Category: CUBA

“I was sitting in my backyard wondering what happened to all the iguanas. Maybe the cold killed them. Maybe people did. They’d gotten out of hand, and somehow—by nature or by man—the trend reversed. Venezuela feels the same way. I don’t know if the U.S. did the right thing, and we won’t know the consequences for years. But from where I’m sitting, it looks a lot like someone finally decided to clean up the iguanas.” — YNOT!   Venezuela did not drift into its current condition by accident. It was driven there carefully, with hands on the wheel, eyes … Continue readingNicolás Maduro — how the bus driver got the keys

The tragedy isn’t that Cuba is running out of food or oil. It’s that it ran out of years ago and pretended not to notice.”–YNOT!! Cuba’s problem didn’t start yesterday, and it didn’t start with a tanker being seized or a sanction being signed. It started much earlier, with a simple idea that sounded noble at the time: we don’t need to produce much ourselves, because someone else will always take care of us. That belief has a wonderful shelf life—right up until the benefactor runs out of money, oil, or patience. Now the lights are flickering, the shelves … Continue readingNinety Miles Away, and Falling Apart – Borrowed Oil, Borrowed Time: Cuba’s Slow-Motion Collapse”