[Tainari88]

@wat0n can you analyze something basic? I doubt it.

You keep assuming the USA government allows small Caribbean nations freedom to do what they need to do without the US approving of it. It does not allow that.

They want to fucking control it all. They need to stop the fucking control freak shit and get the fuck out of the business of telling other nations how to govern or which system they are going to pursue. They can't do that. They have to fuck people over and all the people who want to do a system that is not capitalism. They are fucking interfering freaks who have to destabilize and pressure any nation that either has something they need, want or who have an elite they need to control.

That is the issue with imperialism. Now some people think imperialism is inevitable. After all, imperialism is the only system that has developed where you had to accept control from afar or be threatened with misery, war and instability.

But, that needs to end. Wars in the past generations have not been all that successful like they have been before. There is no big undiscovered land to be genocided into submission anymore. All the land mass is occupied, catalogued and you got a sixth mass extinction event going on now currently. In other words, there is not enough land, and sustainable practices to keep from a total collapse of the system.

If the Empire shit continues it will accelerate it all.

In each crisis you got to adapt to new realities. That old model from the USA is SPENT.

Time to do a reboot.

You also ignore valid points from Q about Haiti and capitalism.

Capitalism can suck really really bad.

The US consumer version is not healthy either at present.

So, the change is coming.

[wat0n]

@wat0n can you analyze something basic? I doubt it.

You keep assuming the USA government allows small Caribbean nations freedom to do what they need to do without the US approving of it. It does not allow that.

They want to fucking control it all. They need to stop the fucking control freak shit and get the fuck out of the business of telling other nations how to govern or which system they are going to pursue. They can't do that. They have to fuck people over and all the people who want to do a system that is not capitalism. They are fucking interfering freaks who have to destabilize and pressure any nation that either has something they need, want or who have an elite they need to control.

That is the issue with imperialism. Now some people think imperialism is inevitable. After all, imperialism is the only system that has developed where you had to accept control from afar or be threatened with misery, war and instability.

But, that needs to end. Wars in the past generations have not been all that successful like they have been before. There is no big undiscovered land to be genocided into submission anymore. All the land mass is occupied, catalogued and you got a sixth mass extinction event going on now currently. In other words, there is not enough land, and sustainable practices to keep from a total collapse of the system.

If the Empire shit continues it will accelerate it all.

In each crisis you got to adapt to new realities. That old model from the USA is SPENT.

Time to do a reboot.

You're speaking as if all of the Caribbean had been turned into an US territory, or as if the US cared all that much about it.

If it did, why hasn't the US just invaded Cuba and toppled the communists there? Nobody could have stopped the US if it had decided to since the fall of the USSR, yet the US doesn't - because it's not something the US cares all that much about. As long as they don't threaten US national security, the US will still not care too much about the Caribbean and Latin America in general.

You also ignore valid points from Q about Haiti and capitalism.

Capitalism can suck really really bad.

The US consumer version is not healthy either at present.

So, the change is coming.

Capitalism CAN suck really bad indeed, but it CAN also be a good system to live in. Communism however has shown to only suck really bad.

Even "communist" countries like China or Vietnam had to introduce key aspects of capitalism to remain "communist". They may argue something like two-stagism to save face given the evident ideological defeat, but in the end it's quite clear some form of capitalism is necessary to achieve economic development. We can of course discuss what form of capitalism is best, but we're not there yet.

[QatzelOk]

The above video is in French, but it is a great discussion in which one of the participants mentions Cuba. He mentions that a Cuban visiting the USA remarked that Americans are actually less free in discussing various taboo subjects.

In Cuba, according to this Cuban source, you are prohibitted from saying two or three things. But in the USA, 1984-ish propaganda techniques have removed the possibility of entire classes of thought.

It is also mentioned that, while Orwell warned of the dangers of the State surveilling and manipulating media viewers, in the USA, it is giant corporations that assume this role as well. And giant corporations seek total domination over society, as Orwell mentionned "that State" does.

