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Meeting Cuba's youngest politician (BBC celebrates 50 years of Communism in Cuba)
BBC News ^ | Monday, 22 December 2008 | Michael Voss

Posted on 12/22/2008 2:10:55 PM PST by weegee

As Cuba prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fidel Castro's revolution on 1 January, most of those in power are the same people who fought alongside him half a century ago.

...But there is a new generation of communists waiting in the wings.

...The youngest, Liaena Hernandez, is just 18 years old. A petite young woman with long black hair and an engaging smile, she has been a political activist since her early teens...

"Having young Cubans in parliament shows that the revolution continues. It isn't just something from our history..."

Her father is in the army and she has just completed her voluntary military service as a border guard in an all-female unit along the controversial US naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

She was born just as Cuba's main benefactor, the Soviet Union, collapsed...

"I was born with the revolution. I've never known capitalism," she said. "My earliest memories are of socialism, the special period and the US blockade.

"...For years I had to wear the same pair of shoes to school, we just had to keep mending them.

"But at least I had free health care and education. And as a nation, everyone was willing to work together to get by and move forward."

...Raul Castro has started to hand over unproductive state owned land to private farmers and co-operatives in a bid to boost production and cut food imports.

..."We need to keep perfecting our economic system, that's where the country is going."

...There are also no signs of any political reforms. Opposition parties are not allowed.

"History has taught us that the Communist Party is the road that Cuba needs to follow.

"We don't need to copy other countries' systems. We are satisfied with our own and we are going to keep perfecting it."

(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Cuba; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: castro; castrodeathwatch; communismkills; cuba; deathwatch; dictatorship
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1 posted on 12/22/2008 2:10:55 PM PST by weegee
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To: weegee

There are no “politicians” in a dictatorship.


2 posted on 12/22/2008 2:13:49 PM PST by allmendream (Wealth is EARNED not distributed, so how could it be redistributed?)
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To: weegee

End the embargo, flood Cuba with tourists and capitalism will thrive, plain and simple. We would have done it the day the Soviets fell if it wasn’t for the rich, Miami elitists that have so much political pull


3 posted on 12/22/2008 2:14:42 PM PST by mrclean5
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To: weegee; cardinal4

They call it a blockade (bloqueo); in fact, it is an embargo. If we wanted to blockade the island, the Castros would’ve been gone 45 years ago. This poor kid is totally brainwashed.


4 posted on 12/22/2008 2:14:44 PM PST by Ax
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To: mrclean5

“End the embargo, flood Cuba with tourists and capitalism will thrive, plain and simple.”

....yep, and it would happen quickly too...I know, because we took a family vacation to Cuba in 1953...it was an American tourist mecca and a very lively place....nothing like the Communist mess that Castro has turned it into.


5 posted on 12/22/2008 2:21:40 PM PST by STONEWALLS
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To: mrclean5

Cuban cigars are available elsewhere in the world. They can export to non-US countries (including Canada and Mexico).

Non-US tourists visit Cuba on holiday (and stay at places that are OFF LIMITS to any Cubans who are not working at them).

The US embargo is NOT the sole reason for the crappy state of affairs in Cuba. If all of the world had shared in the embargo, it might have done more to change things.


6 posted on 12/22/2008 2:23:10 PM PST by weegee ("Let Me Just Cut You Off, Because I Don't Want You To Waste Your Question" - B.Obama Dec 16, 2008)
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To: weegee

Don’t cross Elian Gonzales kid. You might find yourself in Holguim.


7 posted on 12/22/2008 2:25:51 PM PST by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: mrclean5

Yeah, just like China. Look how free they are. Don’t go away mad, just go away, newbie.


8 posted on 12/22/2008 2:27:18 PM PST by safeasthebanks ("The most rewarding part, was when he gave me my money!" - Dr. Nick)
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To: weegee
"...For years I had to wear the same pair of shoes to school, we just had to keep mending them.

"But at least I had free health care and education. And as a nation, everyone was willing to work together to get by and move forward."

