Castro says Cuban model doesn't work

[El Presidente]

Report: Castro says Cuban model doesn't work

By PAUL HAVEN (AP)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...yqPamQD9I3U2SG1

HAVANA — Fidel Castro told a visiting American journalist that Cuba's communist economic model doesn't work, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has conspicuously steered clear of local issues since stepping down four years ago.

The fact that things are not working efficiently on this cash-strapped Caribbean island is hardly news. Fidel's brother Raul, the country's president, has said the same thing repeatedly. But the blunt assessment by the father of Cuba's 1959 revolution is sure to raise eyebrows.

Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine, asked if Cuba's economic system was still worth exporting to other countries, and Castro replied: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore" Goldberg wrote Wednesday in a post on his Atlantic blog.

He said Castro made the comment casually over lunch following a long talk about the Middle East, and did not elaborate. The Cuban government had no immediate comment on Goldberg's account.

Since stepping down from power in 2006, the ex-president has focused almost entirely on international affairs and said very little about Cuba and its politics, perhaps to limit the perception he is stepping on his brother's toes.

Goldberg, who traveled to Cuba at Castro's invitation last week to discuss a recent Atlantic article he wrote about Iran's nuclear program, also reported on Tuesday that Castro questioned his own actions during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, including his recommendation to Soviet leaders that they use nuclear weapons against the United States.

Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba has clung to its communist system.

The state controls well over 90 percent of the economy, paying workers salaries of about $20 a month in return for free health care and education, and nearly free transportation and housing. At least a portion of every citizen's food needs are sold to them through ration books at heavily subsidized prices.

President Raul Castro and others have instituted a series of limited economic reforms, and have warned Cubans that they need to start working harder and expecting less from the government. But the president has also made it clear he has no desire to depart from Cuba's socialist system or embrace capitalism.

Fidel Castro stepped down temporarily in July 2006 due to a serious illness that nearly killed him.

He resigned permanently two years later, but remains head of the Communist Party. After staying almost entirely out of the spotlight for four years, he re-emerged in July and now speaks frequently about international affairs. He has been warning for weeks of the threat of a nuclear war over Iran.

Castro's interview with Goldberg is the only one he has given to an American journalist since he left office.

[Wiley]

¡Ay, caramba!

[PigFish]

...Well no **** Sherlock! I have heard of slow learners but this guy takes the cake...

[laficion]

I think that He just smoked a Monty Open in the John and waked up from a 50 year old dream and

into reality

[DocG]

I just typed a long manifesto about Cuban/American relations and fat fingered the key board and lost it!

Change is coming, and I hope better for all. Cuba is saying things don't work, and are letting locals legally sell veggies on the road side, and the US is letting Cuban Americans travel to visit families and send them money.

Many people share my fear though that the Americans will destroy the island with cheap Vegas style casinos and wal marts, but the important thing is for things to improve for the Cuban people.

I hope the good will improvements continue between the us and Cuba, until then I will keep smoking cigars and following things online...

[Colt45]

Many people share my fear though that the Americans will destroy the island with cheap Vegas style casinos and wal marts.....

This is one of those things I never understand when I hear it. Foreign investors will only be allowed to do what the Cuban government allows them to do.

So many people assume that when the embargo drops fast food chains will pop up overnight.

The Cuban government will still be the Cuban government.

[PigFish]

Note to self:

Better to work for 20 a month than at WalMart or a Vegas style casino!

[DTH56]

I just read this as well and came to the forum to post it. First article in the series is interesting as too. Looking forward to the 3rd that includes Fidel's thoughts on the U.S. embargo.

[DocG]

Good point about Cuba only allowing what they want. I had not thought of that. I was just thinking of the golden age of the clubs in Cuba before the imbargo. Maybe I watch too much I Love Lucy.

I agree that it is better to work at wal mart then to work for the government for a fixed wage, but if the same cuban government is in power, wouldn't they just be working for wal mart for the same fixed wage? Not that wal mart would open there if that was the case, just as an example...

I am very impressed with the insight. I hope that the thread keeps going. I will sit back and follow for a while and learn...

And not post when I have been into the Hendricks all day...

[tdlfoto]

it is better to work at wal mart then to work for the government for a fixed wage,

is it really? i'm not really sure the american / walmart system has panned out so well either.

[kafreeman]

is it really? i'm not really sure the american / walmart system has panned out so well either.

I think it was better before all the big box stores were around, and we made most of our products.

[sloth]

is it really? i'm not really sure the american / walmart system has panned out so well either.

It depends on who you are in the system.