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Roberto Leon
Arismael Nieto's job is to pour a diluted bleach solution over the hands of every commuter at this Havana bus station, and make sure everyone steps on a cloth soaked with the solution to clean the bottom of their shoes.
Camilo, my 7-year old grandson in Cuba, has never been shy about asking for presents – especially when he knows I’m heading to Havana from that big shopping mall 90 miles away. His usual list includes a massive bag of M&M peanut candy, additions to what’s become a pretty pricey collection of Schleich resin animals, and goofy gags second-grade boys find funny, such as hand buzzers or that classic snake-in-a-can. When Camilo got on the phone with me last weekend, he only rattled off one item.
“Aba,” (that’s what he calls me–short for "abuela", which is "grandma" in Spanish), “bring me soap.”
“Soap? You want soap?” I repeated, convinced I must have heard him wrong.
“Si”, he insisted. “Jabon!”
Now he has me worried that I need to make an emergency supply-run for detergent, shampoo, dishwashing soap and other basics. The last time soap was in short supply in Cuba was in the 1990s but, if this kid is asking for soap, the situation must be dire. He’s about as germaphobe as your average stray puppy. Like a lot of little boys, he needs to be reminded that taking a shower means actually standing under the water.
Camilo, however, didn’t want just any soap. He was looking for what he calls “the soap that melts.” He wanted me to bring him an alcohol-based instant hand sanitizer.
Then he made it clear why. “Aba, there’s cholera here,” he said.
As it turns out, Camilo had spilled the beans a full 72 hours before the Cuban Health Ministry issued a formal communiqué on what had been rumored since the start of the year -- cholera had surfaced in the city of Havana, home to 2.2 million people.
The announcement explained that 51 new cases of cholera had been diagnosed in the Cuban capital along with a spike in the number of people suffering from "diarrheal diseases." The ministry made no mention of any fatalities. The public was being advised to be more careful with personal hygiene, boil all drinking water or use purification drops and thoroughly wash all fruits and vegetables, but to stay assured that Cuba’s massive public health machine was implementing preventive measures meant to “contain” and “eradicate” the disease.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, cholera is a bacterial infection in the intestine that can range from mild to severe. In the latter case, an infected person will experience “dehydration and shock" that, if left untreated, can lead to death "within hours.” The CDC estimates that every year there are up to 5 million cases and more than 100,000 deaths from cholera worldwide.
In most cases, the disease takes about a week to run its course, and during that time, warns the CDC, cholera is highly contagious. Spread hand to mouth, the bacteria is usually found in water or food sources contaminated by an infected person’s feces.
Contamination
A single food vendor at a baseball game appears to be the cause of the Havana outbreak. In early January, apparently, contaminated sandwiches or soda were sold during a packed game in the city’s main sports arena, the Latin American Stadium, located in a neighborhood called Cerro.
"That's why people from different parts of the city tested positive for cholera at the same time,” said a medical source, not authorized to speak on the record but who claims to have first-hand knowledge of the findings from the epidemiological task force assigned to trace the origins of the outbreak.
Roberto Leon
Officials from Cuba's Health and Epidemiology department inspected this pizza parlor located not too far from where the outbreak started in Havana and closed it down.
At Wednesday's nighttime game between Havana's beloved Industriales and last year's national champs, Los Tigres de Ciego de Avila, hawkers should have been making a killing on what had been one of the season's most sought-after tickets. Instead, 80 percent of the seats remained empty. Those die-hard fans who did show up were not allowed into the stadium until they sterilized their shoes and hands. Benches were wiped down with a disinfectant, and the floors hosed down with the same 0.5 percent bleach solution. And there was nothing to munch on during the three-and-a-half-hour game. All food stands have been temporarily shut down.
The same goes for many mom-and-pop cafeterias across the capital. "Last week, officials from Health and Epidemiology inspected our place and then they closed us down," said one owner of a pizza parlor not too far from where the outbreak started. "They said it's to stop the spread of cholera but no one’s saying how long we have to stay closed." His only consolation is that this month he doesn’t have to pay taxes or his monthly licensing fee.
Upset about his loss of income, he is also irked by the fact that some state-run food establishments passed the inspections, so they are being allowed to stay open. Many though are only authorized to sell bottled water, canned drinks and commercially packaged food.
Arismael Nieto usually changes the light bulbs and fixes broken chairs at Havana’s Bus Terminal. For the last two weeks, he’s been drafted on the city’s anti-cholera campaign. He stands by the one door opened at the station and his job is to pour a diluted bleach solution over the hands of every commuter, and make sure everyone steps on a cloth soaked with the solution to clean the bottom of their shoes. No one gets on a bus or leaves the building without Nieto’s OK.
Now, picture this procedure happening at every school from kindergarten to college, every public building, factory, lunch room, hospital, health clinic, department store, train depot and movie theater.
Chlorine a "necessary inconvenience"
Over the summer, two people who live in the Havana neighborhood of Fontanar thought they had the flu but tested positive for cholera. It was believed that they were exposed on the bus ride from eastern Cuba, an area of the country that had an outbreak earlier last year. In late August, Cuba revealed that cholera had killed three people and infected 417 in Granma province, some 450 miles east of Havana.
Roberto Leon
Signs such as this one are posted everywhere in Havana, alerting people to go to the hospital as soon as they experience any of the symptoms of cholera.
Cuba’s cholera treatment protocol has doctors knocking on doors and testing anyone with possible cholera symptoms. A positive test means an automatic trip to one of the city hospitals for a more comprehensive test. While most suspected cases go to Havana’s Tropical Medicine Institute, known by its initials IPK, a pediatric hospital and a maternity hospital have also been designated to admit cholera cases. In addition, the protocol mandated that all of Havana’s 85 neighborhood health clinics set aside a room with ventilation and a closed door as a place to quarantine suspected cholera cases until an ambulance arrives to transport the patient to the hospital.
Once hospitalized, a comprehensive history is taken that focuses on identifying all the people the patient has come in contact with over the past weeks. Health workers are dispatched to locate those persons to test them for cholera and administer a free prophylactic dose of doxycycline.
Although none of the guidelines cited by the CDC recommend using antibiotics for cholera prevention, the Cuban Health Ministry believes otherwise. Hundreds of thousands of Doxycycline tablets, apparently readied in warehouses for just such an emergency, were distributed to hospitals and health clinics one morning earlier this week—another sign that Cuba is well-prepared to tackle this outbreak.