But that Cubans are allowed to discuss more subjects more openly than Americans... I can attest to with even my limited five 2-week stays there. Cubans are NOT trained by their media to be afraid of saying the wrong thing about everything.

[wat0n]

Ah, but if you criticize the Cuban government - poor little soul, you are in for a really bad time.

In the US, people may yell at you or even fire you but you won't be arrested and/or tortured.

[QatzelOk]

In the US, people may yell at you or even fire you but you won't be arrested and/or tortured.

In the USA, you can be fired for misgendering, or if you have ever had sex with anyone you can be MeToo-ed to death.

Cancel Culture is the new book-burning, and Cuba isn't following this trend. The reality in Cuba doesn't change with every banking year's debut. And local Cubans talk to their neighbors all the time... this is not really accepted in North American society. Neighbors are at least a private lawn away, and always sealed in vehicles. The suburban trail-of-tears destroyed our society, and made us dumb.

Americans are the most boring people on Earth to discuss politics, sociology or religion with because they have been intellectually castrated by their mass media consumption.

That's what that video can teach you.

[wat0n]

Indeed, postmodern identity politics sucks but the consequences are still not as bad as what can happen to you if you say something wrong (according to the Communist Party at least) in Cuba.

And I think the pushback against the postmodern trash is getting stronger.

[QatzelOk]

Indeed, postmodern identity politics sucks but the consequences are still not as bad as what can happen to you if you say something wrong (according to the Communist Party at least) in Cuba.

And I think the pushback against the postmodern trash is getting stronger.

You spend very little time reading the posts or interacting with the questions and information that other posters post for you for free. This prevents you from learning anything, and is why your posts are stuck in a previous era and show no evolution over time.

That Fail you got a few posts back... is because you haven't really learned anything on this forum. You just keep re-typing your ill-informed opinions which you attempt to back up by remarking that this is what is on commercial media.

Is Coca Cola really the real thing, wat0n? This is something you might be an "authority" on.

[wat0n]

You still have nothing to say about the fact that the consequences of not following the Cuban government's line are worse than the consequences of misgendering.

[Tainari88]

@QatzelOk I think this episode from the late Anthony Bourdain is interesting.


Cubans are people who do read books, they talk with each other and they are not alienated.

What is going on with Cubans is that they have no money to spend and they want more ability to develop themselves professionally. That Cubans do not talk much? Lol. They talk a lot. They always have.

Meanwhile Q, you got a lot of US citizens that just have no real access to real art because art is something you need to pay a lot of money to get access to. It is very hard to go for the arts in the USA. It is basically relegated to rich folk. Lol. You got pockets of exception.

I do not know why but Puerto Rico and Cuba always had access to art regardless of how little funds you had in your pocket. Something about the culture is there. Art is made out of limited circumstances.

What the Cubans want is to live in their own culture, have great opportunities and live with a community that they feel cares about their rights. Human rights.

It is obtainable. But it requires not falling into they are the enemy if they do not follow the rules of the US government. If they do not like their own government? It is their country. If enough of them want change and go after it? It will happen for them.

All nations have to do what they can to make life better for themselves.

The values of the USA of consumerism and credit card debt, and student loan debt and out of control rent prices, and so many issues of believing in a bunch of shit values? Is not the answer for everyone.

It never was.

[QatzelOk]

Meanwhile Q, you got a lot of US citizens that just have no real access to real art because art is something you need to pay a lot of money to get access to. It is very hard to go for the arts in the USA. It is basically relegated to rich folk. Lol. You got pockets of exception.

It's not just "art" that normal people can't seem to access in rich North America. It's culture, history, politics, sociology, religion, and a lot more.

All of these "serious subjects" have been relegated to "the authorities" which are generally made up of a few lucky children who inherit small fortunes (or large fortunes) from their cut-throat entrepreneur parents who usually got this capital through crime.

So the little people in North America - the normal everyday workers - are incredibly devoid of interest or knowledge of serious subjects.

The stress of trying to pay your bills... means that most normal working people don't have the time or the disposition to acquire mucy culture or societal knowledge with which to base their vote on.

