Posted on 03/19/2002 3:09:39 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Edited on 07/12/2004 3:52:09 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
A decades-old fight over the direction of Washington's Cuba policy is expected to enter a new phase this week as a bipartisan coalition of House members is scheduled to announce an organized effort to ease trade and travel restrictions against the Communist-ruled the island.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
I always enjoy your postings whether I comment on them or not.
This Cuba thing continues to boggle my mind. For such a little island, it certainly occupies a lot of our politicians’ time. But that is what Cuba is all about – politics. If one were to compare Cuba to China, it’s the same darn thing as far as human rights, etc., is concerned except one is illegal the other is not for purposes of travel. In China, one can return with a zillion dollars worth of goodies because there are many interesting things to buy. In Cuba, except for hotel, food, taxis, and entrance fees to a few places, there is nothing of value to buy. One returns with almost the same amount of money one took. I returned with some Cuban coffee and a $10 t-shirt. T-shirts can go as high as $20. Cuban cigars can be purchased here in Panama so no need to bring them. The same goes with their rum. So what am I trying to say? I respect both sides of the argument. Travel for me is never a vacation. It is always a learning experience that I get high on. It’s like sitting in a wonderful, exciting college classroom learning something new. Anybody who goes to Cuba on a “vacation” has approached it wrong. When I went to China, those modern hotels had not been built yet. We never knew if we were going to have a hotel room for that night (we lucked out because we always did although there were a couple of times it appeared doubtful). But then again, China was a learning experience, and it was one of the most exciting places I have visited. Would I like to live in Cuba? Heck no. But now I can see areas of Havana in photos and on the TV news and know where the places are. They are no longer a mystery. And more than that, I can now tell if the news commenter is BSing me. That part is especially fun. Am I making any sense?
I'm liking O'Neill less and less. Actually, I don't think I like him at all. He was a vocal supporter of the Kyoto Accord as well.
Now is not the time to end our policy toward Cuba. After Castro is gone, I'll consider it. But we can't reward him or admit that our past policies were wrong. They weren't.
You might enjoy reading this. Capitalism's on the sly in Cuba
To counter these efforts, the White House is expected to send a clear message that it opposes all efforts to engage Cuba, which proponents of the embargo hope will be enough to discourage congressional efforts to lift the sanctions. In addition, the White House is expected to release in the coming weeks a broad review of current U.S. restrictions against Cuba, which are likely to be followed up by recommendations on how to more tightly enforce existing sanctions.
I'm glad to hear that.
Bump.
the stakes are particularly high this year following the Cuban government's recent purchases of more than $70 million worth of U.S. farm products
Purchases as in cash purchases? I'm not from Missouri but this I gotta see.
Most observers agree that an early test for both sides will be the fight over whether private U.S. banks should be permitted to finance exports to Cuba.
IMO any idiot who is willing to extend credit to or guarantee loans to a proven deadbeat like Castro deserves to get stiffed. But banks aren't lending their own money, but their clients' money, whose deposits are insured by the taxpayers. In Beltway doublespeak, that's "private lending." Paging Mr. Orwell.
How's this for a compromise? Let's allow U.S. bankers, Archer Daniels Midland executives, the NCC's Joan Brown Campbell, Gregg Craig, Hollywood pea-brains, limousine Leftists, Democrat fellow travelers and Upper West Side useful idiots to lend Cuba THEIR OWN MONEY. No limits on how much they can "lend" as long as it's THEIR OWN MONEY.
I think this is a WIN-WIN. Castro gets the credit he wants, the Leftists have the satisfaction of helping a fellow Commie dirtbag kindred spirit, and the rest of us have the satisfaction of seeing Fidel bite the hand that feeds him. Only this time it's the LEFT hand.
Think they'll go for it?
A)U.S. EMBARGO. The U.S. embargo is a red herring being used by Castro’s propaganda machine and his puppets in the Congress and the media. If we live in a town, where we have Wal-Mart, Kmart, Kroger, Target, and 50 other supermarkets, but only Kmart refuses to sell to you because of your bad credit history, why then are you blaming Kmart for all your problems? If all the other stores keep selling to you with the hope that you are going to change your behavior and keep throwing good money over bad thinking that in the end you will pay back your debts, there is a saying, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” No person is obliged to buy in any particular store, and neither is a store obliged to give credit to someone who does not pay back his debts. The same principle applies to international commerce.
B)CUBA’S OPEN TRADE WITH THE WORLD For 43 years the Castro regime has maintained open commercial trade with over 150 nations. Everybody, with the exception of the U.S., was willing to put its lot with Castro. During over 30 years the Soviet Union poured more than 5 to 6 billion dollars every year in economic help plus over 200 billion in military help that Castro repaid with the blood of Cuban soldiers fighting as proxies of the Soviet Union around the world. At one time 70,000 Cubans were fighting around the world in places they did not even know existed. Many thousands of Cuban soldiers died in Castro’s pursuit of imposing communism worldwide. The rationing of food, clothes, shoes, and every other elemental everyday thing that is taken for granted in any civilized country started a year after Castro took power.
He inherited a nation with a currency accepted internationally on par to the dollar, almost without foreign debt and with a golden international credit; Cubans enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in America. The Soviet help was several times bigger than all the help given by the Plan Marshall to Europe after WWII. In spite of such a huge Soviet help, the results at home were over 20,000 Cubans murdered at Castro’s firing squads, and over 500,000 political prisoners many of them suffered from 20 to 30 years of brutal violations of human rights at Castro’s infamous dungeons, and over 2 millions Cubans fleeing into exile by the most bizarre means.
For the Soviet Union the burden to keep Castro in power, a sociopath who encompassed on one person all the evil traits of his two main mentors Hitler and Stalin resulted in the collapse of its evil empire. While the Soviet leader lavishly poured money over the intractable tyrant just to keep out of balance their common enemy, the U.S., the people on the Soviet Union were suffering the same scarcities and oppressive conditions as of their comrades in Cuba.
Canada, Spain, Mexico, France, England, Italy have maintained wide open commercial relations with Castro for 43 years, and after the demise of the Soviet Union they tried to prop up the regime with additional investments under the pretense that by the interaction of commerce and tourism from western democracies the Cuban dictator would modify and liberalize the regime resulting in the return of democracy to Cuba. Reality couldn’t be father from their assumptions. Those foolish enough to get into Castro’s bandwagon followed the same path to bankruptcy, as did the Soviet Union. Castro is a compulsory buyer who not only has defaulted on all his international debts, but he also encourages all the Third World nations to also repudiate their debts. Now, those countries are desperately trying to embark the U.S. in the Cuban Titanic and the American taxpayers to rescue their ill-advised investments.
C)WORLDWIDE BLOCKADE. Since the U.S. commercial embargo and the open trade policies adopted by the Western democracies have failed miserably in bringing any favorable results for Cuba’s return to freedom, democracy and a regime that respects the human and civil rights of the Cuban people:
Shouldn’t our question rather be, isn’t about time to consider a worldwide blockade against Castro’s regime since 43 year of free trade with over 150 nations have brought only an increase of the oppression and misery for the Cuban people?
I stopped right there, Mr. Nethercutt can guarantee the sales out of his State's budget then.
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