Are people complaining? You bet. They hate the chlorine smell. They say the solution stings but many would agree with Angela Linares, a nurse raising a 13-year old daughter alone, who said: “It’s a necessary inconvenience.”
“No one wants cholera, especially since we know so little about this disease,” she said.
Linares was right. Until last year, the last reported cholera outbreak in Cuba was recorded almost a century ago.
Upon learning this fact, I became even more baffled that my 7-year-old grandson mentioned cholera days before the government admitted the outbreak.
As it turns out, his primary school had been put on alert early last week, and the kids learned about the intestinal bug and prevention at a school assembly. Community physicians were dispatched to all of the city’s 650 schools to not only give a crash course on cholera but hand out soap to every classroom.
Still, it wasn’t until after the Health Ministry’s warning that Cuban state media began running public service announcements -- considerably behind the curve of Havana's second graders.
Related content:
Cuba scrambling to contain cholera outbreak in Havana
Leave a Comment:
They better keep Hugo Chavez inside
Obama the Coward--REALLY? That's all you got?
In reality, Cholera is what happens when poor people live in surroundings that do not lend themselves to being sterile.
It does no good to wash your hands in water delivered to your home by a water pipe with a crack in it.
And please note that in the US, we REGULARLY have out breaks of Hepatitis, which usually is traced back to ONE worker being careless.
This is insane.
Please lift the embargo and help these people.
A perfect time to step in and 'befriend' a somewhat antagonistic government.
Or, sooner or later Cuba will turn to some form of extremist 'help'.
Hey the US ignored the AIDs epidemic. Refused to fund research and education that was meaningful. Reagan did not even say the word publicly until over 100,000 had died.
Seems to me Cuba is getting right on top of this and educating people and trying to contain it properly.
Think of what a little education and research could have done when the AIDs toll was only 30 something people--could have saved 10s of thousands of lives and put us years ahead. Reagan's ignoring of AIDs and people like Jesse Helms stances against education are what made me a Democrat from actually having been on the staff that helped elect Reagan. My work on his campaign is something I can never forgive myself for.
The rest of the world has no embargo against Cuba so you're saying that only America is a great enough country to stop this.How patriotic of you.
and this was the best socialized medicine care in the world !
cholera was probably brought to cuba by the filthy hugo chavez !
Obama the coward: NO that's the Muslims.
MOmaid, if there was a century without it, the epidemic came from outside. most likely African socialists or from the rest of S. America or from Pakistan. Somewhere the Castro gov't befriended dirtbags just because they were anti-US.
obama your an idiot. That's the muslims your talking about. I thought your a muslim born in malaysia.
I remember, back in the fifties, a baby died of cholera in new mexico. The cdc told the doctor to say that the cause of death was something else and to keep the real cause hushed. By accident, I overheard the conversation. Do you think that I trust our government?
Frankly False....
Cuba is getting 'RIGHT ON TOP OF THIS'???? Obviously, you did not read the article. The writer, a Cuban living in Florida that regularly visits the island, indicated that she only found out when her young grandson asked for soap.....several days before the government would even admit they had a problem. So go ahead and spread your false propaganda....maybe you can get a job at Grandma working for your hero/killer Castro.....$10 a month.
For all the "smart" people posting about Cuba's healthcare being bad because of this cholera outbreak, these cases happened here in the US recently (2012) and this is from our own CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/hai/outbreaks/meningitis.html
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/index.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2012/O145-06-12/index.html
romilio, West Nile is mosquito/bird borne and so hard to control. Meningitis relies on immunization and plenty of morons lately won't immunize their kids because of propaganda crap. E. Coli? MIGRANT WORKERS MOSTLY.
Sounds like a movie plot! Wasn't that the outbreak they were trying to prevent in Mission Impossible 2? Hope they get it all under control, sounds like they are taking all the right steps and precautions. *This is exactly why I don't eat food from random vendors.
5 million cases a year.
I'm having a hard time figuring out why this is news worthy just because it is Cuba.
MC Gusto,
"I'm having a hard time figuring out why this is news worthy just because it is Cuba."
True. Isn't the cholera situation in Haiti just as bad if not worse?
Exactly how old are you, wingnut57? You obviously have never heard of the Cuban missile crisis or the boatloads of mental patients and prisoners that were released by Cuba and shipped to Florida during the 1970s. We don't owe that country a thing. We are already over our heads in debt for aiding other countries that hate us and would gladly blow us off the face of the planet if they could.
KFIR1 - ever hear the phrase, "It's better to remain quiet and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt"? That's three times in three consecutive sentences that you used a possessive pronoun (your) when you should have used the contraction of a pronoun and a verb (you're). I'm not a fan of Obama, but who is the bigger idiot here?
Mickey-1983943...(#1.6)..."True. Isn't the cholera situation in Haiti just as bad if not worse?"
You are correct...Brought to Haiti by the Powder-Blue Helmeted U.N. "Peacekeepers"....
Cholera and Rape is all the UN is capable of....
Scales I believe he was referring to the Poster on here who is using the name "OBAMA the Coward" and not to the President.
Sounds like Hugo Chavez is trying to take over Cuba, just bring in his army while everyone is on the toilet.
Why?-3122622,re#1.21, I think you're spot on with your analogy,historically Cuba's Gov't has always been open to the highest bidder. Maybe Cuba should contact Nikita Khrushchev and tell them.... Oh wait,that's right he's dead!Oh no, so is the Soviet Union and their money train! Once you raise the devil, you can't keep the devil down. Cuba is it's own worst enemy. There was this PBS documentary about Cuba's commitment to conservation,concern about their eco system on the coastal shore. Yeah right, it's just another word for,"we don't have any money to develope it"! It's pristeen because it's been untouched since '59! Ask any Cuban born immigrant in the U.S. should we deal with the Cuban Castro Gov't? The Cuban failed dictatorship is now looking to cut a deal with the U.S.A. for new sponsership. This has nothing to do with the sick in Cuba,their gov't doesn't give a damn for it's people. The Castro Gov't is sending out feelers via humanitarian aid. It is nothing more than admitting that 54 years later we want to cut a Fulgencio Batista style deal!
@Romilio - We wouldn't miss you much if you went back to Cuba! Don't let the American Citzen-ship hit you in the a$$ on the way out. And please, take the rest of your family with you!
rachel-3673200 an outbreak is an outbreak, there is always a reason or an agent to transmit the disease, bottom line it happens anywhere. Besides that we are first world and Cuba is third world, but my previous post shows nobody is exempt.
Maybe they should try using some of the bleach on the walls. They look Filthy !
