skyline Havana Cuba


Not so fast. proceed with caution because Cuba has long been misunderstood By many around the free democratic world.Some want the embargo lifted thinking that it will make it easier for the Cuban people. It may be hard for some to believe that even if the embargo is lifted I do not see much of an improvement for the average Cuban. Usually the beneficiaries are party officials or others connected with the government. Currently there are hotels in Cuba where Europeans vacation and yet the Cuban people are not better off. I stated before that Michael Moore's documentary is very misleading. Medicines for the average Cuban are not easy to obtain. This is why Many Cuban families must send them to family still remaining in Cuba along with toilet paper, socks, toothbrushes and other ordinary items. Unfortunately it is a pot shot whether or not the care packages reach the intended family members intact. What happens is that items are removed by government officials prior to reaching family members. Before any US President engages Cuba, Cuba needs to demonstrate an improvement in human rights. Political Prisoners must be released. In the 80s Castro emptied the Cuban jails releasing criminals to the USA but did not release his political prisoners. Opposition members are still jailed. Raul is looking for support and Hugo Chavez has offered some, but to what extent will Raul give up some of his power for monetary support? At this time there is no magic wand to wave and fix the problems in Cuba. President-elect Obama's stance to wards Cuba is very sketchy at best . He will be used by a pawn by the Castro brothers government. Cuba must be engaged with eyes wide open. There are many pitfalls of engaging Cuba without preconditions. Without preconditions no changes in Cuba will be achieved.

That is very true. I worked with a Cuban gentleman in Venezuela who used to work for the Cuban Consular Service (read goverment). He fell out of grace and ended up in Venezuela. He would travel to Cuba to visit his mother and would have to take his Cuban Passport to the Cuban Embassy in Caracas and obtain a "special" visa to travel to Cuba and he would only be granted permission to stay two weeks. How messed up is that. The political sufferage heaped upon the opposition will not be lifted until there is a massive overhaul of the system of government that is currently in place. Raul has made some changes to the restrictions that have been in place such as cell phones and computers but they are purely cosmetic as 98% of the population can not afford them.

From Time magazine:
"Cuba's state oil company, Cubapetroleo, or Cupet, has announced a stunning new estimate of more than 20 billion bbl. bubbling off its shores."

If this is true then mark my words the embargo will end in less than five years regardles of the power of the Cuban lobby in Washington or who's sitting in the White House. The big oil lobby has way more power and resources than their cuban counterpart and they will decide the ultimate fate of this policy.

The embargo should be lifted because it has proven ineffective if the goal was to topple the regime there.

"The embargo should be lifted because it has proven ineffective if the goal was to topple the regime there."

The sad thing is the hypocrisy that sustains the embargo. The US won't trade with Cuba because its regime is "communist" yet one of our largest trading partners is Communist China! The cuban-american community supports said embargo yet they constantly send money back to their relatives in Cuba to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year! Coño pero e' veida.

I guess morality has no place in your world.

Cuba is of course more moral than the USA. The USA is trashing our World at an enormous rate.
S.

wanker the castro brothers would lock your ass up in a minute....so if you think it is so great go their and live your degenerate lifestyle ...you wont last long ...

anthonyC the godless PhD is questioning my morality

As pointed out in the thread we (the US) trade with other putative Communists. Different people will have different subjective ideas on the morality of this embargo but one thing is absolutely, objectively indisputable: the policy has failed to bring down Castro's regime. That is not a moral opinion, it is a historical fact.

Well I guess I am just wrong to think that giving money to a murderous dictatorship is wrong.
How silly of me.