Will the US Miss Out on Cuba’s Golf Course and Construction Boom?
While the US economy continues to struggle especially with construction and land development, Cuba just implemented two new reforms. One allows farmers to sell the food they grow in a free market, possibly beginning basic capitalism which could spread throughout Cuba.
The other reform allows foreign investors to lease land as long as 99 years. European Investors will be building hotels, resorts and golf courses. Of course construction workers, equipment operators, architects, building supply vendors and the like will prosper. But none of these workers or investors will be from the US or economically hard hit Florida, only 90 miles away, because we’re still in the dark ages of diplomacy.
House Agriculture Committee Votes to End Cuba Travel and Commodities Trade Restrictions
The House Agriculture Committee voted to reverse course on the Cuba Travel ban for American citizens and ease restrictions on the sale of American commodities to Cuba. According to Reuters:
The 25-20 vote in the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee sets the stage for a potentially blistering debate this year in both the full House and the Senate.
“We have tried isolating Cuba for more than fifty years and it has not worked,” House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson said. “Today’s vote demonstrates that Congress is ready to change our nation’s approach on this issue.”
But Democrat Sen. Robert Menendez said, “I oppose and will filibuster any attempt to pass the bill in the Senate. The big corporate interests behind this bill couldn’t care less about whether the Cuban people are free or not – they only care about padding their profits by opening up a new market,” and “Repression is repression and dictatorships are dictatorships, no matter where they are located or whether you want to use their resorts.”
This is one of the few issues both the left and right agree on, from the US Chamber of Commerce to Jimmy Carter. Sen. Menendez is one of the few to not realize that nearly 50 years of bad policy hasn’t worked.
China is not drilling for oil off Cuba
“A lie can run around the world six times while the truth is still trying to put on its pants”
Mark Twain
This famous quote sums up the Republican position on drilling for oil off Florida’s beaches and in the Gulf of Mexico. The lie goes something like this:
We should drill for oil off Florida’s coast because China is drilling for oil off Cuba and only 50 miles from the Florida Keys
And it’s a lie that was debunked two years ago, but it’s still circulating in right-wing circles. I see it on the message boards, I heard it last weekend from my brother in law. Who knows where he heard it, he was just repeating it because conservatives always take the side of big oil.
So let’s set the record straight.
China is not drilling for oil off Cuba
The lie was started by George Will who wrote in a June 2008 column “drilling is under way 60 miles off Florida. The drilling is being done by China, in cooperation with Cuba, which is drilling closer to South Florida than U.S. companies are.”
The lie was then repeated by Dick Cheney during a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce a week later. Then John Boehner, George Radanovich, Michael Steele and every other conservative crazy just repeats the lie without ever checking their facts.
Even Republican stalwart Florida Senator Mel Martinez knows it’s a lie, he said “China is not drilling off the coast of Cuba,” “Reports to the contrary are simply false. They’re rumors, akin to urban legend.”
Sources:
FactCheck.org
McClatchy
Mother Jones
Tampa Bay Online
US – Cuba Talk About BP Oil Spill
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster which threatens Florida beaches is prompting the US and Cuba into “Working Level” talks. According to the Washington Post:
U.S and Cuban officials are holding “working level” talks on how to respond to the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill that is believed to be dumping some 5,000 barrels of crude a day into the Gulf of Mexico, two State Department officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The talks add to signs of concern that strong currents could carry the slick far from the site of the spill, possibly threatening the Florida Keys and the pristine white beaches along Cuba’s northern coast.
Cuba is a mere 90 miles from the Florida Keys and if the oil is picked up by the Gulf Stream, the oil affecting Florida beaches and Cuba’s shoreline will become a environmental and tourism nightmare for both countries.
High Hopes for Passage of “Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act”
Signs are looking positive for two important pieces of legislation, in the Senate, S.428 and the House H.R.874; both titled, the “Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act”.
Business Week has three recent articles which point to progress, according to this article:
The U.S. House of Representatives may pass a bill next month that would cut restrictions on agricultural exports to Cuba and lift a ban on travel to the island, the measure’s sponsor said.
Congressman Collin Peterson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said he needs backing from one more lawmaker to assure the panel will pass the legislation. He expects to secure that pledge after Congress’s Easter recess, and for the measure to get approval by the full House.
And in the Senate, the sponsor of the bill, Senator Byron Dorgan said:
he will bring a bill to lift the ban on travel to Cuba to the Senate floor this summer and that more than 60 Senators will vote for it.
