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applegrove

(118,022 posts)
Sun Apr 14, 2013, 09:59 PM Apr 2013

"Cuban Embargo Has Far Outlived Its Usefulness"

Cuban Embargo Has Far Outlived Its Usefulness

by Cynthia Tucker at the National Memo

http://www.nationalmemo.com/cuban-embargo-has-far-outlived-its-usefulness/

"SNIP..............................................


Still, Castro has his accomplices here in the United States — fanatics who would help him wall off Cuba, restrict the access its citizens have to American culture and generally thwart a hoped-for transition from dictatorship to democracy. Bizarrely, those accomplices consider themselves Castro’s biggest enemies. They have dedicated themselves to his demise.

Indeed, if you know about the recent trip to Cuba by America’s First Couple of Pop, you probably heard about it through the controversy ginned up by a handful of Florida Republicans: Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart. Without waiting to investigate the trip, Ros-Lehtinen and Diaz-Balart, especially, began complaining that it was likely a violation of the antediluvian U.S. embargo.

As it turns out, Beyoncé and Jay-Z entered Cuba legally. They went as part of a cultural and educational exchange arranged under the auspices of a group called Academic Arrangements Abroad and approved by the U.S. Treasury Department, according to Reuters. But the Florida pols didn’t want facts; they wanted to embarrass President Obama by implicating two high-profile political supporters in something nefarious.

It’s the anti-Castro faction who should be embarrassed. The Cuban embargo is dumb, one of the most antiquated and least sensible federal laws remaining on the books. Enacted in the early 1960s, it is a remnant of a different time — an era of bobby socks, segregation and a serious threat emanating from the Soviet Union.

.............................................SNIP"
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freethought

(2,457 posts)
3. Why is this even an issue?
Sun Apr 14, 2013, 10:52 PM
Apr 2013

I guess I must seriously underestimate the influence of the Cuban lobby in a state like Florida. I have said many times that the Cuban embargo has only made us look childish and stupid.

applegrove

(118,022 posts)
4. Not to mention that it has put off Cuba's inevitable transition to a free market democracy by 20
Sun Apr 14, 2013, 10:56 PM
Apr 2013

years at the very least. More likely 40 years.

freethought

(2,457 posts)
5. This is the one thing I would be cautious about
Sun Apr 14, 2013, 11:15 PM
Apr 2013

If Cuba wants to ease into a more market based/capitalist economy they should do it on their own terms and not ours. In other words, if I was a diplomat or an adviser, I would say don't do it as we have done, you may regret later on down the road. I would not want to see Cuba become some vast artificial golf course.

applegrove

(118,022 posts)
6. They are gradually adding market forces. Still my brother was there a few years ago
Sun Apr 14, 2013, 11:31 PM
Apr 2013

and said that the restaurants all wait for Canadian tourists to come in by bus. They are empty otherwise. Totally empty. Nada. Nobody has any money. There is no internal consumer market there. Very sad to see. And people just scraping by. If the US opens up trade it would increase business manyfold, then a middle class could grow. Right now they have nothing. And when Canadian tourists first started to go to Cuba people were bringing lipsticks to tip staff since they were not supposed to tip with Canadian or American dollars. That is really pathetic when you can't even properly tip the woman who cleans your hotel room. That is just warped. So the Cuban government has been responsible for more than its share of shitty policy.

freethought

(2,457 posts)
8. I don't doubt that
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 11:11 AM
Apr 2013

the Cuban government is responsible for its own bad policies. What does worry me that if the trade embargo was to drop, certain interests would swoop in like a bunch of vultures on a carcass.

Last I read, the proportion of U.S. citizens who want to see the trade embargo dropped is up around 2/3. Yet, this tiny minority, not even 1% of the population, has American foreign policy hamstrung. I realize that Castro is a tyrant, but he's old and it's likely that his days are numbered on this world. Besides, we've given aid to foreign despots worse than him. I just don't see how anyones' interest is being served here, not ours and certainly not theirs. This was one issue that I actually agreed with Ron Paul on.

I'll admit a certain amount of selfishness here. I would love to see those beaches and dive on some of the most pristine coral reefs on the globe. Fat chance of that I guess.

OriginalGeek

(12,132 posts)
7. I Agree but for selfish reasons
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 02:34 AM
Apr 2013

I mean, I'm not against Cuba being able to enjoy expanded economy and whatever else ending the embargo might entail but really I just want easy access to cigars and a place that might be awesome to visit. At least, until we start trashing it up while visiting it.

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