Cuba remittance limits feared

[Osolomia]

Mon, Feb. 16, 2004
Miami Herald

... The Treasury Department announced this week that it would ''take a hard look'' at restricting ''remittance'' rules that allow Cuban Americans to send as much as $1,200 a year to relatives on the island.

The government wants to be sure that the money really is ''going to where it's supposed to,'' Treasury Secretary John Snow said during a press conference announcing a crackdown on Cuban-owned companies conducting illegal business in the United States.

... Despite the vagueness of Snow's statement, his words have stirred worries among many Cuban Americans in South Florida who regularly send money to family members on the island.

... Various estimates say remittances contribute between $400 million and $1 billion to the island's economy each year, making it the largest source of revenue behind tourism.

Sending cash to Cuba is a cottage industry in South Florida, sometimes legal, sometimes not.

... ''The money goes to the dollar stores, and who are the owners? The government,'' said Rodolfo Frómeta, the director of the exile group Comandos F-4. ``The Cuban government gets it all.''

More...
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/7962829.htm

And the Democratic Party's excuse for keeping y'all travel banned is what again?

[sallyseven]

1. Snow is a big lier

just like hi boss. He talks about the economy as if we are all stupid. Wonder how this will play out in Florida?

[Osolomia]

2. Oh my, yet another "Castro apologist" for biased DUers to rail against

Alice Walker debuts Spanish version of book in Cuba
February 16, 2004
The Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) - Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker debuted the Spanish translation of her novel "Meridian" in Havana, telling her Cuban fans there is a direct correlation between the U.S. civil rights movement and the socialist revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.

"I thought about Cuba a lot when I was writing this," Walker told a packed audience Sunday at an international book fair. "It has meant very much to me that Cubans have understood what I'm doing. Sometimes in my own country, I am very severely criticized by people who don't bother to read me at all."

... Walker's appearance at the 13th International Book Fair marks her fifth visit to Cuba. She met with President Fidel Castro during two of her previous trips, but said it was unlikely she would get a chance to see him this time.

Walker, a Georgia native, won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1982 novel "The Color Purple."

More...
http://www.thevictoriaadvocate.com/24hour/entertainment/story/1149633p-8009794c.html

[Osolomia]

5. Yet another, this time an MP from the UK

Ian Gibson hoping to face Fidel Castro
February 16, 2004

Norwich MP Ian Gibson is hoping to meet Fidel Castro when he jets to Cuba today.

And he will try to get to the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay during the six-day trip, as part of a diplomatic effort to discuss the release of British al Qaida suspects.

Dr Gibson is in an all-party Parliamentary group and wants to develop medical links as well as boosting cultural exchanges.

"They have got a good record in meningitis vaccination. Their health service doesn't appear to have the problems that ours has and we are going to look at that.

"While I am critical of some of the things they do I would certainly like to know how they have survived this long with the Americans breathing down their necks."

More...
http://www.edp24.co.uk/content/News/story.asp?datetime=16+Feb+2004+07%3A00&tbrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=NEWS&category=News&brand=EDPOnline&itemid=NOED15+Feb+2004+19%3A10%3A18%3A457

Funny how the USA's "progressive Democrats" still don't get it. Go figure!

[Judi Lynn]

6. Good question!

(snip)
"While I am critical of some of the things they do I would certainly like to know how they have survived this long with the Americans breathing down their necks."
(snip)

I'll bet this kind of comment just never made it into the papers during Bill Clinton's terms. It has always seemed possible that relations would be able to thaw, eventually, when Democrats have had an actual elected President in the White House.

Bush, Bush's father, Reagan, Nixon, and Ford have all followed a policy of rough riding on Latin America, much to everyone's detriment, other than the war industry's.

[Osolomia]

7. Funny how it doesn’t seem to bother anyone around here

that the Democratic Party is pandering to the likes of Rodolfo Frómeta, the director of the exile group Comandos F-4 quoted in the thread’s article.

Isn’t it illegal to take campaign contributions from organizations with known links to terrorism?

It’s the Dems own rough riding on Cuba that’s part of the problem and not the solution imho:

Democratic Presidential Candidates on Cuba
http://www.lawg.org/tools/prez-candidates1.htm

I used to think that the Dems would come to their senses but with platforms like these and the status quo on forums such as this gotta wonder what it's going to take for the USA to "be able to thaw" its relations with Cuba more than a decade after the Cold War ended.

[Judi Lynn]

8. This jerk claims to have been part of the attempt to assassinate

a Cuban who came here to find out what he and his terrorist cohorts had planned next for the Cubans.

They claimed they shot him up in Cuba, yet facts seem to dispute their allegations:

(snip) Rodolfo Frómeta, who has served jail time for trying to buy high-powered weapons to attack Cuba, insists it did.

He heads a group called Comandos F-4 and has a storefront office along West Flagler Street in Miami. He said Cubans linked to his group tried to kill Mr. Roque at 2 a.m. one day in December.

