Saturday's video: The big stories of 2024 and more

No Cuban coffee with a little ‘azucar’

No Cuban coffee with a little ‘azucar’: Many years ago, I used to walk with my father in Cuba after dinner. We would walk to the street corner shop, he'd buy a Cuban cigar and order a little….

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No Cuban coffee with a little ‘azucar’ - American Thinker https://t.co/ga4GQ4351x

— Silvio Canto. Jr. (@silvio_canto) December 28, 2024

Many years ago, I used to walk with my father in Cuba after dinner. We would walk to the street corner shop, he’d buy a Cuban cigar and order a little “cafecito” with “un poquito de azucar.” I tried it years later, cigar included, and I learned quickly why my father loved that coffee and cigar.

We left Cuba many years ago but my mother kept brewing my father that little cup of coffee with a drop of sugar. I can’t tell you the number of Sunday afternoon sporting events that my father, my brother, and me watched over that Cuban coffee that my mother made for us.

As you probably know, my parents are now gone but that entire Cuban section up in heaven must be screaming over the news that Cuba has to import sugar. Here is the news:

The Cuban government acknowledged that it is “shameful” for the island, traditionally one of the leading sugar producers in Latin America, to be forced to import this product.

Despite efforts to revive the sugar industry, the sector continues to face serious challenges, including failures in the last harvest.

During the session of the National Assembly of People’s Power, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz recalled when Raúl Castro remarked that “it would be an embarrassment to have to import sugar.” He then stated, “and well, we are experiencing that embarrassment because we are importing sugar.”

He emphasized that the crisis in the sector is such that the country has also stopped exporting sugar, which was a key component of the economy.

“Key component of the economy?” How about the leading export since the Spanish ran the island in the 19th century. Cuba without sugar to export? That’s like the Dominican Republic saying that there are no more shortstops to play in the major leagues.

The explanation for this collapse is simple. It’s another example of how socialism kills countries with slogans and the expropriation of private industry.

Before communism, Cuban sugar mills, known popularly as “centrales” were run efficiently for the investors and workers:

By 1958 there were 160 sugar mills with the predominance of Cuban capital. The yearly sugar crop (zafra) represented an average of 99 days of work, producing a total of more than five million five hundred thousand long tons of sugar. The Cuban Sugar Stabilization Board kept active watch on the needs of the sugar industry and took measures of undeniable value.

Raw sugar as well as the refined product gave admirable results. And concerning sugar derivatives such as molasses and alcohol, the 1937 Law for the Coordination of Sugar was a step forward in social justice and economic welfare. Besides the highest rate of production the Cuban sugar industry had the most efficient equipment and most modern machinery in the world and the most productive era in its history. The United States was the best buyer paying for Cuban sugar as no other country ever did.

Prosperity brought about by sugar, benefitting all Cuba may be judged from the fact that in 1958 more than 90% of the land growing cane was brought into cultivation under tractors and 80% of the cane was transported by rail and truck. Salaries were high, the “sugar differential” favored the sugar worker as never before, and no sugar worker was interested in changing his type of work.

In fact, working in the sugar industry was so appealing that “guest workers” would come to Cuba from Jamaica and other places. The mills had a lot to do with developing the railroad lines in the island and were a source of pride. They ran baseball teams and some future major leaguers played in those leagues before a scout signed him up.

So the collapse of the Cuban sugar industry is just another example of the failure of socialism. It’s not the embargo or anything external. It was the confiscation of successful businesses that brought this about.

Let me close by sharing a joke. The Castro regime also brought a shortage of seafood in Cuba. How does an island surrounded by water have a seafood shortage? Well, the fish left for Florida waters.

Cuba has great lands to grow sugar cane and tobacco. We just need people who know what they are doing when they run these businesses.

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Happy # 78 Edgar Winter

 Edgar Winter was born in Beaumont, Texas, on this day in 1946.      

