Get a load of these suckers.
CUBA: HARD CURRENCY DEBT* (Dec. 2004)
CREDITORS BY COUNTRY DEBT (in US$)
Japan (1) $2.331 billion
Argentina (2) $1.967 billion
Spain (3) $1.765 billion
France (4) $1.316 billion
Venezuela (5) $992 million
China (6) $682 million
Mexico (7) $480 million
Italy (8) $447 million
United Kingdom (9) $371 million
Germany (10) $317 million
Netherlands (11) $295 million
Russia [post-Soviet era debts] (12) $235 million
Czech Republic (13) $226 million
Belgium (14) $221 million
Panama (15) $200 million
Canada (16) $90 million
Austria (17) $79 million
Brazil (18) $40 million
Trinidad & Tobago (19) $30 million
Uruguay (20) $30 million
Sweden (21) $22 million
Undisclosed Foreign Financing (22) $258 million
Other Historic Debt (23) $893 million (est.)
*On the basis of Nov. 2004 exchange rates and rounded to the nearest million.
TOTAL $13.288 billion (est.)
II. CUBA: NON-CONVERTIBLE DEBT (2004 Est.)
CREDITOR GOVERNMENTS DEBT (in Transferable Rubles)
Russia [Soviet-era debt] (24) 20.848 billion
Romania (25) 951 million
Hungary (26) 200 million
Poland (27) 70 million
TOTAL 22.069 billion
Interesting that Japan would let that happen without a motive. Looks to me that much of the debt could be attributed to maintaining Cuba's tourist industry.
I cannot believe a democratic government would lend to the communist killers. That is amazing that so many 'western' countries have lent Castro billions. So sad. Paraphrased from the 'black book of communism':
Communism is the greatest evil that man has ever known. It is responsible for more than 100 millions deaths (more than all the wars in history combined), millions and millions of refugees and the subjugation and slavery of over 2 billion people since WWII. Communist regimes always follow a similar pattern. A Communist regime has never been elected, so first Communists must orchestrate a revolution, often with the support of funding from preexisting Communist regime. Next, Communists dissolve private property, nationalize media and begin a brutal purge of political prisoners and the upper classes. To conduct it's class warfare and maintain control of the revolting people, the state will militarize, establish a large secret police presence, and create horrific labor/reeducation camps. The economy collapses, failed farm policies result in starvation, refugees flee, and the government begins to export Communist revolution abroad. How far the government is willing to push the Communist philosophy will directly equate with the severity of these events and the suffering of their people. This exact pattern has come to pass in the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, North Korea, Angola, Eastern Europe, Yugoslavia, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Cuba. A few countries on this list have not experienced the true hell of Communism because the governments either didn't last long enough to take full root, or total Communist policies were not pursued in earnest. (67)
Good God in Heaven!
Cuba in debt like that makes Hati look like an economic giant!
>$35B of foreign debt. The country's entire GDP is <$34B. Wow!
In comparison, our foreign debt is about 30% of GDP.