Fake News Alert: The article makes repeated mention of a "U.S. Economic Blockade" against Cuba, which implies that the U.S. prevented other countries from trading with Cuba. The U.S. merely had a trade embargo against Cuba that prevented U.S. companies and their foreign subsidiaries from doing business with Cuba. If Cuba's socialist economic system is as awesome as so many people say it is, it shouldn't rely on trade with a greedy rapacious capitalist neighbor in order to provide a decent standard of living for the people of Cuba.
I know nothing about the container shipping industry, but why can't specific ships only be used for deliveries to countries besides Cuba, with other ships being used to countries besides the US?
It surely makes the management of ships more complex. When a country is small and trade volume is small, it's vastly simpler just to drop it off from the logistics chain when entering U.S. ports is important and volumes big.
Wikipedia: "TeleSUR ... is multi-state funded, pan–Latin American terrestrial and satellite television network sponsored by the governments of Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Bolivia that is headquartered in Caracas, Venezuela".
You could perhaps say that it provides the point of view of those countries and their covernments. (Argentina used to be there as well, but withdrew.)
If anyone could benefit from Raspberry Pi, that is Cuba. With so many smart and educated people, with state mandated program, they could have spread those across the island for great benefit to all.
The fact that Cuba managed to reach the standard of living that it did while almost completely disconnected from the world economy is remarkable, regardless of what you think of its political situation or what could have been if Batista held on to power. It will be interesting to see how their economy evolves as political and economic isolation is slowly phased out. I would not be surprised however if the United States refused to change its position without Cuba making great concessions to privatization and international investment considering those are the terms neoliberal powers have imposed on any developing country that wants to participate.
> The fact that Cuba managed to reach the standard of living that it did while almost completely disconnected from the world economy is remarkable
How would you describe Cuba's current "standard of living?" You imply the country has a high standard of living but first-hand experience suggests otherwise.
For example, a lower infant mortality rate than the United States.
Also, this is a statement about a relative change. What was the standard of living under Batista? Pretty bad unless you were one of the people who owned property or participated in the kleptocracy. There's a reason why Castro could gain the support required to overthrow that government in the first place.
Another thing to take into account is that similar countries fare much worse. Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, the countries that are somehow comparable to Cuba are worst in every imaginable way, even when they were not economically attacked for over 50 years by the biggest economic power in the world.
