Cuban Communist Utopia: Up In Smoke

Today the government of Cuba announced that they will be cutting 10% of their government work force because "our state cannot and should not continue maintaining companies, productive entities, services and budgeted sectors with bloated payroll losses that hurt the economy". This cannot be a good day for Michael Moore or Hugo Chavez, who have long praised Cuba as a socialist utopia that should be a shinning example of heaven on earth for the rest of the world. Well guess what, communism doesn't work. I wonder how Fidel Castro feels about his brother's move towards free market capitalism? Raul took over from his brother in 2008, so it is unclear if Fidel approves of any of these reforms; which includes issuing more private business licenses, transfering more workers from the public sector to private sector, diminishing the state's roll in the Cuban economy.

“We have to erase forever the notion that Cuba is the only country in the world in which people can live without working” - Raul Castro

Meanwhile you have Hugo Chavez trying to turn Venezuela into Cuba, so this new Cuban revolution can only hurt his mojo. Will these reforms ripple throughout the socialists movements across Latin America, or will Raul Castro be vilified? Regardless, these have to be very somber revelations for communists and socialists everywhere. Michael Moore has to be crying in his Coco Puffs.

If you want to watch an interesting movie on the Cuban revolution, I recommend Lost City with Andy Garcia.