Cuba's highest priority should be building materials and building trades

[FrodosPet]

Sure, it is good to have doctors to treat victims of mold and structural collapse. But wouldn't it be much better for people if the buildings were not moldy and structurally unsound to begin with?

[FrodosPet]

1. Cuba's Housing Crisis Worsens

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/21/cuba-housing-crisis_n_5185411.html

Posted: 04/21/2014 10:16 am EDT Updated: 04/21/2014 10:59 am EDT

HAVANA (AP) — The residents of 308 Oquendo Street were jolted awake in the middle of the night by violent shaking and a noise that they likened to a freight train, or an exploding bomb.

Part of their building's seventh floor had collapsed into the interior patio, heavily damaging apartments on the floors below. No one died, but the 120 families living in the building were left homeless.

Despite reforms in recent years to address the island's housing problem, such building collapses remain common in Cuba, where decades of neglect and a dearth of new home construction have left untold thousands of islanders living in crowded structures at risk of suddenly falling down.

~ snip ~

Cuba, a country of about 11 million people, lacks around 500,000 housing units to adequately meet the needs of the island's citizens, according to the most recent government numbers from 2010. The housing deficit widens each year as more buildings fall further into disrepair, punished year-round by the tropical sun, sea and wind.

~ snip ~

[Mika]

2. It'd be nice if said materials and delivery methods weren't sanctioned by the US.

One of the myriad of US sanctions specifically designed to cripple the Cuban economy: No ship that has ported in any Cuban port can port in the US for 6 months. There are very strictly limited exceptions, such as select and US approved medical shipping and US to Cuba agricultural (food) purchases.

How do you think that affects shippers in the Caribbean basin and the US? It creates such high costs for shippers that Cuba can't afford it.
Now, IF Obama had lifted American travel restrictions, then Cuba's economy would be doing much better.


But, it sure is easier to blame that evil dicktater Castro, isn't it?

[silverweb]

3. +1000!!!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Funny, now that we're to gain a foothold in Cuba, we seem to think we get to tell them what to do -- after all we'd done to them, which they survived with grit and ingenuity!

Our corporations are sloppily salivating all over the prospect of new markets and land acquisition. I want to see friendly, open relations and travel, but also a Cuba free to run its own affairs without our bossy interference.

[FrodosPet]

4. I've been opposed to the embargo for years

It is one cause of the hardships in providing safe, clean, healthy housing for Cubans, but not the only one. They could do a lot with the building materials that are already on island if their system did not completely crush innovation and entrepreneurship at the altar of central planning and absolute control.

[Mika]

5. Yeah. Cuba should cut down their forests and destroy their natural environment.

After the clear cutting of the forests, maybe they could start some mountain top mining too.

Cuba is THE ONLY nation to achieve WWF Sustainability goals.

Cuba only country with sustainable development: WWF

[hack89]

6. So other countries have to cut down their forests to provide Cuba building material? nt

[Mika]

7. One of the largest "special interest" groups regarding Cuba trade is the US lumber industry.

They are fully aware of the housing crisis and need to rebuild, and that means lots of money for them.

[hack89]

8. If Cuba has to import building materials, why not from America?

it would certainly be the cheapest option.

[Bacchus4.0]

9. are cuban houses made of wood? I don't see too much of that in latin america

The ones I do see of wood are often shacks where impoverished people live.

[FrodosPet]

11. So Cuba gets to keep their forests if they buy American lumber! This is bad because Capitalism.

I'm just not understanding where you are coming from on this. Do you want the Cuban people to have decent housing? Do you want them to have employment in building trades like carpentry, electrical, plumbing, roofing, etc.? Or is the island supposed to subsist on nothing but doctors, teachers, and bureaucrats?

If Cuba internally sources the building materials needed to renovate existing structures and to build the housing needed to give people safe, healthy, and attractive places to live, it is an attack on the environment.

If Cuba externally sources the building materials needed to renovate existing structures and to build the housing needed to give people safe, healthy, and attractive places to live, it is an attack on socialism and Cuban sovereignty.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[FrodosPet]

10. Or they should continue letting people live in dangerous biohazards?

It seems like, under the embargo, some people were saying "How dare America not sell Cuba the stuff they need". But then, when it looks like the embargo is about to be lifted, it becomes "How dare America try to sell Cuba stuff they need".