UNION MEMBERS EXPEL NATIONAL GUARD FROM ST PAUL MINNESOTA LABOR CENTER

By We Do The Work, Popular Resistance.

April 15, 2021




https://popularresistance.org/union-members-expel-national-guard-from-st-paul-minnesota-labor-center/




St. Paul, MN – Following several union meetings on Wednesday night, I was made aware that a National Guard unit was occupying the St. Paul Labor Center in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. Other union members and I were sharply aware of the National Guard’s role in repressing protests during the trial of Derek Chauvin and the recent killing of Daunte Wright, and we concluded immediately that our union hall had no place in those militarized efforts against the Black community, activists, and working class people.

Rank and file union members, community activists, and various union staff members assembled at the Labor Center Wednesday night and found more than 15 armored vehicles, and 50 National Guard troops had been given the keys to the central union facility. Workers from CWA, MNA, UBC and other locals informed the soldiers that union members support the communities harmed by police violence and racism and that the Labor Center was off limits to armed forces participating in repressing protests across the Twin Cities.

Minnesota political circles had already militarized the metropolitan area as the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Dereck Chauvin reached its second week. Across Minneapolis and St. Paul, police agencies and the National Guard held street corners and strategic intersections in preparation for renewed civil unrest. The police presence increased further after the murder of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, a town located immediately outside of Minneapolis.

Breaking the imposed curfew, union members assembled at the hall Wednesday night and demanded the immediate exit of the troops. Initial conversations with the National Guard and police revealed that a member of the Labor Federation had given them the key to the hall. After union members made a series of phone calls to the individual, he arrived at the scene and entered into conversation with the troops stationed inside the union hall.

Workers spoke with Guard members, expressing understanding of the soldiers’ working class background and orders, but imploring them to break ranks and join the anti-racist movement sparked by the murders of Black people by the police.

Within a short time, all members of the National Guard began packing their belongings and exiting the building, with the labor podcast “We Do The Work” streaming live video from the action on its Facebook page. Within one hour, the armored vehicles were loaded with all of the soldiers and exited the ground of the Labor Center. The collective effort and demands of union members compelled the exit of the National Guard.

The action of union members against the National Guard’s repression of the Black Lives Matter movement demonstrates that organized labor is a critical and powerful force and must side with working class people rising up against systemic racism, not on the side of police repression. The united force of working class people, organized and acting on our power, can not only turn the tide in specific protests; it could transform our world. That power has to be reclaimed and wielded by rank and file union members today. Once we do that, no politician, CEO or military in the world will be able to stop us.

AFTER ELECTION, ISRAEL TURNS ATTENTION TO DE-ARABIZATION OF THE ZIONIST STATE

By Miko Peled, Mintpress News.

April 15, 2021




https://popularresistance.org/after-election-israel-turns-attention-back-to-de-arabization-of-the-zionist-state/
The Zionists Openly Say That They Will Allow Palestinians To Choose Whether They Remain In “Israel” As Residents Without Rights, Leave, Or Fight And Be Killed By The Israeli Forces.

These same forces that have been killing them for more than seventy years.

Jerusalem – As these words are being typed, The Holy Month of Ramadan is about to begin and I want to begin by wishing my Muslim brothers and sisters, friends, and all Muslims around the world Ramadan Karim. I was born and raised in Jerusalem, which has been an Arab and Muslim city for over 1,500 years. The sight of this beautiful ancient city during Ramadan is unforgettable. The lights and decorations, the festivities, and the families enjoying all of this are heartwarming.

Sadly, since the Zionist invasion of Palestine 73 years ago, and particularly since the savage conquest of the Old City 54 years ago, this city has been under attack. The very essence of the city, its monuments and holy places, are constantly threatened by Zionist fanatics who want to see Al-Aqsa Mosque destroyed and replaced by what they refer to as a “Jewish Temple.” They make no secret of their intentions, as the entire world saw when the U.S. ambassador to Tel-Aviv, David Friedman, received as a gift a poster-size photo of the Haram El-Sharif in which Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock were replaced by another structure.
Israel Votes To Plough Ahead

After holding four elections in two years, it is clear that for the foreseeable future Benjamin Netanyahu will continue to be Israel’s prime minister. He has won an overwhelming number of seats in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, and it is obvious that, by and large, Israeli voters are happy to see him lead the Zionist State. His strategy of divide and rule has been very successful at fragmenting any opposition he may have had, and now we will see those who ran against him coming to him asking for a piece of the pie.

