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Comment by jorda0mega | Hacker News Reader

have you lived in Cuba to say otherwise? Do you have family in the island without access to US dollars?

This is the problem when people live a life devoid of real hardship. They get enamored with intellectually sounding bites and abstract papers. They lack common sense.

Why do you see Cubans risk their lives on a raft for over 90 miles to migrate to the USA? If the country had such great means of production and wealth why is there a mass exodus?

Cuba, as a dictatorship, is in the business of pushing propaganda, that's it! Everything they do is to secure an appealing international image (sending doctor's overseas while their own people die giving birth because of contaminations in the operating room, promoting ideals of fairness, etc). It's all bs.

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Do the internal issues have anything to do with USA completely blocking their ability to improve and import? "Do you have family in the island without access to US dollars?" - My point exactly, this is an issue the US has exacerbated, as a form of propaganda AGAINST Cuba.

I am, and have family, from a very similar South American country.

The blockade is a spin by the govt to excuse its oppressive power. Exhibit A https://twitter.com/cubabella13/status/1414619267794886656?s...

Have you gone to Cuba? I have.

I'm calling you out right now, there is no widespread child mortality or shortage of soap in Cuba. I have been there.

People leave Cuba nowadays because they are fleeing the law, or want to become rich which they can't in Cuba.

It is in no way an exodus. Cuba has a net emigration rate of -0.11% per year, and has been decreasing every year for a decade or so.

This is fairly normal of developing countries close to developped countries. To cite a number, Morocco which is similarly a sea away from the EU has an emigration rate of -0.14%.

So indeed, Cuba's emigration rate is quite normal.

The reason why people leave Cuba in rafts is because they don't have money for other forms of transport and/or because they are illegally immigrating. You'd be surprised but it's really hard to get into the US.

> a net emigration rate of -0.11% per year

Does a negative rate means there's more immigration than emigration?

No, it means more emigration. It's counterintuitive but that's how the data is stated.

Ok, in case you didn't get it by the tone of my post, I am that cuban immigrant.

I find it fascinating that Cuba is a country notorious for spreading propaganda and yet not a single comment in this post asks whether the data in that article is true... People just take the numbers at face value and rationalize their way into how such a small nation achieved such tremendous feat. Btw, I have family in the island still getting sick after being administered such a great vaccine...

> I'm calling you out right now, there is no widespread child mortality or shortage of soap in Cuba. I have been there.

Wrong. Plenty of children carry parasites because of lack of hygiene and dirty water. I won't even get into how many families lose children at birth because of bad hospital conditions. Did you do a blood test on children when you visited too?

> People leave Cuba nowadays because they are fleeing the law, or want to become rich which they can't in Cuba.

wrong again. People leave Cuba for multiple reasons including oppression, no freedom of expression, lack of resources. Just so you have an idea, the govt removes the ability to buy milk for children aged past 7. The govt makes it illegal to buy meat (particularly from cows) and other forms of seafood. I spent an entire year where my only source of protein was from eggs (if there were any) because everything else was inaccessible.

> It is in no way an exodus. Cuba has a net emigration rate of -0.11% per year, and has been decreasing every year for a decade or so.

Is this a joke? Have you ever heard of El Mariel or Peter Pan operations?

> The reason why people leave Cuba in rafts is because they don't have money for other forms of transport and/or because they are illegally immigrating. You'd be surprised but it's really hard to get into the US.

Nope. The govt has a hold on who can leave the country. You need to be awarded a permit just to visit another nation (part of the reason why Cuban's revere tourists). Only way to exit the island is illegally (through a raft), whenever some nations allow for legal migration through an application process (e.g., Canada but even then the govt needs to vet who gets to leave — doctors never allowed) or through some connections with the govt.

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