I do not know why but Puerto Rico and Cuba always had access to art regardless of how little funds you had in your pocket. Something about the culture is there. Art is made out of limited circumstances.

When everyone has more-or-less the same conditions, there is a sense that "reality" belongs to everyone.

In rich North America, "reality" belongs to the behind-closed-doors elites, while everyone else has Netflix.

[Tainari88]

It's not just "art" that normal people can't seem to access in rich North America. It's culture, history, politics, sociology, religion, and a lot more.

All of these "serious subjects" have been relegated to "the authorities" which are generally made up of a few lucky children who inherit small fortunes (or large fortunes) from their cut-throat entrepreneur parents who usually got this capital through crime.

So the little people in North America - the normal everyday workers - are incredibly devoid of interest or knowledge of serious subjects.

The stress of trying to pay your bills... means that most normal working people don't have the time or the disposition to acquire mucy culture or societal knowledge with which to base their vote on.


When everyone has more-or-less the same conditions, there is a sense that "reality" belongs to everyone.

In rich North America, "reality" belongs to the behind-closed-doors elites, while everyone else has Netflix.

My husband was surprised when he got to the USA when he was twenty six years old. He was surprised by how ignorant people were. Because you got access to art and culture all day and everyday in PR. Cuba is the same way. Poverty does not mean poverty of art and science and lack of free education. I attended university for free in Puerto Rico, and I transferred out from the University of Puerto Rico to the University of Colorado. I remember vividly the advisor in Boulder asking me what the content was for the University of Puerto Rico. I told her, and she was surprised, she said it sounded like some elite university from Europe the content. Lol. None of the students got those courses in Boulder. It was mostly for grad students or senior seminars. I laughed, and told her that the first two years you had no choice. You had to take universal knowledge classes and that meant Marxism, World history, advanced foreign language, Western Civilization, science with labs and so on. Social science was required of all students. Humanities too, and philosophy, etc.

In contrast at Boulder you specialized quickly and your electives were open and many just looked for something easy to pass. I was unconvinced about US university content institutions.

Many people think universities are horrible for being teachers of Marxism. Marxism is for advanced students. That is why so many of these assholes on TV who hate Marxism want to ban books and anything that says that the working class are being oppressed. I have no idea why they keep being afraid of a theory that they think is a total failure? If it is a failure then why ban it from being taught? Study it well and then say it has zero truth and PROVE it has nothing of human value to teach people? They can't. They shit in their pants every time they have to study Marxist theory. Because it hits capitalism's flaws right where it hurts. It is obvious and threatening TRUTH in every single line.

Face what you fear. If it fails? Let the other nations following Marxist theory pursue it and fall on their own sword. Without the capitalists wanting to strangle them to death with sanctions and denying them even basic needs. They can't do that. It scares them shitless. All of them are paranoid about a working class government run by poor and working class people who own their own labor and share the gains with equality. If it is highly successful on its own two feet without interferences? It is a big threat to their elite rule that only serves a tiny slice of all of the human classes on Earth. The vast majority would want stability and UBI and everything else that smacks of it.

So they have to use violence and bad propaganda. Again, each nation has a right to pursue its own policies. If they fail the people in the nation? The people have to hold them accountable. The best policy is to wish success security and peace on ALL NATIONS. Regardless if they are Marxist, socialist, communist, capitalist, fascist, or mixed economy folk. Cooperate among many models and respect them all. Let them develop in their own merits and nothing to fear. If you feel your model is the best one for most of the world? It will prevail. What I object to is that you use guns, and shooting, war and invasions and toppling democratically elected leadership that some powerful Superpower objects to, and therefore the democratic principle is sacrificed for the fear of losing in the ideological and economic wars that imperialists love so much.

That is not the way to progress human societies.

Did you see La Fabrica in that video with Anthony Bourdain? One should take all the money the state can get and invest it in the arts, sciences and reviving every economic benefit that Cuba can get in this world.

