Sam Farr: “perhaps people do not like to hear this, but a country that has been able to put their priorities in perspective has…”

“perhaps people do not like to hear this, but a country that has been able to put their priorities in perspective has been Cuba, and the reason Cuba did it is they invested in the infrastructure to keep the rural people in the rural areas so that they could have rural economic development. The countries that we are talking about, people are fleeing the rural areas to move into the cities. That is why there are all these poor barrios that are constructed without water. I lived in a house that did not have water or sewer or lights. It is a pretty miserable situation because all you are doing is, in our case, we had kids haul water for us; they cannot go to school because they have to haul water. So you really begin to understand that if you are going to try to build up sort of an economic base, you have to stay with the basics; and the basics are, you have to have running water in the house. If you have to go and get it, that means that usually the children have to go get the water and bring it to the house. And if you do not have any electricity, that means you have to build a fire or buy very expensive petroleum, now kerosene, to start a fire. Most people go out and try to get charcoal and get wood. So you are gathering the basics to make the meal so people can eat. You have to go out, and you certainly cannot afford to go to the supermarket, so you go at it piece by piece. It takes the whole day just to put together food on the table.…”