Cuba Prepares for Obama and MLB
Photo Feature by Juan Suarez
HAVANA TIMES — In recent days a flood of workers have fallen like ants in the Latinoamericano stadium and its surroundings; masons, painters, electricians changing poles and wires, workers repaving, and even the telecommunications company ETECSA has created a Wi-Fi zone outside the stadium.
A few weeks labor will change the image of this stadium; it is very uncommon to see so many workers in one place. On March 22, the Cuban national team and the Tampa Bay Rays will play an exhibition game and President Obama will no doubt throw out the first ball.
Here are some pictures of what’s happening in the Latino and its surrounding streets.
Click on the thumbnails below to view all the photos in this gallery. On your PC or laptop, you can use the directional arrows on the keyboard to move within the gallery. On cell phones use the keys on the screen.
There is NO fear of anything of the sort. Repeating this charge 1000X won’t make it true.
However bad the tragedy there are still legal remedies (both civil and criminal) available to citizens in a free society. Those recourses are unavailable to Cubans who are living under a dictatorship.
I understand that the Department of Justice is to order a criminal investigation. Also the people of the City of Flint have to-day filed suit. Stay tuned. .
The economic problems of Cuba are due mostly to the 55 year-old U.S. embargo which, you seem to have trouble remembering, was created and carried out specifically to impoverish the entire population.
It continues to this day so counter-revolutionary hypocrites can point to Cuba as the cause of economic failure and low-intelligence readers will think it’s true.
Lift the embargo and see if Cuba’s system is really a failure.
You won’t recommend it and the GOUSA will not lift the embargo because you and they are scared stiff that Cuba’s systems WILL work and provide an alternative to the neo-liberal capitalism that is crushing the Third World and thereby kill capitalism .
The “contamination” is a result of the failed adherence to scheduled inspection and routine maintenance. Switching from the lake source to the river supply, in and of itself, made sense. Failing to comply with established quality control standards was the problem. Nice try, though.
Moses, the contamination of the City of Flint water supply is the result of the actual implementation of Michigan State Government Policy. So is the ongoing neglect of the State wide school facilities and infrastructure. Pretty hard to sugar coat it.
Here’s the difference: problems in the US are a result of failures to implement proscribed government policy. In Cuba, problems are the result of actually implementation of Castro government policy.
Maybe Obama could stop off at Flint Michigan on his way back and help them clean up their contaminated water supply. I also hear that the schools in Michigan are infected by dead rats and mold. He could look into that as well. You don’t have to go all the way to Cuba to find decay, blight and rot. Its right here at home. Its going to take more than talk to “Make America Great Again”
Everyone & Everything needs a facelift every now and then. All the world’s media will be descending and snapping photos.
I take your point, but what the hell; at least the work gets done. I also get your ‘leader of the free world’ irony 😉
I agree Moses and might add that while growing up in NYC, fifties, in our neighborhood, parks would be fixed up along with roads paved when the Governor would visit. We didn’t care because it was part of life and now we have some cool swings in the playground. Whatever the reason, it’s wonderful that this Cuban stadium is being prettied up and I’m sure the fans will be ecstatic as well.
I have been to this stadium many times. If I were Cuban, I would be pissed off that it takes a visit from, until recently at least, enemy #1 to generate a stadium makeover. The stadium that I remember didn’t have a single working toilet in the men’s bathrooms. The snack bars were empty. There were only day games because the lights didn’t work. The playing field was uneven and oftentimes had dry spots. But, when the leader of the free world visits….