Cuba before Castro, in Kennedy's speech

[Penelope]

We will never know what really happened, I doubt what they give to us is the whole and true story. We just have to know a good President was assassinated, by who or who was behind it will be forever unknown.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Secondly, in a manner certain to antagonize the Cuban people, we used the influence of our Government to advance the interests of and increase the profits of the private American companies, which dominated the island's economy. At the beginning of 1959 U.S. companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands - almost all the cattle ranches - 90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions - 80 percent of the utilities - and practically all the oil industry - and supplied two-thirds of Cuba's imports.

Of course, our private investment did much to help Cuba. But our action too often gave the impression that this country was more interested in taking money from the Cuban people than in helping them build a strong and diversified economy of their own."


John F. Kennedy: Speech of Senator John F. Kennedy, Cincinnati, Ohio, Democratic Dinner

 

[Penelope]

The third, and perhaps most disastrous of our failures, was the decision to give stature and support to one of the most bloody and repressive dictatorships in the long history of Latin American repression. Fulgencio Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in 7 years - a greater proportion of the Cuban population than the proportion of Americans who died in both World Wars, and he turned democratic Cuba into a complete police state - destroying every individual liberty.

Yet, our aid to his regime, and the ineptness of our policies, enabled Batista to invoke the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror.

Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista - hailed him as a stanch ally and a good friend - at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections.

In October 1958 just a few days before Batista held a rigged and fraudulent election - Secretary of State Dulles was the guest of honor at a reception held by the Batista Embassy in Washington. The reception made only the social pages in Washington; but it made the Havana--and it was used by Batista to show how America favored his rule.

John F. Kennedy: Speech of Senator John F. Kennedy, Cincinnati, Ohio, Democratic Dinner

 

[gipper]

Cuba was one of the most prosperous nations in the world, prior to Castro. More European immigrants wanted to immigrate there vs USA. I wonder why Americans are not told this in p-school. LOL.

One thing we know for sure about the JFK killing, it was a conspiracy.

 

[Penelope]

Cuba was one of the most prosperous nations in the world, prior to Castro. More European immigrants wanted to immigrate there vs USA. I wonder why Americans are not told this in p-school. LOL.

One thing we know for sure about the JFK killing, it was a conspiracy.

Prosperous for who? The US ?
When Castro’s entourage finally arrived in Havana in January of 1959 after defeating Batista’s troops, Batista had already fled in the middle of the night, taking more than $40 million of government funds.

In protest of the government’s corruption, Cubans immediately ransacked the casinos and destroyed the parking meters that Batista had installed. Castro also eliminated gambling and prostitution, a healthy move for the national identity, but not so much for the tourism industry.

More than 350,000 visitors came to Cuba in 1957; by 1961, the number of American tourists had dropped to around 4,000. The U.S. government, responding to increasing intolerance of Castro’s communism, delivered a final blow by enacting the trade and travel embargo in 1963, still in place today, closing off the popular Caribbean playground to Americans.

Still, the excitement and solidarity brought by the new government didn’t last long, Halley says. Many of Castro’s supporters ended up fleeing when they realized his Communist intentions. Between 1959 and 1970, half a million Cubans left the country.


Read more: Before the Revolution | History | Smithsonian
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! Give the gift of Smithsonian
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[gipper]

Cuba was one of the most prosperous nations in the world, prior to Castro. More European immigrants wanted to immigrate there vs USA. I wonder why Americans are not told this in p-school. LOL.

One thing we know for sure about the JFK killing, it was a conspiracy.

Prosperous for who? The US ?
When Castro’s entourage finally arrived in Havana in January of 1959 after defeating Batista’s troops, Batista had already fled in the middle of the night, taking more than $40 million of government funds.

In protest of the government’s corruption, Cubans immediately ransacked the casinos and destroyed the parking meters that Batista had installed. Castro also eliminated gambling and prostitution, a healthy move for the national identity, but not so much for the tourism industry.

More than 350,000 visitors came to Cuba in 1957; by 1961, the number of American tourists had dropped to around 4,000. The U.S. government, responding to increasing intolerance of Castro’s communism, delivered a final blow by enacting the trade and travel embargo in 1963, still in place today, closing off the popular Caribbean playground to Americans.

