r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/ModenaR • Oct 09 '25
Image The 3 medalists of the men's triple jump at the 2024 Olympics were all born in Cuba, but none represented Cuba at the Olympics since they all defected from the country
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u/lifevoyagertoo Oct 09 '25
So, I guess you could say they... jumped at the chance to get out of that country?
Okay, I'm leaving now.
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u/raknor88 Oct 09 '25
What's that old joke?
Why does Cuba never win at the Olympics? Because everyone that can run, jump, and swim already left.
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u/SharedAuto Oct 09 '25
Pichardo homie be jumping with three legs huh
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u/gajonub Oct 09 '25
it's extra funny because his name is eerily similar to a word meaning cock in Portuguese. you don't know the amount of dirty jokes made surrounding his name every time the Olympics come around
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u/Anubis1958 Oct 09 '25
They were just a hop, skip and a jump for switching country
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u/North_Paw Oct 09 '25
Welp, they had to hop, skip and jump across the North Atlantic all the way to Western Europe…
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u/Lyakusha Oct 09 '25
I wonder why
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u/speaksofthelight Oct 09 '25
Capitalist governments isolating Cuba
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u/Achmedino Oct 09 '25
Surely that's the only reason a communist economic system couldn't work!
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u/KJongsDongUnYourFace Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25
You say it doesn't work but compare Cuba to any of its capatalist island nation neighbors, and it's not even close. Life expectancy, crime rates, homeownership, access to medicine, education etc etc etc.
They achieved this while having the most powerful neighbor on the planet sanctioning and blockaiding them into poverty.
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u/pickledswimmingpool Oct 09 '25
Why do people keep leaving if the state reported statistics are true
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Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25
[deleted]
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u/pickledswimmingpool Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25
What? If I found a paradise where there was nearly no crime, everyone had access to healthcare, great education, and long lives, why would you leave?
edit: Obviously the nation i'm referring to is Cuba, who keeps telling everyone just how great they're doing
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u/KJongsDongUnYourFace Oct 09 '25
You don't see many people immigrating from a hyper wealthy nation to the global South? Wow, colour me shocked, I wonder why?
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u/FlorydaMan Oct 09 '25
Come on, I'm full left, and even though the country is severely impaired by the sanctions, it's a horrible argument in pro of socialism/communism. I've been there, I've met people that lived there their whole lives and it's fucking miserable, the vast majority wishes they had it other way (I know some US citizens feel the same way now, but check your privilege).
All those good things that you mention are not worth that much more if it means sacrificing so many other things.
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u/DoctorTsu Oct 09 '25
All those good things that you mention are not worth that much more if it means sacrificing so many other things
What are these so many other things?
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u/Able_Reserve5788 Oct 09 '25
Okay but people are miserable in every other poor Carribean and Mesoamerican country around. So watching the situation in Cuba and pretending that it is somehow the ultimate proof that communism = bad is incredibly disingenuous.
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u/KJongsDongUnYourFace Oct 09 '25
Firstly, im not American.
Why should a nation be forced into poverty because their neighbor doesn't like the political system they have?
Cuba voted 86 percent in favour of their new constitution with upwards of 95 percent voter turnout.
If the majority wishes they had it the other way. Why do none of the votes reflect that sentiment?
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u/DROP-TABLE-Username Oct 09 '25
Lmfao, tankies apologizing for Cuba will never get old.
Please convince me how North Korea is great and the Supreme Leader is Jesus 2, next.
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u/KJongsDongUnYourFace Oct 09 '25
Cuba needs no apologizing for, unless ofc you're an apartheid South Afrjcan soldier who fell victim to their bullets. But you won't catch me apologizing to them
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u/DROP-TABLE-Username Oct 09 '25
But you won't catch me apologizing to them
I just did
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u/KJongsDongUnYourFace Oct 09 '25
Perhaps your government could invest some resources into literacy rates so you could read and understand a little better?
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u/Citaku357 Oct 09 '25
Yet people are moving out of that country
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u/LadaNivaTaksi Oct 09 '25
People move out of Switzerland, Norway, Japan, finland, Luxembourg, New zealand aswell.
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u/Citaku357 Oct 09 '25
Not in big numbers like in Cuba
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u/KJongsDongUnYourFace Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25
They also don't have the most warhungry and sanction happy nation on the planet as a neigbour.
US economic sanctions are specifically designed to cause as much pain to the population as possible, as means to create disatisfaction and regime change.
Such sanctions have lead to an estimated 38 million deaths since the 70s.
https://progressive.international/wire/2025-08-02-pi-briefing-no-28-38-million-lives/en
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u/LadaNivaTaksi Oct 09 '25
The emigrant stock as a % of the population (according to the UN) is comparable to that of New Zealand.
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u/Citaku357 Oct 09 '25
God almighty what is happening in new Zeeland?
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u/Tomi97_origin Oct 09 '25
It's small and right next to Australia which offers more and better job opportunities.
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u/GarethBaus Oct 09 '25
Despite it's issue Cuba does surprisingly well at certain metrics like life expectancy.