Many Cubans all agree that the embargo does not help the Cubans who are not happy with the Cuban government because the Cuban government uses it as an excuse for not being able to fix economic problems like shortages of meat, rice, beans, vegetables, fruit, legumes, and everything else in Cuba. They should develop the local Cuban agronomy and agriculture. Puerto Rico imports 85% of its food. Cuba imports 70% of its food. Cuba and Puerto Rico should invest heavily in growing its own local food. It is fertile land, and it is good water quality from the rivers and streams. So the logical thing is to study models of tropical islands all over the world where they only have to import 10% or less of their own food.

Factories and having production in mass of many things, sheets, towels, clothing, and personal care items. Medical supplies, and etc. All that has to be developed well.

Chains owned by the workers themselves and distributing the gains between the same pharmacy chain workers and stocking it with the top 200 world medications used and supplies. Study the models out there and may they have the freedom to OWN (the workers who labor there) their own labor and stock in their own workplace. Democratize the workplace.

The Japanese grow their own packaging material made out of seaweed off the shore of their own water. Cuba can do that same. Etc etc.

There are solutions. But it can not happen when the superpowers just want to kill off any government that does not allow a capitalist pro USA puppet to be the commander and chief. That shit is horrible. Dump that dysfunctional stuff.

[QatzelOk]

...Puerto Rico imports 85% of its food. Cuba imports 70% of its food...

This is perhaps Cuba's biggest problem: lack of food sovereignty.

Without this, the world's import-export cabal can starve your society to submission and destroy all the social progress it has made.

The Irish Potato famine - for all its uniqueness - allowed Britain to dictate cultural norms and poltical structures, as well as to ethnic-cleanse half the population ... and send them to the Americas to kill the First Nations.

If Ireland had been food-independent... it would have been more difficult to control in the 19th Century - there were so many revolutions and insurgencies in those years. Starvation ended any hope of winning them.

The politics of starving people: "Do what the corrupt settler-colonialists say, or starve to death."

This is the end of sovereignty for a people.

How could Cuba become more food sovereign? I would propose vegetarianism as a way of using land more effeciently. But I'm not an expert on Cuban soil conditions or agricultural potential.

Does Cuba's Spanish-American past mean that it must continue to normalize meat consumption?

[Tainari88]

This is perhaps Cuba's biggest problem: lack of food sovereignty.

Without this, the world's import-export cabal can starve your society to submission and destroy all the social progress it has made.

The Irish Potato famine - for all its uniqueness - allowed Britain to dictate cultural norms and poltical structures, as well as to ethnic-cleanse half the population ... and send them to the Americas to kill the First Nations.

If Ireland had been food-independent... it would have been more difficult to control in the 19th Century - there were so many revolutions and insurgencies in those years. Starvation ended any hope of winning them.

The politics of starving people: "Do what the corrupt settler-colonialists say, or starve to death."

This is the end of sovereignty for a people.

How could Cuba become more food sovereign? I would propose vegetarianism as a way of using land more effeciently. But I'm not an expert on Cuban soil conditions or agricultural potential.

Does Cuba's Spanish-American past mean that it must continue to normalize meat consumption?

The majority of Latin American staple diets are based on rice and beans. Eating meat is a once a week thing for the majority of Latin American families. Some chicken on a Sunday is normal. In Puerto Rico in my father's era there were jumbo shrimp in the sweet water rivers and streams. Catching crabs, fish and so on were normal activities for the Puerto Ricans. All that changed. The US wanted total dependency. They did all kinds of shit to fuck up any possibility of self sustaining agriculture. They forced some Operation Bootstrap shit that was the worst model for industrializing the island. They did it because they wanted the arable land to fall in the hands of sugar barons from the USA. Sanford Dole of Dole Pineapples in Hawaii killed local Hawaiian small farmers in order to force them to work for peanuts on his land and make him rich. The sugar barons of Puerto Rico were all US corporations and banks who bought the land. Puerto Rican coffee was also mostly discouraged since it competed with Hawaiian Coffee barons also Anglos from the USA.

You study all that shit is it UNFAIR crap of the worst sort.

Most family farms like my maternal grandparent's families were displaced. They bought their land for pittances after there were hurricanes and the mountainous regions of Puerto Rico were in trouble financially.

