[quote]
HAVANA – Fidel Castro told a visiting American journalist that Cuba's communist economic model doesn't work, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has conspicuously steered clear of local issues since stepping down four years ago.
The fact that things are not working efficiently on this cash-strapped Caribbean island is hardly news. Fidel's brother Raul, the country's president, has said the same thing repeatedly. But the blunt assessment by the father of Cuba's 1959 revolution is sure to raise eyebrows.
Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine, asked if Cuba's economic system was still worth exporting to other countries, and Castro replied: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore" Goldberg wrote Wednesday in a post on his Atlantic blog.
He said Castro made the comment casually over lunch following a long talk about the Middle East, and did not elaborate. The Cuban government had no immediate comment on Goldberg's account.
Since stepping down from power in 2006, the ex-president has focused almost entirely on international affairs and said very little about Cuba and its politics, perhaps to limit the perception he is stepping on his brother's toes.
Goldberg, who traveled to Cuba at Castro's invitation last week to discuss a recent Atlantic article he wrote about Iran's nuclear program, also reported on Tuesday that Castro questioned his own actions during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, including his recommendation to Soviet leaders that they use nuclear weapons against the United States.
Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba has clung to its communist system.
The state controls well over 90 percent of the economy, paying workers salaries of about $20 a month in return for free health care and education, and nearly free transportation and housing. At least a portion of every citizen's food needs are sold to them through ration books at heavily subsidized prices.
President Raul Castro and others have instituted a series of limited economic reforms, and have warned Cubans that they need to start working harder and expecting less from the government. But the president has also made it clear he has no desire to depart from Cuba's socialist system[URL="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100908/ap_on_re_us/cb_cuba_fidel_castro#"][/URL] or embrace capitalism.
Fidel Castro stepped down temporarily in July 2006 due to a serious illness that nearly killed him.
He resigned permanently two years later, but remains head of the Communist Party. After staying almost entirely out of the spotlight for four years, he re-emerged in July and now speaks frequently about international affairs. He has been warning for weeks of the threat of a nuclear war over Iran.
Castro's interview with Goldberg is the only one he has given to an American journalist since he left office.[/quote]
Source: [URL]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100908/ap_on_re_us/cb_cuba_fidel_castro[/URL]
This actually came as a surprise to me, since I've often heard about how the Cuban model supposedly was working just fine.
I think they will convert to a model similar to China's, with political communism and economic capitalism.
[quote]
since I've often heard about how the Cuban model supposedly was working just fine.
[/quote]
You kidding? It's like going back in time to the 50s when going to Cuba.
Being communist is so 1960, the new fashion is democratic socialism with capitalism sprinkled all over.
What actually surprises me is that Castro is still alive.
Jesus he's a fighter
Castro has become wiser with old age.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;24708525]Being communist is so 1960, the new fashion is democratic socialism with capitalism sprinkled all over.[/QUOTE]
Go Denmark.
I'll actually be rather sad if he gets assassinated, either by a foreign power or the Cuban government itself.
[QUOTE=Crhem van der B;24708520]You kidding? It's like going back in time to the 50s when going to Cuba.[/QUOTE]
That's just because of the embargo it's had for so long it hasn't been able to keep up with the rest of the world.
[QUOTE=Crhem van der B;24708520]You kidding? It's like going back in time to the 50s when going to Cuba.[/QUOTE]
That's only because of the old cars. :/
I've been there recently, loved it. It's an amazing place, there are no homeless people anywhere.
[QUOTE=DogGunn;24708676]Castro has become wiser with old age.[/QUOTE]
You mean extreme old age. He's been of old age for a while already :v:
Castro is really cool.
[QUOTE=Crhem van der B;24708520]You kidding? It's like going back in time to the 50s when going to Cuba.[/QUOTE]
I've been there twice. The people are happy, healthy, and mostly have everything they need.
Well, NO SHIT
took him long enough to realize this
In other news, the dinosaurs just died out.
Cuba is literally stuck in the 50's.
like the most popular car on the road is from the 1950's, and most people just sit on their porch and do nothing. people handwash their clothes too
[editline]03:14AM[/editline]
death to the west and it's economic sanctions though
I was hoping to come in here and see Conscript calling this capitalist propaganda, but then I remembered he was permabanned. :sigh:
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;24710579]I was hoping to come in here and see Conscript calling this capitalist propaganda, but then I remembered he was permabanned. :sigh:[/QUOTE]
Really? I never noticed he was. What did he get banned for?
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;24710579]I was hoping to come in here and see Conscript calling this capitalist propaganda, but then I remembered he was permabanned. :sigh:[/QUOTE]
Yeah, that would be something he would do..
[QUOTE=Vasili;24710649]Really? I never noticed he was. What did he get banned for?[/QUOTE]
RC post.
In other 2012 news, it turns out Castro is an intellectual.
[QUOTE=Crhem van der B;24708520]You kidding? It's like going back in time to the 50s when going to Cuba.[/QUOTE]
Well, that's mostly America's doing.
[editline]12:30PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Xystus234;24711508]In other 2012 news, it turns out Castro is an intellectual.[/QUOTE]
He's never been stupid.
[QUOTE=Xystus234;24711508]In other 2012 news, it turns out Castro is an intellectual.[/QUOTE]
no he's just running his mouth because he's going to die soon
Odd that Castro would admit that his own creation sucks.
[QUOTE=Triumph Forks;24712226]no he's just running his mouth because he's going to die soon[/QUOTE]
Nonsense. As long as he doesn't shave his beard will continue to grant him immortality.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;24710579]I was hoping to come in here and see Conscript calling this capitalist propaganda, but then I remembered he was permabanned. :sigh:[/QUOTE]
It seems like all the fun communists get permabanned :downs:
But all the shitty ones like Warhol stay around. It's not fair :sigh:
Is wakka permabanned? He's the only communist I know to call himself a Stalinist without a sarcastic tone.
CONVERT TO COMMUNISM CONVERT TO COMMUNISM CONVERT TO COMMUNISM CONVERT TO COMMUNISM CONVERT TO COMMUNISM CONVERT TO COMMUNISM CONVERT TO COMMUNISM
only joking dont convert to communism
cubas a cool place tho
You beat me to posting this.
[QUOTE=Crhem van der B;24708520]You kidding? It's like going back in time to the 50s when going to Cuba.[/QUOTE]
That's mainly to do with American trade embargoes. Castro did a lot of good things for Cuba e.g. boosting literacy to ~98%. Sure, he did some really shitty things too but people dismiss Cuba all too quickly.
Of course Castro's announcement sort of puts a kibosh on championing Cuba, although I suppose you could argue e pur si muove
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