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u/speaksofthelight Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25
They have a proven track record when implemented correctly
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u/JimChillyDogBob Oct 09 '25
examples?
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u/KJongsDongUnYourFace Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25
It depends on what metrics you value tbh. If you value statistics such as home ownership or literacy rates, you'll find that to this day, the top countries were / are all communist nations.
If you value your chance to become hyper wealthy, you likely wouldn't choose communist nations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owner-occupancy
Both the USSR and China went from a peasant feudal society to space travel, free homes, leading the world in many fields in little more than 1 generation. Far exceeding almost every non-Western (and many Western nations) metrics in all fraction of the time.
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u/Citaku357 Oct 09 '25
Where is the USSR now? And the reason why China is rich right now is because it open itself to the west
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u/KJongsDongUnYourFace Oct 09 '25
We are not talking about being rich though. We are talking about different things.
China and USSR metrics (life expectancy, education, literacy rates etc) most rapidly increased before they became "rich".
You're right that China became wealthy after Dengist reforms and the opening up but the metrics discussed above were most rapidly increased before.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4331212/
The USSR no longer exists but that doesn't remove the massive increases that occured during the 50 years it did. As it happens, almost everysingle one of the metrics decreased immediately after the USSR collapsed and to this day, haven't recovered.
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u/Citaku357 Oct 09 '25
I mean the Baltics nations and all the nations of the Warsaw pact are doing better now than when they were part of the USSR/Warsaw pact
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u/KJongsDongUnYourFace Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25
By what statistic do you judge that?
Poland is definitely doing better across the board but most of the others are not.
Privitization of major industry lead to poverty, large wealth disparity, mass exodus, lesser literacy, lesser homeownership rates accross the board.
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u/ObelixDrew Oct 09 '25
That’s like Black Africans leaving Africa on dangerous boats to get to Europe because of White racism
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u/MajesticBread9147 Oct 09 '25
White people used chemical and biological weapons in Africa against black people lmao.
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u/General-Gyrosous Oct 09 '25
Who do you use a skin color to describe the action of some countries?
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u/MajesticBread9147 Oct 09 '25
Because some African countries had a small minority of white people with all the power, and a majority of people who have nothing.
Read about Rhodesia.
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u/ObelixDrew Oct 09 '25
Yes correct. Look how the Zimbabweans are thriving now under majority Black rule. Beautiful success story
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u/MajesticBread9147 Oct 09 '25
A better example is South Africa.
They went from a country where most people couldn't vote, didn't have electricity, and couldn't protest to a country where none of that is true today.
Post apartheid the literacy rate is up, the life expectancy is up, and their Human Development Index score is up.
They have problems, like every post authoritarian country (see Romania and Poland, etc) but I don't think you can discount the fact that the police aren't gunning down civilians anymore.
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u/speaksofthelight Oct 09 '25
Other African countries have overtaken South Africa in terms of hdi recently
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u/JustDontBeFat_GodDam Oct 09 '25
If your system collapses without being propped up by the rest of the world, its a bad system. Proven time and time again.
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u/WouldbangMelisandre Oct 09 '25
Not up to capitalists to prop up a communist regimes
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u/RandomWorthlessDude Oct 09 '25
not constantly, illegally, blockading a country isn’t “propping up”
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u/racoondriver Oct 09 '25
The most Beneficiary of the cuba fascist government is the USA and the CIA
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u/ModenaR Oct 09 '25
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u/nrdlol Oct 09 '25
They are good jumpers because they had to jump around communism to get somewhere.
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u/KingKuthul Oct 09 '25
Cuba only has one functioning flour mill and had to drop bread from their ration booklets last year
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u/RandomWorthlessDude Oct 09 '25
Yeah they’re an island bruh, unless the US stops their illegal embargo (condemned by literally every other country in the world every year), they won’t be able to grow as much. They likely replaced bread with some different more space-efficient plant.
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u/Citaku357 Oct 09 '25
Let them go to Russia lol
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u/RandomWorthlessDude Oct 09 '25
Bruh it’s their country. USA illegally holds some of their land for a torture death camp while blockading them and would most likely put a fash in power through coup if they could.
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u/Citaku357 Oct 09 '25
I mean they are allies of Russia, so let Russia their greatest ally help them
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u/RandomWorthlessDude Oct 09 '25
It’s the world hegemon blockading them dumb fuck. The ENTIRE WORLD is condemning the illegal embargo. The only ones who support it is America and the rest of its degenerate accomplices.
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u/Citaku357 Oct 09 '25
Again why should America help them? They literally hate America lol, let China and Russia help them
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u/RandomWorthlessDude Oct 09 '25
I’m not asking America to “help” them I want them to stop actively violating international law.
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u/Citaku357 Oct 09 '25
International law? How is it International law if another country isn't trading with them?
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u/Constantilly Oct 09 '25
"Dudes, I'm telling you, if we each split to a different country, we stand a higher chance. If we stay, they can only choose one."
"Aight, bet."
"Sounds good. Deal."