According to his official site,  Edgar brought together Dan Hartman, Ronnie Montrose and Chuck Ruff to form The Edgar Winter Group in 1972.   The band had hits like:  "Frankenstein"  and "Free Ride"

Back in the 1970's, he was quite a rocker.

P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, click send drop a dime here.

 

We remember President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)

President Woodrow Wilson was born on this day in 1856 in Virginia.  He was the 28th president of the US (1913-21).  He died in 1824.

Before The White House, Mr. Wilson was a college professor, university president and governor of New Jersey.     

Mr. Wilson got 42% of the popular vote in 1912 but carried most of the states in a 3-way race.   His reelection in 1916 was very close:  277-254.

A few months ago, I watched the movie "Wilson" released in 1944.   It is a very favorable movie of Mr. Wilson and his presidency.   We also leaned a lot about Mrs. Wilson, who died during his first term, and the second Mrs. Wilson, who was a rather controversial figure.

Overall, a good movie that takes you back to a time when men wore hats and ladies dressed rather elegantly.   

 P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

1973: The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

The Gulag Archipelago was published many years ago today:

"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "literary investigation" of the police-state system in the Soviet Union, The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956, is published in the original Russian in Paris. The book was the first of the three-volume work. The brutal and uncompromising description of political repression and terror was quickly translated into many languages and was published in the United States just a few months later."

It is a very difficult book to read but worth the effort.  The USSR collapsed at the end of 1991 but we can not forget what was done in the name of communism.

 

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A couple of recent presidents who died on this day

We remember two amazing men of the Midwest who died on this day.   

President Truman died in 1972:

Truman served as president for two terms from 1945 to 1953, when he and his wife Bess happily retired to Independence, Missouri, where he referred to himself jokingly as “Mr. Citizen.” He was hospitalized on December 4, 1972, with lung congestion, heart irregularity, kidney blockages and failure of the digestive system. He died on December 26. A very subdued and private funeral, fitting for the down-to-earth Truman, was held in Independence according to his and his family’s wishes.

I remember the day that he died.   I recall the news flash on the radio.   It was not a surprise since Mr. Truman had been very ill for days.   

President Ford died in 2006 very late in the day in California.    Most of his obituaries were actually published on December 27.   Like me, most people I did not hear about it until the next day:

Thrust by Mr. Nixon’s resignation into an office he had never sought, Mr. Ford occupied the White House for just 896 days. 

But they were pivotal days of national introspection, involving America’s first definitive failure in a war and the first resignation of a president. 

It was Mr. Ford’s uncommon virtue to have presided with a common touch.

Mr. Ford had been out of the public view for a long time.  I do remember him at the 2000 GOP convention.   In 2004, President Bush paid him a visit during the campaign.

As we mentioned above, VP Truman became president when President FDR died in 1945.  He was not well known and it must have been quite a task to follow a political giant of the 20th century.  

Nevertheless, It was President Truman who made the decision to drop nuclear bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima.  He also gave us The Truman Doctrine, CIA, NATO, The Marshall Plan and a few other things that left his footprint on US history in the 20th century.

VP Ford became president when President Nixon resigned in 1974.  He is the only man never elected to the office.  

In 1976, Governor Carter ran as the outsider in "a change election".  We must point out that Mr. Ford made quite a comeback that year and it ended up a lot closer than anyone predicted that summer during the conventions.  

President Ford served about 30 months but did much to restore confidence in the presidency after Watergate.  

His pardon of Nixon was vindicated over time, a profile in courage!   It was the right thing to do as he always said when asked about it.

They were both Midwestern men, of great integrity and character.    

They also did not aspire to be president but rather took over and performed to the best of their abilities.   

And I say often, I was very proud to cast my first vote for president for President Ford in 1976.

P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, click send drop a dime here.

The Doolittle Raid and other stories of World War II with Barry Jacobsen

Guest: Barry Jacobsen, military historian and blogger, joins us for a another episode about World War II: The Doolittle Raid, the Battle of the Java Sea and the Battle of the Coral Sea..................and other stories...

Click below to listen:



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