Socialist states are concerned about solid structures, not cosmetics.
Since Batista was removed by the revolution, Cuba has been the victim of a massive U.S. embargo that prevents them from forming any sort of real international economic success, yet they've managed to have some of the highest literacy rates, lowest infant mortality rates, least homelessness, best medical care, etc. in the world.
It doesn't look pretty to Americans who are used to large-scale private industry streamlining society, making everything shiny but shoddy.
One needs only to view their swift and thorough handling of this situation to realize that their priorities are not tainted by the profit motive... they're reallocating workers, sterilizing public event venues, shutting down restaurants and focusing on full elimination of the problem so they can go back to business as usual. In the United States, we'd all be racking up five digit hospital bills and local businesses would cry "government overreach" if they were shut down to contain the problem.
@ warren: Kind of like many getto buildings here in our country eh?
Wow O th Coward
Could you be a little bit more racist and uneducated?
this is true marlen, especially in South Florida.
Frankly True--exactly WHAT in the sentence "illegals are bringing tuberculosis into the United States" is RACIST? Uneducated?
Are you saying that illegal is a race? WHICH race? I mean, we have illegals here from MOST races, and the single fact that they came here illegally means we had no way to determine their health before their entry from WHATEVER country they came from, be it Mexico, China, or Ireland.
And if YOU are claiming that illegals do NOT bring Tuberculosis into the US, YOU are the uneducated one.
Many illegals are too poor, or from regions with little to no medical care, and they have, for generations, NOT received vaccinations against many childhood diseases like Polio, measles, diptheria, whooping cough, etc, that are having disastrous results among Americans who "thought'' those diseases were eradicated in this country and so did not vaccinate THEIR kids. Tuberculosis is another disease that gets its foothold thru poverty, and it has indeed been brought here by illegals.
And that 'bringing here' is not a knock on illegals. COMING here ILLEGALLY is. WhereEVER they come here illegally from, or what their ethnic background.
You mean such as the people detained at Ellis Island when "our" descendent's came here from Europe? Cubans that are lucky enough to touch American soil, are given amnesty as part of an agreement. The illegal immigrant bashing has no place in this forum since the story is about cholera in Cuba and NOT in the U.S. Those that hijack the story to either bash our President or illegal alients need to re-read the rules and guidelines of when they signed up. As another human being, I hope the Cubans can quickly resolve the cholera outbreak.
I agree with warrren in that they could at least wash the walls!
Alan Pugh goes off saying that Cuba is "sterilizing public event venues and restaurants" etc but if they would have just did did some regular cleaning of the buildings in the first place they would not look as they do and be a lot safer for everyone in the first place as dirt isn't "sanitary" period.
I give Cuba credit for what they have accomplished as a country period and I would love to visit the country someday but I dought I ever will be able to.
Having pride in what you have built and people use in daily life whether it be a house, commercial building, school or hospital etc or in this case the picture is of there Stadium is just the right thing to do in my opinion and that of many other people I would think. If the ghettos here in the US are this filthy then they need to be cleaned as well but that's another whole different topic and its not what were talking about here today on this comment board Alan.
When I look at the picture here and see the dirt covered walls I wonder when if at any time in the past they were ever cleaned? Properly sanitizing a building is a thorough cleaning wall to wall and floor to ceiling in my opinion again and this venue is not by any means of word "clean" or "sanitized" and by spreading some bleach solution around the floor that might help a touch but in the real end of things I dought it does much to help when they rest of the building is a breading ground for any disease that's embedded in it, Cholera included!
In the end I just hope all the people can get past this cholera outbreak without anymore loss of life. Maybe the people of Cuba will pick up some better personal hygiene habits after this outbreak and that's a huge plus for the whole country moving forward not to mention for the people who didn't realize what proper and through hand washing with soap prevents.
Alan Pugh also stated in his post that, "In the United States, we'd all be racking up five digit hospital bills and local businesses would cry "government overreach" if they were shut down to contain the problem."
So are the Cubans! So whats your point as I see none except they don't pay for healthcare there. The people who own business there are just as upset as we would be so there's no difference to me.
Here in the US we take our personal health and cleanliness way more serious than the Cubans from what I see in this article so maybe that's why we haven't had an outbreak huh. When was the last time anyone went to a sport facility here in the US and witnessed this kind of dirt on the walls of a stadium? People here in the US would have a conniption fit as that is just not right. ( at least here in the US)
Oh yeah Alan......blame their socialist failures on the United States.
They have had more than 50 years to make communism work. IT WILL NOT.
When will you communists wake up and smell the coffee?
Send more Cubans to Miami--the tax payers will have feed them--the Cubans were to yellow to fight Castro--so just come to the good ole USA--Uncle sap will take you in and feed yoy
Illegals is a word that means people are hear illegally. How is that racism.
they are bringing TB. my wife works in a hospital and she sees it first hand.
Also Cuba did try to keep the lid on this thing before it got out of control.......... T H E N ,,,,,,,,, they went public.
SWIFT ,,, to funny
MC, if you're (not your) such a tough guy, you can get a bunch of native-borns to go out and pick crops. Then we won't need the "illegals", yes? Or you can write more posts and moan about how a lot of people don't look like you, so they're obviously defective and inferior, and you need to find a president who will do away with them, and this will make Jeebus happy, and your mother will be proud of you, and... Well, why not?
MC Gusto and MOmaid///
Please look at all his posts on here.
They are filled with racism:
Sounds like Hugo Chavez is trying to take over Cuba, just bring in his army while everyone is on the toilet.
TP. You're a racist. Pull YOUR head out of YOUR ass.
caljam71, which failures are you referring to? I think you'll clearly see that I said, and I quote:
You don't know what Communism is. Cuba is not a stateless society, which is one of the core tenets of Communism. Cuba is state socialism, and it has worked quite well for 54 years. Educate yourself and see what their life was like under Batista. The revolution was good for the entire country, and the only people complaining in Miami are the families of a few rich landowners that had their land reappropriated for public use.
Don't just read the US media version of Cuba. Read real, actual historical accounts. Read encyclopedia entries. Talk to those who lived through it. You'll be surprised if you give reality a chance.
@Why?-3122622 - Hugo isn't trying to take over Cuba. The power structure in Cuba is already well-established. Hugo has to worry about the chain of command in his own country should the cancer treatments not be successful. From all appearances, while the people still strongly support the Bolivarian socialist plan in the country, he has not lined up the decision-makers who would take over for him during the transition period.
