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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=5 face=Arial>LABOR'S WORLD VIEW
T.V.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=5 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4 face=Arial><STRONG>SUNDAY JULY 22nd </STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>4 - 5PM</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>COMCAST CHANNEL 6</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>UPTV ( Urbana Public Television
).</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Video footage of a recent trip to Cuba (
June 17th - June 24th 2012 ).</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Filmed in Havana and in the countryside in
Vinales ( 3-hours west of Havana ).</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Video footage of segments
of the conference " Socialist Renovation and Capitalist Crisis " at
the University of Havana, street scenes in Havana, nature and
rural life in Vinales, inside three different " Casa Particulares "
( Cuban's who rent rooms in their homes to foreign visitors ), Museum
of the Revolution, and live music.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Also, check out the article below " MY
EXPERIENCE IN CUBA " for more detailed info in addition to the sights and sounds
of the film footage.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial><STRONG>MY EXPERIENCE IN CUBA</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>DAVID JOHNSON</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>For anyone who lives outside the United
States, a trip to Cuba is no different than a trip to any Carribean country like
Jamaica, Aruba, etc..</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>However for U.S. Citizens and Premenant
Resident Alliens living in the U.S., such a trip is not so
easy.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Three years ago the Obama administration
made it a little easier for U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba, but there is still
a lengthy and more costly proceedure that has to be
undertaken.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>First one has to find a tour company that
has an " umbrella " license from the U.S. Treasury Dept. that allows educational
and cultural trips to Cuba. That costs anywhere from $ 300.00 and up per week
for the " priviledge " to travel to Cuba, in addition to the round-trip
airfare.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Then once you are in Cuba, the U.S.
government demands that U.S. citizens only stay in " approved " expensive
hotels arranged by the tour group and participate in all programs of the
tour group. The U.S. government calls this a " people to people exchange " ,
however as most things stated by the U.S. government, what they say and what
they do or try to do is just the opposite. Such is the REAL intended effect
of the above restrictions, to LIMIT contact betwen U.S. visitors and the Cuban
people. And finally when a U.S. citizen returns from Cuba, they are not allowed
to bring anything with them from Cuba, except " items of communication " like
; books, CD's, DVD's, paintings and posters.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>THE CONFERENCE</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>My trip was under the
educational auspicies of a conference at the University of Havana organized
by an organization called " Global Justice ", and the theme of the conference
was ; " Socialist Renovation and Capitalist Crisis".</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>The conference had participants and topic
presenters from both Cuba and the U.S.. There were mostly academics in
attenedence, but in addition to myself a Carpenter by profession, there was a
Baker from the San Francisco Bay area. </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Much of the conference centered on problems
in the U.S. and responses to these problems, like the Occupy Movement and in one
case, the Baker from San Francisco making a presentation about the successful
cooperative he has been a member of for almost 40 years, that started with 5
people and now has 53 members.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>The presentations from the Cuban's focused
on the problems they have been facing historically with the U.S embargo, their
successes and failures in the economy past and present, and ideas about the
future restructuring of the economy to one degree or another. The topic of
converting state owned enterprises into worker owned cooperatives was
repeatedly discussed, with emphasis in the ; agricultural, construction,
retail, and hotel / restaurant / bar and nightclub areas of the
economy.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>There was also a very contentious topic of
allowing Cuban owned small private enterprises to begin operation and to
allow them to hire employees. This was a very hotly debated issue, since this
would begin the process of worker exploitation.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Currently the only private enterprises
allowed in Cuba ( everything else is owned and operated by the State, even
restaurants and bars ) are ; individuals / families who rent rooms to
foreign visitors ( Casa Particulars ), individuals / families who have
