Sen. Feinstein singles out Cuba as potencial smuggling point

[Freddie Stubbs]

A California senator who chairs a congressional caucus on international drug trafficking warned last week that Cuba could become a significant hub for illegal drugs entering the United States in the near future.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) made the remarks while leading a hearing on what several observers consider the growing possibility that the Caribbean could become an even larger transit zone for illegal drugs. If the trend happens or is happening, it is likely because of increased pressure international law enforcement is placing on violent drug cartels in Mexico and elsewhere in Central America, these observers say.

While mentioning the growing drug violence throughout the Caribbean during opening statements of the Feb. 1 hearing of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, Feinstein said Cuba should not be considered immune from the problem.

“I would be remiss not to mention Cuba. Just 90 miles from Florida, Cuba has the potential to be a major trans-shipment point for illicit drugs,” she said.

more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/10/2634547/sen-dianne-feinstein-singles-out.html

[bemildred]

1. The Senator needs to take a look in her own back yard. nt

[RC]

7. Back Yard? How about cleaning up the Front yard first?

[bemildred]

9. Yep, let's do the front yard too. nt

[dipsydoodle]

2. I can't think of anything less likely

.

[naaman fletcher]

3. In other words, Cuba is not, in fact, a transit point.

What a b*tch.

[Blue_Tires]

4. Translation: Our CIA boys are already struggling in an over-saturated market!!

Won't someone PLEASE think of our operations in Haiti and elsewhere in the Caribbean? Our agents got families to feed!

[geardaddy]

11. You win the thread.

[GeorgeGist]

5. Ms Feinstein has the potential ...

to be a lazy Senator.

[kenfrequed]

6. Leave it to Feinstein

I sometimes wonder (though I know this was absurdly impossible) what would have happened had Jello Biafra won the race for mayor of San Fransisco against Feinstein and Kopp.

Again, there really wasn't a way this could have happened that I can imagine.

[stockholmer]

16. Jello time!

[Javaman]

8. In other news: US supplies drug cartel with weapons...

Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/03/eveningnews/main20039031.shtml

(CBS News) WASHINGTON - Federal agent John Dodson says what he was asked to do was beyond belief.

He was intentionally letting guns go to Mexico?

"Yes ma'am," Dodson told CBS News. "The agency was."

An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms senior agent assigned to the Phoenix office in 2010, Dodson's job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen.

more at link...

[txlibdem]

25. The beauty of truth

It cuts through politico's BS like a hot knife through butter.

+1

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Playbook Rule #356:

"If you don't like a foreign government, accuse it of smuggling drugs."

[dipsydoodle]

12. Or money laundering

Possession of US$s has been illegal in Cuba since Bush accused Fidel of money laundering.

[hughee99]

13. As opposed to the domestic government that smuggles drugs? n/t

[xxqqqzme]

14. Someone needs to loosen

the sizing adjustment on her wigs.

[Vogon_Glory]

15. She's Part-Right: Cuba DOES Have The Potential

She's part-right. Cuba DOES have the potential to become a narco-smuggling point to the US.

Despite the fact I'm not part of the rose-tinted glasses cheering-section of DU's Castro fan club, I will give the Castro brothers grudging credit for being hostile to the drug cartels and for being effective at keeping the narcos and narco-violence and narco-corruption out of Cuba.

Should Cuba change its political culture to a more open society with elections, politicians, and more freely-flowing capital, narco-corruption and narco-violence WILL be something for Cuba and Cubans to worry about.

[DonCoquixote]

18. ding ding

The reason castro has kept power is that the Cubans know the folks in Miami are busy working to make Cuba a HELL HOLE if castro is overthrown. Hell, look at what they did to Miami, now imagine that combined with GOP greed. A post Castro cuba would make Ayn Rand squeal with joy.

[hughee99]

17. I wonder if she has a plan to combat this that her husbands company would profit from? n/t

[unkachuck]

19. "...Cuba has the potential to be a major trans-shipment point for illicit drugs..."

....hurry up! Let's invade Cuba right now before it's too late!

....mommy and daddy need some war-profits....

[nanabugg]

21. So does Aruba and Key West. nt

[flamingdem]

20. What in world caused this outbreak?

I expect this kind of trash talk from the right wing Cuban Americans, not Diane!

[Proletariatprincess]

22. I wish Feinstein would just retire.

She has been around way too long now and she is nothing but a DINO anyway. I am a lifelong San Franciscian and I haven't voted for her in years. I love that we have two women senators from california...just wish they were both progressives.

[Paladin]

23. Easy To Conceive Of It Happening---If It's Not Already Occuring Right Now.

If I were the Castro brothers, surveying 50 years of economic and personal devastation from an embargo which should have been lifted long ago, an embargo kept in place by a handful of crazed, right-wing Cuban exiles in Florida and the gutless politicians they intimidate, why wouldn't I want some major payback?

[flamingdem]

24. Not a good idea to gain payback via smuggling

as you know, but there's the additional fact of how Honduras has become the most violent country in the world due to the drug gangs that moved in from Mexico.

Cuba knows it would be toast if that element got a foothold.

Sadly, those drooling over this might be located in the USA, not Mexico..