[Jims5543]

I was just talkin gto my friend, he just got back from visiting his family that did not leave Cuba in 1980. He was lucky to get out.

He was telling me how he almost died crossing to Key West from Havana as their boat began to sink and it took everyone on board to bail it out and keep it floating.

He has not been back since he left. He was 12 when he left and did not remember how bad it was there.

I showed him this thread and his anger welled up in him. He is a kind well mannered man who owns a business here in town and does well for himself. His anger was like I have never seen it.

The names he called Castro would be edited here. His older brother, who stayed behind in '80 and regrets it to this day lives in a shack. They live off the land. They are not allowed to barter nor are they allowed to start a business of any kind. Own a boat? Good fisherman? Want to catch lots of fish and sell them? No good, against the law. Police and military are watching to make sure no one is in business. It is against the law.

My friend went into Havanah and bought his sis-in-law a washer/dryer combo. They were washing clothes by hands up to this point. What he paid for the washer/dryer would take a year for his brother to buy.

Hospitals only cater to the wealthy or at the least those with money. The poor (most of the country) get clinic aid and its piss poor at best. No one has cars. If you own one of those 55 Chevy's you are rich. My friend rented a little toyota of some sort and his family all wanted rides in it. They were so excited to go somewhere in a car. To own a bicycle is a luxury.

The house was tiny and had no screens the mosquitos were overwhelming at night.

The pretty young girls will head to the resort areas because prostitution is about the only way they can earn money for their families.

The quality of life in Castro's Cuba is hell. My friend was sick to his stomach seeing the hell his family lives in. He came with a suitcase of his clothes and toiletries and left it all there leaving only with the clothes on his back.

He is already planning another trip to bring more clothes. He wants to try to screen in the house too. He was so sad to leave his family and it is killing him knowing they are suffering down there. Its very frustrating to see this and come home to the US where we have it so good.