Uncle Fidel...

[Tonchi]

The problem is you are thinking of "trade" as a national capitalistic effort. No such thing exists in Cuba. Fidel will be gone one of these days, there are plenty of rumors coming through the Mexican Embassy that he has Parkinsons, is drunk all the time, etc., but still he trudges on. He has no successor. But as I said above, there are interests more powerful than our consumer goods temptations which have an agenda for keeping the status quo in Cuba and they use the Castro script of America villification and tell their own people that the US will invade their sovereignty at any minute so they have to be prepared to fight the agressors..... etc. etc. Please do not delude yourself as to the power of your good will. It means absolutely nothing in a country where your "new friends" may be arrested the same night and emprisioned without trial or visitors for the next 20 years, IF they are not simply "disappeared". Unless you have had family or close friends who lived under Communism, you will not have any concept of the possibly fatal damage you can do by trying to "spread the joy of freedom" where somebody else holds all the guns.

I do, however, have a suggestion for anybody who insists on going to Cuba, for whatever reason you have. The University in Havana is still somewhat open. I worked for a professor who was allowed to visit there because he was the world's formost authority on animal husbandry in the Third World. He was given the red-carpet treatment, allowed to send them books, call teachers there, and receive mail which (apparently) had not been opened. I translated much of his correspondence for him, and I concluded that the situation at the University is dire, because of the shortages of good texts and equipment, but the people there are as well educated and informed as possible, some have been abroad, they have underground internet rings which research what the rest of the world is doing, and they deeply desire change. They are patriotic to CUBA, not Fidel. This is where I hope the new Cuba will rise.

I've had several close friends who were Cuban refugees, and they are very sharp people. Unfortunately, they are not allowed to return to Cuba for precisely that reason. Good luck to anybody who thinks they can accomplish anything for world understanding when the best of the best outside Cuba have been struggling with that for more than 30 years.