The first step to being truly independent is developing sustainable agriculture. Puerto Rico though has had to fight an uphill battle because the US government wants total dependency on imports the US Merchant Marine being the most expensive in the world for shipping controls the Puerto Rican market completely. The Jones Act from 1920 makes it illegal for us to negotiate with other nations for cheaper prices on goods that are imported. We are prisoners of US price controls. It makes the prices pretty bad in Puerto Rico for fuel, cars, appliances, tools, and building materials, and the quality of food is low and horrible. They mostly sell us the cheapest and hardest chicken, steak, and pork to sell on the mainland. It arrives not fresh and many people have to pay top dollar for bad shit.

We could get much better quality and cheaper prices buying from Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Dominican Republic, as well as some West African nations and Central American nations that consume the same kind of food products as we do since their traditional diets are similar to ours—plantains, yucca, dasheen, taro, sweet potatoes, yams, beans, and rice. Chicken qualities in the Yucatan are super high and well-produced. Easily could import chicken from Mexico. But the US does not allow it.

It is suffocating us. Independence has to happen. Many Puerto Ricans are used to living on food stamps and welfare and refuse to work in the fields or in agricultural work. It pays little and you make the same more or less than working forty hours a week in the field. It is not worth it to work for bad wages on the island.

Most of the work if you can find it goes to Dominican people who do work for the minimum wage from the USA and many open tiny businesses and thrive in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans are brainwashed into just living on the dole by the US government and not doing shit for improvement. For what? There are no real incentives for it anymore.

The entire mentality of sustainable agriculture has to be done in communal farms and in groups. Those are very successful.

I work with an organization that is about sustainable agriculture in developing nations and in the state of Colorado. They are against agribusiness models and shit models of pesticides and poisoning the land. It is the future. People can grow food sustainably while caring for the earth and water systems. They are growing in number. It is geared towards African, Latin American, Native American, and Asian small farmers, women, and people of color owning their own small places and being supported. Using diversity and interdependency of different crops. Avoiding mono-crops and artificially grown crap. Most of them are vegetarians and vegans.

I am so PROUD of working with them and making their work international in scope. I translate all materials for them and record a lot of classes and educational programming for them. I am very happy with my work for them.

Sustainable local farming is necessary. The Mexicans here are incredible farmers! They use all kinds of techniques from all over the world including traditional Japanese methods of fertilizing the earth to grow better quality plants and fruits and vegetables. It is fascinating!

Cuba has problems because they have a model that does not work for them. Again, it is based on a Soviet model that is for cold season growing. And in order to do business with the USSR they had agreed to buy tractors that farm equipment from the ex Soviet Union. All that was not a good model. If they could have bought parts and so on from Mexico instead? Would have been great. But Mexico was not allowed to accept Cuban pesos for payment. It had to be in dollars from the US or Euros or some other currency that is hard to come by in Cuba.

All these issues for both Cuba and Puerto Rico can be resolved very well. But it requires the US letting go of control of the banking systems, and pressure they exert on us. They won't do it. I suspect that only violence and a really bad war is what will be necessary for Puerto Rico. Cuba? I think the PRC and part of Asia is going to have to step in and start sponsoring Cuban investments.

Europe is going to have to let go of being controlled by the USA. The USA is a problem. They refuse to think the Americas are independent nations. They see us as their backyard and want to fucking make us their slaves so they can control the entire continent from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. They need to stop that shit mentality. It will only make people rebel violently over time. How much dysfunction can you sustain before you just want to kick their fucking arrogant asshole exploitative mentality out of your nation?

Everyone reaches a threshold of tolerance. The Cubans, the Puerto Ricans, the Dominicans, the Haitians, the Jamaicans, the Central Americans, South Americans, etc. Todo el mundo se cansa de dictadurías de los grandes poderes. EEUU tiene que cambiar la mentalidad.