As he tells it, the would-be assassins shot Mr. Roque, wounding him seriously. A gunbattle followed, and a police officer, Luis Ramírez Echeverría, and an F-4 operative, Ramón Sosa, were killed, he said.

Asked about the supposed attack, Cuban officials decline to provide evidence one way or another.

Instead, they ask why U.S. authorities seem to pay so little attention to Cuban exiles who are mixed up in assassination attempts.(snip/...)

http://havanajournal.com/politics_comments/P506_0_5_0/

Now WHY would our party consider accepting contributions from P.O.S.'s like this?

[Judi Lynn]

9. It IS odd that the Miami Herald seeks out Frómeta, a terrorist for quotes

in an ordinary story, is it not?

From a Sun-Sentinel article:

(snip) Rodolfo Frómeta, director of Comandos F-4, a Miami-based paramilitary organization, said members of the group in Cuba tried to assassinate Juan Pablo Roque early on Dec. 16 in Havana. Roque was wounded during a shootout, which killed one member of Comandos F-4 and a man accompanying Roque, Frómeta said.
(snip)

At a news conference last week, National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón denounced acts of terrorism against Cuba by Cuban exiles and the apparent unwillingness of U.S. authorities to deal with the "terrorists." Alarcón denied that the assassination attempt had occurred and questioned whether the FBI was investigating Frómeta's claim.

"This gentleman declares in Miami that he ordered an attempted assassination that, according to him, was carried out in Havana," Alarcón said. "Has called him so he could explain how it is possible that someone publicly acknowledges the organization of an assassination carried out in another country?"
(snip)

"I have never said that I order assassinations from here," said Frómeta, who said he is the highest-ranking member of the organization in the United States.
(snip/...)

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/belligerence/roque-shot.htm

[Osolomia]

11. Quoting Frometa ought to tell you something

about what’s happening in the “exile” community. CANF moderated its stand and called for travel and dialogue so the extremists quit, including Dennis Hayes. CANF was NOT invited to Bush’s Rose Garden speech last October but the extremist factions like Ninoska-Pererz(?) were. Ever since the media have been bopping about as to who to interview for the usual “exile” propaganda. Looks like Frometa has become one of their favorite spokespersons and was at last year’s glad handing with Bush if memory serves correctly despite the fact that the F4's website would have gotten them arrested a long time ago if it were by any other nationality.

Rodolfo Frómeta: ''The money goes to the dollar stores, and who are the owners? The government. The Cuban government gets it all.''

George Bush: “You see, our country must understand the consequences of illegal travel. All Americans need to know that foreign-owned resorts in Cuba must pay wages -- must pay the wages of their Cuban workers to the government. A good soul in America who wants to be a tourist goes to a foreign-owned resort, pays the hotel bill -- that money goes to the government. The government, in turn, pays the workers a pittance in worthless pesos and keeps the hard currency to prop up the dictator and his cronies. Illegal tourism perpetuates the misery of the Cuban people. And that is why I've charged the Department of Homeland Security to stop that kind of illegal trafficking of money.” (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031010-2.html)

Wesley Clark: "I will not take steps that reward Fidel Castro.”

Howard Dean: "… Castro must not be rewarded …”

Sen. John Edwards: "Full sanctions should not be lifted until Castro and his brutal regime are gone.”

Sen. John Kerry: "I am not prepared to lay down conditions at this time for lifting the embargo, because I believe that we need a major review of U.S. policy toward Cuba.”

Rep. Dennis Kucinich: "I strongly favor ending the embargo on Cuba. Our policy toward Cuba has created misery for the Cuban people and has harmed our own national interests. My administration will work to normalize relations with Cuba.”

Candidates on the issues: Cuba
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/01/29/politics1416EST0638.DTL

Editorials on U.S.-Cuba Policy 2001-2003
http://www.lawg.org/countries/Cuba/editorials.htm

Senate Vote to End Travel Ban October 23, 2003
http://www.lawg.org/countries/Cuba/senate-votes.htm

House Vote to End Travel Ban September 10, 2003
http://www.lawg.org/countries/Cuba/vote-counts-flake.htm

Poll of Cuban-Americans v. non-Cuban-Americans (in Dade County) on various policies:
http://www.fiu.edu/orgs/ipor/cuba2000/3samples.htm

A recent Miami Herald poll on Cuba:
http://www.miami.com/multimedia/miami/news/archive/cubanpoll.pdf

Various polls concerning ending the embargo and establishing diplomatic ties: http://www.pollingreport.com/cuba.htm

[Zhade]

13. Some of us don't swallow the bullshit we're told about Cuba.

Others remain blissfully - and willfully - ignorant.

Me, I'd rather be dead than so horrifically uninformed by my own choice, but hey, that's just me.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Osolomia]

17. Funny, why don't you provide some links

to "what is really happening in Cuba" that's not from US government financed sources?

[Mika]

28. You are correct, Zhade

""Some of us don't swallow the bullshit we're told about Cuba."

Others remain blissfully - and willfully - ignorant."




