Posted on 04/10/2015 3:15:15 PM PDT by NYer
The United States may be about to remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, but some Cuban-Americans see that as a grave mistake.
Carlos Eire, the T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History & Religious Studies at Yale University and author of a memoir about growing up during the Cuban Revolution, Waiting for Snow in Havana, pointed out that Cuba has had two illegal arms shipments seized in the past year and a half, one to North Korea, the other to China.
In addition, he said:
• It has deals with Iran (including sending nuclear experts to Iran); It has re-opened a Russian spy station on the island;
• It is allowing China to build satellite stations on the island; It has ties to Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. and to FARC in Colombia;
• It is in charge of repression in Venezuela;
• It is exporting its phony "socialism" to all of Latin America.
The BBC and other media outlets are saying that removing Cuba from the list would pave the way for the two nations to reopen embassies. But Eire, who grew up in Cuba, pointed out that the countries' respective "interest sections" have "functioned no differently from embassies."
"The U.S. 'interest section' in Castrogonia occupies the old embassy building and the ambassador's mansion is the same as in pre-Castro days," he said. "For quite a few years, up until today, the number of diplomatic employees attached to the US 'interest section' has been greater than the number in pre-Castro days. Relatively speaking, it's a very large operation. Contact has been constant, and talks, and negotiations, etc."
Alberto de la Cruz, managing editor of the Babalu Blog, which covers Cuba, said that removing Havana from the state sponsors of terrorism list would be based on political expediency.
"The Obama administration's obsession with appeasing the brutally repressive regime in Cuba and score brownie points with Latin America's leftist ideologues who are diligently working to eradicate basic civil rights in the region is as immoral as it is incomprehensible," de la Cruz said.
"Cuba's dictatorship continues to harbor and protect known international terrorist fugitives, including an American who is on the FBI's most-wanted list (Joanne Chesimard). Furthermore, Cuba's government continues to support and provide cover for terrorist regimes in the Middle East as well as terrorist organizations such as FARC, ETA, ELN, etc."
Nevertheless, the move would push forward a normalization of relations that reportedly had significant help from Pope Francis. President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro spoke about that goal in simultaneous speeches December 17.
Obama and Castro are expected to meet in the coming days while attending the Summit of the Americas in Panama. In the meantime, Secretary of State John Kerry and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez held closed-door discussions in Panama.
"Secretary Kerry and Cuban Foreign Minister Rodriguez had a lengthy and very constructive discussion this evening. The two agreed they made progress and that we would continue to work to resolve outstanding issues," a senior US official said.
The meeting was historic in itself, but Obama's meeting with Castro would be the first meeting of a US and Cuban president since Dwight D. Eisenhower met with Fulgencio Batista.
Senator Ben Cardin, D-MD, a leading member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said the State Department had recommended removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The move was "the result of a months-long technical review" and would be "an important step forward in our efforts to forge a more fruitful relationship with Cuba", he said. The BBC explained:
Catholic ping!
It has little to do with terrorism or human rights violators, it's just what the executive agenda is, and with this traitorous chief executive the agenda is to reward communists, and muslims... regardless of the threat they pose to our nation or our long-time allies.
The agenda, actually, is the most (only) "transparent" thing about this administration.
Great POST!
If you wish to suspend my liberties in the US then declare martial law (or the suspension of habeas corpus). It will take some defending in court and before Congress but at least it is out in the open.
If you wish to suspend my liberties going abroad then declare war,
Other than that I am a free man. If a country is a threat to our freedoms then we take collective action as a country against that threat. It is not right to single out a few disfavored people, products, or companies and declare they out of all should be the brunt of fighting our perceived threat.
Did you see that Intel cannot sell some processors into China? They may be used to help build nukes. If China is a nuclear threat to this country then we should be doing our best to cripple them. If we think one day China will nuke us then we should attack now not punish Intel. What did Intel do to peeve Obamassiah?
Good move. It makes room to put the US on.
To be replaced on the list with Israel and Vatican City.
Good, it should have been done when the iron curtain came down.
Honestly, it’s hard for me to kick the Cold-War mentality I grew up with. Do I think Raoul is trustworthy? Sorry, no. JFK may have been a philanderer in his personal life, but he saved our behind in the Cuban Missile Crisis. If that situation happened again, especially with that demon Putin, God help us.
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