In America we already have free health care (for the poor) and free education. But for half the country, that's not enough--they won't be satisfied until they have no shoes, too.

9 posted on 12/22/2008 2:31:08 PM PST by denydenydeny ("Banish Merry Christmas. Get ready for Mad Max.."-Daniel Henninger)
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To: weegee
"Having young Cubans in parliament shows that the revolution continues. It isn't just something from our history..."

Castro's gang has been entrenched in power for half a century, so I think we can stop calling it a revolution.

10 posted on 12/22/2008 2:33:44 PM PST by Constitutionalist Conservative (P.T. Barnum would be proud of Al Gore)
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To: safeasthebanks

Yeah and we don’t bring in billions of dollars a year trading with China, or anything, ‘cause they’re not free and that would be wrong...


11 posted on 12/22/2008 2:35:22 PM PST by mrclean5
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To: weegee

Not Guilty


12 posted on 12/22/2008 2:36:56 PM PST by Married with Children
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To: weegee; Impy; rabscuttle385; Clintonfatigued; Clemenza

Her indoctrination differs little from any public school or university student in the United States. Cute, but soulless.


13 posted on 12/22/2008 2:38:18 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps !"~~)
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To: weegee

Communism lasted about 70 years in Russia. I don’t think it will last another 20 in Cuba.


14 posted on 12/22/2008 2:46:31 PM PST by expatpat
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To: denydenydeny
In America we already have free health care (for the poor) and free education. But for half the country, that's not enough--they won't be satisfied until they have no shoes, too.

LOL! Very good.

15 posted on 12/22/2008 2:48:11 PM PST by expatpat
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To: expatpat
Communism lasted about 70 years in Russia. I don’t think it will last another 20 in Cuba.

They said the same thing 20 years ago. If Castro weren't such a long-lived b@stard, they might have been correct.

It's really amazing how few younger generation leaders there are. Oh they'll profile one ever so often, just to prove that Castro's revolution isn't sterile.

16 posted on 12/22/2008 2:58:16 PM PST by Tallguy ("The sh- t's chess, it ain't checkers!" -- Alonzo (Denzel Washington) in "Training Day")
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To: fieldmarshaldj; Clintonfatigued

“History has taught us that the Communist Party is the road that Cuba needs to follow “

And she’s likely never ever been exposed to contradictory information.

“What followed was called the special period, a time of hunger and hardship. The United States also tightened the trade embargo believing it would hasten the collapse of communism. “

A few well placed bullets would have worked better. I know the Cuban-Americans are for the embargo. But is it the right thing?

“NO violence in posts.”

No no I mean those bullets that put commie dictators to sleep and wake up in nice jail cells. Alive and well.


17 posted on 12/22/2008 3:07:40 PM PST by Impy (RED=COMMUNIST, NOT REPUBLICAN)
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To: mrclean5
Newbie, newbie, newbie....

OK, first off, you do realize your last response has nothing to do with my original comment, right? Let me help you a bit - I do not now, nor have I ever, made any comment about the morality of our current trade policy with the commies in China, and if it is consistent with that of Cuba. That, therefore, makes your response to me completely irrelevant; in fact I'll show that it actually proves MY original point.

Again, you previously implied that some how us opening up trade with Cuba would quickly end the tyranical communist rule there. I correctly pointed out (and you later cluelessly reinforced my point) that we have an extremely high amount of trade with China, and that government remains as much a tyranny as ever.

If you're going to respond to someone's post here at FR please STAY ON POINT. ummm-kay?

18 posted on 12/22/2008 3:17:49 PM PST by safeasthebanks ("The most rewarding part, was when he gave me my money!" - Dr. Nick)
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To: safeasthebanks

nice try. I don’t think he’s compos mentis.


19 posted on 12/22/2008 6:35:15 PM PST by sgtyork (The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage. Thucydides)
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To: sgtyork

Seems to be a lot of that going around FR these days!


20 posted on 12/23/2008 6:09:08 AM PST by safeasthebanks ("The most rewarding part, was when he gave me my money!" - Dr. Nick)
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