That is why a few of us who have actually been to Cuba (like Osolomia and me) have a differing point of view than a majority of Americans who don't know much at all about Cuba, aside from the oft repeated anti Castro US propaganda. Most people who have gone to Cuba come back with a completely different opinion than they had prior to their trip.


Unlike many who prefer to believe whatever the White House chooses to tell us about Cuba, I made the choice to inform myself rather than being willingly led like a calf to slaughter.




Some prefer to remain inactive and ignorant, some prefer to get involved and take action. Its about choice.

[Osolomia]

33. I've yet to hear or meet anyone who went to Cuba and wasn't untouched

Todays' example from the mountain of such eye witness accounts at our fingertips:

Commentary: A new understanding of Cuba
From "NewsDesk" <[e-mail]>
Date Tue, 17 Feb 2004 11:39:57 -0600

A UMNS Commentary
By the Rev. Steve Horswill-Johnston*

I was born a Cold War baby.

My understanding of Cuba is informed principally by a series of memories: the
Bay of Pigs, the Cuban missile crisis, JFK conspiracy allegations, a
decades-long U.S. trade embargo, refugees on rafts, Cuban dissidents living
in Miami and a seemingly uneducated, cigar-smoking, ruthless dictator who
wears a military uniform.

Although I knew my childhood memories were likely distorted and twisted, I
didn't know how much until I traveled to that Caribbean nation this winter as
part of a delegation from the National Council of Churches in the U.S.A.

... When I arrived, I was immediately struck by how the U.S. trade embargo
affects Cuba. Much of the nation is stuck in a time before the Castro-led
revolution of 1959. Pre-embargo 1950s Buicks and turquoise-colored
Chevrolets, many of which are still in excellent condition, are a common
sight. New buildings are a rare sight.

... I discovered that, only months earlier, Fidel Castro had spoken to the nation
about his environmental concerns, which he shares with Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew. It didn't fit my image of him.
During my visit with the delegation, I saw Castro three times, coming as
close as a handshake to him. Once he looked at me briefly as he passed by,
his eyes scanning the crowd.
More important, however, were meetings with regional church leaders. Although
the National Council of Churches' relationship with the Cuban Council of
Churches predates the Cuban revolution, many leaders expressed anxiety over
U.S.-Cuban relations.
One Cuban told me his fear of Cuba's being on President Bush's "Axis of Evil"
list. He said, "Honestly, I feel that your president may look to Cuba next
before the election."
I asked what he meant. "Afghanistan-Iraq-Iran-North Korea-Cuba," he said,
referring to the recent U.S. history of pre-emptive war.
Efforts by the National Council of Churches to normalize U.S. relations with
Cuba are greatly appreciated by Cuban church leaders. They hope our
collective work will change the hearts of politicians in this election year.
Almost every discussion included the expressed wish of lifting the embargo,
expressed as an almost-constant breath prayer to God. I've joined in the
prayer since my return.

More...
http://www.wfn.org/2004/02/msg00127.html

[Vogon_Glory]

3. Maybe This Time The Exiles Will Wise Up

Well, finally--a US government policy that will convince all but the most starry-eyed right-wing exiles that the Boosh regime's embargo policies are hurting individual Cubans and Cuban families far more than they are hurting Fidel. Maybe this time the right-wing Cuban exiles will wise up to the real logic of the embargo and ask themselves who would benefit from the latest round of sanctions: their families on the island or the Fanjuls or the Bacardi interests.

Cui bono (Who benefits) is the question most of the dumbed-down American electorate has forgotten to ask themselves about most American politicians and the legislation those politicians they enact for at least the last twenty five years.

[Osolomia]

4. What will it take for Democrats to wise up

and realize that their own embargo policies are hurting individual Cubans and Cuban families?

Candidates on the issues: Cuba
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=338191

[Vogon_Glory]

16. Cui Bono--Again

Who would benefit from preventing Cuban families and individuals receiving remittances from the US? The pre-1959 Cuban right-wing exiles who probably expect to have a Boosh administration-backed puppet regime in Havana hand back their expropriated properties lock, stock, and barrel--with additional confiscations to "compensate" them for their hardships.

The pro- and anti-Castro factions outside of Cuba seem bound and determined to retain the dialectic between the grossly unequal and exploitive pre-1959 kleptocracy and Castro's monstrously inefficient and stupid centralist Soviet-style economics. I reject both paradigms, and hope to see the Cuban people have the freedom and the capital to chose a paradigm more to their own benefit than the choices that the CANF's friends and Castro's starry-eyed admirers want to give them.

[Osolomia]

18. So long as Dems are trying to economically cripple the people of Cuba

what kind of "freedom" are you talking about!

[Vogon_Glory]

29. The Freedom To Buy and Sell One's Services. The Freedom To

I'm talking about the freedom to buy and sell one's talents and services on the market. I am also talking about the right to accumulate capital. Those, and also at least some measure of property right protection, have proven highly effective at increasing the wealth of a society.

