Obama: Stay the Course on Cuba
Leading up to Barack Obama’s inauguration, it seemed that every newspaper in the country was publishing an editorial advising him to “end the hostility” with Cuba, as if the United States had a problem with Cuba. Invariably, they attack the U.S. embargo on Cuba without acknowledging the realities of that island nation.
The truth is that the United States doesn’t have a problem with Cuba or its people. It has a problem with the illegitimate and murderous regime that took that country hostage almost exactly fifty years ago. It has a problem with Cuba’s so-called leaders. Leaders who took sides with the enemy in a very dangerous but now lightly regarded cold war. Leaders who parked nuclear missiles within 90 miles of U.S. territory and who were outraged when their Soviet masters decided that perhaps that wasn’t such a good idea. Leaders who were responsible for the largest expropriation of U.S. business interests before or since. Leaders who attempted — and in some cases succeeded — to subvert countries not only in the Americas but also in Africa. Leaders who ordered the spying at the highest levels of America’s intelligence services and that were responsible for the shootdown of two civilian American aircraft that resulted in the death of three American citizens and one resident. Leaders who have killed thousands of Cubans and have been indirectly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands more who tried unsuccessfully to escape the tropical gulag.
These editorial boards act as if this is a simple case of kissing and making up. A misunderstanding that American presidents of both parties have been unable to clarify. Of course, it’s all bunk. It’s an attempt to establish a moral equivalency between a hideous dictatorship that has entrenched itself for half a century and the greatest representative democracy to ever grace the face of the earth. They ask for a “dialogue” even though the Castro brothers have proven time and again that they are only capable of a monologue. Almost every other country in the world has diplomatic relations with the regime and their attempts at dialogue have yielded nothing for the Cuban people.
Gomez – Leaders who ordered the spying at the highest levels of America’s intelligence services…
And that differs how, from leaders of Russia, CHina, Israel who ordered even greater spy efforts against us? (Cuba is 6th or 7th in spy activity in the US, significantly behind the “Big 3″.)
Other than us always trading with and visiting those countries and “rewarding Israel” to the point where we give them billions a year.
and that were responsible for the shootdown of two civilian American aircraft that resulted in the death of three American citizens and one resident.
And after 9/11, we issued orders to our military to respond to hijacked or enemy aircraft headed for major cities the same way the Cubans did. One warning. Fail to heed and the enemy aircraft gets shot down.
Leaders who have killed thousands of Cubans and have been indirectly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands more who tried unsuccessfully to escape the tropical gulag.
The death toll in Cuba is less than the revolutionary period death toll in France, Mexico, Russia, China, Spain, Israel, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam….and the US was back trading with and visiting those countries and their revolutionaries and terrorists esconced in office well within 10 years.
As for “indirect responsibility” for deaths government had no role in what caused the deaths but inaction….well, then culpability must rest with leaders for famines, floods, refugees fleeing other shitholes and drowning or dying in the desert.
Are American, Haitian, Mexican leaders responsible for the illegals fleeing those counties to America that die at sea or in the desert, as well?
Obama (I) will maintain the embargo. It provides us with the leverage to present the regime with a clear choice: if you take significant steps toward democracy, beginning with the freeing of all political prisoners, we will take steps to begin normalizing relations.
Obama will maintain the embargo for a little while. It will not end as a quid pro quo for some grandiose “freeing of all political prisoners” – as the US has had it’s own political prisoners much of the time the Embargo was in place..(draft resistors, members of various extremist political conspiracies).
So no, “all political prisoners” will not be freed when the embargo ends. Many of those in jail for advocating violence or active subversion will stay there. The full embargo will end when Castro dies and brother Raoul makes some significant reforms to free peaceful dissenters and opens up Cuban markets more.
Small pieces will stay in place. There will not be full normalization until both sides are generally happy with the other side…but the days of Exile total rejectionists having control of US foreign policy and immigration policy with respect to Cuba have ended with the near=destruction of the Republican Party.
These editorial boards act as if this is a simple case of kissing and making up.
Well, yes. That is what we have done with all our enemies, certainly with respect to trade and allowing US citizens to exercise their traditional liberty of free association and movement. Usually within a few years of a major conflict being over.
We “kissed and made up” with everyone we have had war with over the centuries in short order. Except Cuba, where the Exiles and Right-wingers set our policy for almost 50 years – and cowed local Dems and national Dems because Florida was a swing state..
