Cuba libre

I saw this at the San Diego Latino Film Festival March 15, 2006. This is a very funny movie, a Spanish farce along the lines of an early Almodovar movie or an Álex de la Iglesia movie. Its about some squatters in Madrid Spain who are chased by police and take refuge in the Cuban embassy. The Cuban ambassador is running for president of Cuba, expecting a dying Castro to finally declare democracy. Pandamonium ensues. I have a next door neighbor who lived in Madrid and he says the low wages and high rents there are oppressive. (as bad as San Diego) So I guess squatting is funny to the Spanish.The movie was shot cheaply (the film stock looked pretty washed out) but got a lot of value for the money.

This movie is based on the dishonest premise that Cuba is not already democratic, and that Fidel Castro has not been elected numerous times.

That is a common capitalist myth, which ignores the fact of the 1976 People Power constitution, and the concomitant political system.

In Cuba, workers in workplaces and people in communities meet and vote on issues, and elect representatives to regional assemblies. This system is so democratic that the voters can recall those representatives and elect new ones before the next general elections, if those representatives do not do what the voters want.

Then, at the regional level, representatives meet and discuss and vote on regional issues, and elect representatives to the national assembly.

Those national assembly representatives meet and discuss and vote on national issues, end elect representatives to the Cuban government executive. Until recently, they continued to vote for Fidel Castro as president in each election. Then after Fidel Castro resigned from the presidency, they elected Raul Castro as president (Raul Castro had previously been elected many times to be vice-president).

Thus you can see that Cuba is a democracy - a socialist democracy - and the film's premise is dishonest, and promotes the capitalists' myth that Cuba is "undemocratic".