playing politics

he will report every word to the Colombian Ambassador when he returns

Raul is rearranging the deck chairs as we speak

Blockade what blockade ? according to figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce (that one would surely hope the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations could easily access!) the U.S. transacted $710 million with Cuba in 2008, and has transacted more than $2 BILLION worth of business with Cuba in the last eight years. Currently the U.S. is Cuba's biggest food supplier and 4th biggest import partner. The U.S. has been Cuba's biggest donor of humanitarian aid including medicine and medical supplies for decades. The so-called embargo merely stipulates that the Castro regime pay cash up front for all U.S. agricultural products; no Ex-Im (taxpayer) financing of such sales. Much of the glee in Havana stems from Senator Lugar's report bemoaning this eminently wise policy enacted by the Bush team that has kept the U.S. taxpayer among the few in the world not screwed and tattooed by Castro.

"After 47 years," starts this report, "the unilateral embargo on Cuba..." Let's stop right here. Webster's defines "embargo" as "a government order imposing a trade barrier." As a verb it's defined as "to prevent commerce. "Per-capita-wise, Cuba qualifies as the world's biggest debtor nation with a foreign debt of close to $50 billion, a credit rating nudging Somalia's, and an uninterrupted record of defaults.

Pay up if you wanna play ......
During the summer of 1960 Castro's KGB-trained security forces stormed into 5,911 U.S owned businesses in Cuba and stole them all at Russian gunpoint -- $2 billion were heisted from outraged U.S. businessmen and stockholders. Much of this stolen U.S. property was then occupied by Canadian and European companies (many of the same Europeans still waxing indignant about the Nazi looting of some of their their properties, by the way.)......hypocrites and appeasers

Dear Mr. President:

You are quickly becoming irrelevant. How about closing your self important pie hole for a while.

In this years' Index of Economic Freedom, The Heritage Foundation ranks Cuba as more economically repressive under Raul than under Fidel. Under Raul's (nominal) rule, Cuba slipped down 1.1 notches to number 155 where it ranks almost neck to neck with North Korea.

Leonel is brown nosing the commies just to stay in the game he is a valuable tool of US interests

Be careful your tourism dollars may start going to Cuba.

It's ture. The Cuban embargo is unfair. Especially when USA is China's greatest trading partner, and Chinese are major investors in USA treasury bonds. Why measure with two different standards? China is communist too. Besides, the new economic model which is emerging shows that the liberalism which we have lived in the West, also has its boundaries. The U.S. government (and other Western governmenst) are taking big stakes in large banks and multinational companies.Governments helping the private sector and injecting money into the "free market components" is a very socialist thing to do. So the Cuban embargo should not continue under these circumstances

no double standard pay up During the summer of 1960 Castro's KGB-trained security forces stormed into 5,911 U.S owned businesses in Cuba and stole them all at Russian gunpoint -- $2 billion were heisted from outraged U.S. businessmen and stockholders

Pay up and pay cash ....the Cubans welch on everybody

I am all for easing the outdated embargo on Cuba which now does more harm than good.
Still there has to be some kind of "quid pro quo" from the Cuban government and negotiate
the rightful claims of the many businesses and banks that were nationalized, and the many international
financial claims that are pending to be resolved.
The terrible credit history and payment reputation of the Cuban government, is known to many businessmen outside Cuba, who have done business there, and
if Cuba is to come back to the fold, then they should pay up the rightful claims from the confiscation of property and businesses that were unjustly done in the past.
If they have no money to do so then they should return the properties and pay just compensation with government bonds or some other form of payment.
Cuba has to understand they must be responsible for their past actions and face the music.

The President should reflect and review HIS OWN policies in the DR! Another loan from OPEC, higher poverty rate, no jobs...get the message!

. His stunning and sometimes brutal expropriation campaign seized homes, businesses, farms and factories from tens of thousands of Cubans and scores of U.S. corporations, assets whose combined worth was $9 billion in 1960 and perhaps more than $50 billion today. (It was, in fact, the single biggest grab of U.S.-owned property in history.) When Fidel offered little if any restitution, the U.S. retaliated with an economic embargo against Cuba in 1962, which remains in place today. ......Pay up now ....cash and carry no ticky no shirty

gouletcolonial2,

Just out of curiosity, did you lose any valuables in 1959...You know, just asking?

why will the usa govt set its citizen for failure? i just dont get it with these commies. why will they lift the embargo allow their citizen to invest in cuba and then one day the cuba govt confiscate everything. had the world gone mad?

IF ONLY OUR POLITICIAN THINK LIKE THE TRUE CAPITALIST.

why will the usa give credit to cuba when they know they are not going to pay. is obama want to be remember as a clown just like bush? hell no he know better.

Vacalao, according to the history there's has not been one embargo that has work. if anything it made it worse, because those countries that were affected chose to allied with other rogue countries and the only people who are benefiting from the Cuba embargo are those politicians and businessmen in Florida.

