Posted on 02/14/2016 8:56:09 AM PST by ml/nj
Several large European investment groups have asked me to take the ``Trump Magic'' to Cuba. They have ``begged'' me to form partnerships to build casino-hotels in Havana. With the influx of foreign tourists, we would make a fortune, they promise, and they are no doubt right. They are also right to say that this type of arrangement would allow me to skirt the U. S.-imposed embargo.
But rushing to join those who would do business in Cuba would do more than that. It would place me directly at odds with the longstanding U. S. policy of isolating Fidel Castro. I had a choice to make: huge profits or human rights. For me, it was a no-brainer.
I fully understand the familiar arguments for lifting the embargo. The Cold War is over. Castro is on the ropes. Pumping money into his economy would benefit the long-suffering masses. This is the way to ``open up'' Cuba, export democracy, and promote entrepreneurship and independence from the state. We need to put the past behind us.
Each of those arguments is bogus.
The Cold War is indeed over, but it would be instructive to remember the role that Castro played in the struggle between -- yes -- good and evil. He turned his island over to his Soviet patrons. He was quite willing to have nuclear missiles, launched from Cuban soil, destroy American cities. He exported revolution to Central and South America. He abetted Libyan terrorism. He gave asylum to murderers. He posted troops in Africa. More important, he turned his nation into a maximum-security prison. His regime controls every aspect of human life -- access to food, medical assistance, schools and employment. Castro has not mellowed with age. Terror continues to reign. The secret police are unrestrained. The disappearance and beatings of citizens are still tools of civilian control, as is the suppression of free speech. Castro's ruthless domination of the Cuban people has not lessened even as his regime crumbles.
The real cause of misery of the Cuban people is Castro's Marxist-Leninist economic system -- not the U.S. embargo. Castro's Cuba is a brutal police state; Castro rules through terror, intimidation and brutality. Castro urgently wants the United States to lift the embargo because he is desperate for hard currency to keep his faltering communist economy afloat. Now, without the generous subsidies from the Soviet Union -- between $5-7 billion dollars a year -- Cuba's economy is reeling.
Of course, he would love Donald Trump to come to Havana and build casino hotels. Why? Not to raise the standard of living for the people of Cuba. Quite the contrary. Almost every dollar would go to prop up his police-state. Why? Because foreign investors cannot legally do business with private Cuban citizens. They can go into business only with the Castro government. It is highly illegal in Cuba for anyone except for the regime to employ a Cuban citizen.
Foreign investors are not allowed to hire or pay Cuban workers. They must pay the government directly for the workers. Castro then pays the workers in worthless Cuban money and keeps the rest. Under these circumstances, my investment cannot help average Cubans -- it can only replace the Soviet subsidy Castro no longer receives.
If I opened a casino/hotel in Havana, I would be required to pay Castro about $10,000 per year for each Cuban worker. But the workers would not benefit. Castro would pay them the equivalent of $10 a month. The rest he uses to pay for the brutal and violent system that keeps him in power -- and deprives the Cuban people of basic human rights. In other words, my investment in Cuba would directly subsidize the oppression of the Cuban people.
Yes, the embargo is costly. If I formed a joint venture with European partners, I would make millions of dollars. But I'd rather lose those millions than lose my self-respect. I would rather take a financial hit than become a financial backer of one of the world's most-brutal dictators, a man who was once willing to aid in the destruction of my country. To me the embargo question is no question at all. Of course, we should keep the embargo in place. We should keep it until Castro is gone.
ML/NJ
Excellent find.
Thanks for posting.
Pinging others....
Thank-you!
And he speaks the same way even now, which also speaks to his consistency.
It also speaks to his awareness of the consequences of foreign policies.
It says a LOT.
Again, thanks.
Thank you for the article and the ping. It is very telling on Trump’s patriotism, his integrity and long range vision.
And, I would add, his Conservatism, when you read his comments from 1999 and factor them across more than a few of the eleven
principles of a Reagan Conservative (Kegnor):
• Freedom
• Faith
• Family
• Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life
• American Exceptionalism
• The Founders’ Wisdom and Vision
• Lower Taxes
• Limited Government
• Peace Through Strength
• Anti-Communism
• Belief in the Individual
It also highlights just how incredibly stupid it was for Obama to normalize relations with Cuba 15 years later..
Yep. Stupid or malicious.
https://www.texastribune.org/2013/09/13/immigration-cruz-aims-middle-ground/
http://interactive.sun-sentinel.com/cuban-adjustment-act/loophole/
Agreed. This is a great article and shows the true measure of the man. Thanks for posting.
ping
So he writes an article saying how he walked away from profit because he hates Castro. Convenient.
Lap it up.
Good Article.
But but....Trump is supposed to only care about Trump! /s
He’s going to be one of our greatest presidents!!!
This was 17 years ago.
Did anyone make a casino in Cuba since then?
“It also highlights just how incredibly stupid it was for Obama to normalize relations with Cuba 15 years later..”
Yes. But Trump gas not spoken against that.
And no one was making casinos in Cuba in 1999.
This was a bogus story written to engender support for projects he wanted to do in Miami.
drivel....
1999 was the same year he made the “New York Values” interview supporting partial birth abortion. That’s the same guy at the same time as this article.
So. Human rights obviously didn”t apply to the unborn in his mind.
More importantly, many here impeached his 17 yr old views on abortion due to length of time passed. Yet, were supposed to accept an equally dated article as proof of consistency.
Trump likes to say that Reagan changed his views, too. But for Reagan, that change was far longer than 17 years in the making. Go back 17 years before he took office and a video like this one would indeed accurately describe Reagan. But, the other video would as well, except of course, Reagan wouldn’t have made the other video.
But I understand. One 1999 video is highly instructive about Trump, but the other is worthless in that regard. Got it.
Or, to put it another way, he was exactly right and it would be very unfortunate to trash him for it.
First, thank you for posting this article.
Second, I think it speaks VOLUMES about how Trump thinks, and has the memory for, foreign policy.
(America, first, last, and always.)
Lastly, as a GI Brat during the ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’, I have a special, nevuh happen G.I. desire, to ‘decorate Castro’’s grave, as I wish to ‘decorate’ Hanoi Jane Fonda’s grave!!
Let the SOB stew in the soup he made, himself!
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