In brief, Cuba is yet another country where generations of citizens have suffered from the false promises of marxist-leninist socialism practiced under a stalinist regime.
Long considered the “Jewel of the Caribbean”, Cuba has been left in the past. Cuba’s capital, Havana, was once among the most prosperous cities in the world with beautiful homes, skyscrapers, modern vehicles, advanced communications network, state of the art technology and happy people.
Cuba had a Constitution that was highly praised among the ones better conceived for social justice and democratic institutions. After fifty years of stalinism under the authoritarian boot of brothers Castro, only the ruling elite and their comrades live in beautiful homes, the country’s roads are traveled by dilapidated vehicles built in the middle of the last century and communications are for the privileged. Run-down homes, decaying buildings and junker cars are the legacy of Cuban pseudo socialism, which maintains its anachronic boot only on Cuba, through brutal and forced suppression of all political opposition.
The Cuban people are now enslaved, there is no freedom of expression, the regime owns all businesses and children are under government control for brainwashing education.
President Obama announced plans last December to normalize relations with Cuba, met cordially with Raúl Castro in the VII Summit of The Americas and has a potential visit to Cuba on his agenda, but the Cuban government apparently has nothing to offer in return. Raul Castro has been adamant in his most recent declarations underlining that nothing will change and multi-party democratic elections and a market economy are out of the question.
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Raúl Castro has reiterated in several occasions since January that there’d be no normalization of relations unless the US ends the trade embargo, closes the naval base at Guantanamo Bay to be returned to Cuba and takes Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terror. He has bragged once and again about how he'd struck a deal with Obama "without a single sacrifice of our principles". Castro has even told Obama what to do, saying in one of his speeches the US President should “use with resolve his broad executive powers to substantially change the scope of the blockade, even without the Congress’ decision.”
The opening of Cuba to foreign investors is highly controlled, following a fascist agenda that will benefit the privileged high echelon of Cuban society. Industry and services are controlled by the military, and retired generals function as CEOs in corporations created with foreign investment.
Very little is to be expected by the common citizen on account of this so called "opening" of the Brother Castro's regime.
Recent history speaks for itself. In a recent study by Archibald Ritter, a “Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus” in the Department of Economics and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, he found that "real wages are still only at about 22 to 25 % of the 1989 level". In fact, Cuban workers get monthly salaries of between 200 and 600 pesos, that is between $9 and $25 US dollars per month. The lowest wages in the Americas.
It is certainly a bleak reality for the vast majority of Cubans and the near future offers no real hope.