Leftist complaints about Democratic "strangulation" of Cuba sounds increasingly foolish as the era of US economic predominance and the time of post-World War II Europe and post-World War II Japan desperately seeking to rebuild from the rubble recede further and further into the past. My trip to the French West Indies last month reinforced what I already knew--that the US is no longer the economic superpower that it once was, and that the European Union and East Asia have accumulated formidable economic clout of their own.

Cuba's net wealth would increase manyfold if Fidel or his successors were to implement the private-sector reforms of even Marshal Tito's Yugoslavia or the market reforms the Chinese made in the 1970's--even with the right-wing Cuban exiles pressuring the US to keep the embargo in place.

[Osolomia]

32. How can you have "the freedom to buy and sell one's talents and services

on the market" when even the "Democratic" party of the the world's superpower is trying to economically cripple your little island?

Evidently you refuse to listen to a word the people of Cuba have been saying for several years now, but evidently so do many Americans.

Cuba was poised to take off like an economic rocket 10 years ago, it's net wealth would have increased manyfold if Clinton's America had lifted it's hostile trade and travel ban.

The anti-Cuba stance of all the leading 2004 "Democratic" presidential candidates is an unpardonable shame imho. Dems have less than 9 months left to smarten up or forever hold their tongue.

[Vogon_Glory]

40. I Refuse To Listen To A Word WHO Has Been Saying???

I refuse to listen to a word who has been saying? Not the people of Cuba--I refuse to credit the word of the propagandists and apologists for Fidel Castro's centralist, suffocating economic policies.

I will say this again--what is holding down the Cuban economy isn't so much the US trade embargo and the travel bans affecting American tourists wishing to visit Cuba--it's the centralist, suffocating, initiative-squashing, wealth-confiscating, ideology-driven policies of the current Castro government. Whatever the US' current military might, the US is no longer the economic colossus it was even back in the mid-1960's--the other industrialized powers approach and in some cases match the economic clout the US economy still possesses. The embargo is an excuse for the failures of current Cuban Cuban economic policies. Were Cuba to implement economic reforms to allow the sort of growth of its private sector like Marshal Tito's Yugoslavia or mainland China in the late 1970's, the Cuban economy would grow and the wealth of the average Cuban could increase even with the US embargo and travel restrictions staying in place.

[Osolomia]

41. Dream on! Christine Chanet is a "Castro apologist"?!

What about Oswaldo Paya?!

U.N. report criticizes arrests of dissidents in Cuba as 'unprecedented wave of repression'
Tuesday February 17, 2004
By NAOMI KOPPEL
Associated Press Writer

GENEVA (AP) The Cuban government's imprisonment of 75 dissidents is an ``unprecedented wave of repression'' in the country, a United Nations official said.

In a report produced for next month's annual session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, Christine Chanet noted that the dissidents were tried and criticized their convictions within weeks or days of their arrests last year and the fact that the trials were closed to the public.

... ``There was an unprecedented wave of repression in March and April 2003 in Cuba, on the pretext that American interests were taking an active role among political opponents in Havana,'' Chanet said.

She noted that Cuba continues to suffer from the ``disastrous and persistent'' effects of the U.S. economic embargo that has been in place for more than 40 years.

``The extreme tension between Cuba and the United States creates a climate that is unfavorable to the development of freedom of expression and assembly,'' she said.

More...
http://cbsnewyork.com/international/UN-Cuba-Detentions-ai/resources_news_html

[Judi Lynn]

10. Reagan/Bush support of Cuban-American thugs

Mas Canosa, a mafia-don-like figure who lorded it over the Cuban emigre community until his death a few years ago, was a creation of the Ronald Reagan administration. In the 1980s, the U.S. government funnelled so much funds into the CANF that it almost vied with the pro-Israeli Jewish groups for influence in U.S. politics. But the CANF's influence has diminished considerably in recent years. The Elian Gonzales episode in 2000 exposed the sinister and manipulative side of the CANF and other right-wing Cuban exile groups to the U.S. public and the international community.

However, the election of George W. Bush as President gave a fillip to the ambitions of the anti-Cuban groups in Florida. Many in the U.S. attribute the flawed victory of Bush in the presidential sweepstakes to the electoral outcome in Dade County, Miami. Dade County is the stronghold of the anti-Castro Cuban exile community, commonly referred to as the "Miami mafia". It was in Dade County that Bush managed to pip the Democratic presidential candidate in the Florida vote count, which eventually decided the fate of the election.

The Republican administration has suitably rewarded the Cuban exile community. The economic blockade has been tightened and U.S. citizens wishing to visit Cuba have been warned of punitive action. The new U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere, Otto Reich, is known to be close to the Miami mafia and has a record of involvement in their dealings. He was closely involved in the counter-revolutionary war waged against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Contra leaders.
(snip)

A recent decision by a U.S. court ensures resident status to any Cuban who can find his or her way to the U.S. by air from any part of the world even if he or she is carrying forged documents. Senator Jesse Helms, Republican member of the U.S. Foreign Relations Committee known for his rabid anti-Cuba stance, praised the U.S. President for his "very tough line, which is certain to make Fidel Castro squirm".
(snip/...)
http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1817/18170620.htm

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

12. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! Wait. Where is the money supposed to go again?

