fool than normal. Stick to making up names for celebrities that only you think are creative and cute. It suits you better than foreign policy.
I just came back from Cuba a week ago from yesterday and the fact that they make literally $20 a month regardless of their employment is unbelievable. I really hope things change for them, but keep in mind $20 a month is equivalent to 500 pesos..they receive food, free healthcare and education from the government, so they are receiving something. Either way an increase would be wonderful, and overtly helpful to them all. I don't think a significant increase in technology would be beneficial to them, but freedom to speak, and an increase in pay would be great. Keep in mind they are considerably happier than North Americans in terms of their way of life.
What does that say about us?
It's sad that you can't even give President Bush credit when he does something even you find a good thing, yet you will probably vote this fall for a man who openly has Che Guevera flags hanging on the walls of his local election headquarters.
hahaha…i love how you've shut up about hillary now that she cant win the primary. least you could do is show a little obama support. i mean you ARE a true democrat right?
Cubans only make $15 a month because the economy is shit BECAUSE of the US Embargo. Lay the blame where it belongs, it's not *all* Castro's fault.
Who cares about Cuba? NOBODY!!!! Enough with your political thoughts and self-promotion.
Americans should be the last people to speak on behalf of REAL Cuban Citizens. Been there and the people there are quite happy and speak freely about their opinions. Cell phones have been in used long before and they have their own Cuban cellphone company. Kicking American businesses out of Cuba was the best thing that has ever happen to them! Cuba is beautiful without being Americanized! Cuba libre!
Re: gaga – Oh yeah I suppose eating cats is way better right? Dumbass.
Re: tania – Well said!
Re: Marky – Lots of people you dumbfuck.
GOOD FOR CUBA….NOW ALL U SMELLY YEAST INFECTED WET BACKS GET YR ASS ON A BOAT AND GO BACK TO YR HOME COUNTRY,VACATE THE EASTERN SEABOARD NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This exemplifies the stupidity of PH vieweres:
"Cubans have better lives than Americans."
WTF? You ignorant little turd.
WHO CARES!!!! I"M TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT CUBA!!!
Anyone else realizing how stupid Perez is and how stupid you become by reading his website? For anyone with a real education and a real job and real life, read the real news.
I DONT GIVE A RATS ASS ABOUT THOSE DAMN MEXICANS, I CARE ABOUT AMERICA, THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE FUCKING WORLD! NO ONE ELSE MATTERS! FUCK EM!
Quick history lesson. John F. Kennedy was the president who imposed the embargo on trade to Cuba. Anyone think Cuba is better than America? Go live there and see for yourself. You have no freedoms and virtually no money. Perez, would you have gotten where you were had it not been escaping from the communistic society and coming to live in the democracy that is America?
Awesome! Let the USA whore Cuba and suck the island dry of whatever resources it has left! So that Cubans can finally bitch about something else other than the Cuban government! If Bush lifts the embargo Cubans are really gonna feel it…right up the ass.
Your audience, on a whole, doesn't give a rat's crap about Raul or Fidel! Maybe Mojitos. If anyone cared, they would check Reuters. The only one interested is you.
Wow, Perez, you are attracting lots of ignorant white trash based on the comments below (not all)! Maybe only people in Miami, who are so close to Cuba and yet are in a completely different world, can understand. The more rights Cuban people get, the BETTER! It's sad to be less than 100 miles and be so limited in how we can help. Maybe it's too soon to say, but the recent changes have given me a more positive outlook, that maybe Raul Castro will do better for Cuba than his brother did.
I was in Cuba a year a go, and they were using cell phones,
how they got them, I dont know, but they had them.
I was even using my own cell phone.
Re: michi –
I totally agree with you.
The USA, just wants its greedy hands all over Cuba
yeah Perez, we get it, you're not so keen on the Castro regime but how many citizens in the US-of-A who can own cell phones and earn enough dollars to buy a toaster are living below the poverty line and can't afford health insurance? and who can vote for whoever they like and keep mysteriously electing George W? people who live in glass houses…
But I still can't go there! We're supposed to be the "land of the free" but we can't even travel to Cuba!! This is the kind of shit that went on in the Soviet union where people couldn't go places. We're free to travel to CHINA and take all the money we have in the world and spend it there…but God forbid that we would be so evil as to want to visit our own neighbors in tiny Cuba!! The laws in the USA are fucked up. Vote Libertarian!
