Castro to Cut Cuba's Healthcare Spending
Aug. 2nd, 2009 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liveonearthhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32254224/ns/world_news-americas/
I don't see how this should be such a big problem. All they need to do is cut the $$ spent on placebos and send people back to their grandmothers. Cuba is going to be just fine. =-]
HAVANA - Raul Castro announced Saturday that Cuba will cut spending on education and health care, potentially weakening the building blocks of its communist system in a bid to revive a floundering economy.
The former defense minister who took over the presidency last year called state spending "simply unsustainable" and said the cash-strapped government would reorganize rural schools and scrutinize its free health care system in search of ways to save money.
But he vowed that the island will not see fundamental change even after he and his older brother and predecessor Fidel Castro are gone.
"I wasn't elected president to return capitalism to Cuba," Castro said, "or to surrender the revolution" — the armed uprising that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista a half-century ago.
"I was elected to defend, build and perfect socialism, not destroy it," he said to a standing ovation from lawmakers in Parliament.
He framed those remarks as a response to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has said Washington wants to see economic and social reforms in Cuba before doing more to improve bilateral relations.
Castro also reiterated his willingness to negotiate improved relations with the United States and acknowledged a "decline in the aggressiveness and anti-Cuban rhetoric" during the Obama administration.
I don't see how this should be such a big problem. All they need to do is cut the $$ spent on placebos and send people back to their grandmothers. Cuba is going to be just fine. =-]
HAVANA - Raul Castro announced Saturday that Cuba will cut spending on education and health care, potentially weakening the building blocks of its communist system in a bid to revive a floundering economy.
The former defense minister who took over the presidency last year called state spending "simply unsustainable" and said the cash-strapped government would reorganize rural schools and scrutinize its free health care system in search of ways to save money.
But he vowed that the island will not see fundamental change even after he and his older brother and predecessor Fidel Castro are gone.
"I wasn't elected president to return capitalism to Cuba," Castro said, "or to surrender the revolution" — the armed uprising that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista a half-century ago.
"I was elected to defend, build and perfect socialism, not destroy it," he said to a standing ovation from lawmakers in Parliament.
He framed those remarks as a response to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has said Washington wants to see economic and social reforms in Cuba before doing more to improve bilateral relations.
Castro also reiterated his willingness to negotiate improved relations with the United States and acknowledged a "decline in the aggressiveness and anti-Cuban rhetoric" during the Obama administration.