WOw, Brootto,
I am speechless
"...Vacalao, according to the history there's has not been one embargo that has work. if anything it made it worse, because those countries that were affected chose to allied with other rogue countries and the only people who are benefiting from the Cuba embargo are those politicians and businessmen in Florida..."
That was surprisingly insightful...

Forget Cuba,

Bring your tourist asses to Samana! Esta muy Lynda. Mejor que Cuda.....

Here is a small realpolitik lesson:
As they say in el Cibao: "Ahora mi'mo to'el mundo tà en la olla..."; but China is swimming in cash. They are on a world-wide speanding spree buying just about any scrap of valuable resources (oil, steel, wheat, gas, etc, etc, etc.). Cuba; not wanting to be left behind is courting the Chinese to invest in oil exploration of the coast of cuba (Near the gulf of Mexico; and up north near the Florida Strait). The business people in the U.S are seeing this and want to get in the action...so Obama is thinking about relaxing the Embargoe (which by the way succeeeded only in taking money out of businesses in South Florida)...

Fernadez should read more history before trying to become super leader. Of course no one will listen to him. He is just playing all sides favor in order to win influence. Every one can remember when he begged to meet with W. Bush when the last was president of the US. Maybe in that occasion everything used to be right from US perspective. This is the new area of imperialism and the weak will be force to follow the leaders of the free world. Cuba is too close to the US and it is a communist country, the best thing for the US is having democratic and stability there, but since the country is a communist country, communism must be seen as a failure because it does not support freedom and goes against the Western influence. Fidel Castro picked the wrong path because it does not have knowledge of economic, but he believes in social programs that usually result in total failure.

Comrade Lie-onel Fernandez has been brain washed!

bruto that is your name right bruto.


well bruto did you know cuba once consficated all american assest in that country. please enlight us here 50 year later why will the usa set its citizen for the same failure? cuba got no money to pay they will need credit and investing. what is the guarantee cuba will pay to its debtor or that they will not take over like before?

Do not worry about Lie-onel Fernandez he got approval for this trip from Papa Bush and Gustavito when they had lunch last week or so.

They all know the EMBARGO is about to evaporate and they want to be ready to get in on the ground floor ACTION!

yeah vacalao after fidel try to make an agreement with us and their turn they back, so what else can he do. vacalao and answer me what embargo has work name one please.

So much misinformation about the expropriations. Take the Dupont mansion in Veradero for example. When the Cubans expropriated it, the Duponts were paid the value of the property that they, the Duponts were declaring it to be worth when filing their property tax documents. If you go back to the early period before any expropriations began, you will find that the americans began the whole thing by trying to strangle the changes that the Cubans were trying to put in place.

take the Dupont mansion.....no Castro took it ....we are talking 2 two billion in assets...the Dupont mansion is famous but obscure when it gets down to it ....apologist for thieves

trying to strangle the changes .....you really are an apologist for murderers and thieves

bruto
looking for a agreement? hahaha what the usa give cuba humanitarian aid is not enought?
i be damn now he is the one begging to be accepted by the american.

"influence is nothing. I don't agree with communism. We are democracy. We are against all kinds of dictators.... That is why we oppose communism."

fidel castro New York on April 25 1959

As part of his official visit, the two governments created a commission to draft a cooperation agreement to train Dominican teachers in didactic techniques, including for Cuban teachers to visit Dominican Republic to interchange experiences with their Dominican pars.


What an ignoramus this past U.S. resident, current President Fernandez really is.
If DR can learn 'didactics" fromCuba, why hasn't his revolutionary superior knowledge improved Cuba? Why is it stuck in the 50's (chevys, ladas, etc.) when it comes to real wealth?
A country that has a strangle hold on all industry,and private property. That is the actual failed policy, the socialist model; In which there's no incentive to excel, to innovate, to invest. What for the state owns everything?

So, President Fernandez may go down in history like Jimmy Dean, "Rebel without a Cause";
The Difference would be Fernandez is all over the political spectrum, therefore, really believes nothing. Rebel witihout a cause .

During the summer of 1960 Castro's KGB-trained security forces stormed into 5,911 U.S owned businesses in Cuba and stole them all at Russian gunpoint -- $2 billion were heisted from outraged U.S. businessmen and stockholders. Much of this stolen U.S. property was then occupied by Canadian and European companies (many of the same Europeans still waxing indignant about the Nazi looting of some of their their properties, by the way.).......and this guy wants to talk about the Dupont mansion please what about the other 5000

Did the Pilgrims compensate the Native Americans?


Did George Washington compensate Old George the third after the revolution?


"to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy"

Marcy, William Learned, 1786—1857, American politician


The Cuban's are just following US tradition!

Let bygones be bygones! o Borron y cuenta nueva!


Like Rodney said: Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?

GC the reference to the mansion was used as an example. "Revolution" means change. 50 years later it's time to give up your crocodile tears. Battista was a thug and a puppet. Move on.

vacalao, the us are the primary country that establish dictatorship throughout the entire world. panama, chile, south africa and other

Written by: Juansantodomingo, 4 Mar 2009 3:03 PM
From: Dominican Republic
GC the reference to the mansion was used as an example. "Revolution" means change. 50 years later it's time to give up your crocodile tears. Battista was a thug and a puppet. Move on.


