There are some pretty solid instances of Latin American countries attempting democratic government directly after a dictatorship.

not usually at the behest of the government though! the cuban people don't suffer too much as of current (feel free to correct me, I know next to nothing about the living state of cuba) so I don't see them starting a revolution.

guys nothing is changing.
Mostly because Raul is the next presi

yeah, Pon Raul is the next president. he bears a striking resemblence to Ron Paul, except with dark sunglasses and a fake moustache

I talked over chess with one of my TAs last semester about Cuba. He grew up in Havana in the 80s and 90s, and came to America with permission from the Cuban government to  work at a university. He was actually supposed to get information about the United States and bring it back to Cuba, if you can believe it! Instead of going back, however, he applied for US citizenship and stayed in the country. He is actually b& from Cuba. 

Cuba was actually one of the most successful nations in the world for three decades, because of the vast amount of money and infrastructure they received on a regular basis from the USSR. In the early nineties, when all of that support was taken away, Cuba should have changed their system of government because of their lack of self-sufficiency. Because they didn't, the general population is pretty concretely impoverished, including educated people like doctors and lawyers.

He said that things like meat are too expensive for Cubans to have on even a weekly basis. That isn't as bad as many other countries in the world, but because most cubans over 20 remember the quality of life during the 60s-80s, I wouldn't be surprised if there is some desire for change.

I remember asking him if people wanted to keep their system of government, and he said that the main thing that Cubans want is restored relations with the united states. I think that they would be willing to make some democratic reforms to achieve that.

There are some pretty solid instances of Latin American countries attempting democratic government directly after a dictatorship.

Dude, these solid instances of Latin American countries attempting a democratic government directly after a dictatorship have one main thing in common:
The dictatorship is held by military forces THAT HATE COMMIES.
Their belief is to RESTORE ORDER and once it is accomplished they hold elections.
Cuba has a communist dictatorship, so I am not seeing a democracy any time soon.

Dude, these solid instances of Latin American countries attempting a democratic government directly after a dictatorship have one main thing in common:
The dictatorship is held by military forces THAT HATE COMMIES.
Their belief is to RESTORE ORDER and once it is accomplished they hold elections.
Cuba has a communist dictatorship, so I am not seeing a democracy any time soon.

That's a good distinction, but I still think that Cuba needs US support enough to make some changes. It's all context, I guess.

all I know is.. he sports a pretty badass tracksuit.

I wouldn't mind it at all if trade relations opened back up with Cuba.  After buying Cuban cigars and tobacco in Dubai I have come to the conclusion that America's problems are based on the fact that we don't smoke enough Cubans.

I guarantee you that if Cuban tobacco was legal in the US then crime rates and school shootings would plummet.

So much for me.. I thought he died last year..

democracy is the only way yeah!!

reading this thread i'm not sure which of you guys are being sarcastic or not but if any of you are seriously suggesting things were just great under castro or that it's fine for cuba to be a dictatorship you are an idiot.

i know lots of cuban emigrants because i live in florida. you know who the only people still advocating invading cuba and throwing out the communist government are? pretty much every cuban emigrant. cubans hate hate HATE castro. I've heard some of them say his biggest supporters are marxist university professors and dumb hippies.

also anything you've heard as a 'plus' of cuba (equality, free health care) is pretty much a lie. though there is free health care, it's horrible. i heard from a cuban friend about one guy who went to one of Havana's biggest hospitals with a broken leg and had to sit for over twelve hours to get a pair of bent crutches. cubans aren't allowed to watch anything but state TV, can't go on the internet, have electricity limits that last only a couple of hours a day, are desperately poor and can't afford basic commodities like food and toilet paper. Cuba executes and imprisons opposition in the name of the people, runs a police state, and prohibits free speech.

yes, some of the economic stuff is because of the US embargo, but it would likely be nearly as bad because cuba is a communist dictatorship which brutalizes its citizenry and denies them access to almost any of the resources that we as rich americans and europeans take for granted.

if you can support this kind of shit you are an appalling person.

but hey the cigars are great

Excellent post that

reading this thread i'm not sure which of you guys are being sarcastic or not but if any of you are seriously suggesting things were just great under castro or that it's fine for cuba to be a dictatorship you are an idiot.

cool no one said this. we did say however it is unlikely that without outside intervention that the dictatorship will be overthrown. they aren't great but they also aren't so poor off as to decide to revolt.

treg a stallion, mang

yeah but guys what about

CH-CH-CH-CH CHINA!!??


I've heard that they've got some pretty good relations with cuba. You think they're gonna just sit back and watch this shit happen?

now that castro is gone an invasion in the bay of pigs would finally work. there's some terrible stuff going on in cuba, they're doing awful things to people in guantanamo

Has anyone seen Castro after he resigned? Bet the guy died... seems weird that he would just resign.

But I dont follow the news really so Im probably wrong.