[Osolomia]

19. Exactly, what did Snow mean by that!

Naw, the Bushies wouldn't be planning an attempted coupe now would they!

:think:

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

20. Are you kidding? WWJO. Who Would Jesus Overthrow?

[peacetalksforall]

14. Hostages! Did you know you are being held hostage?

DIE HARD Cuban-Americans,our Cuban-American congresspeople, PLUS (nearly all) REPBULICAN AND DEMOCRATIC Senators and Congresspeople are holding all of us hostage.

We should have been starting to change the atmosphere one hour after the Berlin Wall came down.

This is a money game hostage taking. And your money is being used to line the pockets. Despicable. Shame. Shame. The candidates statements above are also a shame. Applaud Kucinich on this one - another reason to applaud.

Think about the hypocrisy - 1 billion a year - I've read 5 billion a hear.

[Osolomia]

21. Exactly. For lack of any reason that holds water for 2 seconds

it looks like all the Dem candidates except Kucinich are being blackmailed by the Miami mafia who were the kingpins in the last election. Why else defy the will of an overwhelming majority of Americans and everyone else on the planet?

News reports were quoting $1 billion a year in remittances several years ago and it was a known fact that the law was never enforced on the "exiles". So to make what the Cuban-Americas were already doing legal Bush jacked up the limits on remittances 10 fold last year, hence even 5 billion$ is probably a rather conservative estimate by now! Meanwhile it is illegal for American-Americans to spend a nickel in Cuba since that's considered "trading with the enemy" and Homeland Security is watching in case you do. Shame indeed!

[Judi Lynn]

22. It's such a sneaky device, isn't it?

Rather than admit they are literally prohibiting Americans' travel to Cuba, they twisted it until the focus is on money, knowing that no one except Cuban "exiles" could simply show up in Cuba and be just fine.

We don't have homes of relatives we can crash in, as do most "exiles," like Elián Gonzalez's great-uncle, Lázaro, who simply showed up in Cuba, and slept in Juan Miguel Gonzalez's own bed, while his nephew slept outside in his car!

Most Americans can't pull that off. We need hotels. Depriving us of a place to stay and eat while pretending we haven't been BANNED from traveling is simply dishonest.

I'm not proud to be connected by nationality to politicians who can pull off horrendous scams like that.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

23. It doesn't seem like it's going to change anytime soon either.

[Judi Lynn]

24. There's a new bit of info. out, really new

concerning Republican Senator Larry Craig, who just completed a trip to Cuba for Idaho food producers. You might be surprised at what this Republican said!

(snip) Craig, Otter visit Castro to support travel to Cuba
Cuba agrees to spend $10 million for Idaho goods




Cristobal Herrera / The Associated Press
Rep. Butch Otter, left, and Sen. Larry Craig, right, shake hands with Pedro Alvarez, chairman of Cuba´s food import agency, after signing a contract Saturday in Ernest Hemingway´s former home in Cuba. The Idaho congressmen met Monday with Cuban President Fidel Castro.

HAVANA — President Fidel Castro signed baseballs, handed out cigars and flower bouquets, and discussed increased ties with the United States during a three-hour meeting Monday with two Republican congressmen who want to lift a ban on U.S. travel to Cuba.

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig and U.S. Rep. Butch Otter, both of Idaho, “are pushing very hard to lift the travel restrictions,” said Craig spokesman Mike Tracy, who attended the encounter with Castro at the Palace of the Revolution. The 22 other members of the trade and cultural delegation also were present, Tracy said.

Craig told reporters Saturday he thought the travel ban would be lifted by next year. “It will become law,” he said after Idaho delegation members signed trade and cultural agreements with the Cuban government in front of Ernest Hemingway´s former estate outside Havana.

During his meeting with the congressmen, Castro “didn´t touch on the most difficult of the issues — the strained relationship with the U.S. — but he did talk about wanting to work closer with the U.S. and to have more trade with the U.S.,” Tracy said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
(snip/...)

http://www.idahostatesman.com/story.asp?ID=60669

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

These guys are really making it hard to follow what's going on here!

[Osolomia]

26. If Spuddy Buddy can go to Cuba then why can't you?!

February 16, 2004
Fitness Guru Austin To Serve As Chief Spokes-spud; Spuddy Buddy To Cuba?

... And Spuddy Buddy may use the spare time to brush up on his Spanish. After an Idaho delegation recently toured Cuba, the Potato Commission hopes to open markets there.

So while Denise Austin grabs the potato limelight in the United States starting this summer, Spuddy Buddy could quietly be working as -- our man in Havana.

http://www.kbcitv.com/x5154.xml?ParentPageID=x5157&ContentID=x50826&Layout=KBCI.xsl&AdGroupID=x5154

[Judi Lynn]

34. By the way, Senator Larry Craig has his own photo with Spuddy Buddy

I just went to find it, and haven't run it down, yet.

