Comments on Reason over might: Cuba's decline: By the numbers

Dear administrator:Some of the above comments have...

2007-09-17T22:06:00.000+02:00

Dear administrator:
Some of the above comments have invalid links without the nofollow value.
They might very well lead today to a third party.
You may want to disregard them. Thank you
Kind regards,
Iza Roberto Iza

Muy Señores Míos:

Algunos de nuestros comentarios incluyen vínculos rotos que bien pudieran llevar hoy a una tercera persona. Por tanto, le rogamos, por favor, que los deseche o desestime.

Gracias y recuerdos

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Thanks to all for your comments. I have been takin...

2005-07-06T02:24:00.000+02:00

Thanks to all for your comments. I have been taking a closer look at some of the data I posted, something I should have done before posting. There are discrepancies between it and other data posted on the Internet, too large to be explained by statistical margins of error. Some of the data, as some of my posters have commented, is incorrectly given: for instance, annual per capita electricity consumption should be given in kWh, certainly not in watts. Other data is implausible, such as stating an annual per capital income for Cuba less than one twenty-fifth that of Sudan's, for instance. These are things I should have picked up on.

My source of the data was an anonymous e-mail that was forwarded to me by an acquaintance I consider reliable. In the e-mail, the data was attributed, as stated in my posting, to "UN, FAO, and UNESCO" sources (which I would also consider reliable). As I don't have any 1959 yearbooks from these organisations lying around, I cannot check the original source (I don't have the current editions either, for that matter). If any of my readers do have them, please post what information you are able to glean from them.

The data in the e-mail was further attributed to Manuel Cereijo, who is one of the contributors to the site www.netforcuba.org. The statistics I quoted appear to have been taken from the page http://www.netforcuba.org/Columnists/Cereijo/001sp-Cuba20deMayo.htm. Cereijo also attributes the data to UN etc. sources, but without providing any further detail.

Interestingly, the figures Cereijo provides differ in some instances from the ones I read in the e-mail; the latter correspond to those given on the analitica.com webpage at http://www.analitica.com/va/internacionales/opinion/8449109.asp, of which I was not aware when I posted the article. It looks like someone has been manipulating the figures to make the situation in Cuba look even worse than it already is.

In this sense, I must agree with poster #8 ("Anonymous") that this appears to be an "excellent example of spin". Obviously, though, I do not concur with his/her other positions ("Chávez... visionary leader... wonderful asset").

In any case, I hereby apologise to all those who took the information I posted at face-value, as I did. The Internet is a wonderful thing, but sometimes it is too easy to use.

Obtaining reliable figures for Cuba is difficult. This example has shown that some in the anti-Castro camp will spin the information to present their case in a favourable light. Similarly, the Cuban government (and its first-world admirers such as the Australian Green Left) are hardly a wellspring of objective information. After the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the extent to which data was manipulated in all the Soviet satellite countries became apparent (much to the horror of Western investors). I have no doubt that the same will happen when Cuba's dictatorship bites the dust and the economic reckoning begins to take place. I hope that that will also mark the day when Cubans will flock back to Cuba instead of trying desperately to escape from the island.

In addition to Castro's murders and oppression, one of his greatest legacies of evil are the lost decades of economic and democratic development that he has imposed on Cubans. Who is to say that Cuba today would not be more similar to Chile than to Haiti were it not for the geriatric tyrant?

What an excellent example of spin (and I say this ...

2005-07-02T17:44:00.000+02:00

What an excellent example of spin (and I say this has someone who has worked in communications for many years). I'm not an expert in egg consumption, so I can't comment on that data, but I do know that some of your data on the medical situation is wrong. You might want to check the numbers against other sources and see if you can get consistency.

As for the data overall, for the average Cuban, living standards have been the same or better in many ways. Do not forget that before the 1950s many Cubans did not know how to read and poverty was severe, lack of shoes and running water (as opposed to a lack of game systems -which by the way do exist in Cuba).

Cuba has clearly been hit hard by the decline of the USSR and American economic attacks/embargoes, etc. But to compare Cuba to the US is just silly. Look at it's geography, population, natural resources, etc. If not for its Government Cuba would be like Haiti, not the US.

A small fraction of Cubans (those loyal to the puppet dictator Batista) did so well and were so rich that that they skew the overall data on averages.

As for Chavez, he is probably one of the most visionary leaders in power today and, in my opinion, is a wonderful asset to Venezuela.

Instead of repeating the numbers given by the US d...

2005-06-28T16:36:00.000+02:00

Instead of repeating the numbers given by the US department of State,http://usembassy.state.gov/havana/wwwh0013.html would you please give us the UN, FAO and IMF reports that show these numbers?
Obviously there are other reports that contradict your numbers:
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2001/457/457p18.htm

Please have the criteria to sort the propaganda from the facts...

Excellent post. Please do link to the sources. I...

2005-06-26T16:09:00.000+02:00

Excellent post. Please do link to the sources. It'll be worthwhile.

FACTS AND FIGURES, FIGURES AND FACTS As more and m...

2005-06-24T03:28:00.000+02:00

FACTS AND FIGURES, FIGURES AND FACTS
As more and more Blogs and Websites spring up, researching the facts about Cuba will become even more interesting. For example, 46% of pregnant women going to the hospital are malnourished. Cuba's healthcare, it seems, was unware of the importance of Iodized salt and only began importing it a couple of years ago! Imagine? How can you tout the importance of healthcare and be ignorant of Iodized Salt?

If they would permit individual farmers to raise milk cows and sell the milk, they would not have to cut off children at the age of two from drinking milk. The herds would increase dramatically, with a little privatization. What is most apparent in Cuba is the Equality of the Poverty, little else.

The Cuban peso is the only currency not convertible in any other currency in the World. Castro issues play or phony money to pay his worker/slaves!

When you talk about Cuba with senseless Liberals, know your facts, the executions, the imprisonments, the torture cells. Also stress that Cuba under fidelito has regressed almost 100 years, ploughing with oxen, horse and wagons for transpoortation (spelling intentional), a pay scale that were Cuba's nationalized store shelves full, people could not afford what they had to offer. Then cite the fact that girls can earn higher marks in school by a little sexual cooperation. Or that children work in the cane fields...without pay. Not even a weekly allowance!

What about skateboards per 1000 kids? Now that's something our young people would understand, or surf-boards on an island surrouned by ocean? Or water-skiing? Or is that all Uncle Sam's fault as well?

Great work, but I question the electricity figures...

2005-06-15T14:22:00.000+02:00

Great work, but I question the electricity figures - is the measurement really watts, or should it be kilowatts (the more standard measure)?
I'll be linking to you.

you should include the sources for this. Why don't...

2005-06-15T14:09:00.000+02:00

you should include the sources for this. Why don't you link to the original data?

I commented your post here.

2005-06-15T12:17:00.000+02:00

I commented your post here.

Great post, will try to have it circulate!Miguel O...

2005-06-15T06:06:00.000+02:00

Great post, will try to have it circulate!

Miguel O.