Davis: GOP runs (FL) state offices like Castro runs Cuba

[DoYouEverWonder]

February 22, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis compared the way Republicans run Florida to how Fidel Castro runs Cuba as Democrats rallied supporters Tuesday for coming elections.

State workers fear retribution if they say what they think about how the state is run, said Davis, a U.S. representative from Tampa.

"I had a state worker put his arm around my shoulder, he looked around the room to make sure nobody was looking at him, and said "Jim, I'm for you.' What kind of country is that? I've had the same conversations with other people - in Havana," Davis said at the Florida Democratic Party's unity luncheon.

Later, he added, "There are people I run into every time I'm (in Tallahassee) who are afraid to express criticism of their own government and to have their voice heard. That is not democracy. That is not a healthy environment."

Republican officials criticized the comment.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/02/22/State/Davis__GOP_runs_state.shtml


Nice to see a DEM candidate whose willing to stir up the pot.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Here's his photo. He looks energetic.

luck to Florida Democrats.

[wakeme2008]

2. Bro Jebbie runs Florida just like * runs the US.

No big surprise there.

As for Davis,,, too bad his voting record in Congress is so bad.

[Mika]

3. If FL's gov = Cuba's then we'd have universal healthcare and ed!

But, EVERYONE knows that high quality universal health care, low student/teacher ratios, free higher ed, pesticide free organic food infrastructure, and the development of alternative energy sources such as wind and solar has to be forced on a resistant populace.

:sarcasm:

[donsu]

4. kick

nt

[henslee]

5. Hurricaine or not, FL is a disaster. School system, Sanitation dept, water

ways are treated with no respect. But they keep building condos higher and higher.

[noonwitch]

9. Not to mention poor educational systems and the worst child welfare record

Have they found that little girl missing from their foster care system yet?

[VegasWolf]

6. What a mean way to insult Castro!! Comparing him to Jeb. nt

[EuroObserver]

7. Well, I suppose the duly elected

representatives of the People in the National Congress of the Republic of Cuba, the legitimate and collegiate government of that country of some 11 Million people, will not be allowed, in the USA, to sue this person for defamation.

[Judi Lynn]

8. He's trying to influence Bush's slavish constituency, the rabid anti-Cuba

Cubans in South Florida.

Here's an article from the Miami Herald, which panders directly to this element, ever since the days their little Miami godfather, Jorge Mas Canosa, led a terror campaign against the paper for imagined slights, which involved death and bomb threats, destruction of paper vending machines throughout the city, including smearing them liberally with human feces, and taking out advertising on city buses claiming "I don't trust the Herald" to the point the publisher, David Lawrence and his wife both started having their cars checked for bombs every time before starting them:

Posted on Tue, Feb. 21, 2006
CUBAU.S.: Cuba facing potential instability
The intelligence community has placed Cuba on a watch list of nations facing potential instability.

BY PABLO BACHELET
[e-mail]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. intelligence community has added Cuba to its classified list of nations at risk of instability in about two to five years because of growing concerns over the health of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, U.S. officials have confirmed.

The National Intelligence Council, the community's main center for middle and long range analysis, based at the CIA in Langley, Va., added Cuba to the three-part list during its last biannual update in October, the officials added.

One official said Cuba was added to the list of countries that risk instability in the long term, typically two to five years. The other categories cover countries at risk in the short term, roughly less than six months, and those at risk in the six-month to two-year time frame, added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because intelligence matters were involved.

Cuba's inclusion in the classified list is the latest evidence that the U.S. intelligence community is growing increasingly concerned over the consequences of Castro's advancing age and apparently deteriorating health after more than four decades of communist rule over the island.

For more than a year, the CIA has been telling U.S. policymakers that the 79-year-old Castro suffers from Parkinson's, a debilitating neurological ailment that could make it harder for him to govern. His brother and designated successor, Raúl, is only five years younger and is widely reported to be a lifelong heavy drinker.

NOT ON VERGE OF CHAOS

Knowledgeable U.S. officials point out that Cuba's inclusion on the NIC list was a signal to U.S. government agencies to start considering their preparations for a post-Castro Cuba, but caution that this does not mean that the island is on the verge of chaos.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/13921408.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From what I've heard, the Cuban population isn't close to allowing the U.S. government to seize it again.

[laheina]

10. Schwarzenegger has been doing similar things in CA.

During his special elections, he was having the union reps arrested for doing what they were specifically allowed to do in their contracts.

[tanyev]

11. "Republican officials criticized the comment."

Well there's a shocker.