So Spuddy Buddy has made it to Cuba, as well. Unbelievable.

I DID find this image which might give you something to think about.
Larry Craig used to be part of the barbershop quartet years ago, with John Ashcroft, Trent Lott, and Jim Jeffords, "The Singing Senators." (Brack, gag) He seems to be all better now, however.



I'm sure you remember reading that John Ashcroft favored removing both the embargo and travel ban when he was a Missouri Senator. I heard him say this in a debate with Missouri's Governor Mel Carnahan the weekend before Mel Carnahan was killed. (Mel Carnahan also favored removing the embargo and travel ban.)

[Osolomia]

25. Republican predicts freedom to travel “will become law” by next year

But apparently not if any of the leading Democratic presidential contenders can help it.

Nothing wrong with this picture, nothing can be done about it anyway, move along now.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

27. I stand corrected.

[Osolomia]

31. Not so fast! Cuban Death Ray Threat!

17 Feb. 2004
Written by Patrick Kemp

Crawford, Texas - According to an unnamed guest at George Bush's Texas White House barbecue this weekend, Bush stated that Cuba has a death ray and derided Cuba's Fidel Castro for developing the weapon of mass destruction.

"Yup, he's got them, and I'm not kidding. Those folks with all the intelligence don't know about it yet, but I've got my own intelligence. I heard it on the radio, you know, yo habla comida Mexicana real good, and in all my years of presidenting I've never heard more convincing evidence. Sure as shooting, he's got it, and he's using it," Bush reportedly said, describing as evidence the fact that Cuba has been completely silent on this issue.

"In fact Castro has never mentioned it even once," Bush is quoted as saying, "And this time he's not going to get away with it."

Bush said the death ray is a weapon of mass destruction that killed a transmission by Radio Marti and described the incident as "a low-down yellow-bellied bushwhack on the mass media and its innocent listeners that they did right in the middle of a bunch of little children who were singing the Batistaista Cuban national anthem."

According to sources at the U.S. Consulate in Havana, "the Cubans were just laughing" at the quotes.

More...
http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s3i2146

[Judi Lynn]

36. Help! Right in the middle of the Batistiano Cuban anthem,too. n/t

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

39. Damn those Cubans and their machines of massive commie evil destruction.

[Osolomia]

30. More propaganda for DUers to swallow hook line and sinker

no questions asked as usual:

Inside Cuba: 45 Years Of Castro
A CBS 2 Special Report
Feb 17, 2004 7:28 am US/Eastern

HAVANA, Cuba (CBS) Hard to believe it was 45 years ago that Fidel Castro first took power in Cuba. All this time later, Castro still rules with an iron hand. CBS 2’s Ernie Anastos traveled to Havana recently, and all this week he’s taking you Inside Cuba for a closer look.

The faces of Fidel Castro, the revolutionary, the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban missile crisis. But there’s a new image of Castro. Three weeks ago Anastos met the Marxist dictator at the opening of Saint Nicholas Cathedral, the first church built in Cuba in four and a half decades. Even more shocking, the church was paid for by the Cuban government.

"He said specifically that he's doing it because he has great respect for spiritual truths,” says Alex Karloutsos of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese

But the Cuban exile community disagrees.

"It's really just a big PR stunt. That's all it is," says Esther Gatria, an anti-Castro advocate.

The ceremony comes as the Castro regime celebrates the anniversary of its 45th year in power.

In many ways the old cars of Havana are like a symbol of Cuba. They've been running well beyond their expectations. The question is how long cane they continue to run in this same fashion?

"There is nothing to be done while Castro is alive," says leading Cuban advocate Oswaldo Pava.

Tuesday on CBS 2 News at Five, see how Cubans live under the Castro regime, Life Under Castro, from human rights abuses to their love of country.

More...
http://cbsnewyork.com/topstories/local_story_048073249.html

[Osolomia]

35. What excuse would hypocritical biased "Democrats" have

for maintining their hostile economic embargo and travel ban against Cuba if Bush hadn't deliberately provoked last year's crackdown on "dissidents"?

U.N. report criticizes arrests of dissidents in Cuba as 'unprecedented wave of repression'
Tuesday February 17, 2004
By NAOMI KOPPEL
Associated Press Writer

GENEVA (AP) The Cuban government's imprisonment of 75 dissidents is an ``unprecedented wave of repression'' in the country, a United Nations official said.

In a report produced for next month's annual session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, Christine Chanet noted that the dissidents were tried and criticized their convictions within weeks or days of their arrests last year and the fact that the trials were closed to the public.

... ``There was an unprecedented wave of repression in March and April 2003 in Cuba, on the pretext that American interests were taking an active role among political opponents in Havana,'' Chanet said.

She noted that Cuba continues to suffer from the ``disastrous and persistent'' effects of the U.S. economic embargo that has been in place for more than 40 years.

``The extreme tension between Cuba and the United States creates a climate that is unfavorable to the development of freedom of expression and assembly,'' she said.

