Will COVID & Embargo Combine To Make It So?
The triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1, 1959 both surprised and irked the nearby superpower United States. Since then the destruction of Revolutionary Cuba has been predicted on a daily basis...but it has survived such things as the April-1961 Bay of Pigs military attack, an astounding number of assassination attempts against Fidel Castro, a staggering number of terrorist attacks including deadly hotel bombings in Havana to deter tourism and the deadly bombing of the civilian Cubana Flight 445 airplane, and the Economic Embargo/Blockade that began way back in February of 1962. The closest the Cuban economy came to collapsing came in the early 1990s after fall of the Soviet Union. But now, in February of 2022, there are dire predictions that the twin perils of the ever-tightening Embargo/Blockade and the COVID pandemic will finally collapse Cuba this spring or summer in 2022.
For sure, since 1959 the U. S. media has failed to provide the American people with unbiased, honest journalism related to U.S.-Cuban relations. But this week in mid-February of 2022 one source...The Jiribilla...has revealed what appears to be a fair and honest update on the current status of the Cuban economy.
This is famed Cuban economist Jose Luis Rodriguez this week in Havana discussing the island's economy in the face of the Pandemic, the Blockade, and now rampant Inflation. Born in Havana in 1946, he has spent three decades with such powerful titles as Cuban Minister of Economy and Planning, a member of the National Assembly, etc. For the past seven years Jose has been writing a book about the Cuban economy and he is compiling up-to-date data to conclude it prior to publication. And for decades Jose has led Economic Forums around the world, including the famed one held in Davos, Switzerland.
This new The Jirebillo article shows Jose Luis Rodriguez during the 25 years he was the top Economist and Planner for Fidel Castro.
The renowned Professor Jose Luis Rodriguez, as you can see above, claims in February of 2022, that the Cuban economy "must be strengthened in four specific areas: look for alternatives to renegotiate the external debt and unlock the indispensable external financing, curb inflation, make greater investments in the food industry, and be more systematic in investments in the energy sector, starting with the maintenance of thermoelectric plants." These sage words refer to the crucial month of February-2022. This month after getting another major economic award, Jose Luis Rodriguez...in the second paragraph above...criticizes Cuba for spending too much on "tourism" and not enough on "agriculture" -- suggesting that the Revolution has been forced to spend too much for food products from foreign nations. He said, "To produce food you must make investments." He criticizes the Revolution for not having done that. But you can see above that Jose Luis Rodriguez, to this day, worships his long-time boss Fidel Castro.
Jose & Fidel twenty-five years ago.
Back in 2016 Fidel Castro died at age 90. Contrary to what Americans have been told since 1959, in February of 2022 Fidel Castro -- the Sierra Maestra rebel -- still has the most important grip on the Caribbean's largest nation. And, moreover, any observant and fair-minded American journalist or historian who actually visits the island and mingles with the Cuban people will discover that fact. But, of course, everyday since January of 1959 Americans have been told a vast array of other bogus reasons for both the triumph and the longevity of the Cuban Revolution. And the reason for both, including its longevity in February of 2022, can be explained with just two words -- Fidel Castro. And as the Cuban-U.S. conundrum spins antagonistically for year after year...in 2022 perhaps it is time for the American people to finally be provided honest facts in which to base their decisions. Otherwise, since 1959 Americans have been gorged and bombarded with only data designed to enrich & empower a select group of U. S. Cubans while trying to starve, deprive, and make miserable the families on the island to induce them to do something Miami and Washington have been unable to do, which is to recapture the island. You know...uh...Fidel Castro's island.
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