Posted on 05/31/2014 9:16:38 AM PDT by Kaslin
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue was barely finished calling for the further impoverishment of American workers (i.e. immigration reform) when he shows up as a guest of Cubas Stalinist regime and gives a speech at the University of Havana calling for a further fleecing of American taxpayers (i.e. ending the so-called Cuba embargo.)
For years, the US Chamber of Commerce has demanded that our government eliminate the commercial embargo on Cuba. Its time for a new approach, proclaimed Donohue this week to an ovation from communist apparatchiks, some who in 1960 stormed into almost 6000 U.S. owned businesses (worth almost $ 2 billion at the time) and stole them all at Soviet gunpoint.
A few American business-owners resisted. One of these was Howard Anderson who owned a filling stations and Jeep dealership (not a casino or brothel, which were relatively rare in pre-Castro Cuba, by the way.) Ill quote from Anderson v. Republic of Cuba, No. 01-28628 (Miami-Dade Circuit Court, April 13, 2003). "In one final session of torture, Castro's agents drained Howard Anderson's body of blood before sending him to his death at the firing squad."
The Inter-American Law Review classifies Castros mass burglary of U.S. property as the largest uncompensated taking of American property by a foreign government in history. Rubbing his hands and snickering in triumphant glee, Castro boasted at maximum volume to the entire world that he was freeing Cuba from "Yankee economic slavery!" (Che Guevara's term, actually) and that "he would never repay a penny!"
This is the only promise Fidel Castro has ever kept in his life. Hence the imposition of the Cuba embargo, not that youd know any of this from the mainstream media, much less from Thomas Donohue.
The burglarized (and often brutalized) American owners filed those property claims against Castros regime with the U.S. government. Theyre worth $7 billion today--and must be settled before the so called embargo is lifted. This settlement provision for lifting the embargo was codified into U.S. law in 1996 by the Helms-Burton act, which means only Congress can lift the embargo, obviously after a vote. But the votes are not there.
Shouldnt the President of an outfit like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce be aware of this? Or is Donohue calling for more of Obamas executive overreach?
The reforms under Raul Castros government demonstrate that Cuban leaders understand that direct economic investment can be a powerful tool for economic development, proclaimed Donahue to another ovation from his communist audience.
Oh, Cubas Stalinist kleptocracy understands this alright. But this economic development via foreign investment exclusively benefits the tiny Stalinist nomenklatura that has run Cuba since 1959and enthusiastically hosted Thomas Donahue this week. All foreign trade with Cuba is still conducted exclusively with the Stalinist regimeno exceptions. In fact private property rights still do not exist in Cuba, much less an independent judiciary and the rule of law.
According to figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. has transacted almost $4 billion in trade with Cuba over the past decade. Up until four years ago, the U.S. served as Stalinist Cubas biggest food supplier and fifth biggest import partner. Weve fallen a few notches recently but were still in the top half.
For over a decade the so-called U.S. embargo, so disparaged by Thomas Donahue, has mostly stipulated that Castros Stalinist regime pay cash up front through a thirdparty bank for all U.S. agricultural products; no Ex-Im (U.S. taxpayer) financing of such sales. And thats the catch with Donahues gracious hosts. Theyre desperate to abolish that provision.
Enacted by the Bush team in 2001, this cash-up-front policy has been monumentally beneficial to U.S. taxpayers, making them among the few in the world not screwed and tattooed by the Castro regime, which per capita-wise qualifies as the worlds biggest debtor nation, with a foreign debt estimated at $50 billion, a credit rating nudging Somalias and an uninterrupted record of defaults. Standard & Poors refuses even to rate Cuba, regarding the economic figures released by its Stalinist apparatchiks as utterly bogus. Just this year the Russians wrote off almost $30 billion Castro still owed them.
Regarding the disconnect seen above between historic truth and Castroite propaganda, what we have here, amigos, is not a failure to communicate. Instead its perfect communication-- between Castros propaganda ministry and the U.S. media (and business leaders) to whom they issue press bureaus and visas, after careful vetting. These latter amply live up to their side of the bargain, reporting exactly what Castro wants them to report.
A Spanish businessman named Fernandez Gonzalez has an interesting story that might serve as an education for Thomas Donahue, or for those who might fall for his siren song, as composed by the kleptocratic Castro brothers:
A few years ago, I created in the Hemingway Marina, a tourist zone near Havana, a bar/restaurant then during a farce that would not hold water in any Western judicial system -- my business was taken from me and I became "an enemy of the people." Today, I remain deprived, without recourse, of the property that I steadfastly and honorably worked to create for many years. I don't want other foreign investors, who travel to Cuba under some siren song to suffer the same fate as I did. Thus I recommend, I beg, that you don't contribute with your money and knowledge to shore-up Cuba's dictatorship Because there is not the slightest judicial guarantee. There is no Rule of Law that protects investors, nor anyone else. In Cuba, what prevails are not rights, but the will and whim of those who govern. The same thing that happened to business owners at the beginning of the revolution can happen, and does happen, to today's investors and businessmen.
One fine morning in February 2009 the Castro brothers woke up and decided to freeze $1 billion that 600 foreign companies kept in Cuban bank accounts. Another fine morning in April 2012 the Cuban regime arrested the top officers of Britain-based Coral Capital that had invested $75 million in the Castro brothers fiefdom and was planning four and luxurious golf resorts. These hapless (greedy, unprincipled and stupid, actually) businessmen find themselves with no more recourse to law than the millions of Cubans and Americans who had their businesses and savings stolen en masse in August of 1960 by Castros gunmen.
After all, Che Guevara who served as Cubas Finance Minister during the initial mass burglaries of Cuban and U.S. owned properties explained the regimes legal guidelines very succinctly in January 1959, when he served as chief hangman. Judicial evidence is an archaic bourgeois detail. We execute (and jail and torture and steal) based on Revolutionary conviction.
Carter displays signs of Dementia, so one mentally compromised former President promoting the insane...”that’s disgusting”.
The left doesn’t fool around. If the Church is a problem, infiltrate the Church. If the boyscouts are troublesome, castrate them. If the Chamber of Commerce continues its irksome ways, take it over and take it down. We’re not dealing with people when we deal w/ the left, we’re dealing with soul-less zombies that are always, ALWAYS moving forward.
Donohue; in league with soros / soetoro/ jarrett, pulling the strings of boehner / cantor / ryan.
Chamber of Commerce is looking for a cheap labor force, hence the push for amnesty. Makes ridiculous sense to me. Whoda’ thunked’ the USCoC would turn on America?
Follow the $$$$$.
US Chamber of Commerce is pro-big government on lots of issues —beginning with Eximbank (corporate welfare)
He must go to a hair stylist to get hair like that.
Ohmigoodness why not both?
The US Chamber of Commerce is not a patriotic organization. It is run by multinational corporations with no loyalty of any kind to the United States.
Effectively, they are lobbyists against the interests of America, and should be treated as such.
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