turned the front part of their homes into restaurants, people who use their
vehicles for taxis, and street vendors.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>As an interesting example, the taxi driver
I had when I first arrived in Cuba from the airport to my hotel was previously
an Engineer who worked for the Cuban government, but is now driving his own taxi
because he earns 5-10 times as much as his previous Engineering
job.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>An additional piece of info about the casa
particulars ( rooms rented to foreign visitors in private homes ). The
three different homes I stayed in all were clean. The hosts friendly. All of the
rooms were private with ; a key, shower / toilet / sink, air-conditioned and /
or had a fan. Two of the three also had a full sized refridgerator as well. I
payed $ 20 to $ 25 ( U.S. ) for the rented rooms ( which included breakfast
), as compared to $ 80.00 ( U.S. ) for the barely tolerable tour group "
approved " hotel.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>MY IMPRESSIONS ON THE STREET
</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>To begin with, when one arrives in Cuba,
the first thing that is a noticeable difference is the 5-mile ride into
Havana from the airport. One begins to see billboards within a few minutes on
the road, but unlike the U.S. and other places I have been in lesser devolped
countries ( Mexico, Jamaica and Brazil ), one does not see billboards of
Coca-Cola, cellphone companies, and even condom advertisements. Instead one sees
billboards with revolutionary slogans with pictures of Che Guevera, Camilo
Cienfuegos and the Cuban Five imprisoned in Florida. This is when it hit me
that I was actually in Cuba.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>On the streets one sees about one in every
four vehicles that are pre-1959 American cars, small Fiat looking
Russian vehicles from the 1970's and 1980's, many motorcycles with side
cars, an occasional newer Japanesse or European vehicle, as well as many
horse drawn carts and newer Chinese city buses.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>For a city of 2-million people, the traffic
was steady but not congested.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>The first evening I observed a lot of
social activity occuring in the streets and along Havana's sea wall ( El Malecon
). Young people with unusual haircuts, piercings and tatoos like you would see
in the U.S. or Europe. A diverse and intermingled racial mixture of
people socializing together. Individuals, couples and families of
all ages walking around and hanging-out at the seawall, drinking openly in
public and various individuals and small groups of people singing and playing
musical instruments. My first thoughts were that this did not seem like an
oppresive society.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>In the U.S., the police would not tolerate
such large informal social gatherings in public on the
streets drinking alcohol, and would be sending in riot squads to break-up
any such gatherings that did not have official approval,
restrictions and permits.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>One saw Cuban police mainly in the tourist
areas and unlike Mexico, Jamaica and Brazil, no where did I see the police
patroling with shotguns and automatic weapons, with arrogant attitudes and
glaring at the people on the streets, looking and acting like they were hoping
for a confrontation with someone.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial> I have even seen this occasionaly in
the U.S., but not in Cuba. I felt perfectly safe walking around at night. The
one danger in walking at night in Havana however is the occasional uncovered
sewer manhole or busted chuncks of concrete on the sidewalks in certain
areas.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>In</FONT></STRONG> <STRONG><FONT
size=4 face=Arial>subsequent evenings during my 7-day stay in Cuba, I found to
my suprise that the Cubans I spoke to were : </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>1) Very well informed about what was
happening in general in the U.S.., politically, economically,
etc..</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>2) Not at all timid about stating
their opinions about what they liked and disliked about the Cuban government
and society. Several people stated that Fidel Castro, despite his
outstanding leadership in the Cuban revolution, should have stepped aside years
ago, and that younger people in general should be in leadership positions at the
national level. Also that corruption is pervasive. In particular, if one needs
something like a service they are entiltled to under Cuban law from a low
level government official, that bribery is often needed to obtain what they
need in a timely matter. </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>3) Very proud of their healthcare and
educational system, and were shocked to hear from me examples of how much
both healthcare and university education cost in real terms compared to
what myself and the average U.S. worker earned.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>4) Stated repeatedly the evils of the U.S.
embargo and did not blame the American people, but instead the U.S.
