All Hail Cuba's Glorious Infrastructure

The Castro government said earlier Tuesday that the Bush administration and Miami-based Cuban-American groups were seeking a pretext to close the mission and end limited cooperation between the long-time ideological foes on immigration and other matters.

"They lie blatantly ... We categorically deny that there have been premeditated electricity cuts," a statement carried by all state-run media said.

The Communist government blamed a faulty underground electric circuit for the week-long power outage. The U.S. mission had been operating on generator power.

The Americans also complained the water flow to the building was periodically reduced, which Cuba attributed to normal water supply problems in the capital.

And the power problems aren't just confined to bickering between the US and Cuba. Everyday Cubans are getting screwed by Castro and his socialist policies. Val Prieto has the details of power problems and rice cookers - here and here.

Some here in the US like to point to Cuba as being a paradise. But they couldn't be more hopelessly wrong. The basic infrastructure is in shambles - common rainstorms cause buildings all over the country to crumble, cut power, and otherwise make Cubans even more miserable than usual. And yet the Castro cult of personality persists.

UPDATE:
Castro's brother Raul has categorically stated that Cuba will remain a communist country. [ed: I'm sure that's because that's what the people want /snicker]. Babalu Blog points to this posting's comments (#22) that notes that Cuba's problems aren't due to the US embargo, but the simple fact that there are no jobs for Cubans and that Cuba lacks any products worth buying other than tobacco, coconuts and sugar cane.

I'd also point out that the claim that Cuba's health care is comparable to the US health care system is pure unadulterated nonsense. Not when Cuban hospitals are falling apart, lack basic medical equipment and sanitation. Oh, but it's free and available to all Cubans. Sorry, I'll stick to the US health care system.