All of this good news has Cuba getting ready for US tourist:
Cuba’s hotels could manage a sudden influx of 1 million American tourists if the U.S. Congress lifts its 47-year ban on travel to the Communist island, Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero said.
Additionally, the Caribbean nation is set to expand its capacity of about 50,000 rooms, with groundbreaking scheduled for at least nine hotels in 2010, Marrero said. About 200,000 rooms may be added in the “medium to long-term,” he said. Cuba is also seeking investment partners for 10 golf courses and luxury hotels aimed at Americans, according to a ministry official.
US Lifts Online Sanctions – Cuba to Get Web Based Communication Tools
The US Treasury announced it has amended the Cuban Assets Control Regulations which will allow the Cuban people the ability to use web based applications such as online email, blogs, wikis, etc.
Internet companies such as Google, supported the change in policy according to The Hill:
Google on Tuesday heralded the Treasury Department’s decision to lift federal restrictions on Web communication exports to Iran, Sudan and Cuba.
The policy shift marks a “great accomplishment,” said Bob Boorstin, director of policy communications for the search-engine giant.During a speech at a conference in Geneva, Boorstin said Google could now offer citizens in those countries access to such services as Google Earth, its mapping software; Google Talk, its instant-messaging tool; and Picassa, its photo-sharing site.
“We are hopeful this will help people like yourselves in this room and activists all over the world take a small step down what is certainly a long road ahead,” Boorstin said.
Dairy Farmers Support End of Travel & Export Restrictions
Congressman Jerry Moran of Kansas is co-sponsoring legislation he to open Cuba markets for U.S. farmers and ranchers. Dairy farmers are supportive of the legislation according to the CattleNetwork:
The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) applauded yesterday’s introduction of a House bill that would allow for open travel for all Americans to Cuba and further facilitate U.S. agricultural exports to that nation.
The Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act (H.R. 4645) was offered by House Agriculture Committee Chairman, Collin Peterson, and is currently co-sponsored by 33 other Members of Congress, including Representatives Jerry Moran of Kansas, Rosa L. DeLauro of Connecticut and Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri.
The NMPF also sees the value of ending travel restrictions to Cuba:
The other critical element that H.R. 4645 would tackle is to abolish restrictions on Americans’ rights to travel to Cuba. This would facilitate U.S. exporters’ ability to conduct business with Cuba, spurring greater demand for U.S. agricultural products.
“This bill would help to address administrative and technical barriers to U.S. dairy exports to Cuba that are not in keeping with the original spirit and intent of Congress when it determined that we should be able to export agricultural products to Cuba roughly ten years ago,” said Tom Suber, President of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. “The Cuban market holds significant promise for U.S. dairy exporters but has become increasingly difficult to supply within the past few years.”
Cuba Agrees to US Flights over Cuban Territory for Haitian Earthquake Relief
The Cuban Government has allowed US relief flights according to USA Today:
This morning the White House announced: “We have coordinated with the Cuban government for authorization to fly medical evacuation flights from the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Miami, through Cuban airspace, cutting 90 minutes off one-way flight time.”
South Floridian Travel to Cuba Sees Growth
South Floridians are traveling to Cuba on a more frequent basis. According to the Miami Herald:
Between April and June, about 55,000 people traveled to Cuba, compared to 30,000 in the three previous months, before the restrictions were lifted. The number of travelers is expected to hit 200,000 by year’s end, about double the yearly figures during the Bush restrictions. And travel executives expect the numbers to spike even higher now that new rules announced by the Obama administration — which lift all restrictions on family visits to Cuba — have taken effect.
Right-Wing Scare Tactics Against Cuban Travel
Blogger Yoani Sanchez was detained briefly in Cuba according to Reuters:
Sanchez, 34, told Reuters the agents forced her and blogger Orlando Luis Pardo into a car as they neared the demonstration in Havana’s Vedado district, took them to a spot near her home and dropped them off, throwing her purse on the street as they drove away.
And now the right-wing is all up in arms, according to the hate group that calls themselves the Heritage Foundation:
Certainly Congress has the power to change the laws so Americans can travel to Cuba, but can they make Cuba safer or freer? Or will the promised U.S. tourist bonanza just help the Cuban regime buy more police cars, hire more secret police, and tighten the noose of repression that encircles the necks of the Cuban people?
I certainly believe Cuba has a ways to go in fundamental human rights as do most who believe in establishing relations with the regime, but shining the light of day on Cuba is the best way to do it. Not promoting lies and falsehoods as the Heritage Foundation is famous for.