A Dream for a Better World

Made up of several islands, Cuba is a country that is synonymous with the Caribbean region’s natural beauty. Cuba is known for its endless stretches of pristine white beaches, sunny climate and friendly people, making it a favorite destination for vacations for a very long time now. In fact tourism is one of the major revenue earners for Cuba. Cuba also has a large number of beautiful old colonial buildings spreading throughout the country. The diverse wildlife found in Cuba is another reason for its popularity as a tourism destination. The rich natural bounty found in Cuba has also made it a popular health tourism destination nowadays.

With Chavez becoming ever more and more eccentric and provocative in his rule, the increased ties that Cuba is making with this country can surely only leave it being painted in an even more radical light? As Venezuela and Ecuador make threatening gestures to Columbia, Americas close ally, Cuba’s image of a refuge against the tyranny of Imperial America is at risk of becoming the right hand of Chavez and his Latin Empire building. Sure there are many ideals shared between the two governments, but Chavez shows far more aggressive and imperialist characteristics of his own – something the image of Fidel surely cannot whole heartedly accept.

Dictatorship or legitimate Revolutionary government. Cuba has been painted as either the villain or the victim since the day the US decided to join the losing side of the Cuban revolution. Like most governments in the world, the Cuban government has its failings, but does that justify the continuing embargo from the US. There are many countries that have terrible Human Rights records that the US does not have an embargo against. China is a prime example, there is no way the US would risk placing an embargo against them. So for me, the Cuban embargo is just the US being the local bully.

The entire Caribbean region is known for its beautiful islands. Cuba is one of the most prominent countries in the Caribbean region. The country has a population of over eleven million and is spread over an area of 110,992 square meters spread over many islands. The island has an interesting history which involves several countries including, the United States, Spain and United Kingdom. Since 1960, when the country signed an agreement with the erstwhile Soviet Union, the United States has put a trade embargo on Cuba in place. Fidel Castro who ruled Cuba for years together has now given up the post of President, handing over the reins to his younger brother Raul Castro.

In March 2007, Fidel Castro criticized President Bush’s push for biofuels.    Saying not only would billions of people starve but also that the environment would be harmed. 

Yes, we need to get rid of Oil as a source of fuel.  Yes, corn would be a cheaper alternative but is it really better for the environment?  Now, environmental groups and scientists are saying that it is NOT better for the environment when you consider everything that goes into making the biofuels.  So, is it again about money?  

Do I personally think Fidel Castro was right?  Absolutely.  Now, before you start saying I am anti-American, let me explain why.  However, before I explain why – shouldn’t all knowledge be worth looking at it no matter who said it?  Why should the person you hate most in this world have nothing to teach you?  Just because you hate that person does not mean they do not have anything meaningful to say.  You need to approach this as a teacher would to a student.  If the student came up with an idea that the teacher disagreed with or never thought of before, should the teacher spend time thinking about what the student has said or should the teacher treat his student as if he could never learn anything from him/her?  I personally believe that as a teacher one never ceases to learn, so we need to open our eyes and ears to everyone especially when it comes to benefiting the environment.  Now, back to the question at hand.  Why do I think that Fidel Castro was right? 

1. As anyone with the most basic knowledge of Economics can tell you price is determined by supply and demand.  Yes, corn is cheap now, but what will happen to the price of corn when you start requesting 100’s of millions of tons of corn?  The price will go up and this will affect the poor EVERYWHERE.  Now, in order to prevent the price from going up – you have to increase the supply.  How are we going to do that?  From what I see prices of land all over the world is going up and up.  If we use existing land then prices of other foods will go up as other foods are being replaced.  We are decreasing the supply of those other items so their price must go up.
2. If poorer countries start participating in the fuel oil plan we can kiss our rainforests goodbye!  We already know farmers care little about rainforests when they can see money in their pocket for destroying it. 
3. Look at what happened in the plains of America when we cut down too many trees, growing crops became close to impossible because of the wind.  Will this happen all over the world when you start requesting huge amounts of corn and other items for fuel oil?  I think yes. 

I totally agree we need to get rid of oil as a source of energy.  But, why do we have to have our sites set on food as a source?  Why can’t we think of other items (Note, I am not a scientists, so I don’t know if any of the following ideas are plausable) like Carbon Dioxide (use our pollution as a source), electricity, and trash.

Did you know that one lightning storm can supply enough electricity to power all of America for approximately 20 minutes?  Now unfortunately we do not have a way to convert that raw power into electricity?  Plus our batteries have not come a long way like our computers have.  I believe that if someone (say President Bush or Bill Gates) put up an Xprize (that is how we got a commercial plane into space) for someone to convert this raw power into energy then we would solve a LOT of our environmental problems.

All I am saying is that there has to be other sources of energy other than food (how about desert sand, we have a lot of that! haha).

What do you all think?

The way I see it, since NOT every politician is for this embargo then there is NOT clear evidence that Cuba has done something wrong to deserve this.  If they clearly deserved this then every politician would be for this embargo, am I not correct?  Maybe I am missing something?  Why isn’t this like in a court, it has to be unanimous before you are found guilty?