Cuba Facing Major Fertility Crisis

Juventud Rebelde, a Cuban government-controlled daily on the island, came out with a two-part series recently on Cuba's plumetting fertility rates. I translated parts of it from Spanish and published excerpts below.

The stories represent a rare instance when the government-controlled media in Cuba has urged the government to implement policy changes of any sort. It spells out what seems like a demographic nightmare spreading on the island with dire consequences in the future if it is not immediately addressed.

STORY:

   “If in 10 years, we have not reached a coherent policy on reproduction, we’ll be seeing each other more often at funerals than at children’s birthday parties,” the JR article said.

   In 1970, 237,079 babies were born in Cuba. In 2004, the number plummeted to 127,077. And there doesn’t appear to be a turnaround in sight.

   “This means that by 2015, retirement-age Cubans will outnumber those who are active in the labor force, inverting the so-called dependency factor and the economy will be less healthy,” JR reported.

   For Maria del Carmen Franco, specialist at the National Office of Statistics, which coordinates regional studies of reproductive health, Cuba has little time left – less than 10 years – to take measures, and “the only way is to increase the amount of births,” according to JR.

   According to statistics, the population of young people in the country plunged by 800,000 people in the last 10 years.

   But that worry has yet to be felt by the traditional families, experts say, because couples plan their children in terms of the possibilities of raising them, having a home, and their personal goals and not according to demographic criteria.

   Cuba’s current measures to stimulate fertility are not enough, experts say. In other countries the problem is addressed by offering financial aid to couples, but in Cuba, the problem is “more complicated,” according to Franco.

   “For us, the guarantee is not more money, but an entire infrastructure that supports the quality of life that we want for our children, and that includes more pediatricians, teachers, classrooms, nurseries, recreational spaces, better prices for food and baby products,” she said.

   Those “are measures that the state should identify to organize its strategy for population growth,” she said.

   In a national youth poll, the aspiration of young people to have children fell from third place to seventh in terms of priorities.

   According to studies and polls, the current rejection of maternity and more children has several causes: the economic crisis that started in 1990, the lack of housing, internal and external migration, and widespread expectations among youth that things will improve, among other reasons.

   Numerous interviews done by JR confirm that alarming reality: neither young men nor young women are interested in having children.

http://www.jrebelde.cubaweb.cu/2006/abril_junio/mayo-14/cuba_vientre.html

Comments

[Cuban Patriot]

Don't you know that according to the same commie sources that life expectancy is nearing 80 years? No problem as far as I can tell. I'm sure that the fantastic Cuban healthcare system can find a way to create babies from these old farts. How's that cloning of ubre blanca going by the way?

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

That's because so many of Cuba's young people are green card sharks and end up with sucker foreigners and going to Europe or Canada. That combined with the fact that one of Cuba's main exports is female 'dancers' (hookers) going overseas to work for a business, means that Cuba's supply of young people is drying up.

But not to worry. There are still enough young hot prostitutes to go around. At bargin basement prices too! Trust me I know.

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

err- sucker foreigners who live in Europe and Canada.

[nonee moose]

pancho:

get back to your homework, popeye. or your mommy won't get you that second-hand nintendo...

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

I'll make you a deal. I'll get back to my homework the second your extended family stops whoring themselves out to foreigners. That would be... never.

[Floridiano]

Tourist favour extremely ugly Cuban girls (cocotimbas) and only the extremely ugly ones marry foreigners.

A nice girl is quite expensive in Havana and they cater to rich European tourists, not to package tourists with a budget.

Canadians usually consort with "cocotimbas" and they pay 50 to 200 dollars, but the girls extract from them (jinetean) all the money they have. They are always drunk and they don't know the language. Nothing to do with Europeans. Europeans are smarter and they get along with Cubans.

The most despicable tourists in Cuba are Canadians and Mexicans (indígenas).

Cubans don't like "cocotimbas".

"Cocotimbas" are pure African women with kinky hair (pelo malo) and extended families that love withcraft and potions. Many Canadians end up drinking "hierba" and then they fall madly in love...

Cocotimbas have a very large bithrate. If tourists take all cocotimbas away, birthrate is bound to decline.

A blessing for local authorities.

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

That goes to show just how racist you are.

