An interview with Ricardo Alarcon, President of the Cuban Parliament President of the Cuban Parliament since 1992, and member of the Political Bureau of the Cuban Communist Party, Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada is, after President Raul Castro and First Vice-President AntonioMachado Ventura, third in line in the Cuban government.Professor of philosophy and a career diplomat, Alarcon spent nearly 12 years in the United States as the Cuban ambassador to the United Nations. Over time, he has become a spokesperson for the Havana government. In this long interview, one that lasted nearly two hours, Alarcon did not seek to evade a single question. He comments on the roleof Fidel Castro after his retirement from political life and explains the presence of Raul Castro at the center of power. He also speaks aboutthe reform of the Cuban economic and social model as well as the challenges facing the Cuban nation.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ml2day-recent?d=yIl2AUoC8zA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ml2day-recent?a=t6Hrr8jDBEU:ETU0VsaOTqI:yIl2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ml2day-recent?d=qj6IDK7rITs (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ml2day-recent?a=t6Hrr8jDBEU:ETU0VsaOTqI:qj6IDK7rITs) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ml2day-recent?i=t6Hrr8jDBEU:ETU0VsaOTqI:F7zBnMyn0Lo (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ml2day-recent?a=t6Hrr8jDBEU:ETU0VsaOTqI:F7zBnMyn0Lo) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ml2day-recent?i=t6Hrr8jDBEU:ETU0VsaOTqI:gIN9vFwOqvQ (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ml2day-recent?a=t6Hrr8jDBEU:ETU0VsaOTqI:gIN9vFwOqvQ)
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While one cannot help but be nervous about 'a reinvigorated form of socialism', given recent history, ya gotta give them the benefit of the doubt. I can see the allowance of the mom&pop businesses in non-important sectors, the private sales of houses and automobiles less so. Besides the issue of social equality there is the danger of private accumulation in significant amounts, I've got to assume there is a mechanism to prevent this in the form of steeply graduated taxes on profits, something like 'capital gains'.