Just as the Catholic Church gave a nod, a wink and a push to the Polish reforms in the 1980's the "fix is in"for restoration of Capitalism in Cuba and with a myopic sense that economically Cuba will be soon in the same boat as a country like El Salvador and a slave to US imperialism...
Such a "good friend" of Cuba and its people Walter Lippmann is who advocates a political and economic revolution that will be *catastrophic,* the PCC "guidelines" are not a plan but a wish list with no mechanisms to attain them. *Real solidarity activists and socialists worldwide and in Cuba are freaking out and the* "Los *Gusanos" at the Babalu Blog and their ilk will get over it because as it stands it looks like they will win... Time will tell.* ** *Cort* On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 11:44 AM, Walter Lippmann <[email protected]>wrote: > > > The endorsement by the church - though we haven't seen the > precise details, should get them freaking out in Miami yet > again. I can just imagine what the Babalu Blog and others > of that ilk will shriek about this. > > Meanwhile, here are the draft PCC guidelines if you haven't > as yet had a chance to perue them: > > http://www.walterlippmann.com/pcc-draft-economic-and-social-policy-guidelines-2010.html > ============================================================ > > Cubas economic reforms get Catholic nod > January 3 2011 at 10:22am > > > http://www.iol.co.za/business/international/cuba-s-economic-reforms-get-catholic-nod-1.1007326 > > AFP > > Cuban President Raul Castro gestures while delivering a speech on economic > reforms on December 18, 2010 in the National Assembly (Cuban Parliament) in > Havana. > > After decades of roller-coaster relations between communist Cuba's > government and the Roman Catholic church, Havana on Sunday won the Catholic > hierarchy's warm approval of its limited economic reform plans. > > Cardinal Jaime Ortega said in a New Year's mass at Havana cathedral that > the government reforms involve all of us and require understanding from > the people whom he called on to size up the changes critically. > > The local church is arguably the most influential non-state actor in Cuba. > But its influence is more with the government than the people. > > In a Caribbean country of more than 11 million, most Cubans do not identify > themselves as believers or go to church. > > Ortega offered up a prayer for the successful implementation of this > process of renewal for the good of all the people. > > The cardinal's encouraging tone reflected a growing rapprochement between > church and state in Cuba since a landmark 1998 visit by pope John Paul II > and his call for Cuba to open itself to the world. > > President Raul Castro, 79, argues that Cuba's economic model, which has > survived two decades since the Soviet Union dissolved, must be updated > urgently without copying other countries, and without what he sees as > capitalism. > > His proposed reforms are up for debate in April at the Cuban Communist > Party Congress, the first since 1997. > > The reforms, which include eventually cutting more than a million > government jobs, represent a major management shakeup for the communist > island. > > They encourage some new foreign investment, call for more private > self-employment and a reduced government role in the market. > > The proposals make efficiency a vital part of economic management, aim to > do away with state subsidies, including food rations, and foresee starting a > tax system. > > But the government still would control the lion's share of the economy. > Cubans only earn 17 dollars a month on average, most are state employees and > most spend hours a day trying to figure out how to put food on the table. > > Ortega also has acted as a de facto mediator in the government's release of > some of its political prisoners. > > The government, officially atheist until 1992, finds itself under mounting > pressure to meet its promises to free more. > > In early December, female relatives of jailed political dissidents held an > unprecedented protest outside Cuban jails, angry that the government has not > met its pledge to do so. > > Dissident sources say around 100 political prisoners remain in Cuban > prisons. - Sapa-AFP > > ========================================= > WALTER LIPPMANN > Los Angeles, California > Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/ > "Cuba - Un Paraíso bajo el bloqueo" > ========================================= > > -- *A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified. (Also quoted as "The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.") 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