Still, the excitement and solidarity brought by the new government didn’t last long, Halley says. Many of Castro’s supporters ended up fleeing when they realized his Communist intentions. Between 1959 and 1970, half a million Cubans left the country.


Read more: Before the Revolution | History | Smithsonian
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! Give the gift of Smithsonian
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

No doubt there was tremendous corruption under Batista. That corruption continued under Castro, but added increased incarceration and mass murder.

Do some research on Cuba prior to Castro. It had a growing economy and full employment. It was the number 1 choice for immigration.

 

[Sunni Man]

The Cuban people backed Castro because they wanted to be free from foreign economic domination and the puppet dictator controlled by the U.S.

All people want to be free to chart their own destiny.

Yes, Castro turned out to be a brutal communist dictator. But he was a Cuban, and the people, right or wrong, had gotten their wish of a Cuba ran by Cubans. .....

 

[GHook93]

Cuba was one of the most prosperous nations in the world, prior to Castro. More European immigrants wanted to immigrate there vs USA. I wonder why Americans are not told this in p-school. LOL.

One thing we know for sure about the JFK killing, it was a conspiracy.

Prosperous for who? The US ?
When Castro’s entourage finally arrived in Havana in January of 1959 after defeating Batista’s troops, Batista had already fled in the middle of the night, taking more than $40 million of government funds.

In protest of the government’s corruption, Cubans immediately ransacked the casinos and destroyed the parking meters that Batista had installed. Castro also eliminated gambling and prostitution, a healthy move for the national identity, but not so much for the tourism industry.

More than 350,000 visitors came to Cuba in 1957; by 1961, the number of American tourists had dropped to around 4,000. The U.S. government, responding to increasing intolerance of Castro’s communism, delivered a final blow by enacting the trade and travel embargo in 1963, still in place today, closing off the popular Caribbean playground to Americans.

Still, the excitement and solidarity brought by the new government didn’t last long, Halley says. Many of Castro’s supporters ended up fleeing when they realized his Communist intentions. Between 1959 and 1970, half a million Cubans left the country.


Read more: Before the Revolution | History | Smithsonian
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! Give the gift of Smithsonian
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

One thing is foresure is it was 1000 folder better than after the communists took over. In fact it was the best, most modern, developed and had the largest middle class in the Latin American world at the time. Then the communist took over and they have no middle class, a horrible economy and no economic advancement.


Sent from my iPhone using USMessageBoard.com

 

[gipper]

The Cuban people backed Castro because they wanted to be free from foreign economic domination and the puppet dictator controlled by the U.S.

All people want to be free to chart their own destiny.

Yes, Castro turned out to be a brutal communist dictator. But he was a Cuban, and the people, right or wrong, had gotten their wish of a Cuba ran by Cubans. .....

However Castro claimed to be a democratic leader before he won the revolution. Then as most have done throughout history , he wanted to be a dictator. No better way than to impose Communism.

 

[Penelope]

Cuba was one of the most prosperous nations in the world, prior to Castro. More European immigrants wanted to immigrate there vs USA. I wonder why Americans are not told this in p-school. LOL.

One thing we know for sure about the JFK killing, it was a conspiracy.

Prosperous for who? The US ?
When Castro’s entourage finally arrived in Havana in January of 1959 after defeating Batista’s troops, Batista had already fled in the middle of the night, taking more than $40 million of government funds.

In protest of the government’s corruption, Cubans immediately ransacked the casinos and destroyed the parking meters that Batista had installed. Castro also eliminated gambling and prostitution, a healthy move for the national identity, but not so much for the tourism industry.

More than 350,000 visitors came to Cuba in 1957; by 1961, the number of American tourists had dropped to around 4,000. The U.S. government, responding to increasing intolerance of Castro’s communism, delivered a final blow by enacting the trade and travel embargo in 1963, still in place today, closing off the popular Caribbean playground to Americans.