The Cuban government has to start organizing their society for functionality. People can't live in a nation where they make nothing in salary, and can't buy basic goods easily. Who the fuck likes long lines and inconveniences. No one. Also they say they can't allow more than one political party because of fear of being undermined by the USA. I do think they are justified in that fear. But you need to have a Green Party, A socialist party, a liberal party and a party that is about WORKING people. But the most important goal of all is FUNCTIONALITY. Progress that is sustainable. People seeing improvement.

If it is stagnant shit people will just pack their bags and go. No one can take stagnation for a hundred years. That is what has happened in Puerto Rico. Stagnation for decades. They just pack and go. The only ones hanging around now happy as clams are a bunch of fakers with Law 60 not paying taxes and dodging responsibilities living in Puerto Rico wanting Puerto Ricans to be chauffeurs and maids and clipping lawns and bagging groceries and being golf cart caddies and shit.

That is not who we want to be in our own land. We want to be doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, astronauts, marine biologists, designers, farmers of high quality products that are local, singers, dancers, and everything in between. We want to control our own fate and live among other Puerto Ricans. We like hanging around other Puerto Ricans. Lol.

The American Mainland English speaking Anglos who think they are automatic Puerto Ricans by moving to some gated community in Dorado and hiding their profits and investing in cryptocurrency living their wet dream of libertarianism thinking they can transform us into their own image of Anglo shitty mentality of imperialism can go fuck themselves!!

[Unthinking Majority]

This is perhaps Cuba's biggest problem: lack of food sovereignty.

Living in a repressive dictatorship a close 2nd.

[Tainari88]

Living in a repressive dictatorship a close 2nd.

That is the issue that was created by the USA government. They had a puppet dictator Fulgencio Batista who did their bidding. He was a brutal dictator. But he was pro US interests. When he lost to Castro they tried to buy off Castro. He did not go for being a new puppet. So the issue became leave office and allow the US to put in another puppet or lock down the government, defend the revolution, and create literate people who read and write with zero dollars in the bank and reject capitalism a la USA style? The Cubans chose the latter. Not the former.

The US government believes in Latin American dictators. As long as they say YES to American interests. If they stopped doing that shit the many nations who have suffered for picking non USA candidates might had a fighting chance at real democracy.

Being hypocrites is not going to help anyone. The US foreign policy in Latin America is about hypocrisy, lies and manipulations. All our nations are not the USA. All of us are much smaller and much less spending on military budgets. It is up to the US to change. Otherwise they will continue to have to work against nationalistic Latin American leaders who refuse to be puppets. That is the issue there UM.

The issue is be a puppet for another more powerful nation and still be poor and fucked over? Or stand up to the US puppet shit and get punished severely economically with embargos and smear campaigns on US media that fools who do not know shit about the history of our nations lap up like brainwashed assholes? Choose.

Now if you go for puppet of the USA? You can be rich and powerful and live a great lifestyle there while the poor in your nation languish in poverty and desperation. Or? You can stand up to the US government and say not to them, and hope to hell they do not blow you up in a plane or car or some coup they plan on doing to you.

But thinking you have a choice about freedom is a pipe dream for most. The US will interfere with SHIT. Unless they get broke and crazy with too many wars and bullshit. Which is a strong possibility. They spend trillions on these unproductive wars like Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Ukraine and who knows where else...neglect their own American people and American infrastructure and finally have to loosen their grip on Latin America.

That is a strong possibility.

[QatzelOk]

The majority of Latin American staple diets are based on rice and beans. Eating meat is a once a week thing for the majority of Latin American families. Some chicken on a Sunday is normal. ...

Likewise, ordinary Cubans don't seem to get much meat in their diets.

So why is so much land in Cuba (and Latin America) dedicated to meat production and growing crops to feed cattle?

Cuba is about 62% cropland by area. This is a huge percent of its land. I realize that meat production helps keep the tourist resorts full of rich carnivores from Toronto and Montreal.... but couldn't Cuba rework its tourist marketing to emphasized vegetarianism and the health benefits and eco benefits?

Or is the meat production essential for tourism and to keep a few lucky Cubans relatively content with their meat-turbocharged diet?

[Tainari88]

Likewise, ordinary Cubans don't seem to get much meat in their diets.