Exactly!

Written by: josean, 4 Mar 2009 2:48 PM
From: United States
Did the Pilgrims compensate the Native Americans?


Did George Washington compensate Old George the third after the revolution?

On the second question, yes....

If what you're trying to do is justify Cuba's outright misappropriation without compensation;
Your rationale is unfouded.


You seem to know English fluently; You should acquaint yourself better with U.S. History:

Article 5:
It is agreed that Congress shall earnestly recommend it to the legislatures of the respective states to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated belonging to real British subjects; and also of the estates, rights, and properties of persons resident in districts in the possession on his Majesty's arms and who have not borne arms against the said United States.

http://www.americanrevolution.com/TreatyofParis1783.htm

by josean "Did George Washington compensate Old George the third after the revolution?
"to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy"
Marcy, William Learned, 1786—1857, American politician
The Cuban's are just following US tradition!
Let bygones be bygones! o Borron y cuenta nueva!
Like Rodney said: Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?"


josean what is the assurance that cuba will not pulled a confiscation again? then the investor will blame the usa for not protecting them. the best way is to leave everything the way it is

like i said vacalao name a country that the embargo has work, name one please

"shall earnestly recommend"

The operative is “recommending!”

And were the slaves compensated for the labor which is what added the value to these lands, etc.?

ZonaDominicana “He is just playing all sides favor in order to win influence.”

I agree,
And the native Americans never got what they really deserved.
Mexico will never got Texas, Cali, etc states that they lost.
Will Spain get back what they lost?
Will the French get Haiti back?
Will the decedents of slaves get their 40 archers and the mule?

Oh no Lie-onel Fernandez to increase trade by 100% with the "irresponsible deadbeat" Cubans!

What is this neoliberal world coming to!

LA HABANA, Cuba. Representantes de los gobiernos de la República Dominicana y Cuba se comprometieron ayer a realizar esfuerzos para duplicar de US$100 millones a US$200 millones al año, el intercambio comercial entre ambas naciones.

http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias_det.php?id=191109

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- One year after Cuban President Raul Castro promised “more openness” in dealing with dissidents, journalist and poet Normando Hernandez Gonzalez has been taken from a hospital ward back to the prison where he has been held since 2003.

Hernandez Gonzalez, 39, was the youngest of 75 dissidents arrested during the “Black Spring” of 2003. The crackdown resulted in brief trials and prison sentences of 25 years for journalists and artists whose “crimes against the state” included his articles critical of Cuba’s health, education and judicial agencies.

Cuban chicas are half the price of DR chicas. And they are hot hot HOT!!!!

toothless transvestites right up your sidewalk and half the price

U.S. fugitives in Cuba wary of closer ties that could lead to deportation
Thaw in relations with U.S. could open doors for return

March 8, 2009

Havana - Times could be uncertain for the more than 70 American fugitives hiding out in Cuba.

Some have enjoyed lives as celebrity revolutionaries in the tropics. Many paraded around town, telling war stories and being hailed as heroes who stood up to "the Empire." But their fate is unclear after a change in administrations on both sides of the Florida Straits.

"Who knows how untouchable anybody is," said Vicki Huddleston, head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana from 1999 to 2002. "Raul Castro's government is extremely pragmatic."

GC
How do you know the TV's are toothless?
I kind of agree that the Cuban chicas rule.

American fugitives in Cuba include black separatists, Black Panthers and Puerto Rican independence militants. To U.S. law enforcement, they are cop killers, bank robbers and common criminals.

In communist Cuba, the government welcomed them as political activists who faced persecution in the United States. The state has refused almost all requests for their return.

One of the more notorious is the former Joanne Chesimard, a leader of the Black Liberation Army and aunt of slain rapper Tupac Shakur. Now known as Assata Shakur, she has a $1 million bounty on her head in the killing of a New Jersey state trooper in 1973. But even with the Cuban government's offer of safe haven, she remains in hiding somewhere on the island.

genoroso....I prefer to keep my sources secret.....he is into a good gumming every now and then....not that there is anything wrong with that

GC
Now you got me worried! LOL.

Under the leadership of Hernandez, Cuba has become the third most important importer of Basque products in Latin America, after Mexico and Brazil.

Representatives of the Basque government tried to travel to Cuba to find out why Hernandez had been arrested, but the Cuban embassy in Spain told them that "this was not a good moment" for them to visit.

Basque authorities then tried to find information about Hernandez by contacting officials of the Cuban government but they have not responded to their inquiries.

This should serve as a warning to all those American companies that are desperate to do business with an unlawful regime, where the law of the land is whatever the dictator decides.

It is equivalent to doing business with the Mafia, and on top of that they do not pay their bills. Read more (In Spanish)

U.S. Frees International Terrorist Luis Posada Carilles

http://www.gnn.tv/forum/thread.php?id=25002

I told josean I would never betray him and a promise is a promise