Still, the excitement and solidarity brought by the new government didn’t last long, Halley says. Many of Castro’s supporters ended up fleeing when they realized his Communist intentions. Between 1959 and 1970, half a million Cubans left the country.


Read more: Before the Revolution | History | Smithsonian
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! Give the gift of Smithsonian
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

No doubt there was tremendous corruption under Batista. That corruption continued under Castro, but added increased incarceration and mass murder.

Do some research on Cuba prior to Castro. It had a growing economy and full employment. It was the number 1 choice for immigration.

I just did.

 

[Penelope]

Cuba was one of the most prosperous nations in the world, prior to Castro. More European immigrants wanted to immigrate there vs USA. I wonder why Americans are not told this in p-school. LOL.

One thing we know for sure about the JFK killing, it was a conspiracy.

Prosperous for who? The US ?
When Castro’s entourage finally arrived in Havana in January of 1959 after defeating Batista’s troops, Batista had already fled in the middle of the night, taking more than $40 million of government funds.

In protest of the government’s corruption, Cubans immediately ransacked the casinos and destroyed the parking meters that Batista had installed. Castro also eliminated gambling and prostitution, a healthy move for the national identity, but not so much for the tourism industry.

More than 350,000 visitors came to Cuba in 1957; by 1961, the number of American tourists had dropped to around 4,000. The U.S. government, responding to increasing intolerance of Castro’s communism, delivered a final blow by enacting the trade and travel embargo in 1963, still in place today, closing off the popular Caribbean playground to Americans.

Still, the excitement and solidarity brought by the new government didn’t last long, Halley says. Many of Castro’s supporters ended up fleeing when they realized his Communist intentions. Between 1959 and 1970, half a million Cubans left the country.


Read more: Before the Revolution | History | Smithsonian
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! Give the gift of Smithsonian
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

One thing is foresure is it was 1000 folder better than after the communists took over. In fact it was the best, most modern, developed and had the largest middle class in the Latin American world at the time. Then the communist took over and they have no middle class, a horrible economy and no economic advancement.


Sent from my iPhone using USMessageBoard.com

Ask the poor in Cuba, owned by the US. You wonder why Castro took everything back, to give to the Cubans.

 

[gipper]

Cuba was one of the most prosperous nations in the world, prior to Castro. More European immigrants wanted to immigrate there vs USA. I wonder why Americans are not told this in p-school. LOL.

One thing we know for sure about the JFK killing, it was a conspiracy.

Prosperous for who? The US ?
When Castro’s entourage finally arrived in Havana in January of 1959 after defeating Batista’s troops, Batista had already fled in the middle of the night, taking more than $40 million of government funds.

In protest of the government’s corruption, Cubans immediately ransacked the casinos and destroyed the parking meters that Batista had installed. Castro also eliminated gambling and prostitution, a healthy move for the national identity, but not so much for the tourism industry.

More than 350,000 visitors came to Cuba in 1957; by 1961, the number of American tourists had dropped to around 4,000. The U.S. government, responding to increasing intolerance of Castro’s communism, delivered a final blow by enacting the trade and travel embargo in 1963, still in place today, closing off the popular Caribbean playground to Americans.

Still, the excitement and solidarity brought by the new government didn’t last long, Halley says. Many of Castro’s supporters ended up fleeing when they realized his Communist intentions. Between 1959 and 1970, half a million Cubans left the country.


Read more: Before the Revolution | History | Smithsonian
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! Give the gift of Smithsonian
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

One thing is foresure is it was 1000 folder better than after the communists took over. In fact it was the best, most modern, developed and had the largest middle class in the Latin American world at the time. Then the communist took over and they have no middle class, a horrible economy and no economic advancement.


Sent from my iPhone using USMessageBoard.com

Ask the poor in Cuba, owned by the US. You wonder why Castro took everything back, to give to the Cubans.

You are right, but what they got with Castro was much worse. If you don’t agree , you need to do more research.

 

[Litwin]

We will never know what really happened, I doubt what they give to us is the whole and true story. We just have to know a good President was assassinated, by who or who was behind it will be forever unknown.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Secondly, in a manner certain to antagonize the Cuban people, we used the influence of our Government to advance the interests of and increase the profits of the private American companies, which dominated the island's economy. At the beginning of 1959 U.S. companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands - almost all the cattle ranches - 90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions - 80 percent of the utilities - and practically all the oil industry - and supplied two-thirds of Cuba's imports.