If anyone wants further reading on the success of socialism in South America in recent years, see leaders Evo Morales and Rafael Correa in Bolivia and Ecuador, two nations following the same path as Venezuela, in the image of Simon Bolivar.
Funny:
There was Cholera in Haiti, in the Dominican Republic and even in Eastern Cuba....but it becomes newsworthy when it hits Havana.
Robert Husted!!! IT BECOMES NEWS WHEN THE CASTROFASCITS AND MICHAEL MOORE RAVE ABOUT HOW GREAT THE CASTRO "GOVERNMENT" HAS CREATED THE GREATEST HEALTHCARE IN THE WORLD!
YOUTUBE: Room at a Hospital for Cubans - This room at the Miguel Enriquez Hospital (Formerly known as Benefica) happened to be empty at the time and it was possible to take a more detailed video. Notice the filthy conditions of the patient bathroom; the mattresses; pieces of plastic and rags covering the broken windows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8N5HFzd1zk
YOUTUBE: Patients in Hospital for Cubans part 2 - More videos showing patient's rooms at the 10 de Octubre and Miguel enriquez hospitals in Havana. Notice how some of the beds have bed sheets that are not the typical white sheets used in most hospitals. This is because many patients have to bring their own bed sheets, pillows and towels.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8T4SinsfWQ
YOUTUBE: Patients in Hospital for Cubans part 1 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=812_ubADC0U
Perhaps if the US would lift this ridiculous embargo, Cuba would not be in the economic mess they are in. Also, prior to the Revolution, the vast majority of the population had NO access to medical care at all.
So marlen ... Everything is America's fault huh
The Embargo is ridiculous. It is only in place to placate Cubans living in South Florida by those who covet their votes. Those people are NOT Americans. They do not have their hearts and souls here. They want the US to invade Cuba. To fight their war.
Not going to happen.
End the Embargo, establish normal relations. Then watch what happens. THink what occurred in Russia.
Robert Husted--I would say it became news when it hit Havana because Cuba could not longer HIDE it in such a large city.
Franky True--sorry, but I KNOW 'Cuban' hispanics who are refugees from Cuba. They have NO desire to go back to Cuba, or BE Cuban. They just don't want Cuba's government to dump sugar on our market that has been artificially subsidized by the Cuban government to enable it to undercut American sugar prices.
Funny how no one complains about plans to stop CHINA from doing that with steel, etc?
And PS-- I DATED a guy from Merida Yucatan (and lived with his family for a summer long ago) and HIS father got his family out of Cuba in the early 60's but he himself was caught and SHOT by Castro before HE could get out. And guess what? that Mexican expat didn't want to be Cuban any more either.
Not saying the embargo is right, or wrong, but Cuba is not totally innocent in the situation of the embargo.
For Humberto Capiro (as usual a rabid dog against all Cuban as Marco Rubia) posting about Cuba's healthcare being bad because of this cholera outbreak, these cases happened here in the US recently (2012) and this is from our own CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/hai/outbreaks/meningitis.html
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/index.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2012/O145-06-12/index.html
This is the result of that 'wonderful, people's party, communism' thinking it can live people's lives for them and keep people poor and miserable out of 'fairness' to everyone.
It is too bad anyone has to endure such despotism, it certainly isn't 'wonderful' like the progressives here like to call it. This unfortunately is where we are going, fight it while it can be fought.
romilio!! THANKS FOR THE COMPLIMENT DEAR! AND PLEASE, IF YOU ARE TO ATTACK ME HAVE THE COURAGE TO PUT A REAL NAME THAT CAN BE VERIFIED LIKE MINE! TYPICAL CASTRO AGENT/APOLOGIST TRYING TO SHIFT FOCUS WITH THE "BAD OLD U.S.A." PLOY!
WIKILEAK DOCUMENT : Viewing cable 08HAVANA103, CUBAN HEALTHCARE: “AQUI NADA ES FACIL”-
In one Cuban hospital, patients had to bring their own light bulbs. In another, the staff used ``a primitive manual vacuum'' on a woman who had miscarried. In others, Cuban patients pay bribes to obtain better treatment.
Those and other observations by an unidentified nurse assigned to the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana were included in a dispatch sent by the mission in January 2008 and made public this month by WikiLeaks.
Titled ``Cuban healthcare: Aquí Nada es Facil'' -- Nothing here is easy -- the cable offers a withering assessment by the nurse, officially a Foreign Service Health Practitioner, or FSHP, who already had lived in Cuba for 2 ½ years.
CLICK LINK BELOW FOR ORGINAL WIKILEAK DOCUMENT
http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2008/01/08HAVANA103.html
Chingue tu madre, pendejo.
A dumbass in at least two langauges,que intellegente.
Hey Humbutro,
What about TB being close to epidemic proportions here in the USA?
Humberto Capiro that is my name a$$wipe, but did you check our CDC links? Wipe your mouth because as usual you are talking mierda too much.
romilio!! TYPICAL CASTRO AGENT/APOLOGIST! ALWAYS RUNNING TO THE INSULTS FIRST WHEN THEY GET HIT BIT A BIG CUBAN GUSANO FUACATAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Humberto Capiro everybody that is not a rabid dog as you are works for Castro. My family fought Castro, 3 of them actually got killed in combat, but I am anti-stupid, to make a political motivated case against Cuba when is obvious outbreaks happen everywhere, it is just stupid. You, rabid dog still didn't check our own CDC links about similar outbreaks in the US.
P.S. At least you are improving in your uppercase writing.
Desi Mendoza Rivero, a 43-year-old doctor and father of four children, has been sentenced to eight years' imprisonment in connection with his critique of the authorities' handling of a fever epidemic in Cuba.
Arrested on June 25, 1997, Dr. Mendoza was tried on November 18, and currently is held in Boniato Prison, just outside Santiago de Cuba. The charge against him stemmed from statements he issued, which were later disseminated by foreign newspapers and broadcast media, regarding an epidemic of dengue fever in Santiago de Cuba which reportedly had caused several deaths. Dr. Mendoza accused the authorities of covering up the true extent of the epidemic and of not taking sufficient measures to control it. He was charged with having violated an article of the Penal Code which refers to the dissemination of "enemy propaganda" through the mass media.
(Source: Amnesty International USA's Freedom Writers Network, January 1998.)
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~vl/notes/rivero.html
This sounds more like what Obama has in mind for the US.