:rofl:

[seasat]

12. 4 those not familiar with Davis, He's for increased trade w Cuba

I've heard him speak on it several times and he is not for the sanctions and travel limitations that we currently place on Cuba. He is from the Tampa area and sees the benefit to Florida from trade and travel. He might play that down during the campaign because of the old guard Miami Cuban expats but he'll definitely be for more relations with Cuba when he becomes governor.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Really! Thanks for the background.

I remember the uproar when a previous Tampa mayor went to Cuba to investigate future trade possibilities, or something, and the Republicans there hounded him wildly, and loudly over it.

It seems the anti-Cuba "exiles" demand tribute from every politician in Florida.

[Mika]

14. The "new guard" of younger Cuban-Americans & expats support trade &..

.. travel with/to Cuba.

Overwhelmingly, they have come to the US for the same reasons that immigrants come to the US from all over the Caribbean and the Latin Americas - jobs that pay more than jobs at home.

Many of the newly arrived are very suprised at how hard it is just to scrape up a living in Miami - its MUCH harder than they had thought just to get by because the cost of basic living is so high (and considering all of the perks offered by the US taxpayers to Cubans only - like instant work visa, instant green card, instant access to sec 8 housing, instant food stamps, etc etc - that says a lot).

[Bacchus39]

15. yeah, they should just go back to Cuba

oh wait, they are not allowed since they have "betrayed" the revolution.

[Mika]

16. Wrong. Cuban immigrants can & do travel back to Cuba.

Bacchus39, you've posted that canard many times here on DU and it has been disproved just as many times - yet you continue to post it.


President Bush has cracked down on Cuban-American travel to Cuba - limiting their travels to Cuba to one trip every three years.

Not that you will stop your repeatedly posting nonsense on this subject, here are some articles (there are plenty more if one uses google)



http://www.usaengage.org/literature/2004/20040812%20ATRIP%20OFAC%20comment.html

160,000 Americans travel to Cuba each year, of which about 120,000 are Cuban Americans traveling to visit family.

Traveling to Cuba
http://mediastudy.com/articles/bdcuba2.html

If civil disobedience isn’t your game, however, another 80,000 or so Americans travel to Cuba legally each year under State Department sanction. Currently full time journalists and researchers, Cuban-Americans visiting relatives under “self-defined” circumstances of humanitarian aid, students enrolled in licensed Cuban Studies programs such as the one at UB (645-3912)

New Travel Restrictions Anger Many Cuban-Americans
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3818848

NPR's Eric Weiner reports that many of these Republican supporters are angry about the latest Cuba travel restrictions imposed by the president -- and that anger is beginning to erode support for Bush's Cuba policy.

Tighter Rules to Take Force on Cuba Travel
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3022445

With the Bush administration placing new emphasis on the embargo on Cuba, next week it will be be much harder to travel to Cuba from the United States. The stricter enforcement has upset some Cuban-Americans

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22227-2004Jul1.html

Opponents of the measures include the Cuban American National Foundation, a no-nonsense anti-Castro organization at the forefront of U.S. policy toward Cuba for two decades. The group issued a statement saying the administration's new measures "created a greater divide" among Cuban Americans.

President Bush chose Wednesday, barely four months before the election, to impose some of the most restrictive measures ever on Americans' travel to Cuba and on Cuban Americans' practice of sending money to relatives on the island.

[Bacchus39]

17. no, I'm talking about Cubans who leave Cuba "illegally"

meaning they don't have the necessary exit visa from the Cuban government.

and you continue to suck up to a dictator.

I am not talking about travel restrictions to Cuba.

[Mika]

18. Not true at all

The rafters and smuggled-in are allowed to travel to Cuba by the Cuban government. I personally know many that have and will continue to do so, although they are limited to once every three years by the US government not the Cuban government.

Please post a link that supports your claim.


-

Just how is supporting our (and Cuban immigrant's) constitutional right to the freedom to travel and posting accurate information about the abridgement of our rights 'sucking up to a dictator'? :crazy:

You seem to be 'sucking up' to untruths & Bush anti Cuba propaganda.

[Bacchus39]

19. once again, I am talking about those LEAVING Cuba

and do not have the "required" exit visa.

[Mika]

20. Rafters and smuggled do not have an exit visa.

Yet they can and do return to Cuba to visit their families.


Why do you insist on this misrepresentation?

Please post a link that supports your supposition that Cubans without an exit visa can't return to Cuba for a visit.

[Bacchus39]

21. link. Exit visa costs $150, Cubans make $10 a month

The government continued to prosecute people for "illegal exit" if they attempted to leave the island without first obtaining official permission to do so. Such permission was sometimes denied arbitrarily, or made contingent on the purchase of an expensive exit permit.