"Tourist favour extremely ugly Cuban girls (cocotimbas) and only the extremely ugly ones marry foreigners."

"'Cocotimbas' are pure African women with kinky hair (pelo malo) and extended families that love withcraft and potions. Many Canadians end up drinking 'hierba' and then they fall madly in love..."

You can get a 'nice' girl in Havana for $15 - $10 maybe $20 if you don't bother to bargin. Sure there are suckers who fall in love with a whore and give her all of their money. But that's why they're suckers.

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to get a hot Caucasian girl in Havana for over $10 - $15 especially if you speak passible Spanish.

[Robert Barrocas]

Pancho/John/Whatever the hell your name is,

Doesn't it bother you that you have to pay a woman to sleep with you? I can't believe that you're so vocal about it, as though it's something to be proud of. Most men who visit prostitutes never dare mention it because it is humiliating and embarrassing not to be able to get a women into bed without paying for it. But, I guess that just goes to show that you are human waste. What is humiliating for a normal man is something you're proud of.

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

Sure I can get a 'normal' woman in bed. I have two fuck buddies now. But I go on vacation to have a good time. Why would I waste hours on end chasing around European woman, and spend money taking them out, when I could just pay a hot Cuban chica $10-$15 and be done with it.

It's all economics. I'd rather spend $60 bucks on vacation and bang 6 hot chicks. Then spend $100 on some European/American/Canadian chick for dinner and then drinks at the bar and still maybe not get laid. I mean the whole thing seems like common sense to me.

Now if I could routinely walk up to an American chick while on vacation, bang her 10 minutes later, only have to spend $15 or less, and then kick her out of my room afterwards. Well then I wouldn't be paying Cuban women $15 to fuck.

Remember you're not paying them for sex. You're paying them to leave afterwards.

[Robert Barrocas]

No, you're paying them for sex.

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

You can look at it however you want. But the fact still remains, it cost's A LOT less to slip a hot Cubana a couple of bucks then to go out on a date.

And you're guaranteed sex. If you chase around a Canadian/European chick you may pay out the money and not even get anything in return. So it doesn't make much sense not to bang a jinetera if your goal is to get some pussy.

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

Especially at the bargin basement prices that they can be had for. I mean $10, come on. It doesn't get much easier or cheaper then that.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

John/Juan:

In Cuba, young people intentionally inject themselves with the AIDS virus in order to have access to better food and housing. Perhaps you'll hook-up with one of these girls (or guys?) and get a head start on the hell that awaits you in the bye-and-bye.

[Floridiano]

Robert

That "Pancho" has never been to Havana in his entire life. He's probably one of those letrinos that envy Cubans.

Probably one of those "indígenas" (beaners) that go down to Cuba to meet white girls. They have to pay from 50 to 200 cuc.

All the girls are afraid of them due to the fact that they love to beat white girls, they are dickless, they are resented (just like that Pablo scum) and they are dwarfish little beanie bags.

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

"In Cuba, young people intentionally inject themselves with the AIDS virus in order to have access to better food and housing. Perhaps you'll hook-up with one of these girls (or guys?) and get a head start on the hell that awaits you in the bye-and-bye."
--------------------------------------------

If you're stupid enough to believe that piece of propaganda you'll believe just about anything. Anyway I use protection and get tested yearly so I don't have anything to worry about.

[Floridiano]

Just rereading "Pablo's" drivel. He's never been to Cuba in his entire miserable life.

He's probably some sort of mestizo that hates Cubans. He probably lives under a trailer in a trailer park.

Yes, with 10 dollars you can be the King there down at Nicaguaya or Honduras. But in modern day Havana with ten dollars Pablo is just a pauper diskless indígena, just like those dwarfish and ugly mongrels that Chavez and Morales packs to Cuba.

Cubans are scared of them, since they are sick, with contagious diseases.

Pablo is probably one of those.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

Posted by: Floridiano | May 23, 2006 at 07:52 AM
The Juan Velázquez character rings a bell in my memory. He was the same character present in every post in this same board a few years ago, maybe five or six years ago.

He's Puerto Rican, but in his deranged mind he believes himself to be a WASP, a direct descendant of the Pilgrims.

He received some army instruction (his previous nick was Warthog) and receives disability payments from the Government. He lives in a shack near Miami river and writes from a public library.