Star - The article is about an illness that impacts humankind and NOT about "our" President. You sad ass losers that lost the election attempt to hijack any story for some ridiculous comment. Grow up and shut up. We won and those of you losers that continue to bitch, should either get with the program and fix your broken party and stop being unpatriotic. Bashing our President is like burning our flag. It's disrespectful, juvenile and ignorant. It's a shame that in our country people who cowardly attack our President aren't locked up or fined. You're a disgrace to our nation. Stick to the story at hand.
Couldn't agree with you more on what you wrote to the
and any others like him/her.
Wouldn't it be nice to have comment board that is used entirely for the article at hand only and not by a bunch of idiots trying to wreck it for the rest of us.
Wish they would all just get booted to end it from continuing.
Thanks again for a great post. ( I might even use it myself again on other posts if you don't mindThink Wise?)
Your president, Think Wise, is a disgrace to this country. The last thing we need is 'progressive' ideas which basically move people toward an inevitable heavy handed and despotic government doling out 'fairness' in the form of forcing everyone to live like the people in Cuba or North Korea.
Notice that despotic nations that embraced forced 'fairness' have already abandoned that format? Notice that it is only the most extreme examples that still enslave its' population?
So your side won this time, get over it. Ungracious winner.
Since when does being 'patriotic' mean supporting the very principles that have already been proven to be failures?
Take your arrogance and shove it up your ......
Phil, thanks for being an ugly redneck.
T P go home.
Americans don't want you here.
Too late, even a strong majority of ugly rednecks can't do that, unless you guys decided to go ahead and join the Klan like I guess you should've done long since, right?
@Think wise: as long as you make that retroactive to all the "shrub" posters who infested the vine when he was President sounds good.
@Tetrapoda: well just refer back to my reply to your post 3.10.
I guess Humbuto is part of the RNC's hispanic out reach program.
YOUTUBE: Situación de las Viviendas en Cuba. Así viven los cubanos - The housing situation in Cuba. This is how ordinary Cubans live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kVYhQp_GPk
YOUTUBE: Escasez de agua en Cuba. Así viven los cubanos - Water shortages in Cuba. This is how ordinary Cubans live.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j0O7ksiNcE&feature=plcp
I can show you MANY examples of deplorable living conditions here in the US. Want proof, drive thru sections of our nations capital, Washington DC.
Marlen Drive through most any city, and through the rural South and West Virginia. That poverty and unsanitary living conditions are everywhere.
THese same people who are attacking over this would deny decent health coverage to Americans. Hypocrites!
Humberto, rather than cutting and pasting information, let's hear from you. What's the sense of pasting all these sites if you don't offer an opinion or idea?
YOUTUBE: Bucket and pitcher - a Cuban Water Story!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkDlcCtspzQ&feature=player_embedded
Chingue tu madre, pendejo.
Otra ves??
A dumbass in two languages.
Tetrapoda,
Swearing in any language is against the TOS. Reported.
Why should we care about Cubans live? They hate the US, and the Cubans who live here and send money back to Cuba are traitors to this country. We gave them a home when they ran from Castro, now they undermine us and try to form our foreign policies to their emotions. If you love Cuba so much, go back - there are way too many of you here. Take Marco Rubio with you.
The majority of ordinary Cubans do NOT hate Americans. Politicians do.
And supporting families at home can hardly be a reason to be called a "traitor". If they are paying their taxes and obeying the law .. then what's it to you?
This embargo has long passed ridiculous. We have better relations with almost every other country in the world ... including the former Soviet Union!
Maggie, firstly, your English is terrible. "Cuban Lives" How do you know the Cubans hate the U.S.? The Cubans that live in the U.S. are traitors, why? They were successful at leaving the oppression of Castro and improved their lives in our country and just because they help to keep their relatives alive, they're traitors? How do they undermine us? You are an ignorant racist and the ugly type of American that the rest of us try to avoid becoming. If reincarnation exists, you will be born in a country where you will suffer for your blatant stupidity and evil outlook on other humans.
Geez, TW.....After reading your first sentence, I think those that live in glass houses should refrain from throwing rocks.
ThinkWise did you really just bash another person's english then proceed to screw it up yourself?
English should NOT be capitalized and lives/live is proper english in both forms that Maggie used.
-- The Lives of the many American people who died in WW 2 will never be forgotten.---
-- To Live in America is a great thing---
Multiple misuse of the comma.
....but isn't this the model health care system lauded and praised by our Congressional Black Caucus?!! The CBC is just a communist minded 'government should take care of me' in exchange for my freedoms organization. They would gladly exchange our Constitution for enslavement by government intrusion and handouts. The Nanny State mentality of socialists and communists espoused now by the Democrat Communist Party of Obama and Reid.
You lose all credibility to your argument when you start throwing around the word "communism and Democratic Party" in the same sentence. Obviously, you don't even know what the word means. Typical Fox TV viewer.
Morlon101917, you mean he has no credibility with you communists. Typical Communist Manifesto worshipper.
... and you lose all credibility when you self appoint yourself as "policewoman of the thread" and comment so frequently in retaliation and anger although you haven't yet addressed the subject matter of the article you are supposed to be commenting on. I, for one, am already tired of you and we're only 14 comments into the article and with you making approximately 1/3 of the comments. I would like to commend the Cubans for making attempts to stop the spread of this disease before it becomes a more widespread problem. See? That's how you can comment on the article while allowing others their own opinions, too. It's easy.
Holly--I TOO would like to commend the Cubans for making attempts to stop the spread of this disease before it becomes a more widespread problem.
However, the fact that they did not fess up to the problem until they were 'outed' is not a positive.
Just as it is not every time we have a food poisoning outbreak, and A) immediately everyone thinks it is a "Mexico fault" or B) an "illegal fault". That is not helpful, when what is needed is open public info BEFORE it becomes an 'epidemic'.
And the fact that MANY of the incidences DO have a tie to either Mexico OR to those who hire illegals DOES have revelence.
Because if you are a WHITE guy who happens to hire illegal workers, WHAT other laws are you ALSO willing to break in the name of decreasing costs/raising profits?
SOME of those laws/regulations do not just affect the 'health' of the product, but in some cases, the health of the illegal WORKERS. Remember the Kosher meat packing plant that Shrub's ICE shut down in Iowa?
They were using KIDS under 16 to handle machines with VERY sharp knives/saws.
That was a scumbag thing to do. But--and this is the kicker--that does/did NOT absolve the ILLEGALS of the blame of being here in the first place.
Bad acts on the part of ONE person does NOT excuse the bad acts of another.