All of the religious parties and the religious-Zionist parties, as well as the parties associated with the right in general, are already in Netanyahu’s pocket. It is not unlikely that some of the “center” and “center left” parties that ran against Netanyahu will end up sitting in his coalition as well, and that gives him a comfortable majority.

All the reports that there is a logjam and that Netanyahu’s Likud Party may not be able to reach a majority coalition are mere reflections of negotiating positions. Most if not all of these positions will soften or disappear and a coalition government with Netanyau as prime minister will emerge.
Kahanists Are Here

When Israelis want to talk about extreme neo-fascist racists within Israeli politics they bring up the infamous racist Meir Kahana, who prescribed a fanatic Zionist-religious ideology and had a sizeable following among Israelis who settled in the West Bank. He was the founder of the notoriously violent, supremacist Jewish Defense League, or JDL.

Among the known members of the JDL are Keith Fuchs and Andy Green, who are implicated in the 1988 assassination of Palestinian Alex Odeh in California. Another known follower of the JDL and Kahana was Baruch Goldestein, who committed the massacre at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of Hebron in 1994.

There are several members of the Knesset who are ideologically aligned with the Kahana brand of Jewish supremacy and in this last election at least one new one was added, attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir is loud and proud of his reputation as a Kahana follower but ideologically he is really no different from other, less provocative Israeli politicians.

One of the names that comes to mind is Ben-Gvir’s political ally Bezalel Smotrich, who was a member of a previous Netanyahu government and a member of the inner security cabinet. Others include Rafi Peretz, who is the minister for Jerusalem affairs; Naftali Benet, who served as minister of education and even as minister of defense for a short while. However, the more worrisome issue is that Benjamin Netanyahu himself is aligned with the same racist, supremacist ideology that sees the elimination of Palestinians from Palestine as a goal.
The Joint List

Another accomplishment of Netanyahu’s fragmentation strategy is the demise of the Joint Arab List. The United Arab List, which is an Islamic party, left the Joint List and ran on its own, managing, contrary to most expectations, to get four seats in the Knesset. The Joint List, which had 15 seats in the previous election, got only six his time. The Islamic Party warmed up to Netanyahu and is apparently expecting some sort of political reward for leaving the Joint List.

It is hard to imagine that any Zionist politician would work with an Arab political party and any expectation that Netanyahu would reward them is plain ludicrous. One of the more ridiculous claims that has risen since the elections is that Mansour Abbas, who leads the Islamic United Arab Party, will somehow be part of a future coalition and even become “kingmaker.”

This claim shows a lack of understanding of Zionism in general and particularly of Israeli politics. The racist Zionist ideology runs like a thread through all of Israel’s Zionist political parties and it is thus impossible for any Palestinian to be part of an Israeli government.
The Vision Ahead

People very often ask what the Zionists see as the “end game.” What do Zionists envision as the future? Well, as James Baldwin might say, what they think or imagine we may never know, but we can certainly see what they do and how they act. We are also able to view their plans and hear what they say. Based on all of that, we know that the Zionist State intends to continue to destroy Palestine as we know it. They fully intend on de-Arabizing the country and erasing any remnants of its glorious Islamic history.

There are several declared members of the Knesset and even of the government who are openly in favor of the destruction of Al-Aqsa and the building of what they call a “Third Temple.” One can safely assume that most if not all members of the Israeli political spectrum would view the destruction of Al-Aqsa favorably. The difference would be how far would they go in actually acting on it. Regardless, there is an imminent danger to Jerusalem, to Palestine, and certainly to Palestinian people.

The Zionists openly say that they will allow Palestinians to choose whether they remain in “Israel” as residents without rights, leave, or fight and be killed by the Israeli forces — these same forces that have been killing them for more than seventy years.

CEOs Fight For Their Tax Cuts Despite Pledge To ‘Serve All Americans’

This report was written by Andrew Perez.

Two years ago, a lobbying group representing the CEOs of the world’s largest companies declared that corporate America must change its ways and commit to building “an economy that serves all Americans.”

Less than two years later, after CEO pay skyrocketed during the pandemic, the same group has launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign to protect tax cuts that tend to disproportionately benefit CEOs, according to new academic research.

Specifically, the Business Roundtable is aiming to block the popular, modest corporate tax increases in Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan that would fund public infrastructure investments across the country. The group — which includes companies that paid no federal taxes at all last year — is already running radio ads in the D.C. area pushing back on Biden’s proposal to raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent.