I don't get this whole thing with the cell phones. Anyone who has been to Cuba in the past few years already knows that tons of Cubans already have cell phones. Not sure where they get them but they certainly have them. It is an beautiful country with lots of issues. Lets hope the government gets things right so not only we Canadians get to enjoy the beauty of Cuba.
I am total agreement! Pay them more. $13-$15 Convertible pesos IS NOT ENOUGH!! Also, let them leave, let them travel……even to other provinces in their own Country…..
Mario,
Eres tan pendejo. Deja de comer mierda ya. Cuando se trata de Cuba no eres mas que un exiliado ignorante. Callate ya, gringo. Tu blog es un desastre.
I have spent several months living in Cuba and while they are not allowed to always speak freely, it is not the negative communist country that the united states makes it appear to be. Cuba has one of the best health care and education systems in the world. They have the highest literacy rate in the world, and have higher life expectancies than the U.S. If the United States would remove the embargo that rest of the world would be allowed to trade with Cuba and their current systems would only get better. Cubans don't need cellphones, they need economic trade and acceptance.
Always said that the Cuban Americans were some of the hardest working people in the US.
Great fucking food too.
Oh jeez….."mang"….."rush"
Idiot Savant…Cuban Crime Wave……
Wow. See Perez Bush is not so bad at all. Just try to remember that bush extended his arms to help cuba get cell phones. When you want to bash him next time.
rises like cream eh? Fuck me. Shame on you
I never fucking knew….until things got wierd in Cuba..but I thought it was all great
Noooooooooooooooooooo. Writers are very creative, as artists.
Un nuevo ciclo comienza en Cuba. Todas las opciones están abiertas, y ninguna puerta está cerrada. Cuba puede tener todas las posibilidades que la mente puede concebir. Entonces conciba, Cuba Libre.
there are people in the us who can't afford cellphones
there are people in the us who can't afford cellphones - who can't afford phones - who can't afford homes
even though they recieve less money, cuban's are generally happier, have lower stress levels, and low health inequities. Cuban's have lower morbidity rates then north america. Yet they get less money. They must be doing SOMETHING right..lets not be ethnocentric people
I thought this site was about celbrities…If I wanted to read about "politiks" I'd have hit CNN.
Perez, no offense, but if you're going to go on and on about the Cuban situation, why don't you become a political blog. Nobody gives a shit about Cuba except Cubans. Period. And Michael Moore was right, although you hate to admit it. Cubans are a majority Republican group and could have saved us from the mess that is George Bush. Period. But they didn't. They give tons of money to Republicans, elect Republicans and support medieval Republican ideals, so you have no base to criticize those who just point out that Cubans are partly responsible (much like evangelists) for the mess this country is in.
Each time I read through the comments regarding the Cuban articles, I am disappointed by the racism and constant crap being written.
(1) Even if this is a celeb website PEREZ is the one that set it up, hence he can preach about ANYTHING he wants to.
(2) If you're over the cuba articles or don't want to hear about politics.. here is an idea… simply keep scrolling. The cuban articles are few and far between… you do NOT have to read them! AND you still get your hit of celeb goss.
(3) I don't know what is worst - people telling Perez how much they dislike him when they are constantly visiting his site…. that's screwed up or arguing about a topic with no facts.
I am from Melbourne, Australia and we belong to a very multicultural society. But rather than be ignorant we embrace others… yes there is always a fear of the unknown, BUT we do not belittle one another.
Some of you should be ashamed of your comments. The only people that should judge the Cubans are those living through their hardship. Support humanity.
Thank you Mr. President for your diligent care for the freedom loving and freedom starved people of Cuba. Death to the Communist Castro brothers!!!
Re: cooper –
VIVA LA BUSH!!!
God Bless him.