While I didn't like Shrub, the fact is, that dislike does NOT mean I have to 'wink' and look away when Obama does the SAME bad things, or even just his OWN bad things. Obama PROMISED to not be like Bush, when in effect, he has continued/repeated many of the things so many hated Bush for.
With total immunity from his supporters.
Another American who can't spell correctly or use proper grammar. Such a disgrace!!!
"Think Wisely"
4
: insolent, smart-alecky
— wise·ly adverb
(From Merriam/Webster Dictionary)
The United States got rid of Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and Moammar Khadafy. Why have we left Castro in power in Cuba for the past 50 some years?
John Penn,
"Why have we left Castro in power in Cuba for the past 50 some years?"
President Kennedy tried to remove Castro in the early 1960's. Don't you remember the Bay of Pigs fiasco when we tried to invade Cuba and it failed? I guess we learned our lesson after that.
Actually, Torrado was the President of Cuba at the time, and Castro was the Prime Minister, but it amounts to the same thing. The Bay of Pigs operation that took place in April, 1961 was backed by the CIA. It was a big embarrassment for the U.S.
How is Castro effecting your life ? I think the US has enough of it's own problems .. don't you ?
What has Castro done to the US?
If the people in Cuba really wanted it, they could effect change.
Cuba is a direct result of the US supporting Right Wing Fascist Regimes. We have a history of doing that over and over. Chile, Cuba, Iran...
Funny that the nation of Freedom & Democracy would have supported regimes that were the opposite of that.
Frankly True--YEP, the US DOES have a habit of supporting 'right wing, fascist Regimes.'
Because we preferred them to LEFT wing fascist Regimes, or religions nuts. I LIVED in Nicaragua during one of the 'right wing fascist regimes' (Anastasio Somosa) and while I totally understand why he was ousted, the Cuban backed communist regime that took over was NO better, and bankrupted the country. My 'family' there has been actively involved in Ortega's newest incarnation, but HE, unlike Castro, has realized that democracy is the ONLY way his country has a chance to recover. And ironically, Ortega has also learned that many of the people MY age (early 60s) who were educated in the US, DO have a clue on how to bring back the country's economy. It will be a LONG hard effort tho.
And by the way, do you really think the Iranians were better off under the MULLAHS after the Shaw was ousted? Do you REALLY think the radical Muslim groups controlling most of Northern African countries now are NOT going to begin 'cullling' their countries of all the religious sects that THEY don't agree with, even though they are ALL Muslims? That the ones in power now will not ALSO begin to torture and kill their opposition?
We should have stayed out of it, but please don't try to blame us for all the woes in those countries. THEY have met the enemy, and he is "THEMSELVES."
Kennedy sold out the Cuban freedom fighters (Alpha 66) and the CIA at the Bay of Pigs in 61. That is why Castro stayed in power so long. If a stronger president had been in office, he would have been gone in that year.
Thanks, your grasp of history is truly, amazingly stupid.
MOmaid perhaps if we had not supported those right wing fascist regimes we would have seen a more moderate government replace them with our support. Instead we created a vacuum of power that the people felt a part of (and a hatred for the US) thereby enabling the extremist regimes that took over.
We should have been a part of the solution, instead we were a part of the problem.
Before Castro booted out Batista, Cuba was corrupt with Mafiia gambling, prositution and torture. The United States got a kick back from the mob. Castro was not a thug like Batista but educated and gather up others to oust Batista and the corruption. That upset the United States, ...no more kick backs. So when Castro asked the United States for help in imports/exports the US SAID NO! That is when Russia offered to help and Castro accepted for the people of Cuba. That angered the US even more and placed Santions against Cuba. Do as the US says ...or else.
"Cuba fights to contain cholera"
Is that why the Cuban government just recently decided to loosen restrictions on travel abroad for its citizens?
O the Coward
Can you please be more racist and ignorant in your comments?
The most recent Cholera outbreaks have occurred in Southeast Asia and Africa. The last pandemic was in Indonesia. If you are going to hate on races and peoples, at least be an accurate racist.
I dunno, we've already admitted the ancestor of O the coward, how much lower can we go?
I am sure, with a medical system that is the envy of the world, they will have no trouble containing this outbreak.
Wait...WHAT?? Where's Mother Russia and it's Fearless Leader Vladimir Pukin when their puppet nation Cuba needs them the most?
For shame, Vladdy. For Shame.
Not Yer Pal Ever,
Thee Ox & Friends
3ox--you DO know that Russia has not been involved in Cuba since the 80's?
Can't keep blaming Russia forever.
Omaid,
You dont think so? Think again....
So many stupid comments here. The article is about an illness that hits "humankind" and not just Cubans or this one or that one. Comments about illegal aliens bringing illnesses, etc............. Cubans that reach the U.S. get automatic residency unlike other groups. Those talking crap, need to do their homework. As a "first" world country, we Americans need to care for our neighbors like Cuba & Haiti which should be a disgrace since they're in "our" backyard. We're a rich country that can help our neighbors. Instead of sending Israel $3 billion yearly (free), we should try to help the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere that happen to be next door. The corrupt and greedy Castro family isn't suffering, the innocent people of Cuba are. Unlike many places, they excel with their education despite the embargo. The people deserve some credit and also our help. When Bush crapped on his own people with Katrina, the Cubans offered to send their doctors. They were refused. Unlike Israel that didn't even offer anything, the poor Cubans offered. Our current President is in a catch 21 position with Cuba and I hope that before he leaves office, he'll do something to improve relations with our neighbors. We need sugar, fruit and other things that Cuba has. Instead of going to China for so much, let's keep it closer to home.
Think wise--Cholera does NOT ordinarily hit "humankind''--it hits POOR humankind. The kicker is how the country handles that, and what steps they take in the FUTURE to prevent new out breaks.
Cuba's education system is supposedly so great, WHY have poor people not learned how cholera is usually spread, (or happening in the first place?)
And SORRY, but illegal immigrants DO bring diseases, NOT necessarily because of any bad acts on their part (other than coming her AGAINST our laws) but because they TEND to never have recieved vaccinations against many diseases.
My middle child did NOT recieve a vaccination against Whooping cought ( he was born in 1982) because the world had supposedly conquered whooping cough. Three years later, whooping cough began breaking out again, and has done so MOSTLY because people who have NOT been vaccinated have the ability/tendency to migrate to areas that thought they had it eradicated.
As a 30 year old, whose best friend was pregnant with her first baby, my son went out and got himself vaccinated, because whooping cought was a REAL problem in his state last year, and he didn't want to accidently be the cause of his 'Godchild' being infected.