He hates Cubans to death. More than hate I'd say is envy and resentment. He accuses Cubans of calling him "jabao" or mulatto with reddish or blondish hues.

A message to Juan (Pancho) Valquez, will you tell this foolish immigrant that he is referring to you and not me. You see the immigrants are accusing me of being you, and you say absolutely nothing. Instead you stupidly stammer proudly about buying a $10.00 piece of ass, which by the way is dangerous. Why in the hell would you want to put your pecker in the same hole as 2000 other peckers. Stupid. Stupid. And another thing you ought not be talking like that in front of A.T., quite frankly I find it a bit offensive. If you are going to be nasty then dont go after the women so hard. However the right wing illegal immigrant alien Cuban man is a different story. It isnt the Cuban woman's fault, they had to follow their fraidy cat men. Now if Cubans did tease you about being of mixed race Puerto Rican background. Which judging by the comments on this board I suspect they have teased you.. Well, so what Pancho!! As far as I am concerned most of Miami is of mix-raced people anyway, hell all of America in 100 years will be mixed. Truth of the matter is that the mixed race illegal immigrant are best looking divas in Miami. If you watch a Miss Universe, the Miss. Columbia, Miss Peurto Rico, Miss. Brazil they always crush a Miss. Germany or Miss. England. So I dont know why illegal immigrants like Manuel hate you because your skin is two shades darker. I suspect immigrants like Manguel, and Floridano secretly realize any racial mixture, may increase the penis size, and athletic ability in you. I once dated a girl who the year prior dated a black guy. After some intense questioning by me, she foolishly, and ignorantly admitted to me that her past black boyfriend's penis was "a lot" bigger then mine. Of course after cussing her slutty ass out, and then breaking up with her, i got jealous and envious. So speaking from experience, i suspect that is why white Cubans hate you and make fun of you because they suspect that your penis may be bigger, you can play sports better, and you can dance and sing better. Look I dunno if prior abuse is why you take issue with the illegal immigrant Cuban. We all have our reasons. My reason is that I dont like their immigrants hands around my nations foreign policy and as a result spreading their right wing philosophy around the world, and getting me hated when i travel overseas, much like they are hated now. All in the name of bringing down Fidel of course. When I have some free time this weekend, I will compile a comprehensive list about the reasons why illegal alien Cuban right wing exile should be immediately deported back to Cuba. Exception of course being my sweetheart A.T. But just ease up on the Cuban diva a bit. It sounds like you know something about them i dont know. But i have had a fairly good experience with one, being A.T. So I have craved a "small" an exception lately with them. At least until one pisses me off.

P.S.
Gotta go study see you tomorrow folks.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

And another thing Pancho. You ought not to be laughing and disrespecting the plight of the Cuban islander, particularly the female. On one side you have Fidel starving them, and then on the other side are their Miami brothers and sisters starving them. I have never met her, but im sure the Cuban islander is a very proud woman. Selling herself to some fat and nasty tourist may be one of the only means of survival for her. Its also disrespectful to give her only 10.00, which is the cost of a mixed drink. Instead, why dont you take that 10.00, and buy her some groceries. That way she can retain some dignity, and you can preserve yours. I know it might sound like the "liberal" thing to do, but its the better thing to do.

gotta go for real

[Floridiano]

But Warthog, you are a PR derelict, you are not even an inmigrant, you are a detritus of American Society.

You are not an immigrant, a beaner, nothing, just a reject.

[Nico Jones]

Esto no tiene que ver con el hambre o el embargo. Africa no tiene este problema. La poblacion cubana esta envejeciando como Castro. Los pobres cubanos: no tienen comida, no pueden expresarse libremente, y ahora ni se les para. Acuerdense que no hay embargo contra las medicinas. Si en EEUU se les deja comprar Viagra a los violadores, hay que mandarle, entre las vitaminas, unas botellitas the pildoras azules a los cubanos.

[Floridiano]

Nico

Before, when the USSR paid all the bills, Castro issued Libretas de Abastecimiento to families with offsprings in Full-Tuition "Becado" Schools.

Such families did not need such "Libretas", so they became a commodity. That's why such families, mostly broken and marginalized, "lumpen", had enormous birthrates.