Prisoners were kept in abusive conditions, often in overcrowded cells. Many prisoners lost weight during incarceration and received inadequate medical care. Some endured physical and sexual abuse, typically by other inmates with the acquiescence of guards. Prison authorities insisted that all detainees participate in politically oriented "re-education" sessions or face punishment. Political prisoners who denounced poor conditions of imprisonment were frequently punished by long periods in punitive isolation cells, restricted visits, or denial of medical treatment.

http://www.hrw.org/wr2k3/americas5.html

[Mika]

23. Link does not say they can't return.

Nowhere does it say that rafters and smuggled Cubans who don't have exit visas can't return to Cuba.

The Cubans mentioned in the HRW link are the Cubans caught leaving illegally in accordance with a migration agreement with the US. It was at the US's insistence that Cubans leaving illegally be prosecuted in order to discourage a mass migration of illegals.


Please post a link that supports your claim that any Cuban without an exit visa can't return to Cuba for a visit.

[Bacchus39]

24. is this explicit enough??

In an effort to discourage unlawful emigration and demonstrate its determination to uphold its promises to Washington, Havana has announced that any Cuban who left illegally after Sept. 9, 1994, will not be allowed to return to the island.

The ban ends Havana's 1993 policy of allowing those who fled illegally to return home after they have spent at least five years abroad.

http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/cubtoughens.html

[Mika]

26. Cuba did not pass any such law.

What does the 1999 Miami Herald article mean when it says "Havana has announced.."? Havana? WTF? It is not official permanent policy by the Cuban government.

The article goes on to say " An Aug. 26 notice from the Cuban Interests Section in Washington to the six U.S. travel agents who handle trips to Cuba said the new ban had been adopted for an ``indefinite period''."

That ``indefinite period'' was for a couple of days, then it was never followed through. More tough talk in the head to head with the US during migration negotiations. It is not current policy. Balseros who have come to the US since continue to travel to Cuba for trips.


I personally know many who have done so with no hangups from the Cuban government. The Cuban government wants them to come and spend money, and they do just that.



In fact, Cuba removed exit restrictions in 1994.


http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=cache:-7Rx19mjTKIJ:www1.lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/asce/cuba8/13travieso.pdf+Cuban+policy+on+migration

August 6, 1994, Fidel Castro announced the end of government efforts to prevent people from leaving the country by sea.

The removal of exit restrictions resulted in an immediate rush of large numbers of Cubans to the high seas towards the United States

The US's Cuban Adjustment Act provides all of the incentive for them to do so (instant work visa, instant green card, instant sec 8 housing assistance, instant food stamps, instant welfare, etc).

[Bacchus39]

27. OK, your turn. provide a link that Cubans suffer no ramifications

for emigrating "illegally" from Cuba and are free to come and go as they please even without a permit and that there is no time restriction like the pre-1994 policy.



Still, if there is no penalty for traveling "illegally" from Cuba then what is the purpose of the Exit Permit?? why would you spend more than a years salary on a permit if there is no ramifications for traveling without a permit upon return to Cuba??

[Judi Lynn]

28. I know of one stubborn travel hold out they'd LOVE to see back in Cuba.

CIA member/mass murderer/bomber
Luis Posada Carriles, perennial
right-wing Cuban "exile" celebrity


By the way, I just found the only photo I've ever seen published of the American assistant of Chilean Cuba-friendly diplomat, Orlando Letellier, who was murdered, along with Letellier, by other Cuban bombers (who were released from prison by _{George W. Bush} not long after he acquired the pResidency) as she and her husband rode along with Letellier in his car in Washington, D.C. on September 21, 1976: Ronnie Moffit.

[Bacchus39]

29. Can we stop this silliness now?? Cuban law does

punish those who "illegally" exit. then again "law" might be the wrong word

‚ Cuba’s criminalization of "illegal exit from the country" violates international law, which recognizes
the right of all people to leave any country, including their own. People attempting to leave Cuba have
been shot at sea and beaten, and Cubans apprehended while fleeing face prison terms of one to three
years, longer if they are found to have aided or abetted the departure of others or used stolen materials in
their escape attempt. Cubans convicted of the crime of "illegal exit" are believed to constitute the largest
class of political prisoners in Cuba.


http://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/c/cuba/cuba94o.pdf#search='cuba%20illegal%20exit'

[Mika]

32. That's an old (1994) HRW report you posted, based on 1993 info.

Note that in my post #26 I provide a link that points out that Cuba eliminated exit restrictions in late 1994.

I guess that you didn't read it.