The new campaign from the Business Roundtable, a Washington-based trade association that “exclusively represents” corporate CEOs, comes even as one of the group’s most powerful members is saying that the corporate tax rate should be raised.
“Investing In Our Employees”

The Business Roundtable’s roughly 200 members include chief executives at Wall Street giants, big banks, tech firms, telecom companies, health insurers, drugmakers, oil and gas companies, electric utilities, manufacturers, and national retailers. Notable members include Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon and Apple’s Tim Cook.

The group raised nearly $47 million in 2018, according to its most recently available tax return. It spent roughly $17 million on federal lobbying efforts last year.

The Business Roundtable’s president and CEO, Joshua Bolten — who was paid more than $3 million by the organization in 2018 — recently cautioned that “tax increases on job creators would slow America’s recovery and hurt workers.” One of their new ad buy filings warns bluntly: “A tax increase will hurt American workers.”

Of course, the Business Roundtable is not a lobbying group for workers, but for their bosses.

The group has pledged to do more for workers, and generated favorable headlines in 2019 when it announced that it was moving to redefine the purpose of a corporation to promote "an economy that serves all Americans," and not just company shareholders.

The statement said its members were committed to “investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them fairly and providing important benefits.”

So far, however, the organization does not seem to be prioritizing workers’ well-being. Last year, the organization lobbied Congress to shield businesses from liability if their workers catch COVID-19. More recently, the group pressed Democrats not to include a $15 minimum wage measure in Biden’s first COVID relief bill.
Valuing Tax Cuts Over Jobs And Communities

The new Business Roundtable ad defends the GOP’s 2017 tax law, which slashed the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. The ad says the law “created record low unemployment, higher wages and brought business back to America,” according to Bloomberg News, which obtained a copy of the ad script.

In truth, the tax law signed by Donald Trump did not generate any real economic impact, as economic growth quickly declined. While some Business Roundtable corporate members gave employees small raises or one-time bonuses, companies largely plunged the savings into share buybacks to drive up their stock prices.

The legislation was particularly lucrative for corporate CEOs, according to a recent study by Grinnell College economist Eric Ohrn. “For every dollar the tax breaks generate for a firm, compensation awarded to the highest-paid executives at the firm increases by between 15 and 19 cents,” Ohrn found.

Biden is pushing now to increase the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent — which would still be significantly lower than what the rate was before Trump — in order to fund his $2 trillion infrastructure investment plan.

At least one top Business Roundtable member, Amazon CEO Bezos, has loosely backed Biden’s efforts, saying in a company statement that “we’re supportive of a rise in the corporate tax rate.”

But the vast majority of Business Roundtable members apparently oppose the idea.

The organization recently surveyed its CEO members about the proposed tax hike, and reported that “98 percent of CEOs said that an increase in the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent would have a ‘moderately’ to ‘very’ significant adverse effect on their company’s competitiveness.”

Meanwhile, at least 12 corporate members of the Business Roundtable paid nothing in federal taxes last year, according to the advocacy group Patriotic Millionaires’ review of data compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Those companies include shipping giant FedEx, apparel company Nike, and tech firm SalesForce.

“Back in 2019, the Business Roundtable redefined the ‘purpose of a corporation’ to focus on investments in workers and communities,” said Patriotic Millionaires policy director Dylan Dusseault. “The president’s infrastructure package is a great opportunity for them to make good on that promise. But, big surprise, they don’t seem eager to put their money where their mouth is.”

Sinema And Manchin Headlining Event For Anti-Union Group Fighting $15 Wage

The pair will discuss “finding bipartisan solutions” at the conference of the major lobby group fighting Dems’ minimum wage and labor legislation.

David Sirota, Andrew Perez, and Joel Warner
Apr 16



This report was written by David Sirota, Andrew Perez, and Joel Warner.

Weeks after voting to kill a $15 minimum wage, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin will headline the national conference of the restaurant lobbying group that led the battle to block the wage increase and is fighting a separate Democratic measure to make it easier for workers to form unions. Both lawmakers have also recently raked in campaign cash from corporate interests that have been fighting a minimum wage increase.

Sinema and Manchin will join disgraced former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel next week in speeches at a conference held by the National Restaurant Association (NRA), according to the conference agenda. The NRA has been aggressively lobbying against Democrats’ proposed minimum wage hike and labor legislation.