And like it or not, the whooping cough rise lately has come from immigrants, mostly, legal or otherwise.
And Think Wise--Cubans who 'reach the US do NOT automatically recieve residency. If they manage to get here 'dry foot' and not be caught in the water, they are interned until they can be vetted, and many are sent back.
And while I have NO problem with lifting the Embargo on Cuba, we have NO obligation to financially support Cuba OR Haiti, and have PLENTY OF poor in our own country who need our help and ARE our responsibility.
And Haite, for instance will NEVER recover (which they really didn't HAVE much to recover in the first place) while they continue to breed like rabbits.
MOST of the problems in the world would be solved if HUMANS would stop having babies they have NO clue how to support, much less the means.
Heck, most ANIMAL species are smart or instinctual enough to stop breeding when there is not enough food.
TW......."We are a rich country"???? You need to stop watching MSNBC and get a little fresh air. We are $16.5 Trillion in debt. WE ARE NO LONG RICH.
I bet Hugo Chavez is sweating his chances of ever leaving Cuba alive at this point in time.
Remember it is easy to visit Cuba, just a short flight from Mexico and any Caribbean nation. They don't stamp your passport. Just take cash. THe people seem happy the architecture is wonderful and those cars are really cool.
...not that I have ever been there....
I noticed in the ARTICAL about a businessman's only consolation was that he didn't have to PAY TAXES and LICENSING FEES for the month he was shut down for. I'm confused as to how similar in principle that is as compared to doing business in a 'free' society.
Remember Michael Moore's movie "SICKO" where he told us how much better Cuba's Socialized Medicine is compared to America?LMAO
Sillychamberpot, You seem to think that cholera and the suffering of other humans is amusing because Michael Moore talked about how Cuba's socialized medicine? This isn't a time to gloat. It's a time to be another human and either wish them well or bring something of substance to the table rather than juvenile vengeance. Innocent people die of disease in all countries including ours. It's ugly to see the dark side of the selfish.
Think wise--nope--the only thing I PERSONALLY find amusing is that Michael Moore allowed Cuba's government to show him exactly what they wanted him to see, when they wanted him to see it, and to make his documentary that compared the US rather poorly to life in Cuba.
The ONLY reason why Chavez goes there for his medical care is because he personally has not invested any of the billions of petro dollars in HIS country on IT's health care system.
And he picks Cuba because it 'tweaks' the US, AND it is relatively safe for him as far as being in danger of assassination attempts.
Cuba has over half a century of protecting despots from assassination attempts.
wise,surely you're brighter than that,or are you,thinking I am gloating.I am merely pointing out what losers support socialized medicine.
marlen101917!! "EMBARGO" YOU SAY! THEN SPLAIN THIS!
U.S.-CUBA TRADE AND ECONOMIC COUNCIL, INC.
ECONOMIC EYE ON CUBA- February 2012 - Report For Calendar Year 2011
2011-2001 U.S. EXPORT STATISTICS FOR CUBA
The following is the data for exports from the United States to the Republic of Cuba relating to the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSRA) of 2000, which re-authorized the direct commercial (on a cash basis) export of food products (including branded food products) and agricultural products (commodities) from the United States to the Republic of Cuba, irrespective of purpose. The TSRA does not include healthcare products, which remain authorized by the Cuban Democracy Act (CDA) of 1992.
The data represents the U.S. Dollar value of product exported from the United States to the Republic of Cuba under the auspice of TSRA. The data does not include transportation charges, bank charges, or other costs associated with exports from the United States to the Republic of Cuba. The government of the Republic of Cuba reports data that, according to the government of the Republic of Cuba, includes transportation charges, bank charges, and other costs. However, the government of the Republic of Cuba has not provided verifiable data. The use of trade data reported by the government of the Republic of Cuba is suspect. The government of the Republic of Cuba has been asked to provide verifiable data, but has not.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE REPORT!
http://www.cubatrade.org/CubaExportStats.pdf
It is "explain this", Humbertico, it is spelled "explain", are you now into slang? Jeez.
CUBA TRANSITION PROJECT - Institute for Cuban & Cuban-American Studies at University of Miami - 2006
Water Pollution
According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), water pollution in Cuba is a serious concern, particularly since there is a marked lack of infrastructure to address the issue. Of the 2,160 main contaminant sources recognized by UNEP, 1,273 or 59 percent, release their pollution into the Cuban environment without any treatment whatsoever. Another 433, or roughly 20 percent, receive limited but inadequate treatment before being discharged. (2) This analysis included agricultural sources of contamination, as well as industrial and human waste.
Despite its clear importance to the citizens of Cuba, the treatment of urban sewage in particular is extremely limited: only 17 or 18 percent receives any treatment before discharge into Cuban waterways. (3) The infrastructure of water and sanitation are beyond the breaking point and are close to catastrophic failure. Havana’s sewer system, which was built almost a hundred years ago, has been due for major repairs for almost five decades and is serving over two million citizens, well beyond its design capacity of 400,000. (4)
The Cuban government has recognized this as a major environmental problem on the island, conceding that “pollution in our ground and marine waters has gradually aggravated…caused mainly by the deficient state of the sewerage and its incomplete nature in the majority of cases." (5) UNEP reported an approximate total of 341,716 tons per year of organic material discharged into Cuban waters, equivalent to the pollution generated by a population of over 22.3 million people. It is worth noting that this level is twice the actual 2005 population of 11.2 million. (6)
The effects of this system on the Cuban environment have been severe. Cuban bays are widely recognized as being among the most polluted in the world. (7) The Almendares River, which flows through Havana, carries the untreated sewage of over 42,000 people directly to Havana Harbor and coastal waters. (8) There has been evidence that in Havana, an underground aquifer that provides 36% of the city’s potable water that runs directly beneath the polluted Almendares, represents a very high risk of widespread drinking water contamination for the city. (9)
This is a phenomenon that is being replicated throughout the country: it has been estimated that annually 863.4 billion gallons of contaminated water finds its way into Cuba’s rivers, much of it industrial. (10) A recent study of the groundwater in Moa, usually a naturally protected resource, concluded that a new water source for the population of Moa must be developed quickly, as the present source will be increasingly contaminated with heavy metals much of it from the nickel industry in the medium to long-term. (11) Tourist facilities have also exhibited insufficient treatment regimens, as many either pump waste directly into the sea at some distance from the coast, or use small oxidation pools, and release lightly treated water into the ocean. (12)
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE REPORT!