Yeah Perez, why don't we send them our hard-earned bank accounts along with the cell phones?? America needs to stop trying to solve the world's problems! Each time we do try to help out, our efforts get shit upon, just like you are doing tin this article, Perez. You bitch about Cuba, then a few sentences later you bitch about the USA. I'll bet you are not bitching about the USA when you are cashing your paychecks. If you lived in Cuba, you would be lucky to afford toliet paper. Keep bitching about the USA, you ingrate.
I still love you though, Perez.
Hey Perez: The Celebrity Gossip business seems to be quite lucrative for you. How about you step up and send a couple thousand pre-paid phones to Cuba and let some of those folks contact family they haven't seen or heard from in decades?
I'm not a conservative, but it's really annoying that anything good that comes from President Bush is always credited to "his writers." ALL POLITICIANS HAVE WRITERS. All of them seek advice. Get over your stupid prejudices against him and recognize that he might do one or two good things despite his stand on other issues.
a) if you hate perez so much for being cuban, gay, in your face, or whatever else then why do you come to his website everyday and bother to leave comments
b) you dont know how it feels to taken away from your country and not even being able to go back
c) Cuba si, castro no.
lovee youuu perezzzz
I love how Americans say Cubans have horrible lives because they don't earn much money.
Compared to a lot of other poor countries that don't even have embargoes on them, they are much better off - free healthcare and education etc. Of course they should be allowed free speech, but the money thing - money isn't everything. People with money are usually unhappy as well.
Even though you 100% agreed with Bush on this one Perez, you couldn't bring yourself to just say so can you?
That's zealotry. Give it a rest. No one likes a drunk monkey, and no one likes a political zealot.
Re: kim –
"Im not a conservative, but it's really annoying that anything good that comes from President Bush is always credited to "his writers." ALL POLITICIANS HAVE WRITERS. All of them seek advice. Get over your stupid prejudices against him and recognize that he might do one or two good things despite his stand on other issues."
.
.
You aint the only one honey. I am sure Perez thought he was oh so clever when he typed that though.
He can't be seen siding with Bush on anything or they wont go to the Ivy with him anymore.
Adding to comment # 15, the US runs on more than CDMA alone - that is only one carrier, but we have no roaming agreements in Cuba so the US phones will not work. Anyone wanting to send a phone will have to buy it from another country and send it over.
No one cares. Can YOU go back to Cuba? Weren't you born here though after your momma and daddy washed up on the shores of Miami?
Bush should be saying, "If the American government is serious about improving the lives of the American people," it should take the steps to "make the changes meaningful."
Gas prices are no joke right now and his priorities are all mixed up. So close to the end of his term, maybe he should not travel so much on taxpayer's dollars and sit tight.
Frankly ,I would rather live in Cuba any day of any year ,to living in USA under Bush.
my ex is cuban born and he was arrested and thrown in jail for 6 months for listening to Gloria Estefan with headphones on in the park. My dad was cuban and never got a chance to go back…I hope to see a free Cuba someday, like Perez.
right on..perez…right on!!
Re: gaga – Your a dumb fuck
Re: Phut – Nice, I'm sure you would love being in jail 24/7 for dumb laws
Wow! I have to say that despite all of the really intelligent rhetoric (tongue firmly in cheek), most of the opinions about Cuba are b.s. Have you been there?
Here it is, Cuba is like any other country in the world. But unlike the U.S, Canada, Britain…Cuba's "have-not" people are simply more visible. The aformentioned "developed democracies" simply hide their wide class disparages better. The conditions in Cuba, exist within North America too. Minorities (being the poor) are marginalized and placed in ghettoes in every city in America and elsewhere…their opporunty for better education, and successes in life are as hard to get here as there! The idea concerning freedom and justice for all, is a naive point to take for gospel in the U.S. There are class wars, racism, laws that prevent equality! Get a grip, come out of your neat little cubicles and truly look at the world around you.
I may not agree with all of the things the man has done, but the idea of making one's country a place for its people and not those who are there to exploit and plunder it, IS something I can relate to.
So, how about we clean up our backyards before casting judgment somewhere that most of the people commenting have little REAL knowledge of.
Uh…we have open trade policies with China, Saudia Arabia and the like. What a hypocrite to not cut ties with other countries whose people are treated like dirt. Don't foget that in several countries of the middle east, a woman can be stoned to death for the most ridiculous "infractions".