``U.S. laws and the financial support given to 'the building of democracy in Cuba' make political opponents on the island look like sympathizers with foreigners.''

More...
http://cbsnewyork.com/international/UN-Cuba-Detentions-ai/resources_news_html

[Judi Lynn]

37. That reporter was almost superficial enough to become a true success

If he'd been ambitious enough to do any reading, rather than stumbling off to beg Cuban "exile" spokespeople why Cuba has a new connection officially with the Orthodox Church, he would have learned they did this for the Cubans who converted to the Orthodox faith during the time Russians were coming and going to Cuba.

Some of the Russians married Cubans, many of whom became Orthodox Christians all the way back when. No big mystery, and certainly not the p. r. job suggested by the spokesperson.

They have their own native Orthodox congregation, just as they have their own native Jewish congregation, and their own Roman Catholic congregation, which was addressed when the Pope made his visit at the very time the Monica Lewinsky story broke.

No one called THAT a p.r. story, that I know of. OF course, our press was not in the habit back then, of clearing every story about Cuba with the Cuban "exiles," either!

[Osolomia]

38. Making a bee line to the "exiles" is a dead give away

about where the bias of tonight's CBS special report lies. Completely overlooked is the fact that:

Despite sanctions Cuba now 35th U.S. food market
Reuters, 02.17.04

HAVANA (Reuters) - Despite four decades of trade sanctions and increasing White House hostility, Cuba has become the United States's 35th market for food exports, according to a report by a New York-based business group Tuesday.

... The U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, which monitors trade between the two countries, said Cuba imported $256.9 million worth of U.S. agricultural products in 2003.

... American business groups, meanwhile, have been lobbying for the lifting of a travel ban and further relaxing of the embargo. Both chambers of the U.S. Congress last year voted to end travel restrictions, but Republican leadership scuttled the move in conference.

... "While the Bush administration is trying to intensify pressure on Cuba and sever business links with the Castro government, such an attempt is increasingly at odds with the position of the U.S. business community and its allies in Congress," said University of Florida Cuba analyst Paolo Spadoni.

"With Cuba's food purchases from the Unites States up by more than 80 percent in 2003 after an impressive 2002, it is likely that anti-embargo forces will keep pushing for a lifting of trade and travel restrictions with the island," he said.

More...
http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2004/02/17/rtr1264091.html

And in the other corner:

Democratic Presidential Candidates on Cuba
http://www.lawg.org/tools/prez-candidates1.htm

[Moderator]

42. Osolomia

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
news source.


Thank you


DU Moderator

[Judi Lynn]

43. SA Students Doing Well in Cuba

SA Students Doing Well in Cuba

BuaNews (Pretoria)

February 17, 2004
Posted to the web February 17, 2004

René-Jean Van Der Berg
Kimberley

The Department of Health in the Northern Cape has welcomed as impressive a report about the academic performance of 16 youths who left the province last year to study medicine in Cuba.

This in a programme between the governments of Cuba and South Africa.

After completing their studies, these students are expected back in the province to work, especially in rural areas, as part the government's plan of placing skilled health care personnel in rural areas.

Spokesperson Thabo Lekhu said the 16 students were doing well, which was a wise investment government had made.
(snip/...)

http://allafrica.com/stories/200402170414.html

[Judi Lynn]

44. An American minister's observations from his Cuba trip for his church

(snip)
.....It was the next night at a convention center when a Cuban told me something I
didn't know about Fidel Castro. The proud older gentleman said, "Our
president has a Ph.D., you know." Actually, I didn't.

Several hundred were in attendance that night to hear the ecumenical
patriarch speak as part of a series of events leading up to the consecration.
Dressed in the traditional long Greek Orthodox black cassock and tall black
cap, his theme was world environmental concerns.

But before he could speak, he was upstaged by a surprise. The audience
suddenly stood, clapped, and in walked President Fidel Castro without
announcement. He waved to those gathered and quickly sat down just three
rows in front of me. I felt a pang of nervousness as I abandoned the
patriarch's speech, instead mesmerized by the fact I was in the same room
with my childhood communist metaphor. After a few minutes, he seemed
smaller.

In his green military uniform, Castro appeared to be in good health and
genuinely liked by the people. His entrance was in stark contrast to how
I've experienced a U.S. president's arrival at a similar event, when everyone
was well-searched and rows of metal detectors stood outside. No security
checks were present here as people walked up and took photographs as they
wished.
(snip/...)

http://www.wfn.org/2004/02/msg00127.html

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

45. Cool article. I sent it to a few people.

[Judi Lynn]

46. Thanks for taking the time to read it! Right from the pen of a minister.

I think it's easy to imagine the pro-embargo, pro-travel ban people, right-wing extremists in government really don't want Americans going to Cuba and coming back with stories like this.

Well, this one got through.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

47. My cousin has traveled there at least twice.

He's part of a government exchange program with PR. His experiences are similar to this minister's.