Power relations have changed quickly, given the Bush disasters and America’s diminished influence and shattered economy. Better we work with Cuba and mutually benefit from trade and relations than sit back and watch it become an authoritarian capitalist outpost and de factor Tribute Nation of China, Inc., 90 miles off our coast.
If it wasn’t for people like H. Gomez, the Cuban Revolution wouldn’t have happened. It’s that simple.
The idiocy of the Cuban exiles and US governments is to isolate another country. By enabling commerce and diplomatic relations, countries can be influenced to change governments, if that’s what they want. It’s that simple.
this has gone on too long
a hand full of exiles in Miami are the only ones against normalzing relations with Cuba
the influx of investments would drown out any oposition to this and would positively change their govenment.
I thought conservatives took responsibility for their actions. You Cuban exiles backed the GOP all the way; they lost. Accept the consequences. You’re not in a position to dictate policy any longer.
everyone seems to forget the goverment that castro over threw was not elected but a dictatorship backed by the us goverment
this has never been about socialism or democracy
it was 2 huge egos fighting each other
and as a regular cuba visitor (not in all inclusives)would rather spend time there than disneyland free health care free education free dental some great things wish we had
wish they would open up to let there own people travel and have more freedoms trust me most would come back grass here isn’t greener for most
Let’s stop listening to the exiles. Gomez and his ilk would still favor Batista if he was in power. And Batista was by far the bigger thug.
It seems that comments 1 thru 6 are sympathetic to the Castro government. Why? These guys have ruined the country (claims of great education reflect the system that was in place before the Revolution, so too medical care; recall that pre-revolution Cuba then had the 3rd largest GDP of any Latin American country. Now Cuba lags Haiti). They don’t allow basic freedoms like speech, assembly or independent enterprise. Pick up a tourist book in Borders or Barns & Noble’s and it turns out the sex trade is bigger than Thailand’s. In addition to the sins outlined by Gomez, recall that Cuba became a big transit point for the drug cartels. Finally, our embargo is pretty trivial, in that no one else is going along; there is plenty of foreign investment. Cuba doesn’t have much of what we want. They want our tourists and the ex-pats to visit and send more money (currently the single largest source of $). Accordingly, Obama’s measured plan is right on; that is they come to heel and then we deal. Otherwise negotiations will be like those with Korea or Iran, where we give up something, get nothing and then they break the deal.
As a final point, I am absolutely flummoxed by folks like Cedarford who draw false equivalences. Man if you can’t tell the difference between us and them I wouldn’t send you to the market to pick-up some veggies because you can’t tell rotten from good.
Batista was clearly not a far bigger thug, by the way. Really, his failing was insufficient thuggishness to hold on to power, rather like the Shah. In both cases, Batista and Reza Pahlavi, they had their arch enemy in hand at one time and rather than kill them, simply exiled them. Batista and Reza Pahlavi regretted it; Castro and Khomeini learned from it. The new guys learned to be utterly ruthless. Oddly, our commentators 1-6 like these kind of guys.
By the way I’m neither Cuban nor Persian. I just really, really hate dictators. My family has had some trouble with them in our European past.
Tim, the ‘free’ caveats you speak of are having consequences in Cuba today.
Due to these items you’d mentioned, and others, the Castro brothers are experiencing difficulty in production. Reason being their workers have become lazy, unmotivated due to the country’s dynamic.
Alas, with unemployment benefits being extended, food stamps going up, I too see the U.S. moving slowly to this type of society.
7. Kurt:
“Oddly, our commentators 1-6 like these kind of guys.”
Another guy who can’t read.
Cuban cigars are VERY excellent, as is their rum. However, the Cuban offices responsible for these main products had to hire Spanish management to salvage and run these programs before total collapse. Evidentally, graduates of the wonderful, free, Cuban educational system couldn’t figure out how to run major businesses.
So, I guess that it’s our fault that Cuba is in shambles, despite the fact that most European and Latin American countries do business with them.
For those not so well informed on the Cuban Embargo pls read below and follow link!
“For those actually aware of Castro’s commercial record and the nature of the “Cuban embargo” a much better explanation for these “demands,” is that: “misery loves company.”To wit:
“Cuba stopped payment on all its foreign commercial and bilateral debt with non-socialist countries in 1986.” disclosed U.S. International Trade Commission Report in 2001.