Its silly for you to repeat an old position that Cuba used to have (for a short period), because it isn't a valid position of the Cuban government now.

As I've said.. I know many Cubans (I live in Miami) who came to Fla by raft, both before and after 1994, and have returned many times to their hometowns in Cuba for trips to visit relatives - no problem from the Cuban gov. For you to state that it isn't so is just plain ridiculous.

Maybe you should get to know some Cuban-Americans, then maybe some of your stereotypes of Cuba and Cuban migration would be dispelled.

[Bacchus39]

34. oh good, do you have a link??

that says there are no exit restrictions on Cubans traveling not just to the US or anywhere??

[Bacchus39]

35. here is one from 2003

The government continued to prosecute people for "illegal exit" if they attempted to leave the island without first obtaining official permission to do so. Such permission was sometimes denied arbitrarily, or made contingent on the purchase of an expensive exit permit.

http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?p=cuba+exit+restrictions&fr=FP-tab-web-t&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8&u=www.hrw.org/wr2k3/americas5.html&w=cuba+exit+restrictions&d=Ad7RS21aMUFI&icp=1&.intl=us

[Mika]

36. Part of the US/Cuba migration accords

Illegal exit in the cases HRW cites are for attempts by Cubans to go to the US illegally - according to US law ( it is the US gov that requires a travel or immigration visa for Cubans who want to travel to the US). The Cuban government is assisting the US government enforce US law in accordance with the migration agreements between the two countries. Cuba dropped an exit visa requirement for Cubans wanting to travel to the US, the US requires a visa for Cubans who wish to enter the US, and this is why the US pushed for prosecutions.

The US pushed Cuba to prosecute Cubans who attempt to leave to the US without a US visa. (It is illegal for Cubans to come to the US by raft or smugglers boat - by US law. It is the quirk of the 'wet foot/dry foot' policy that allows those Cubans who have entered the US illegally to stay).

Its interesting that HRW does not (and you do not) make this distinction. It is the US that sought prosecution of illegals attempting to reach the US without a US visa to stop mass illegal migration to the US, and then HRW and the US gov turns around and condemns Cuba for fulfilling that part of the agreement made at US request.

But what can one expect from an organization that condemns the Cuban gov for arresting (at Mexico's request) violent embassy gate crashers who injure both Mexican citizens and Cuban citizens by crashing a hijacked bus (at knifepoint) through an embassy gate. Or fails to mention that the so called "dissidents" were arrested for aiding and abetting and being on the payroll of the declared enemy of Cuba (the US gov and fanatical terrorist Miami exile organizations with long histories of attacks on Cuba and Cubans). It is indicative of HRW's bias regarding Cuba issues.


-

on edit:

BTW, there are several countries in the Caribbean/Americas that require exit visas - Mexico is one.

[Judi Lynn]

25. That subject is well addressed by former New York Times writer

Ann Louise Bardach, in her book Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana, written before _Bush had choked off more travel to Cuba by Cuban-Americans. Any clown would see her carefully researched book indicates the opportunity to travel back and forth was certainly available for Cubans:

In Cuba, one used to b either a revolucionario or a contrarevolucionario, while those who decided to leave were gusanos (worms) or escoria (scum). In Miami, the rhetoric has also been harsh. Exiless who do not endorse a confrontational policy with Cuba, seeking instead a negotiated settlement, have often been excoriated as traidores (traitors) and sometimes espías (spies). Cubans, notably cultural stars, who visit Miami but chooses to return to their homeland have been routinely denounced. One either defects or is repudiated.

But there has been a slow but steady shift in the last decade-a not to the clear majority of Cubans en exilio and on the island who crave family reunification. Since 1978, more than one million airline tickets have been sold for flights from Miami to Havana. Faced with the brisk and continuous traffic between Miami and Havana, hard-liners on both sides have opted to deny the new reality.Balseros, Cubans who, unable to adapt to the pressures and bustle of entrepreneurial Miami, return to the island, or gusañeros, expatriots who send a portion of their earnings home in exchange for unfettered travel back and forth to Cuba (the term is a curious Cuban hybrid of gusano and compañero, or comrade), are unacknowledged by both sides, as are those who live in semi-exilio, returning home to Cuba for long holidays.


Page XVIII
Preface
Cuba Confidential
Love and Vengeance
In Miami and Havana

Copyright© 2002 by Ann Louise Bardach

[Radio_Guy]

22. It is an insult to Castro

Neither Bush has 1/10 the intelligence Castro has to run Florida like Cuba. Cuba is hit with hurricanes all the time and you don't hear of the misery there that befell New Orleans and coastal Mississippi.

