Extending A Small Olive Branch
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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My grandmother escaped from cuba 50+ years ago and I really doubt she would support this cell phone bullshit. Fuck Castro and his dumbass brother!
Re: kiki – agreed! I was in Venezuela in March, and I have to say the reality in Latin America is extremely distorted by U.S. media heavily influenced by right-wing capitalism; totalitarian and oppresive. And technically, the U.S. government (who thinks it "knows" what democracy should look like but doesn't entitle it's people to adaquate health care and exploits countries that are oil rich by shit-talking and threats i.e. Venezuela and Saudi Arabia) is the one cutting trade off to Cuba, however controversial Castro is.
Re: Deanna – fuck yea! I was in Venezuela a few months ago. Yes, the have's and have-nots, oppressed and oppressors are very apparent. However, both Castro and Chavez view the needs of all people, even the poor as holy. I met a Cuban doctor in a barrio, and although he was an atheist, he said that to him the U.S. practice of commercializing medicine is a very undemocratic, as well as un-christian for a country that calls itself so. Free health care and tuition paid sounds pretty decent to me!
ironic isn't it? President Wiretap wants to send cell phones to Cubans so they can "speak freely". The nerve oh the nerve!
hope things get better there.. not only for the people but also so they stop FLOCKING to miami and turning the city into cuba the sequel! WHATS A WHITE GIRL GOTTA DO TO TALK TO SOMEONE IN ENGLISH AROUND HERE?!
bush just wants to tape the convos…. hes not being cool and trying to get things better. how naive perez!!! pluhheeeese!! he has HIS best interest first… not the cubans freedom of speech and rights.
Perez, please stop talking about politics because its clear you dont have the capacity nor knowledge to talk about Cuba
LOL! OH PLEEEEAAAASSSE! you get arrested in the U.S for even looking a certain way…..let alone speaking your mind!!! Cuba's not so bad….
cubans don't have better lives than americans are you dumb? they're so poor they can't even afford a freakin' steak. they have to stand in huge lines to get their food, and can't even go to their own resorts or hotels. cuba's beautiful and it'd be nice if people could go on vacation there without having to go through so much trouble. thank God it's changing. communism's a shithole and a half.