government and those who control it.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>5) Were cautiously optimistic about
the future in terms of ;</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>a) The U.S. embargo
ending and a subsequent influx of U.S. tourists
and products.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>b) The Cuban government transfering state
run enterprises into worker owned cooperatives.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>c) Being able to travel abroad
easier.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>d) U.S. companies moving into Cuba
providing products and jobs but with restictions upon them in terms of
their ability to control the economy and influence the
government.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>e) Being able to protect their healthcare
and educational system from adverse changes.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>What also suprised me was the abundance of
people who owned chickens in Havana and the number of rooftop vegetable
gardens.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>With the exception of my first night in
which I was " persuaded " by the tour group to stay in an overpriced hotel, I
stayed in casa particulars ( Cubans who rent rooms to foreign visitors
) and because of this I had another oppurtunity to get the opinions of
my hosts as well as sample some delicious home prepared Cuban food. What was
really amazing was how tasteful simple items like eggs, milk and butter
were and how thick and flavorful various fruit juices were compared to the
U.S..</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>It was obvious that Monsanto, ADM, Carghil,
and other agri-businesses with their chemical and preservative laced products
and their livestock factory production of egg, meat, and dairy products was not
present in Cuba.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>The downside of Havana however was the
terrible condition of most of their buildings, literally falling apart, even
though inside people's apartments everything was clean and well
maintained.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>The building elevators were very scary and
as I stated previously, the sidewalks were in many places
torn-up.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>The streets were in decent condition and
many of the two and three hundred year old buildings in the old part of Havana
have been beautifully restored. But when one walks a few blocks away from the
tourist areas with it's magnitude of hustlers and aggresive prostitutes, one
finds entire blocks of buildings in some areas that looked as if the U.S.
military had bombed the area five years previously.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>IN THE COUNTRYSIDE</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>The fourth day I was in Cuba I traveled to
a town 3-hours west of Havana called Vinales, which has about 20,000
inhabitants and is located in an agricultural area that grows ; tobacco, coffee,
and a variety of fruits, vegetables and livestock. The primary attraction of the
area of Vinales is the haystack shaped mountains ( Mozotes ) full of caves and
protected forests that has been a UNESCO nature site since the mid-1970's. Hence
there is a fair amount of tourism every year.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>The drive to Vinales was an interesting
glimpse of the Cuban country-side. The interstate higway that we took
three-fourths of the journey was not in as good of condition as interstate roads
in the U.S., but considerably better than similar roads I have encountered in
the past in Jamaica and Mexico ( with the exception of the expensive Mexican
toll roads ). Along the interstate I saw people on bicycles and horse drawn
wagons traveling on the shoulder of the highway, as well as groups of people
standing under various overpass bridges, waiting for transport trucks to stop
and in exchange for a few pesos give them a ride to town exits along the
way.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>During the 120 mile or so ride on the
interstate I saw an occasional agricultural field, but the vast majority of the
flat-lands ( with mountains in the distance ) were unused grasslands and
scattered shrub trees. At the previous days conference in Havana, I had learned
that Cuba is only currently using about 20 % of it's potential of land that
could be used for agricultural production. One of the future goals of the Cuban
government is to try to significantly increase the development of
unused land into agricultural cooperatives. An importent priority in a
country that imports 70 % of it's food supply.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Once we left the interstate and traveled
the last 15-miles or so on two lane roads to the town of Vinales, I saw
a lot of small farms with many fruit trees and various small to medium
sized parcels of land growing a variety of crops, in addition to a fair amount
of pigs, chickens, goats, and an occasional milk cow
and/or cattle.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>All of the houses I saw were made of either
log cabin type solid wood or concrete block and
stucco with a variety of different roofs of clay tile,
concrete, metal, or in some cases thatched
vegetation.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>No where in Cuba, either in the
outskirts of Havana or the country-side did I see the familiar metal and /
or cardboard shacks that I saw a lot of in Mexico, Jamaica, and parts of
Brazil.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Nor did I see large amounts of
trash, garbage dumps, or rivers and streams used as open sewers as exists in the
above countries. </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>On the two lane side road
to Vinales, I saw both arriving and during my departure several days later,
transport and pick-up trucks with doctors riding in the back, wearing
white robes and hiking boots and carrying black doctor's bag of medical
