[Marxism] With a Whisper, Cuba ¹ s Housing Market Booms By MARC LACEY January 28, 2008

[Walter Lippmann]

Defenders of the Cuban Revolution like to point out that most people
in Cuba own their own homes. But that home ownership is of an unusual
form because you cannot simply buy or sell property there. The state
has the right of first refusal. I've heard frequently about deal gone
wrong, scams discovered and so on. Also, there's no discussion here
of the problem of foreigners who get involved in these schemes.

Though it's not possible to say EVERYTHING about a problem which is as
complicated as the island's housing problem, this articles does give
some indication of its complexity, an area which people in solidarity
with Cuba rarely talk about, but which needs to be better understood.

I've heard about and had proposals made to me during my time in Cuba
along some of these lines, which I've always avoided because buying
property is illegal for foreigners. While some efforts are made to
build more housing, these efforts don't meet the needs, even with a
population that is not growing numerically, and which is as a whole
getting older. The U.S. blockade, which is the contact for everything
that happens on the island, as it restricts the amount of income which
enters the country, exacerbates every kind of problem which exists.

Furthermore, even if relations with the United States were to be
normalized, an unlikely prospect in the short term in any case, this
housing problem would remain one in need of a longer-term and systemic
solution. Please don't ask me for the answer, as I do not have one.

In general, normalization of relations, and an end to the relentless,
world-wide, U.S. effort to strangle the country into submission to US
pressure, would make it possible for the island to confront some of
its long-standing problems, such as those described here.

If you doubt that what's being discussed in the often unsympathetic
pages of the NYT, here is an article, from the pages of the Cuban
trade union newspaper, TRABAJADORES from 2005 which gives a further
indication some of Cuba's complicated housing situation:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs269.html


Walter Lippmann













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     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Paraíso bajo el bloqueo"
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