Of course, our private investment did much to help Cuba. But our action too often gave the impression that this country was more interested in taking money from the Cuban people than in helping them build a strong and diversified economy of their own."


John F. Kennedy: Speech of Senator John F. Kennedy, Cincinnati, Ohio, Democratic Dinner

"At the beginning of 1959 U.S. companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands - almost all the cattle ranches - 90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions - 80 percent of the utilities - and practically all the oil industry - and supplied two-thirds of Cuba's imports."


unfortunately, all USA universities were infiltrated by Kobas spies , his useful idiots, Trotskysts , Maoist and other commies , . was it bad? didn´t it make Cuba N1-3 country in the region ? give it to Poland, Ukraine, or Belarus today , and you will see the results

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Cuba was one of the most prosperous nations in the world, prior to Castro. More European immigrants wanted to immigrate there vs USA. I wonder why Americans are not told this in p-school. LOL.

One thing we know for sure about the JFK killing, it was a conspiracy.

Prosperous for who? The US ?
When Castro’s entourage finally arrived in Havana in January of 1959 after defeating Batista’s troops, Batista had already fled in the middle of the night, taking more than $40 million of government funds.

In protest of the government’s corruption, Cubans immediately ransacked the casinos and destroyed the parking meters that Batista had installed. Castro also eliminated gambling and prostitution, a healthy move for the national identity, but not so much for the tourism industry.

More than 350,000 visitors came to Cuba in 1957; by 1961, the number of American tourists had dropped to around 4,000. The U.S. government, responding to increasing intolerance of Castro’s communism, delivered a final blow by enacting the trade and travel embargo in 1963, still in place today, closing off the popular Caribbean playground to Americans.

Still, the excitement and solidarity brought by the new government didn’t last long, Halley says. Many of Castro’s supporters ended up fleeing when they realized his Communist intentions. Between 1959 and 1970, half a million Cubans left the country.


Read more: Before the Revolution | History | Smithsonian
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! Give the gift of Smithsonian
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

One thing is foresure is it was 1000 folder better than after the communists took over. In fact it was the best, most modern, developed and had the largest middle class in the Latin American world at the time. Then the communist took over and they have no middle class, a horrible economy and no economic advancement.


Sent from my iPhone using USMessageBoard.com

Ask the poor in Cuba, owned by the US. You wonder why Castro took everything back, to give to the Cubans.

LOL....

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Ask the poor in Cuba, owned by the US. You wonder why Castro took everything back, to give to the Cubans.

Which is why everyone in Cuba is dirt poor and tens of thousands have risked their lives floating to Miami on a raft, because he gave it all back to them, right, dipshit?

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Damn did Castro ever fuck up a once beautiful and prosperous country.

 

[gipper]

Damn did Castro ever fuck up a once beautiful and prosperous country.

Great video.

It is amazing that so many Americans don't know how prosperous and beautiful Cuba was before Communism. I wonder why it is not taught in the p-schools....LMFAO. I suppose most are like the OP and believe Castro was right, because he eliminated American imperialism.

We are now witnessing the exact same thing in Venezuela.

 

[Sunni Man]

Cuba before Castro was ran and owned by a small group of wealthy oligarchs who owed their position and allegiance to foreign capitalists, mainly from the U.S.

While the vast majority of the Cuban people were dirt poor, and with no hope of escaping their crushing poverty. Castro offered hope and a Cuba for Cubans.

So the Cuban people, for good or bad, cast their lot with Castro, and the rest is history. ....

 

[gipper]

Cuba before Castro was ran and owned by a small group of wealthy oligarchs who owed their position and allegiance to foreign capitalists, mainly from the U.S.

While the vast majority of the Cuban people were dirt poor, and with no hope of escaping their crushing poverty. Castro offered hope and a Cuba for Cubans.

So the Cuban people, for good or bad, cast their lot with Castro, and the rest is history. ....