“Debt talks between Cuba and the Paris Club of creditor nations are on hold. On the table was $3.8 billion of official debt to Paris Club members, part of a much larger debt Cuba ran up through the 1980s, until it began to DEFAULT on payments and then stopped talking with creditors.” Reuters, from back in June 2001.
And remember, back then Cuba was getting $5 billion a year from the Soviet sugar-daddy.
So what happened to that debt, you ask? Well, Fidel repudiated it too. “Soviet Union?” he frowns. “What Soviet Union?…Where is this Soviet Union?” No country by that name anymore, right? So how can I owe it any money?”
In late 2006 France’s version of the U.S. Government’s (i.e., us taxpayers) Export-Import Bank, named COFACE, cut off Cuba’s credit line. Mexico’s Bancomex did likewise. This came about because the Castro regime stuck it to French taxpayers for $175 million and to Mexican taxpayers for $365 million, when these state-run banks had financed sales by some those nations’ politically-connected companies’ to Stalinist Cuba. Bancomex was forced to impound Cuban assets in three different countries in an attempt to recoup its losses.
Early this year, one of the Cuban regime’s best friends, South Africa, was also compelled to bend over for the soap. Here’s part of the AFP story: “Given the assessment of Cuba’s debt position,” Said South African Minister, Themba Maseko, “we are of the view that Cuba was not in a position to meet its obligations in the foreseeable future.” Cuba stuck it to the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa (South African taxpayers) for $117 million, dating back to 1996.
Last year, one of the world’s most respected economic forecasting firms, the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit, ranked Cuba as virtually the world’s worst country business-wise. Only Iran and Angola ranked lower. This firm predicts that Cuba’s abysmal business climate will remain that way for the next 3 years, at the very least.
Dun & Bradstreet also rates Cuba among the world’s worst, right below Belarus. Moody’s rating is off the bottom of the chart as “very poor.” Standard & Poors refuses even to rate Cuba, regarding the economic figures released by the regime as utterly bogus.
Yet despite all the scribbling and gabble about the “U.S. embargo of Cuba,” or “Blockade” as termed by The Congressional Black Caucus and Castro lobbyists (but I repeat myself) the U.S-as I sit here and write–is Cuba’s biggest food supplier and fifth biggest import partner, and has been for the past five years. The U.S. has done over $2 billion dollars worth of business with Cuba the last few years-all for cash.”
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/01/a_bailout_for_castro_too.html
Cuba, like all latin countries is a mess. This due to the deficient culture left behind by the Spanish. Why should the travel freedoms of US citizens be restricted because of this? Cuba has some of the best light tackle saltwater fishing on the planet. I should not have my freedoms restricted just because those payasos in Miami.
Mr Schwanz, your certainly put the “Dick” in Schwanz!
My middle name is Marronga!!
14. Dick Schwanz:
“My middle name is Marronga!!”
It’s not the same as moronga . . .
The only ones hurt by the Embargo is the Cuban people, it’s glaringly obvious that the embargo has done nothing to weaken the Castros. Isolation only empowers the Government. Isn’t it ironic that communism in Russia didn’t last much longer after they got McDonalds and Coke ? The embargo has been a failure and we need to be big enough to admit it and do something to help the Cuban people,they are miserable and starving, 90 miles from Key West,shame on us for allowing it to go on this long.
Camo,
It’s called sabotage,why do good work that only benefits the hated Government ? Granted there is also a lot of incompetence since the only requirement for high positions is loyalty to the Communist party.
P-nut the embargo these days are saving you the taxpayer from getting shafted by the Castro’s as he has done to every other sympathetic nations! Did you not read above that Fidel’s Cuba has the worst credit ratings in the world? The US is Cuba’s biggest food supplier and fifth biggest import partner, and has been for the past five years. The U.S. has done over $2 billion dollars worth of business with Cuba the last few years-all for CASH only! GET THE FACTS!
Get rid of all that crap from the 60s. Open up travel and remove restrictions on businesses to deal in Cuba. Allow people to move freely between the countries. Help the people down there live better lives and have a more positive future. With our wealth and influence we can turn that country into a democracy in no time. This shit is almost 50 years old. Enough already. I’m sure Obama is going to do it. He’s just waiting for Fidel to die.
P-nut: good point with sabotage and incomtetence.
JackT: Is that concept working with North Korea, Iran or Venezuela?
Oops, meant incompetence, not incomtetence.”
