Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> >
>
> On one hand, it's a funny anecdote; on the other hand, the popularity
> of Coke, Pepsi, etc. in poor nations is often a sad index of the
> absence of potable tap water.
>
Decades ago some work I read on Cuba referenced Che on the difficulties
of getting the Coca-Cola plant in Cuba operative. It seems that the way
the plant worked was simply to follow a mechanical formula for mixing
imported ingredients that were identified only by a number. In other
words, no one in the plant had the slightest idea how to produce a soft
drink. Both Che and the author were discussing the case as an example of
how so many imperialist investments in the third world were
non-contributors to third world development -- "manufacturing plants"
that in fact were only glorified warehouses. But Che also declared tht
in a semi-tropical country soft drinks were a necessity not a luxury,
which is why the Cubans spent so much time trying to use the plant.
Carrol