I don't believe that is accurate. I think this is...

Castro Made Cuba Backward
Castro made life much more primitive for the average Cuban. He took a country that was once a beacon of hope and prosperity in Latin America and impoverished it. People who claim Cuba was backward by international standards when Castro seized power in 1959 are either ignorant of history or trying to excuse Castro’s role in making it as backward as it is today.

Today, Cuba lags other Latin American countries that were once poorer than it – such as Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia – in per capita income and mobility, according to both the World Almanac and the CIA World Factbook.

As the progressive economist Brad DeLong notes, unlike the backward, underdeveloped Cuba of today:

“The hideously depressing thing is that Cuba under Battista—Cuba in 1957—was a developed country. Cuba in 1957 had lower infant mortality than France, Belgium, West Germany, Israel, Japan, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Cuba in 1957 had doctors and nurses: as many doctors and nurses per capita as the Netherlands, and more than Britain or Finland. Cuba in 1957 had as many vehicles per capita as Uruguay, Italy, or Portugal. Cuba in 1957 had 45 TVs per 1000 people–fifth highest in the world...

“Today the UN puts Cuba’s HDI [Human Development Indicator variables] in the range of … Mexico ...

“Thus I don’t understand lefties who talk about the achievements of the Cuban Revolution [as having provided] ‘... better health care, housing,
education.’”

As Reason Magazine observes, Cuba in the late 1950s was quite advanced by world standards:

“In 1959 Cuba had 128.6 doctors and dentists per 100,000 inhabitants, placing it 22nd globally—that is, ahead of France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland. In infant mortality tables, Cuba ranked one of the best in the world, with 5.8 deaths per 100,000 babies, compared to 9.5 per 100,000 in the United States. In 1958 Cuba’s adult literacy rate was 80 percent, higher than that of its colonial grandfather in Spain, and the country possessed one of the most highly-regarded university systems in the Western hemisphere.”

Castro Made Cuba Backward

 

[whitehall]

God help us if we ever let a president appoint his own brother as A.G. like they did during Camelot. We do know what happened, the media gave JFK rave reviews at the Berlin Wall when he addressed the German People and managed to call himself a "Berliner" which was German slang for jelly donut and then he went back to the U.S. to bask in the glory of the fawning media while the Germans were left to be shot in the back by Russian guards. We know for a fact that Oswald was a traitor who renounced his Country and his citizenship and fled to Russia. Did anybody ever ask why he was welcomed back to the U.S. in the hottest part of the Cold War without charges or surveillance? We know for a fact that JFK's quirky brother, Bobby, spent his time plotting to murder Castro and we know for a fact that JFK authorized the CIA to illegally raise and equip an invasion army which he abandoned at the Bay of Pigs. JFK should have been impeached but he was way too popular with the media so they ignored his crimes and misdemeanors.

 

[gipper]

God help us if we ever let a president appoint his own brother as A.G. like they did during Camelot. We do know what happened, the media gave JFK rave reviews at the Berlin Wall when he addressed the German People and managed to call himself a "Berliner" which was German slang for jelly donut and then he went back to the U.S. to bask in the glory of the fawning media while the Germans were left to be shot in the back by Russian guards. We know for a fact that Oswald was a traitor who renounced his Country and his citizenship and fled to Russia. Did anybody ever ask why he was welcomed back to the U.S. in the hottest part of the Cold War without charges or surveillance? We know for a fact that JFK's quirky brother, Bobby, spent his time plotting to murder Castro and we know for a fact that JFK authorized the CIA to illegally raise and equip an invasion army which he abandoned at the Bay of Pigs. JFK should have been impeached but he was way too popular with the media so they ignored his crimes and misdemeanors.

Oswald was welcomed back, after defecting and claiming to provide the USSR with intelligence, because he was working for the Deep State. The State NEVER allows it's traitors back without consequence, unless they are working for the state.

Oswald was a patsy just as he said, before the Deep State had him murdered.

...and JFK was our last great POTUS. He wanted peace. He planned to terminate the CIA, the Cold War, and the war in Vietnam, which is probably why they murdered him.