[Judi Lynn]

48. Now that's cool.

It's great learning you have heard actual information directly from someone who has actually been there, and has been there long enough to get a sense of what's going on.

TERRIFIC!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

49. For disclosure purposes I have to say

that my family and I are a bunch of "commie loving bastards". Other than that you can take his word for it.

:evilgrin:

[Judi Lynn]

50. Oh, yeah? Well, Joe McCarthy wouldn't like that one bit.

You're just damned lucky HE can't get at ya!

No matter how they try, our country's right-wingers just can't bring back them good ol' days yet!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

51. The key word being "yet".

[Judi Lynn]

52. Yet? Amen to that. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

53. Argentineans denounce USA offensive against Cuba

THE WORLD
Argentineans denounce USA offensive against Cuba

A new condemnation "to the terrorist offensive of the United States government against Cuba" circulates today through the Argentinean net of electronic mail intended to gather signatures in support to the Caribbean nation.

It is a document elaborated by the Argentinean Multisectorial of Solidarity with Cuba and titled "No more threats. Hands off Cuba", in which Washington D.C. is accused of programming and executing a policy of preventive war against the peoples of the world and of aiming its canyons against the Caribbean country.

The text denounces that to that hostility has joined the Spanish head of state, José María Aznar, faithful ally of (the American president, George W.) Bush in the massacre of the Iraqi people."

"We condemn such actions and threats that injure basic norms of the international coexistence, they are violations of the principles of sovereignty, independence and self-determination of the nations and put into serious risk life itself and the human civilization", they say.
(snip/...)

http://www.radioangulo.cu/diario/2004/febrero/180204/dnnce_usa.htm

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

Looks as if the Argentinian government's willing to find itself on the Axis of Evil list!

[Osolomia]

54. It’s that time of year to make sure blinders are firmly glued in place

lest a ray of reality enters the Dems fantasy world as the US government performs its annual bullying and intimidation of other countries in an attempt to get them to condemn Cuba’s “human rights” at the UN commission in Geneva next month.

While countries like Argentina fight back, you can be sure that the Bush Doctrine apologists will be doing all the lying and bullshitting that spineless hypocritical Dems will swallow no questions asked which will be easy considering their reaction to the UN’s report the other day:

U.N. report criticizes arrests of dissidents in Cuba as 'unprecedented wave of repression'
Tuesday February 17, 2004
By NAOMI KOPPEL
Associated Press Writer

GENEVA (AP) The Cuban government's imprisonment of 75 dissidents is an ``unprecedented wave of repression'' in the country, a United Nations official said.

In a report produced for next month's annual session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, Christine Chanet noted that the dissidents were tried and criticized their convictions within weeks or days of their arrests last year and the fact that the trials were closed to the public.

... ``There was an unprecedented wave of repression in March and April 2003 in Cuba, on the pretext that American interests were taking an active role among political opponents in Havana,'' Chanet said.

She noted that Cuba continues to suffer from the ``disastrous and persistent'' effects of the U.S. economic embargo that has been in place for more than 40 years.

``The extreme tension between Cuba and the United States creates a climate that is unfavorable to the development of freedom of expression and assembly,'' she said.

More...
http://cbsnewyork.com/international/UN-Cuba-Detentions-ai/resources_news_html

[Judi Lynn]

55. Thanks for pointing that out, Osolomia!

Those of us who have been watching U.S. behavior patterns for several years are familiar with their rhythems and repetitions.

This would mean Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and maybe Lincoln Diaz-Balart and some of their cronies, as well as _Bush's U.N. Ambassador, John Negroponte will be working overtime on bullying members from smaller countries into line.

They try to get their licks in, in full knowledge the General Assembly will have a deafening roar against the embargo next November.

I hadn't quite connected the dots yet, but definitely had noticed the sudden appearance of dramatic, sensationalized, and fact-free stories.

[Judi Lynn]

56. New U.S./Cuba college exchange program created

February 19, 2004
SUNY Oswego Offers Rare Semester-Long Study In Cuba
Submitted by SUNY Oswego
2/19/2004



When a dozen students started a study abroad experience in Cuba in early February, SUNY Oswego established one of only three comprehensive college-run semester-long programs in that country.

Participants in Oswego's first-ever Cuban semester exchange program from Feb. 12 to June 12 at the Universidad de la Habana had to be academic achievers fluent in Spanish because of the rigorous demands of the university there, said Dr. Walter Opello, director of international education at Oswego.

Students will take mainly social science courses and will learn more about the culture from out-of-classroom experiences. "There will be an educational tour of the island of Cuba in the first two weeks of the program," said Lizette Alvarado, the college's coordinator for programs in Latin America. Plans are to pair a Cuban student with each incoming student to serve as a guide and cultural mentor throughout the semester.
(snip)

"The kind of student this would appeal to is the mature, politically aware student who wants to really know Cuba beyond the superficial treatment in the U.S. news media," Opello noted.
(snip/...)

http://www.oswegodailynews.com/homearticle.asp?id=39866§ion=home&network=oswego