Manchin and Sinema, who represent West Virginia and Arizona respectively, will be featured on panels entitled “Seeking Unity: Conversations on Finding Bipartisan Solutions.” The event is the NRA’s annual “public affairs conference,” which in Washington-speak means it is for lobbyists and focused on shaping legislation.

The conference event registration page says it “is an off the record event closed to press.” The schedule says it will also feature former George W. Bush spokesperson and Fox News personality Dana Perino.
Senators Added To Event After They Blocked $15 Wage

The two Democrats, who were not on the NRA’s original event schedule, have been workingrecently with Republicans to replace Democrats’ $15 minimum wage proposal with a lower wage — reportedly $11, which is lower than Arizona’s current minimum wage. It’s not clear yet whether their proposal, which hasn’t been released, would eliminate the lower subminimum wage for workers like restaurant servers who rely on tips.

Manchin and Sinema will each appear at the virtual conference for conversations with NRA vice president Sean Kennedy, who has been the public face of the opposition to federal minimum wage legislation.

“The Raise the Wage Act imposes an impossible challenge for the restaurant industry,” Kennedy said in a statement earlier this year. “A nationwide increase in the minimum wage will create insurmountable costs for many operators in states.”

Meanwhile, executives of the NRA’s own member restaurant chains — including Denny’s, McDonald’s, Domino’s and the Cheesecake Factory — have been telling their investors that they will not be significantly harmed by a higher minimum wage.

To the contrary, Denny’s chief financial officer, Robert Verostek, said in a February earnings call that California’s law raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2023 has been good for the diner chain’s business.

“As they've increased their minimum wage kind of in a tempered pace over that time frame, if you look at that time frame from us, California has outperformed the system,” Verostek said. “Over that time frame, they had six consecutive years of positive guest traffic — not just positive sales, but positive guest traffic — as the minimum wage was going up.”
PAC Cash From Corporate Interests

In the weeks after Sinema and Manchin cast their votes to block a $15 minimum wage, another group lobbying against minimum wage and labor legislation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, rewarded them with campaign contributions.

Last year, the Chamber awarded Sinema with their inaugural “Abraham Lincoln Leadership for America Award” as well as their “Jefferson-Hamilton Award for Bipartisanship.” Her Senate office noted in a press release that “Sinema was the only Democrat to win both awards.”

Both senators are also opposing calls for Democrats to eliminate the filibuster, a stand that will likely block Democrats’ landmark labor reform legislation, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, that would make it easier for workers to form unions.

According to The Intercept, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has told labor leaders that he will bring the PRO Act to the floor as soon as it has 50 cosponsors. Manchin and Sinema are two of only five Democrats who have yet to sign on.

Sinema recently received donations from political action committees for Barnes & Thornburg, Cozen O’Connor and Steptoe & Johnson — three law firms that advertise their services helping corporations halt union drives among workers. Data compiled by OpenSecrets show that during Sinema’s career, her seventh largest collective source of campaign money has been contributors from Snell & Wilmer, a law firm whose website says it has “advised clients and provided management training on lawful union avoidance strategies, strikes, union corporate campaigns, and litigation with unions.”

Manchin’s eighth largest collective source of campaign cash has been donors from Steptoe & Johnson, whose website says that “on behalf of some of the largest employers in the world, our highly regarded labor relations team handles collective bargaining, union organizing campaigns, representation elections, unfair labor practice charges and other [National Labor Relations Board] proceedings.”

Sinema became the public face of the Democrats’ failure to implement the minimum wage when she blocked Sen. Bernie Sanders’ already-doomed attempt to add the provision back into Democrats’ COVID-19 relief legislation with an overly dramatic thumbs-down.

Only a few years ago, Sinema was an outspoken proponent of a higher minimum wage, tweeting that an increase should be a “no brainer.”

Prior to that, she told a progressive group that she went into politics because she was angry that underprivileged people in her community “just weren't able to get past that place of poverty and dependence to a place of self-sufficiency and interdependence.”

Krystal Ball: Americans Like Taxing The Rich EVEN MORE Than Infrastructure

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzdcW7zvFy4

Farewell to Raúl Castro

By Marc Vanderpitte on April 15, 2021

President Miguel Diaz Canel with Raul Castro, Photo: Bill Hackwell

Tomorrow April 16, Raúl Castro will step down as First Secretary of the Communist Party in Cuba. On that day the historical generation makes way for a new, younger generation. Should we hurry to Cuba before everything changes?




