Cuba

We arrived in Miami in the early sixties just as Cuba was expelling it's "gusanos", as Castro called them. These were the capitalists that realized there was no place for them in Communism. They were the hard working people who saved their money and invested it. Most had property and they did not want to share it with Communists. Castro and Che Guevara put pressure on them, executing many by firing squad. Those that could fled to Miami to save their lives. They were not allowed to take out their money and had to leave their property behind. Castro confiscated it all. While working in Miami I met many of these displaced Cubans. They were hard working, trust worthy in business, energetic for additional work, and it seemed they were everywhere. To begin, they lived in multiple family homes but soon earned enough money to get their own home. A Cuban home is well cared for, has a good appearance, often with a wrought iron fence on the perimeter of the property. As a whole, they were a credit to Miami. When they first arrived the U.S. government subsidized them, but they are a proud people and soon got off government welfare. In the U.S. they prospered. Recently, the Cuban government has announced that they are laying off 500,000 people, most of whom are a drain on the Cuban economy according to Raul Castro. They are being cut free and there are no jobs to be had in Cuba. There is no private sector in Cuba to give them jobs, the capitalists left long ago. These are the people who are not used to working and depended on the State to care for them. They did meaningless jobs and have few job skills. Castro had fifty years to show that Communism/Socialism works and this is an admission that it fails. Yet, in this Country, we have a leader that believes he can make socialism work.