Archive for the ‘Failed US Policy’ Category
The Cuban Embargo: Long Enough Don’t Ya Think?
January 1 marked the fifty year anniversary of Fidel Castro as the bearded “Leader of the Revolution.” Much was written about the revolution itself and I also found an good chronology of the last fifty years of the Cuban revolution.
However according to the AP article In communist Cuba, a whiff of rugged individualism, not all is well with the Cuban people:
Alejandro, a farm worker who lives nearby, says the problem is not apathy but a lack of freedom. “Solidarity? Fine. But it is no substitute for political change,” said the 26-year-old, who lives with his parents and didn’t want to cause them problems by giving his surname. “People are ready for new things. There’s a lot of frustration.”
In the Belfast Telegraph article Disappearing Caribbean: The unique Cuban way of life, the most obvious point of the story is how Cuba is stuck in some kind of socialist time warp staring the Bearded One:
The visual grammar of Havana has barely changed since the 1950s. The skyline is the same. So are the fabulous cars – Dodges, Buicks, Cadillacs and Chevrolets, held together with rope and soap – that still patrol the Malecon. The revolutionary slogans on the walls are a stuck record; “Hasta la victoria siempre” recycled decade after static decade. The national newspaper Granma (so named after the cabin cruiser that brought the young Fidel and Raul back to Cuba in 1956) remains a shameless Castro fanzine. Old cars, old buildings, old news – for anyone who does not have to live here it’s a heady mix.
And there’s hope as more mainstream organizations, such as the Council on Foreign Relations contend:
In a significant break from the strategy of the Bush administration, Obama has signaled a willingness to have direct talks with Cuban President Raul Castro. On the campaign trail, he created a small stir when he broke with the status quo on U.S.-Cuba policy, stating that under certain conditions he would repeal restrictions on Cuban-American travel and remittances to Cuba–and, importantly, he was able to do so while retaining moderate popularity among the politically significant bloc of Cuban Americans in Florida’s Dade County.
But not so fast Mario, it seems that All signs point to a Jeb Bush Senate Run. With the popularity of Jeb Bush and his relationship with the Cuban-American community, Andrea Mitchell writes there could be a snag:
Obama’s party now sees a political opening in Florida in 2010, with the announced retirement of Senator Mel Martinez. In vying for the open seat, Democrats could even be facing a popular former governor named Bush — Jeb Bush — who is strongly anti-Castro, and potentially the GOP’s best candidate.
Fellow citizens of Florida, Please don’t let the Bush era of debt-fueled spending make you nostalgic of better economic times. I too remember how well the State of Florida responded to the storms, but don’t confuse good civil disaster preparation with Bush political cronyism. The result could be another Bush in Washington and that ought to scare the BJesus out of you.
WSJ: Cuban Myths Will Test Obama
The Wall Street Journal recently posted an article by David Luhnow and Jose Decordoba titled “Cuban Myths Will Test Obama”. The article raised many points and myths about the Cuban Embargo I found interesting. The article reads:
If anything, many in Cuba believe Fidel Castro and his younger brother, Raul, are terrified the U.S. will scrap the embargo and take away their best public-relations tool.
I believe this is true as all dictators hate any freedom or opportunity for people to make up there own mind about anything. However, as Raul ages and Fidel becomes less of a factor, there seems to be a softening and a realization that the Cuban people are suffering. Raul may also have recent memories of Saddam Hussein’s statues being toppled in Central Baghdad and think of his own legacy.
The political costs of the embargo for the U.S. are enormous. No single issue poisons the well more for relations with Latin America. Every year, in what has become an embarrassing ritual for the U.S., an overwhelming majority of countries condemn the embargo at the United Nations. In the latest vote last November, the vote was 185-3. Only Israel and Palau joined the U.S.
And with Vladimir Putin cozying up to Latin America the political cost will continue to mount.
The election of Mr. Obama — a young black man committed to reinventing politics — poses a major challenge to Cuba. It shatters the myth cultivated by Cuba’s ruling clique that the U.S. is a racist, exploitative country. Cuba is a majority black country with few blacks in positions of power.
During his campaign, Mr. Obama promised to loosen some restrictions in U.S. policy towards Cuba, allowing Cuban Americans to send more money to their relatives and visit them with more frequency.
Barack Obama gives the Cuban people the same thing Americans now have, Hope, something we’ve both needed for a long time.
But few foresee major moves to lift the embargo. For one thing, Mr. Obama would have to risk considerable political capital to lift the embargo at a time when he has his plate full of major issues. He may have little to gain in return from the Cuban leadership, which until now has been able to muddle through thanks to billions of dollars in aid from Venezuela and credits from Iran, Russia and China.
After half a century of Cuban communism, Cubans may have to wait at least another few years for real change.
I disagree and take Obama at his word and rely on what he’s said for years. I also believe Obama is pragmatic, there’s almost nobody in his core constituency who believes in the embargo and few Republicans with the political power or even the will to stop anti-embargo legislation. Besides, the Republicans have bigger problems. There is also an economic component, many industries and even the state of Florida will benefit from trade and tourism with Cuba.
What Can You Do? Tell President-Elect Obama to End the Cuban Embargo
US Citizens have another way to let President-Elect Obama know that we’re of tired of failed policy on the Cuban Embargo by signing a petition of support for improved US-Cuban Relations.
John McAuliff is a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement and leading the petition, Obama’s Cuba Opportunity.
John writes:
If official US rhetoric is now that the Cubans have to decide for themselves how their society should be organized, the conflict is between those who believe they can only do that if we force them to change in accord with our tenets of democracy and human rights and those like myself who believe they can only do so when the hostile pressures of the last fifty years and the century long proclivity to intervene are ended.
John was in the Peace Corps in Peru and spent forty years involved with Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia through the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers) and is currently heading the Fund for Reconciliation and Development. John visited Cuba in 1971 and has visited Cuba annually for the past decade and is working on travel as the key to normalizing diplomatic, political and trade relations with Cuba.
Cuba Briefs: Latin America Blast Embargo, Russian Navy Visits, Cuba Offers Prisoner Swap
Latin American leaders blasted the US embargo while welcoming Cuba into the Rio Group:
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says he hopes Obama will end the embargo. He says it no longer makes political or economic sense.
Cuba recently extended an olive branch by offering to release jailed political dissidents:
Answering a reporter’s question about political prisoners in Cuba, Castro said he would consider releasing some as a gesture to opening talks with the new administration. But he said the U.S. would need to reciprocate by freeing the so-called “Cuban Five,” who were convicted in 2001.
As Putie-Pute continues his communist quest for influence in Cuba by sending Russian Navy Ships, the Bush administration dead-enders near their last days. Their propaganda machine feels the need one last time to spew their hate for the Cuban people by giving a litany of failures of reasons for the embargo.