In the shadow of Fidel

Fidel Castro was an imposing figure with a strong personality and magnetic powers of persuasion. As the leader of the revolutionary process, he was constantly in the spotlight. He gave many hundreds of speeches and was interviewed very regularly. Dozens of biographies have been written about El Comandante en Jefe.

The contrast with Raúl is striking. Until Fidel’s serious illness in 2006, Raúl barely came to the fore. The five-year-younger brother is frugal with giving interviews or speeches. The number of biographies about him can be counted on one hand. As a result, his role in the Cuban revolution is often underestimated.

The two brothers complemented each other. Fidel was the ideologue while Raúl is more practical. Fidel the architect, Raúl the contractor, that’s how it may be summarized briefly.

A military career

Raúl’s ‘career’ began during the guerrilla war. At the beginning of 1958, barely 26 years old, he became commander of the Second Front. After a series of military successes, he quickly took control of an area roughly the size of the West Midlands (5000 square miles). In this liberated area he set up a completely parallel administration including schools and hospitals. He carried out agrarian reform, built roads and even established a tiny air force.

In October 1959, Raúl became the head of the Cuban armed forces. He remained in that position until he was elected president in 2008.

The survival of the fledgling revolution stood or fell with the ability to withstand US military intervention. In the first months, the new Cuban army was next to nothing. A lot of equipment was unusable or inadequate and many of the officers had left for the US.

In June 1960, Raúl travelled to Prague and Moscow to secure enough military equipment and ammunition to counter an invasion. Dozens of pilots received secret emergency training in Czechoslovakia. Intensive training programs were set up in Cuba. 25,000 soldiers and hundreds of thousands of civilians received basic combat training. Cuban secret agents infiltrated the mercenary army being prepared in the US. Several counter-revolutionary groups planning to support the invasion underground were exposed and arrested in Cuba. All these measures ensured that the Bay of Pigs invasion, which started on April 17,1961, was crushed after only 72 hours. It was the first defeat of the US in its ‘backyard’.

However, the threat was not over. Cuba didn’t join the Warsaw Pact, which meant that after the missile crisis of 1962, the country had to rely mainly on its own forces in case of an intervention. Under Raúl’s leadership, a completely new army was built. In the early 1970s, the air force, armoured troops and air defences were considered among the best in Latin America. While the Soviet army was bogged down in Afghanistan, the Cuban army achieved some stunning victories in remote areas, such as against the much stronger Apartheid army in Angola and Namibia.

In addition to the regular troops, a people’s army was set up. Within twenty-four hours, two million Cubans could be mobilised. Invasion troops would, as in Vietnam, be caught in a hornet’s nest and treated to traps, wells, mines, tunnels and so on. To ‘conquer’ the island, the Pentagon would have to send millions of soldiers and suffer huge military losses. That makes the small island de facto virtually impregnable. In this sense Cuba, together with Vietnam, is an example for present and future generations of successful resistance to the aggressive policy of the US.

The army as a locomotive

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the tightening of the blockade, the Cuban economy collapsed. Living conditions were deteriorating sharply and there was even a threat of famine. In Cuba, the severe crisis of the 1990s is known as the ‘Special Period’.

Very drastic measures were needed to get out of the crisis. In addition, the army has a locomotive function. The military were the first to experiment with new management techniques and more flexible and efficient production strategies. Not only did the army become self-sufficient, it increasingly engaged in economic activities, including in tourism and agriculture. Food surpluses were offered on agricultural markets with the aim of bringing prices down. In 1996, a third of what the military produced was supplied to the civilian economy.

The approach was a model for the rest of the economy and has been decisive in surviving the Special Period without too much damage.

Crisis management

In these difficult circumstances, the state apparatus and the Communist Party were also in need of a thorough overhaul. Raúl took on that task. In 1994 he organized a number of conferences with the top executives of the country to discuss the crisis and to look for ways out. He demanded that both government and party leaders strengthen their ties with the population and give priority to fulfilling the vital needs of the common people. A considerable number of top executives were fired and replaced by mainly young people.

In the summer of that year, the crisis reached a peak. Living conditions were becoming precarious and monthly wages were barely worth $ 1.50 on the black market. The situation was particularly critical in Havana. Raúl was appointed head of a commission to deal with the capital’s acute problems. The committee ensured an improvement of the food supply and a better service. This reduced tension and prevented food riots or looting.

Economic Reforms

The economic crisis left deep scars. Purchasing power fell sharply and a gap had emerged between two groups of Cubans: those who only had to make do with a wage in pesos and those who had relatives abroad or work in a sector where payment is made in CUC, a currency much more valuable than the peso. For twenty years there had also been practically no investment in the economy. These problems and challenges had to be tackled structurally, in other words, the economic model was due for an update.