Now Libretas only cover eight days and children must be fed, USSR doesn't pay a cent to them and they are an enormous burden for Cuba and Cuba's future.

[Nico Jones]

Floridiano

Who sponsors the African nations? Haiti? It has nothing to do with poverty. Their birth rates are much higher than the rest of the world.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Cuba has the highest suicide rate in the world and the lowest birth rate. What this essentially says is that Cubans want to become extinct. Castro may just do Hitler and Stalin one better, and leave his country a barren desert.

[Floridiano]

Nico

I'm referring to the fact that when the USSR was paying Castro's utilities and expenses, in Cuba a mother could earn money by giving birth to many children.

A child "becado", -with a scholarship covering everything- did not need the "rationing book", so the mother could traffic with the rationing book.

Now rationing books are practically worthless.

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

"Probably one of those 'indígenas' (beaners) that go down to Cuba to meet white girls."

You spicks crack me up. Don't you realize that your all beaners to us?

The only exceptions are people that come from Spain (because they're a first world country) and people that come from Puerto Rico (because they're first world as well).

Other then that you're all the same. You all speak mangled colonial spanish, you all come from a poor third world shit hole usually ruled by some crooked dictator, you all love to shovel down rice and beans; or some similar combination there of, and you all come pouring across our borders illegally. Both by land and sea. You are all equally worthless.

And no that is not a racist statment because Caucasian Anglos and Cacucasian Hispanics are both part of the same 'race'.

"And another thing Pancho. You ought not to be laughing and disrespecting the plight of the Cuban islander, particularly the female."

I could give two shits less about Cubans on La Isla. All they are is a cheap source of booze, bitches, and beachside resorts to me. They're almost all whores, including the married ones. Don't believe me? Go to Cuba yourself and ask a girl if she wants to 'come back to your room' and earn a quick 15 CUC.

Hell you usually don't even have to ask them. They approach you and make the offer. Usually using the line: 'Do you have a light?' to get close to you and break the ice.

It's easy enough to find girls to don't regularly engage in prostitution, just because of the huge profit insentive involved and the shear number of girls selling their pussies. It's hard to turn down work which can pay in an hour what you'd usually make in a month.

"Its also disrespectful to give her only 10.00, which is the cost of a mixed drink. Instead, why dont you take that 10.00, and buy her some groceries. That way she can retain some dignity, and you can preserve yours."

I have some news for you John they don't want groceries. They want the money. And what they do with it is no business of mine. They get what they want $10-15, I get what I want which is to fuck them like a worthless whore, and everyone walks away happy.

They can take that money and buy groceries if they want, they can give it to their Chulo, they can use it to buy rum and drugs, they can use to buy a cell phone. I don't give a fuck. It's none of my business what they do with the money they earn that's their decision to make.

And for the record I enjoy degrading impoverished Cuban sluts. It's a turn on for me. Sometimes I can even slip them an extra couple of bucks to piss in their mouth or flush their head in the toilet while giving them anal. It's hot. So if they feel degraded by having to sell their pussy to buy their baby milk then it's just an unexpected perk.

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

I just scrolled up and finished reading a couple of posts. No i'm not from Puerto Rico and i've never posted on this board prior to the post about Val.

John- It's stupid to say 'don't fuck Cuban whores' and then say it's ok to date Cuban exiles. Almost every woman that has been to a city frequented by tourists has whored herself out to foreigners. That doesn't mean that she's a hardcore hooker. But she has sold her pussy.

So if you're messing with an exile from Cuba in Miami it means that at one point she was a hooker. If she has Cuban parents from Cuba but is first generation American, that means mom was a hooker. So it's stupid to say don't mess around with Cuban hookers. If you've had a Cuban girlfriend that use to live you Cuba, chances are you already have.

[nonee moose]

Pancho:
the proper spelling is "spic"... you ignorant. if your going to insult someone in such an intelligent and creative manner, have the cognitive knowledge to spell correctly. don't they teach you that at aryan nation elementary? you putz... man, all that hate and ignorant to boot. what must your world be like?

i'm off to drink to your salvation, pancho. remember, "Akila and the Bee".

