<p>My wish for the new year is for the Cuban government to remove the embargo it has imposed against its own people for the last50+ years under the guise of external threats from the “empire” so that the desire of every young Cuban is not to flee the country along with the 20% of the population that has done so already.(those numbers mean that if it was te US, 60 million people would have left)…Cuba has been free to trade and get subsidies from the Soviet Union to the tune of billions and credit from everybody else in the world during all this time to no avail. By the way, they owe money to everyone and their mother. The only thing that seems to work very well is their repressive apparatus and their propaganda machine.</p>
<p>The old guys in the Cuban government will retire and die. The younger generations will take over and make change when they taste freedom. Cuba is no different than Russia, China, Vietnam,… The only fear the Cuban people may have is the corruption of the new ruling class.</p>
<p>My overall impression is that the Cuban people have been largely better off (economically, in terms of healthcare, etc) than those in neighboring island nations…Jamaica, The DR, Haiti. Not sure about the small island s that are still colonies or part of larger countries (like PR, US and BVI, etc). </p>
<p>If that is so, what might change? Cuba was not a paradise for most Cubans pre-revolution, (hence the revolution). </p>
<p>Do you know that if you have to go to the hospital in Cuba you have to take your own pillow, bedsheets, and towels and that the salary of most people in Cuba is the equivalent of $20-30 per month?</p>
<p>Cuba produces a lot of physicians, so medical care is better than typical for a poor country. But it does not do so well in some other areas.</p>
<p>Re: “the salary of most people in Cuba is the equivalent of $20-30 per month.”</p>
<p>With a few exceptions (including the two large countries as exceptions I think), most countries with a communist
government seem to be quite poor.</p>
<p>We took a taxi in the arguably one of the wealthiest area in the world. The taxi driver immigrated from some east Europe countries. He speaks English in a very heavy accent so I had a little difficulty in understanding him. But if I understood him correctly, he said he had earned $2 dollars in a day before he immigrated to US. Driving a taxi in US is much better job than the job he used to have.</p>
<p>BTW, when he drove us from the center of Hollywood (next to the Chinese theatre) to the Santa Monica beach, he originally drove down the Santa Monica blvd as we had expected, but very soon he changed his mind and drove south to I-10 (which is at quite a distance from the point he drove off from the Santa Monica blvd) before heading to the beach on I-10. Is this the “normal” route a taxi driver in that area would take? He knew we were not in a hurry. The total time could be shorter because a part of the trip was on the freeway, but it appears (as I found out by looking it up on Google map on my smartphone) the total distance is longer. I am just curious to know whether this is the taxi driver in that area would do because the time is more important to him (eager to get back to Hollywood to get more business, I would guess.)</p>
<p>The cost of living is several times higher in the US. With $1 people in some poor countries can buy enough foods for the entire day. My friends told me engineers in Vietnam make about $250 per month. Good engineers working for foreign companies can make about $500 per month. Because of the low cost of living, tourists from rich countries find the dollars worthwhile in poor countries. My son said he only paid $100 per night for a very nice hotel room in China with great lake view that he never had before.</p>
<p>The very efficient propaganda machine makes it seem like the “revolution” invented physicians in Cuba. Cuba had one of the highest standards of living of the western hemisphere before the revolution (including health care) and was a country people from many parts of the world wanted to migrate to not away from as is the case since then. coolweather is saying that “in some poor countries” people can buy food for the entire day for $1. In Cuba they make even less and survive thanks to what the despectively called “worms” that left for other countries, send them from abroad. After 60 years of communism I guess the “worms” turned into butterfllies.</p>
<p>You don’t see many (any?) people flocking to Cuba from poor countries, on rickety rafts and boats, risking their well being for the good life and great health care.</p>
<p>Before the explosion in economic growth, many Chinese citizens left China in small fishing boats to reach the US. It could be a big exodus if China were close to the US like Cuba.</p>
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<p><a href=“300 Illegal Chinese Immigrants Arrested : Smuggling: Boats try to take refugees ashore south of San Francisco. It is third foiled attempt in three weeks.”>300 Illegal Chinese Immigrants Arrested : Smuggling: Boats try to take refugees ashore south of San Francisco. It is third foiled attempt in three weeks.;
<p>The number of people left Vietnam on small boats was more phenomental.</p>
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<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_boat_people[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_boat_people</a></p>