So why is so much land in Cuba (and Latin America) dedicated to meat production and growing crops to feed cattle?

Cuba is about 62% cropland by area. This is a huge percent of its land. I realize that meat production helps keep the tourist resorts full of rich carnivores from Toronto and Montreal.... but couldn't Cuba rework its tourist marketing to emphasized vegetarianism and the health benefits and eco benefits?

Or is the meat production essential for tourism and to keep a few lucky Cubans relatively content with their meat-turbocharged diet?

It is bad planning in general. There is a lot about Cuban ecological things that are antiquated and not understood well. I was reading a lot of stats. The Cubans need to reboot a lot of economic and social things. They can do it. But they need capital and investment. The banking systems need to change as well.

Mexico needs to have three nationally run banks. Right now there is not a single bank really in Mexico that is a national bank. It is all foreign-owned.

The Cubans have to stop thinking about meat being necessary for a good diet. They keep thinking drinking milk and eating meat is a good thing. It is not.

Much healthier to deal with a model that works in Mexico. Mexico is flourishing with family-owned and community owned local farms en masse. They can show them how to plan all that. The US keeps constant monitoring of Mexican interactions with Cuba.

It irritates the hell out of me. They have no right to be interfering with Cuba-Mexico relations.

Cuba and Mexico have extremely long and strong relationships that go way back to before even the arrival of Hernán Cortés. The Carib Indians and Taínos had trade relationships for millennia before the arrival of the Spanish. They were known to each other, traded and did business for thousands of years. The archaeological evidence is there.

The US has to realize that they do not have the right to dictate international trade to Mexico. But they do.

They force the Mexicans to ask for US dollars for purchase of needed items from Mexico. Mexican pesos are fine as currency. Mexican tourists bring their pesos to Cuba and it helps Cuba.

The pandemic has dried up a lot of funds for the Cubans. And the Mexicans.

What is needed is lifting the trade embargo and stimulating investment without any restrictions. I would predict in ten years Cuba improves drastically and things would get much better in general.

Puerto Rico needs to have the Jones Act from 1920 removed. Every time it has been attempted the US lobbyists for the Merchant Marine block it. Since Puerto Rico has no voice or vote in the US Congress or Senate? Nothing changes.

They are suffocating both nations. They need to fucking get out of the imperialism business.

[QatzelOk]

The Cubans have to stop thinking about meat being necessary for a good diet. They keep thinking drinking milk and eating meat is a good thing. It is not.

Yes, but traditional diets are not easy to change. "Eating bugs" probably brought down the WEF's whole reset program in the public mind, rather than the "You will own nothing."

I wonder if the international influence of China or India could help "educate" more of the world regarding potential diets that are healthier (or just as healthy) as the traditional European meat-potatoes-and milk diet.

The US keeps constant monitoring of Mexican interactions with Cuba.

It irritates the hell out of me. They have no right to be interfering with Cuba-Mexico relations.

If you reject a friend and tell them to go away (embargo) and then spy on all this person's friends for the rest of their life (sanctions on trade, spying on Mexico-Cuba relations)... this is definitely an abusive relationship, and the abuser needs to be stopped and the abused need protection.

[Tainari88]

Yes, but traditional diets are not easy to change. "Eating bugs" probably brought down the WEF's whole reset program in the public mind, rather than the "You will own nothing."

I wonder if the international influence of China or India could help "educate" more of the world regarding potential diets that are healthier (or just as healthy) as the traditional European meat-potatoes-and milk diet.



If you reject a friend and tell them to go away (embargo) and then spy on all this person's friends for the rest of their life (sanctions on trade, spying on Mexico-Cuba relations)... this is definitely an abusive relationship, and the abuser needs to be stopped and the abused need protection.

