Cuba: I'm not sure what to think and definitely don't know what to do.

Just because castro blames the embargo for every miserable thing on the island doesn't make it so. You bought that story hook line and sinker. Why doesn't Cuba buy all the stuff that it's lacking from Canada or Mexico or China or Russia or France or England or any other country in the world. Maybe because the embargo isn't what's causing shortages. It's the failed communist economy jackass.

Dear Henry, Firstly, I'd like to thank you for the very charming and eloquent post you left on my travelblog a few minutes ago. Travelblog asks its writers to delete things like that, but I think I'll leave it up. That way, when my fourteen year-old sister and younger cousins read my blog-but before they leave comments saying how much they miss me-they can read your words. Lovely. I'd like to know where your perspective on Cuba comes from. What's your relationship with the country? With its people? I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and presume that you have some kind of personal connection and experience with Cuba, and that's why you felt moved to respond to my four sentences on the embargo the way you did. It would have been nice if you had prefaced your opinion with some kind of introduction explaining your authority on the subject, but hey, you can't have everything. Where are you coming from on this issue? And for the record, I never said the embargo is to blame for every miserable thing on the island. I agree with you, the Cuban government is too quick to blame too many of its problems on el bloqueo. There's certainly more to Cuba's problems than U.S.-imposed trade restrictions. But I'm of the opinion that the U.S. isn't accomplishing its goals with the embargo. Instead of forcing a government to change, it's hurting a people. Also for the record, as I'm sure you know, Cuba does buy things from other countries. It buys the internet from Canada. It buys oil from Venezuela. The bus I rode on was purchased from China in October of this year. With the exception of oil, most imports are horrendously and prohibitively expensive. If Cuba could trade with the U.S., it would not cost 5 CUC per hour to get on the internet. How do you not know that? And don't call me a jackass. -Emily

Emily, I assumed that no children would be reading your blog when you said "The embargo is bullshit". I simply expressed my opinion that the shit was what you were writing and not the policy which I'm sure that you don't understand fully. To answer your question about where my perspective on Cuba comes from, my parents were both born in Cuba. They were 17 and 20 respectively when they fled "the worker's paradise". My grandparents all born in Cuba too. 3 of them left Cuba to rebuild their lives that the "people's revolution" destroyed. The 4th died without me ever having the chance to meet him (thanks Fidel). I was born in Philadelphia. In addition to our country's first capital I have lived in Salamanca, Spain, Gainesville Florida, and where I presently call home, Miami, FL. I attended the University of Florida where I obtained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Economics. I too am a world traveler and have visited the following countries: Canada, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Isreal, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Egypt, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, Malta, Belgium. I have never been to Cuba. Nor do I need to, to know what is going on there. I never visited Nazi Germany but am pretty sure I know what happened there. Same with Stalinist Russia. I blog about Cuba every single day, trying to dismantle the myths created by Fidel Castro and his sycophants and perpetuated by the media and useful idiots around the world. At this point, since I blog using my real name, I will never be permitted to enter Cuba. Perhaps you didn't say the embargo is to blame for every miserable thing on the island but you insinuated it: To make a long story short, the embargo is bullshit. There's really no other way for me to say it. There's no way for you to really understand it until you've seen this place; until you've ridden on a bus so crowded that people fall out the open doors; until a little kid has approached you on the street and asked you not for money, but for a writing utensil... This might sound like every developing nation in the world, but as a North American, I've never felt as directly responsible for poverty and underdevelopment as I have here. What is this that I'm feeling about damage caused by a policy I don't support? Is it guilt? Helplessness? Anger? Let me ask you something? Did you or President Bush or President Kennedy or any other American force Fidel Castro to close all of the private bus companies in Cuba? What about the car dealerships? Or the stationery stores? Why then do you feel any guilt. All of the misery you describe was created by the most Anti-Cuban person in the world, Fidel Castro. Why doesn't he allow these business to be re-opened? Why don't they allow a company similar to office depot to open so that boy can have his pencil? Why not allow private enterprise? You're reading of the causes for Cuban poverty is extremely naive. Why is it that Cubans are succeeding economically in almost every single country in the world EXCEPT CUBA? Perhaps its because they are being held back by an archaic political and economic system that has failed by every country that has every tried it and abandoned by most of them. Only Cuba and North Korea continue the failed experiment. There's a reason why China is one of the biggest markets for automobiles these days. They finally realized that command economies don't work. By the way the embargo would be lifted tomorrow if only Castro would release the political prisoners, allow for political opposition to organize and hold free and fair multiparty elections. Which of those 3 conditions do you think is unreasonable? Which of those three do you think the Cuban people don't deserve? To answer your question about where I get my perspective, it's a place called reality. Not a utopian fantasyland that is built like a Hollywood back lot. On Dec 3, 2007, at 1:44 AM, Emily Henke wrote: Dear Henry, Firstly, I'd like to thank you for the very charming and eloquent post you left on my travelblog a few minutes ago (www.mytb.org/ehenke). Travelblog asks its writers to delete things like that, but I think I'll leave it up. That way, when my fourteen year-old sister and younger cousins read my blog-but before they leave comments saying how much they miss me-they can read your words. Lovely. I'd like to know where your perspective on Cuba comes from. What's your relationship with the country? With its people? I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and presume that you have some kind of personal connection and experience with Cuba, and that's why you felt moved to respond to my four sentences on the embargo the way you did. It would have been nice if you had prefaced your opinion with some kind of introduction explaining your authority on the subject, but hey, you can't have everything. Where are you coming from on this issue? And for the record, I never said the embargo is to blame for every miserable thing on the island. I agree with you, the Cuban government is too quick to blame too many of its problems on el bloqueo. There's certainly more to Cuba's problems than U.S.-imposed trade restrictions. But I'm of the opinion that the U.S. isn't accomplishing its goals with the embargo. Instead of forcing a government to change, it's hurting a people. Also for the record, as I'm sure you know, Cuba does buy things from other countries. It buys the internet from Canada. It buys oil from Venezuela. The bus I rode on was purchased from China in October of this year. With the exception of oil, most imports are horrendously and prohibitively expensive. If Cuba could trade with the U.S., it would not cost 5 CUC per hour to get on the internet. How do you not know that? And don't call me a jackass. -Emily

Henry Gomez has BEEF, son.