Since 2003, there had been cautious reforms in that area. But in August 2006, Fidel fell seriously ill. Raúl became acting president until February 2008. Fidel resigned and Raúl was elected president. He picked up the thread of economic reforms and shifted gears. He created an economic commission within the Central Committee. It was to prepare the updating of the economy and tackle the shortcomings. For two years, the population was consulted and so-called guidelines (Lineamientos) were drawn up, which were discussed and amended at the Sixth Party Congress, which took place in April 2011. Raúl wanted the updating of the economy to take place before he passed the torch to the younger generation.

The congress launched a whole battery of measures. Most striking was the reduction of half a million jobs in the public sector and the strong expansion of the self-employment system.

The measures didn’t immediately provide the big leap forward, but the results were not bad, especially in the light of the economic blockade. Between 2004 and 2019, Cuba recorded an average annual growth of 3.9% compared to 2.6% in the rest of Latin America. This didn’t alter the fact that the country was facing many serious economic challenges, such as the lack of foreign exchange, a very outdated production system and infrastructure, low productivity, high food imports and a double currency.

The Party and the rapprochement with the US

In addition to the economy, the internal workings of the Party were in need of an update. In 2012, the Communist Party held its first National Conference. Raúl harshly criticized his party members, the outdated working methods, formalism, archaic party language of some and the many party meetings that were far removed from day-to-day issues. He also warned against widespread corruption. He considered it one of the main enemies of the revolution, more dangerous than foreign intervention.

Since the start of the revolution, the US had been taking actions from economic boycott to terror to destroy the revolution. Raúl made great efforts to get closer to the arch enemy. The thaw came at the end of 2014 with the establishment of diplomatic relations and a prisoner exchange. The rapprochement between the two countries resulted in Obama’s historic visit to Cuba.

Turbulent times

At his re-election as president in 2013, Raúl had announced that he would only serve two terms. In 2018, he passed the torch to Miguel Díaz-Canel. Now, three years later, Raúl is also stepping down as head of the Communist Party. This marks the definitive end to the Castro era. The generation that led the revolution is making way for a new, younger guard.

The context in which this generational shift is taking place is far from easy. Relations with Russia, China and the European Union are better than ever, but since Trump took office in the White House, relations with the US have been strained. In Latin America, the left-wing wave is receding. In addition, Venezuela’s significant economic support has been seriously reduced due to the fall in oil prices, the US economic embargo and the country’s internal crisis. Global warming is causing droughts and devastating hurricanes with increasing frequency.

On top of that comes the corona crisis. The sanitary situation is not too bad. Cuba has almost 40 times fewer deaths per 100,000 inhabitants than the United States and will have produced 100 million vaccines by the end of this year. But for the economy, it is a real disaster. Tourism, a vital economic sector, has almost come to a standstill. Last year GDP was down by 11 percent. Export revenues fell by 55 percent and essential imports such as food, fuel and raw materials decreased by 40 percent.

Just like in the nineties, neither the shortages of all kinds of products nor other inconveniences lead to civil unrest. In response to the crisis, a long announced currency reform was implemented at the beginning of this year. Its results have yet to be seen.

Should we hurry to Cuba?

Are major policy changes to be expected under the current president and the new number one of the Communist Party? In other words, do we have to hurry to Cuba before everything changes?

Of course we cannot look into a crystal ball, but the chances of this happening are small. The past shows that Cuban society is characterised by a surprising stability and continuity, even in very difficult circumstances.

There are several reasons for this. First of all, political leadership has proven to be consistent over the past sixty years. Socialism has always remained the guiding principle, even in times of crisis. It looks like this will remain so in the post-Castro era.

Decision-making is collective. It does not depend on the temperament or political preferences of the country’s president, as is the case in the US, for example.

If reforms were needed in the past, they were always carried out cautiously and not hastily.

Finally, all major changes are always submitted to the public in detail. Without broad support, no changes. This also prevents unexpected and unpredictable changes of course.

So there is no need to rush to Cuba before everything changes there. But that does not change the fact that it is a wonderful holiday destination. Moreover, tourists will soon receive a free vaccine on arrival. Maybe that is a reason to go soon after all.




Source: de wereld morgan

Biden Just Put Major Sanctions On Russia For Election Meddling

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu9jLRB8DlU