supplies, making their weekly rounds to small villages.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>In the town of Vinales, other than the main
road into town where about 5-6 blocks of businesses were located, all of the
streets were rough dirt and gravel with a considerable number of
pot-holes, with many chickens and pigs wandering around.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>In contrast, people's homes were in some
cases very well maintained inside and on the exterior, to the point of
looking " middle class ". In general it appeared that the people in this small
city had a higher standard of living than most people in
Havana.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>CONCLUSION</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Cuba is a very
interesting country that is currently in a period of transition. The
next five years or so should be interesting as to how and to what extent
Cuba changes for either the worse or the better. In many ways it is like things
have been frozen in time since the 1950's in the case of many functioning
automobiles or more accurately the 1970's in the case of it's " newer
" buildings, with an unbelievable amount of unspoiled and untouched
nature as well as an abundance of older buildings that are still
standing in various degrees of restoration or disrepair, some dating from
the year 1650. But also an incredible number from the 1890's and the 1920's that
have an incredible amount of ornate architectual
detail.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>It is my opinion that none of this
preserved history and nature would exist if the Cuban revolution had not been
successful.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Capitalism would have destroyed most of it
years ago and in it's place new sterile high-rise office buildings,
condos and shopping malls would have been
constructed.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>In terms of human beings, one of
the things I noticed was how good of teeth everyone had. How I saw no
people sleeping in the streets, begging, nor extremely thin or extremely
overweight people, or that </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>" beaten down " look of despair,
desperation and defeat. Which is more than I can say about other places I
have been in Latin America / Carribean ( Jamaica, Mexico, Brazil ) or even
in certain areas of the U.S..</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Cuba has many problems, in particular the
general condition of housing and infrastructure in Havana. But
Cuba has a much higher standard of living than any of the neighboring
countries in the Carribean / Latin America, in particular Haiti and
Hondurus.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>It's main economic source of revenue is ;
tourism, tobacco, and sugar, although it has made some significant economic
advances in recent years in alternative energy such as wind, solar and
hydro-electricity, as well as the beginings of a solar panel manafacturing
industry for both domestic use and export. The overall economy has grown in
the last 2-3 years, including a 24 % increase in tourism. Ironicly though the
tourism infrastructure has been barely able to keep pace with the increase. I
was told at the conference that if the U.S. embargo against Cuba would end next
month, there would be a mass influx of U.S. tourists and that Cuba would not be
able to handle the increase in the number of visitors.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Although I wondered when I was in Cuba, if
Cuba really needed the U.S. for anything considering it's current economic
relationships with Europe, Latin America, China and Japan
?</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Ending the U.S. embargo I was told would
help Cuba in many ways such as cheaper food prices and some medicines with U.S.
patents, as well as a larger variety of products that would be available. As
long as there were no political and economic " strings attached ". Of course if
U.S. corporations would be allowed in to Cuba with no restrictions on their
operations and behaviour, how long would it be before the IMF and World Bank
would begin to move-in ? If that would be the case it would only be a matter of
time before they would try to privatize everything and the Cuban people would
lose their free health-care and free educational system.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>My wife's cousin who lives in Poland
experienced first hand what a total transformation from a State run economy to a
capitalist economy is like. Almost overnight when this happened in Poland in the
early 1990's, half of the country lost their jobs, rents doubled and food
prices tripled. This has since been termed " Shock Doctrine ", and several of
the Cuban Presenters at the conference used the term and stated emphaticly that
current Cuban government officials have stated that they will under no
circumstances allow this to happen. I hope this is the case and not as in the
transformation of Russia where shock doctrine also occured with the cooperation
of Communist Party government officials who became very rich in the process via
bribes and kickbacks.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>In general not only is Cuba fascinating and
it's people engaging and friendly, but it has something very special
about it which is difficult to describe.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Although I was only in Cuba for 7-days, and
I woulld need to live and work there for at least a year to speak with any real
confidence about what life there is truely like, I nevertheless saw that what I
had been told about Cuba all my life via the U.S. government and the corporate
media was an absolute and total LIE !</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4 face=Arial>I hope that the Cuban people are able to
keep the best of what they have and change for the better
the inadequacies. I am both worried and hopeful as probably many
Cubans themselves are in terms of what the future will
be. </FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
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