Shwanz You sir, are a moral idiot.Apparently your right to fish supersedes all other considerations,such as supporting a murderous stalinist regime that tortures,kills and imprisons its people to keep power. Apparently the screams of those tortured in Castro’s dungeons won’t reach your ears while you fish,you morally impoverished lout! Incidentally, how any American can have the nerve to call any country messed up,after the wall street debacle, the state of our schools, and the spectacular moral,and political corruption on display in the USA,is surreal!
Tim: Selling o
Vivo: there has been commerce and diplomatic relations between Cuba, the EU, and the rest of the world, for 30 years;all it’s done is to provide the werewithal to keep the Communist elite,and its vicius thugs in power,terrorizing and starving an enslaved population.It’s not the embargo stupid! It’s communism!
24. deguello:
Besides sugar, rum and cigars, a large source of income was TOURISM. Tourism opens big financial doors.
When Castro started, Communism may have been the system that worked for the country’s situation. As tourists and commerce flows, things can change. Look at China and the Soviet countries. Not there yet, but getting there.
Besides Capitalism, Communism, Socialism are man-made ideas. A better system is a combination of all three in some form or another. Humans and nations are not cut from the same mold . . .
There’s been european tourism to Cuba for 30 years,all it’s done is to provide prostitutes to morally bankrupt Europeans,(starving girls exchange sex for food in the Communist paradise),and the funds to keep the communist elite in power.Communism has always failed: it has never ben sucessful at anything except causing death and destruction,and providing western utopian fantasists with a spurious alternative to reality.As for China and the” soviet” countries,.In China, the leadership correctly decided that communism would keep China backward,and evolved into an authoritarian capitalism They are doomed, because the chinese middle class will eventually demand, and get, democracy. Castro,and his goons know this;which is why they refuse to evolve.As for the “Soviet” countries,Reagan’s victory in the coldwar destroyed the soviet communist hegemony.Finally,who can visit Cuba with a good conscience, knowing that your tourist dollars ill be used to maintain a torture state that terrorizes,starves,and otherwise oppreses its citizens?VIVA CUBA LIBRE!
“The market is concerned that Sherritt will lose all of their exposure to oil in Cuba,” said Hughes.
“It appears that the Cuban government is not paying for past receivables, or future receivables.”
http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN2741200720090127
Anybody after reading this article and still has doubt as to how the Cuban Government operates, your a fool and I have good property to sell to you in the everglades and the marshes of New Jersey!
More great “business” that we are missing because of the embargo!
Jan. 23 – Pebercan Inc. says the Cuban government is prematurely scrapping a production sharing contract with the Montreal-based company and will pay US$140 million to Pebercan and its Canadian partner.
The Montreal-based company’s Cuban unit, Peberco, will get a total net lump sum payment of US$140 million as payment according to Pebercan.
Pebercan did not give any reason for the move by Cuban authorities. However, published reports have said the government has missed payments to Pebercan and owed the company more than US$118 million.
Pebercan also said its Cuban partner Sherritt International (Cuba) Oil and Gas, a unit of Toronto-based Sherritt International, will get about US$60 million of the $140 million payment.
However, Sherritt has also faced missed payments from Cuba and is owed nearly $400 million. Besides its energy operations in Cuba, Sherritt also has nickel mines and power generation plants on the Caribbean island.
What Pebercan didn’t explain was how it would expect Castro Inc. to pay $140 million when it already owes Pebercan and its partner $518 million that has not been able to pay.
Pebercan said it will “examine future opportunities upon receiving the lump sum.” I am sure that they can expect payment by February 30!
http://www.oilweek.com/news.asp?ID=20826
Agzella: Bravo!
By all accounts the Cuban people are far better under Fidel then Batista. No more is the country the highly segregated and oppressed land where the soldiers marched through the rural areas killing and burning at will. No more is the average citizen underfed and illiterate. Fidel introduced free education and free health care to all people, and gave the poor families children an education.
For every literate Cuban under Batista there is 3 Cuban DOCTORS under Fidel. Also, Cuba sends more doctors overseas to help with disaster relief then any other country, usually ten to twenty times as much as most Europian countrys and much more then USA’s number of 0. He also builds hospitals and sends medical supplies for them to use. The amount of Cuban doctors in Africa alone is staggering, and is the only reason that real progress is being made in the backward and damaging medical condition of their tribal areas.
Maybe that is why Fidel is a long- standing member of the UN’s Human Rights Commitee. That is something you can’t say about an American president. Not bad for an “evil dictator” under a 40 year trade embargo.