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Yoani Sanchez

Yoani Sanchez

Posted: March 15, 2010 06:00 PM

Cuba's Revolutionary Heroes With Suitcases of Cash in Their Water Tanks?

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A deluge of events is falling on Cuba. The first drops fell at the beginning of January, with the death of several dozen patients in the Havana Psychiatric Hospital from starvation and cold. The flood of problems intensified with the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, pushed to his end by the negligence of his jailers and the stubbornness of our leaders.Then came the hunger strike of the journalist Guillermos Farinas and with it our lives fell into the center of a political tornado whose hurricane winds are increasing every day.

In parallel with these tempests, a series of possible corruption scandals have come as a check on the power in Cuba. According to rumors, allegations have come to light about ministers with suitcases of dollars hidden in their water tanks, commercial flights whose earnings went into the hands of a few, and juice factories whose enormous earnings were quickly rushed out of the country. Among those implicated appear to be men who came down from the Sierra Maestra mountains with Fidel in 1959 and who now have enriched themselves awarding licenses to foreign companies who repaid them with extremely succulent commissions. The State has been looted by the State itself. The diversion of resources has reached a level to where the filching of a little milk from a warehouse looks like child's play. The hierarchy of power on this Island takes to the road with their hands full, as if they sense that today's downpour will eventually bring the roof down on their heads. It gives the impression that the country is in the midst of a liquidation sale and many -- wearing the olive green uniform -- are taking the opportunity to make off with what little we have left.

The silent press, meanwhile, speaks to us of past glories, of anniversaries to be commemorated, all the while declaring that the Revolution has never been stronger. Behind the curtain, a series of purges are carried out and the auditors dig into the guts of our finances, confirming there's nothing they can do before the advance of corruption. The "historic" generation not only showed us how to live a complete masquerade, they have also sown the idea that the nation's coffers are managed like a personal wallet. The wastewaters from ethical and moral misery, that they themselves nurtured and prospered from, appear as if they are about to drown everyone.

Please sign this PETITION to save Cuba's hunger strikers

Yoani's blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.

 
 
 

Follow Yoani Sanchez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/yoanisanchez

 
 
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
Mensch99
09:30 PM on 03/16/2010
You write “…they sense that today's downpour will eventually bring the roof down on their heads.” The ediface will come down, but who knows when. I wish the best for the Cuban people when they face the same challenges as the people of the former USSR and East European Stalinist regimes.
I hope they learn from those experiences.
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01:23 PM on 03/17/2010
Sadly, when the roof falls it falls on everybodies' head.Liberty and Justice for all. It's not just for Americans any more.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
knosiswar
Major General Smedley Butler - get to know him
09:36 AM on 03/16/2010
As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when they will return.
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LMPE
I connect the most dissimilar things
09:18 PM on 03/15/2010
Cuba's corruption can't be worse than Louisiana's.
07:37 PM on 03/16/2010
So long it is needed to defend castrofascism and it crimes....... Ms/Mr (?) lmpe is in first rad of the applauding clacke ......... corruption in US or anywhere does not justify corruption in Cuba..... much less when the Cuban people made a revolution (betrayed by castro) in order to finish the corruption.
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09:07 PM on 03/15/2010
Corruption is everywhere. I hope these traitors are brought to justice.
07:49 PM on 03/16/2010
You hope those traitor brought to justice?????? ...... be careful dear one..... those traitors are powerful people...... Castro self is one of the 5 richest men in world..... his brother, the actual tyrant, is one of the 100 richest men in the world......... all member in cuban nomenclature are very rich and powerful people in the world, they can make you very sad about your words....... why do you think I use a nickname???!!!;......... all is OK as long no of them try to escape and betray the plan of the maximum jeff: ...... to stay and deffend with theirs lives the permenence in power of castro brothers and theirs sucesors and so on for the eternity......... that is what hapened with those "corrupts" now "discovered" in castrofascism's nomenclature.... they saw the ship making water and tried to escape...... - no, no, no- ..... castro said..... - the deal was to stay until dead get us -......... that's it.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
TStringfellow
Wobbly, politically and literally
11:12 PM on 03/16/2010
If you think c
Castro is in the top 5 richest people you're more delusional than I thought.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
Mensch99
12:58 AM on 03/17/2010
Forbes?