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

Pancho,

Wow, good point!! That must be why everyone says becareful when messing with a Cuban girl. Thanks for the heads up dude. But what about the Cuban girls that were born here. What is your opinion about them?

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

noone wrote: "Akila and the Bee".

What is that?

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

Posted by: Manuel A. Tellechea
Cuba has the highest suicide rate in the world and the lowest birth rate. What this essentially says is that Cubans want to become extinct. Castro may just do Hitler and Stalin one better, and leave his country a barren desert.

Yah, but you conviently left out of your list of people destroying off the Cuban people; the Miami Cubans.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

Pancho,

LOL, dude "all" you ever talking about are prostitutes. To each their own. But i have to ask you, does the word "spic" really hurt the Cuban immigrant? I only thought that got the Mexican immigrant mad.

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

"Probably one of those "indígenas" (beaners) that go down to Cuba to meet white girls."

"Tourist favour extremely ugly Cuban girls (cocotimbas)... Cocotimbas" are pure African women with kinky hair (pelo malo)"

"man, all that hate and ignorant to boot. what must your world be like?"

So let me get this straight. It's alright to insult blacks and call other Hispanics beaners as long as you're not an Anglo? Yet another outstanding example of hypocrisy by the Miami Mafia.

"But what about the Cuban girls that were born here. What is your opinion about them?"

They're fine. But if their mother lived over there under Castro's rule then she was undoubtedly a prostitute at one time.

[Robert Barrocas]

John and Juan,

You two guys remind me of these two dogs a friend of mine from South Beach had. She went out of town and my girlfriend and I would pass by her condo to feed her dogs. It's her dogs' nasty habit that reminds me of you two the most. Each dog would eat the other's shit each time we walked them. They would never eat their own, but they would always eat the other's.

[Floridiano]

Pancho

I'm just telling you that you've never been to Cuba in your miserable life as a miserable beaner.

I'm also telling you that you are one of those stupid and retarded beaners that envy Cuban-Americans for their own failure.

Don't desguise your failure with politics. Greenish beaners like you don't have any politics, just hate and resentment.

Sou you go ahead being a dickless beaner (the greenish kind) and take care of your own miserable and wretched people, beaner.

[Grammar Nazi]

Florie

I did not think that you could write in English.

After reading your most recent comments, now I KNOW you cannot write in English.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

grammar nazi,

LOL, yah i think floridiano is a real asshole. I have never seen him before. But within in seconds i knew he was a jerk.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

Grammar,

I guess the Miami Cubans will call Mohammand Ali is a communist.

[nonee moose]

loujohn! where ya been man? you've got a new friend. perhaps the grammar nazi can "learn" you good, as you say.

come forward with your educatinal background, immediately....

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

Nonee,

I have been at skewl, and you know that. You know about my background. So "again" i ask you to put your bio out there!!

[nonee moose]

loujohn, how do we know where you've been? i think you were working the mixer at tropical smoothie. prove me wrong...

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

"I'm also telling you that you are one of those stupid and retarded beaners that envy Cuban-Americans for their own failure."

What I envy Cuban-Americans because of their failures? wtf? What ever you say man.

"Greenish beaners like you don't have any politics"

What the hell are you talking about. You're a Cuban and you can hardly speak english. You ARE a beaner! You just eat black beans instead of the re-fried kind.

[nonee moose]

wikiPancho lives! please proceed... careful with your writing, there's a grammar nazi on the loose...

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

Eh... I could care less if someone rags on my grammar. I could care less about proper grammar during a flame war. Can’t post now though, I have to get ready for my finger paint research class.

[boricua drums]

pancho youre inflatible woman is in bed waiting for you papi she sez you stil owe her 10 bucks from last nite

hehehe she jus made a joke about youre how we say small peniss

[boricua drums]

pancho look up inflatible woman with hole for mouth on wikipedia papi

it sez she gots the herp papi now you got the herp

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

If you're going to try and take a shot at me at least make it mildly entertaining. Your dribble is verbal diarrhea, tedious and pointless.

So I slept with your extended family for a few bucks. Don't take it out on me. It's not my fault your aunts and cousins are selling their pussies. I’m simply providing them with enough money to buy food. Don't hate the player hate the game.

[boricua drums]

im from puerto rico you small peniss and my aunts and cousins is not inflatible

go get tested bro forreal