@QatzelOk I thought the same way before as you did. Until I actually taught a class to senior Latinos who were traditional. What has to happen is to find traditional recipes that everyone loves to eat and consume but make them healthier and substitute bad ingredients for good ones, but still make it authentically Cuban or Mexican, etc. For example I told them to avoid eating flour tortillas, use organic corn masa in blue, red, green (with nopal powder in the masa), etc and then avoid lard and excessive fat in the beans, and a bunch of tips and tricks. To spice things up with healthy things like tomatillos, onions, pumpkin, squash, chiles, etc and instead of cheese to use crumbled and seasoned tofu or soy, we tried a bunch of things. They LOVED IT. But it requires having mass classes in the country. Sort of like a Prevention of Illnesses program. It works. But that needs to happen.

Cubans are easy, you do baked sweet potatoes, yams or dasheen, taro, yuca, plantains both green and yellow ripe plantains, and you add in olive oil, sea salt and garlic and black or white pepper, and then a sofrito, their traditional black beans, and some yellow Spanish rice, you do a nice protein of white navy beans with the traditional alcega etc. A bunch of stuff. They will love it!!

It is just you need again to talk to them and make it very social. You have dances, games, fun and learning about new healthy versions of traditional Cuban dishes. They all love it.

Potatoes are Peruvian. If you check out Peruvian diets they are very healthy because the amount of variation in the Peruvian cuisine is massive. About what 300 at least of different variations of potatoes. I love the purple potatoes and they are massively healthy. The issue becomes processed meats and meat in general.

But Peru has Quinoa that is bland. But there are creative in the extreme preparations of Quinoa.

Latin America has been pressured to drink Coca Cola, consume hamburgers and junk food. But lately there has been a serious pushback to get that shit out of the diets. By the Secretaría de Salud Pública. The Secretary of Public Health in Mexico.

The best way to deal with change is to latch on to what is healthy naturally and familiar to a culture and then make tweaks and changes like eliminating lard, adding fresh herbs and legumes or spices, and steaming and grilling instead of frying and salting or sugaring a lot of the dishes.

Color is a big attraction. I have a cookbook that is about making meals very colorful. It adds health. If you see red, purple, green, orange, yellow, black, brown, bluish, etc and hardly any white on your plate? You will be eating healthier by far. Though I am a fan of white asparagus. Lol.

It is all doable. Again, it needs a prevention of illness mass campaign. It works. I have participated in that before. It was about LATIN AMERICANS changing. Even the old people. If you make it social and culturally relevant and work on what is already pretty and healthy? It is easy to do.

The USA is imperialistic and dumb in its foreign policy. You would think if they did some kind of campaign for Latin America with a more balanced view of the nations of LA you would have better success. But they really mess things up wanting total control of it all. You can not do that in foreign relations. Mostly because total control requires total commitment to that society. They are not committed. They do not live there, do not speak the language or live the culture but want to take and not give. It creates resentments and problems.

The best policy is to be balanced for all parties. And be sensitive and dedicated to learning a lot of history, and cultural factors before formulating plans for diplomatic relations. They do not do that because the USA is full of arrogant, and ignorant foreign policy people who get their positions due to ambitions and connections and not real academic and diplomatic and cultural work.

It is bound to fail. You can't threaten societies you are not committed to. It is a recipe of hatred, rebellion and resentment. Plus, it gives an out to the government you want to have better communication with. If they think you are just a lying asshole trying to dominate without any real commitment they will be plotting against you all the time. This is self evident. I do not know why the US government does not get it eh?

Pendejos de primera is the only explanation.

[QatzelOk]

...I actually taught a class to senior Latinos who were traditional. What has to happen is to find traditional recipes that everyone loves to eat and consume but make them healthier and substitute bad ingredients for good ones, but still make it authentically Cuban or Mexican, etc....

This is a fantastic project that you got to work on. But for this to become a national priority, wouldn't the president of the country (or the government) have to initiate some kind of program?

I realize that you reached a lot of people with your course, and that is was face-to-face, which is ideal for social encounters.

But to really initiate a change on a national level... wouldn't the central government have to get involved in order to ensure funding and consistency across the entire nation for this food-education program?

In Cuba, there are many schools for farmers that share ideas regarding farm technologies. Are there community schools for learning how to cook healthier meals using locally-sourced ingredients?

(This might help counteract all the pro-junkfood commercials (brainwashing) of commercial media)