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2026%20November%202006.htm
the opression in that country continues. They go around checking up on people and force them to do something they never do in the United States .Go to the hospital. This way they can keep watch over their comrades and keep them from doing anything foolish. You never see people ion the US going around ordering people to get a test and forcing them to do something they probably wouldnt want to do. In the United States we have rights to keep the government from forcing us to do something unlike the people in Cuba.When's then last time you in the US was forced by the government to do anything besides pay taxs?
We are forced to buy health insurance now.
I formerly worked with a man that escaped from Cuba in the Mariel boat lift. He told me about how the CDR (Committees for the Defense of the Revolution) agents would constantly harass and jail him and his friends for the smallest expressions of thought.
Cuba sucks 'cause.......communism sucks. If TW and FT think they like it because it is so cool.....I suggest they go try it for a few years.
No worries. They have the equivalent of Obamacare in Cuba.
Humberto--please note that to a lesser degree, that report could have been written about NYC, or LA, or many other US cities whose populations have burgeoned, in many cases by an influx of POOR people, who do not contribute much to the tax pool while vastly increasing the amount the city has to spend on education, family services, police and fire protection, which leaves littel money to spend on upgrades to the water and sewer systems. And while it is "sexy" to have a sign up beside a new stretch of pavement on a street/highway, in more than two colors,(which makes the sign more expensive) and a portrait of the president(and the portrait ALSO makes the sign more expensive), touting it as a 'shovel ready' project, it is not NEARLY so appealing to have that sign posted by a sewer treatment plant, OR the 'snake's grave' (long trench that has been filled back in with dirt) where water pipes (or GAS pipes, btw) have been repaired/replaced.
And PS-- there are areas south of San Diego where the beaches are routinely unusable because of the sewage that washes up from where it has been dumped DIRECTLY into the ocean by a water way just south of the border.
Then again, there are whole areas of Missouri that ALSO are gagging to drive by, since Tyson and other huge meat producing companies are allowed to raise those animals in small cages, collect the 'excrement' in holding ponds, and after a certain amount of 'evaporation' (and where do you suppose THOSE odors go?) they are allowed to spread it 8 inches deep on land they own. (And please note also that Tyson has a long history of hiring illegal aliens to work in those places, as they cannot GET Americans to work in such awful conditions, and particularly for the wages Tyson is willing to pay.)
And of course, that does NOT even address the amount of feed required by those CAFO operations, or the amount of fertilizer run off that occurs to GROW that feed, which polutes the streams and rivers badly enough to cause fish kills, and the death of much of the gulf around New Orleans.
If we want to help a country cope with poor sanitation/environmental concerns, we SURE need to start here first.
The San Diego situation is a result of untreated TJ sewage flowing directly into the Pacific Ocean.
Caljam--I THOUGHT that was what I said? I might have been a tad too 'diplomatic' to avoid the Knee jerk accusations of racism.
: {o
What class of ass we have here,if you don't know shut TFU.Stop talking about the stupid Embargo.The Castro's are the Embargo.They have EVERYTHING for sale WITH DOLLAR in CUBA.From the US.From Water to automobiles .How you sell in Dollars if you don't paid the peoples in Dollars,is like selling here in the US with Ruble(Russia currency for the dummies).Think about How the worker do in Cuba,all the factory,all the Restaurants,Hotels,buses,taxis,trains,hospitals,clinics,supermarkets,ALL business are own by the GOVERNMENT,you not with them, you are fire.
Pedro--see, the reason they trade in dollars is because (at least until the last few years) we don't routinely print more money when we run out.
I can remember when (I believe Pinochet was president) Argentina had an anual inflation rate of 1700% because they kept printing more money.
PS, In visiting Costa Rica, which has one of the most stable governments in our hemisphere, and a pretty prosperous economy, THEY too take dollars for every thing.
Because they make a LOT of money off of American tourists!
And they give you colones in change. ;p
How could this happen in the Peoples Workers Paridise?
Common Man--um--I think you have Cuba confused with Communist China.
Communist Cuba, for its first 2 1/2 decades under Castro, depended heavily on 'welfare' from Russia, which dried up in the late 80's when the Russians bankrupted themselves trying to conquer Afghanistan. (and WE've already spent a year longer trying the same thing!)
Since then, Cuba has been on the down hill slope.
Too bad that Bush I, Clinton, Bush II and Obama have ALL ignored the opportunity there.
Cubans speak spanish and hate Americans--thousands of Americans have left Miami because of the language barrier--if you do not speak Spanish--you are out of luck--the Cubans should have stayed and brought down Castro--but tis easier to come to America and get benefits--Food Stamps
CUBANS IN THE UNITED STATES- Pew Hispanic Center- August 25, 2006
There are approximately 1.5 million Cubans in the United States. Cubans make up about 4% of the Hispanic population, which in 2004 was estimated at about 40.5 million people.
The median household income for Cubans is $38,000, higher than for other Hispanics ($36,000) but lower than for non-Hispanic whites ($48,000). Nativeborn Cubans have a higher median income than non-Hispanic whites ($50,000 vs. $48,000). Among foreign-born Cubans, those who arrived before 1980 have the highest median income ($38,000). However, those who arrived between 1980 and 1990 have a lower median income compared with those who arrived in 1990 or later ($30,000 vs. $33,000). Cubans living outside Florida have a higher median income than those living in Florida ($44,000 vs. $36,000).
Poverty rates for Cubans are generally lower than for other Hispanics, with some notable exceptions. About 13% of Cubans under 18 are in poverty, less than half the rate for other Hispanics (27%). About 11% of Cubans between 18 and 64 are in poverty, also lower than among other Hispanics (17%). However, older Cubans, those 65 and above, have considerably higher poverty rates than Hispanics or non-Hispanic whites. (24% vs. 18% and 7%, respectively).
http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/23.pdf
@Alan Fischer - Could not have said it better myself!
The Cuban population in Miami has literally destroyed what used to be one of the most beautiful (if not the most beautiful) vacation area's in US. And it still stands, that if Cubans make to to US dry land, they can legally stay. My experience has been that they are a nasty people who believe Spanish, is the National language and if you do not speak it, you might as well leave. I hope that their infiltration of US will not continue now that Castro has lifted the no fly band. The US has provided for and supported Cubans for the past 50 years, and I believe we've done enough for one country. It's another country's turn to "help!
More English speaking Americans need to move back to S Florida and bring jobs for Americans who speak English!
BTW - Tallahassee should be ashamed that they have allowed this Cuban infiltration to get sooooo out of control!