<p>Thanks to capitalism, we don’t hear those stories about Chinese or Vietnamese mass immigration to the US and other parts of the world anymore.</p>
<p>Cuba is poor dirt, and is behind the world in many areas. However, it has the potential growth of the ex-communist China, Vietnam, and Cambodia. As a matter of fact, many countries buy pharmacetical products from Cuba because they are cheaper and more available. Even American biotech companies are buying products from Cuba.</p>
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<p><a href=“http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/12.12/cuba.html[/url]”>http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/12.12/cuba.html</a></p>
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<p>Part of the reason for that is due to wage, pricing, and foreign exchange controls instituted by Castro’s regime. One illustration of this is an average Cuban doctor can actually earn many times more his/her monthly wages as a taxi driver driving foreign tourists around town. And the lion’s share is likely to be in the more valuable Convertible Pesos*/foreign currency than in regular Cuban Pesos. </p>
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<li>Heard they may be doing away with that as of this year similar to what Mainland China did before the late '90s where they had the more valuable foreign exchange certificates for tourists and old RMB for its own citizens before doing away with the former and making the RMB more convertible. </li>
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<p>Cuba’s average wage isn’t much different from other Caribbean island nations that aren’t communist. Residents of those countries also go to the US (and Canada and the UK) in droves but don’t have the “dry feet” incentive to come to the US that Cubans do.</p>
<p>Healthcare in Cuba is a lot better than in those nations. </p>
<p>200 million and 18 million would have had to leave China and Vietnam respectively to keep the same proportion. Mind boggling to say the least. The “reforms” instituted by the government in the last few years have only increased the rate at which people are “voting with their feet” and leaving.</p>
<p>Cuba and U.S. restoring diplomatic relations could lead to changes to Cuba Adjustment Act and other special treatments Cubans have received coming into the U.S.</p>
<p><a href=“Detente spawns Cuban worry on U.S. migration exceptions”>http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/detente-spawns-cuban-worry-on-us-migration-exceptions/2211504</a></p>
<p>It is an unfair and unjust policy that should be changed. I am reminded of story about a Haitian refugee who traveled by raft from a third Caribbean island with other refugees, including a Cuban or two. When the raft made it to Florida, the Cuban was of course welcomed, while the Haitian was detained and processed for repatriation. A reporter noted that the Haitian’s Cuban “shipmates” were distressed and felt that there was no difference between they and the Haitian, particularly given the repressive regime in charge in Haiti at the time (Colonel Cedras).</p>
<p>At this point in time I agree that the policy is unfair and unjust and it will change sooner than later. Still it doesn’t change the living conditions of the majority of the Cuban people and they are leaving for any place that will take them including Ecuador where in just a few years about !25,000 have gone (1% of the population). I guess they are tired, for the 3rd generation, to be serfs in the “Revolutionary Fief of the Brothers Castro.”</p>
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<p>That proportion actually should be more 100 times than the proportion of people who left Cuba for Florida. Furthermore, the US was not the only destination for Chinese and Vietnamese. A huge group settled in Australia and Europe too.</p>
<p>Distance between Asia and California: more 9000 miles
Distance between Cuba and Florida: 90 miles</p>
<p>9000/90 = 100</p>
<p>Thousands of people in China, Vietnam, Romania, India, and other countries are still waiting for visa approval to migrate to the US every year. And thousands of people from Mexico and other South America countries are still illegally cross the US border. Regardless of the political structures in their home countries, many people still want to move to the US because it’s obvious that the US have better opportunities in making money, getting a good education and other social benefits. But improvement in human rights and economic conditions will help the majority of people in the poor countries to have a better life. The number of people who want to leave their stable country is just a minority. </p>
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<p>Just so. And no group except Cubans have gotten an automatic path to citizenship if they can make it to our shores. That’s a powerful incentive for the people of that one particular country. And despite that, Haitians, Jamaicans, Dominicans, Mexicans, Central Americans come in huge numbers.</p>
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<p>Raul is 83. Fidel is 88. What happens when they are gone? It won’t be forever.</p>
<p>About 9% of people born in Mexico live in the US. People in low-wage countries come here for the money.</p>