[Judi Lynn]

30. You're right. Their hurricane evacuation program is world famous now.

They even bring their animals up to higher altitudes to keep them from being swept away in floods and high seas.

Simply amazing.

[Mika]

33. Here's an OXFAM report on Cuba's excellent disaster mitigation program

DISASTER PLANNING ESSENTIAL FOR MINIMIZING RISKS
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatwedo/emergencies/asian_floods_2004/background/cubalessons

Oxfam America recently studied the experience of Cuba in its development of disaster prevention and mitigation programs. Situated in the Caribbean Sea, Cuba frequently stands in the way of serious hurricanes. While its neighbors are battered, losing lives and property, Cuba is unusually good at withstanding these calamities, and suffers much fewer dead.

Oxfam’s report, entitled Weathering the Storm: Lessons in Risk Reduction in Cuba cites a number of attributes of Cuba’s risk reduction program that can be applied by other countries. Three in particular are transferable to Asia and other regions:

* Disaster Preparedness: Cuba was especially good at mobilizing entire communities to develop their own disaster preparations. This involves mapping out vulnerable areas of the community, creating emergency plans, and actually simulating emergencies so people can practice evacuations and other measures designed to save lives. When disaster strikes, people know what to do.

* Commitment of Resources: Cuba’s strong central government prioritizes resources for its civil defense department. This helps the country to build up a common understanding of the importance of saving lives, and the citizens trust that their contributions to the government are well used for this purpose. Their collaboration on developing emergency plans helped build confidence in the government, so people trust in the plan they helped develop.

* Communications: The communications system for emergencies in Cuba builds on local resources. Using local radio stations and other media to issue warnings on potential hazards also reinforces the disaster preparations. Since the local population is already involved in mapping risks and creating emergency plans, they are more inclined to act on emergency bulletins. Good communications, packaged simply, and built on existing, commonly used resources, is another way to build trust in disaster preparations.

Cuba is a unique example. There is a strong central government committed to protecting all its citizens, even the poorest and most isolated who are typically the most at risk. The most common natural disaster in Cuba is a hurricane, a threat visible for days and even weeks in advance. Yet building a culture of disaster preparedness, and involving local communities in mitigating risks, are strategies that can be applied in many other places, regardless of how rich or poor a country might be.

Floridians wish their government could do so well in hurricane preparedness and mitigation.


---


But EVERYONE knows that an excellent disaster mitigation program that protects all citizens, even in the poorest of neighborhoods, has to be forced on a resistant and unwilling population.
:sarcasm:

[Judi Lynn]

31. Cuba related article: "Ham-handed with Cuba"

Article Last Updated: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 5:30:34 PM MST



Ham-handed with Cuba
'The first rule in U.S.-Latin American relations is also the first rule of medicine: "First do no harm."
It would be splendid if we could enhance the reputation of the United States in a part of the world where its image is one of a meddling neighbor bent on imposing its will on others. But it should at least, whenever possible, avoid worsening its image by acting like the proverbial bull in the china shop and playing into the hands of those who like to portray los Americanos as imperialists.

The latest brouhaha involves Cuban businessmen, Texas oilmen, the Sheraton Hotel in Mexico City and the equivalent of an eviction notice. It all started when officials with the U.S. Treasury Department confirmed that they had asked Starwood Hotels -- which owns the Sheraton Maria Isabel in Mexico City -- to expel from the hotel a group of Cuban businessmen who had flown in from Havana to meet with the American oilmen in the hopes of striking a deal to drill for oil off the Cuban coast. According to experts, Cuba may have enough oil to produce as much as 700,000 barrels a day.

Apparently, meetings between Cuban officials and American business executives, are not uncommon. One of the organizers of the meeting at the Sheraton claims that this was the 10th such meeting he'd helped organize -- though the first to deal with oil.

However, this particular meeting was short-circuited by the Bush administration, which has been taking an especially hard line against Cuba in recent months. A spokesman for the Treasury Department explained that the hotel, as an American corporate subsidiary, is thus -- under U.S. law -- "prohibited from providing a service to Cuba or Cuban nationals." The law in question is the ominously entitled "Trading with the Enemy Act and the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992," which bars U.S. companies or their overseas subsidiaries from providing services to Cuban individuals or companies.

The fact that the delegation was evicted from the hotel has the Cuban and Mexican governments up in arms. Protesters even took to the streets in Mexico outside the hotel, yelling: "Get out Yankees." The chorus of criticism includes various Mexican politicians, including at least one who is running for president.
(snip/...)

http://www.fortmorgantimes.com/Stories/0,1413,164~8309~3247564,00.html