Thread: Cuba

The embargo began in 1960 after Castro nationalized all US owned businesses in Cuba without any compensation to the owners. I suppose the USA simply refused to deal with a thief.

Originally Posted by The Big Fella

So it seems to boil down to Castro and a continued hatred of what he did. Cuba can't be th only country to kick out the Yanks. If that is what its about how do these same die hard flag waving Americans explain or justify Vietnam for crying out loud. For me a Brit that was far worse than anything Castro did yet they have made their peace with Vietnam now. Surely it has to be more than that ?
Would dropping the embargo really cost a candidate the win ?

No one "kicked" us out. We're still there. If you were an American, you could possibly understand. But, OBVIOUSLY you're not.

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Hear they have fantastic medical care there in Cuba?

Yep much better than the 45 million Americans who have none Bonn Mee

The embargo on Cuba is silly and counterproductive now at this time, but with so many painful old Issues in the closet still, from the mafia loosing their businesses, to the Cuban missile crisis, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and the possible trails to the Kennedy murders, and not forgetting the general extremist hysteric attitude with the Cuban immigrants in Florida, it has been hard for the US to change tack.

But the time is right, let Western influence in form of goods, trade, information tech etc., start floating in and Cuba and it's people will slowly but surely move away from the old cold war type Castro communism.

Originally Posted by larvidchr

But the time is right, let Western influence in form of goods, trade, information tech etc., start floating in and Cuba and it's people will slowly but surely move away from the old cold war type Castro communism.

Absolutely agree, good post larv.

Originally Posted by S Landreth

HAVANA: Raul Castro: Cuba willing to sit down with US - MiamiHerald.com

Raul wants to "sit down with the US."

How convenient.

Why?

Because after decades of foreign aid from the Soviet sphere which dried up 20ish years ago and failed economics they want to...."change."

I say, "f*ck Cuba."

And China, Vietnam, and these other sh*thole places.

Originally Posted by barbaro

Originally Posted by S Landreth

HAVANA: Raul Castro: Cuba willing to sit down with US - MiamiHerald.com

Raul wants to "sit down with the US."

How convenient.

Why?

Because after decades of foreign aid from the Soviet sphere which dried up 20ish years ago and failed economics they want to...."change."

I say, "f*ck Cuba."

And China, Vietnam, and these other sh*thole places.

Exactly why they should open up, Americanize them with a flood of crap from USA/China.
Viva KFC, Mickey D's, and Wally World. Viva Starfucks and Buttwiper beer.

Originally Posted by larv

the general extremist hysteric attitude with the Cuban immigrants in Florida

What about the Cubans who had their property appropriated? We're not talking plantation owners but the common citizen who had their home taken away. They were stripped of anything of value so they couldn't finance a counter-revolution.

I'm all for trading with Burma. The exchange of goods includes the exchange of ideas.

Are the Cubans holding deeds to their property in Cuba hysterical?

Some incredable bars & pussy in Havana. No wonder Hemingway settled there.

didn't the djoo mafia big-boys lose out big-time in coooba
and they don't like to lose.
they never forget. <anyting>.

Cuba: U.S. Has No “Moral Authority” to Speak About Terror

HAVANA – Cuba’s foreign minister on Thursday rejected the inclusion of Cuba on the U.S. State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism and denounced the United States as an “international criminal.”

“One cannot acknowledge the U.S. to have the least moral authority and I frankly believe that nobody takes note of or reads those documents,” Bruno Rodriguez told reporters in reaction to Washington’s annual report on international terrorism.

The foreign minister said that on the subject of terrorism, the United States “historically has had a long file of actions of state terrorism not only against Cuba.”

He accused Washington of protecting anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles, who stands accused by Cuba and Venezuela of blowing up a jet in 1976 with 73 people on board, and of protecting the “state crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinian people and the Arab peoples.”

“Never has Cuban territory been used to finance or execute terrorist acts against the United States of America. The State Department, which issues those reports, cannot say the same,” Rodriguez said.

The U.S. government kept Cuba on its list of states that sponsor terrorism, although it said that there had been some positive statements by former President Fidel Castro.

In the first annual terrorism report of Barack Obama’s presidency, the State Department said Havana remained on the black list because “the Cuban government continued to provide safe haven to several terrorists.”

“Members of ETA, the FARC, and the ELN remained in Cuba during 2008,” the document said.

ETA has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in its campaign for an independent Basque state in parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. The leftist FARC and ELN have been battling a succession of Colombian governments for more than four decades.

In addition, Cuban authorities continued with their public defense of the FARC, the State Department said, though noting that Fidel Castro publicly urged the Colombian rebels to unconditionally free hostages.

Castro, the report said, “also condemned the FARC’s mistreatment of captives and of their abduction of civilian politicians who had no role in the armed conflict.”

The United States has no proof of money laundering operations linked to terrorism in Cuba, but it said that the communist-run island’s banking system is very opaque.

Also, the Cuban government continues to allow to live in its territory several U.S. fugitives belonging to groups like the Boricua Popular Army, or Macheteros – a Puerto Rican independence outfit – and the Black Liberation Army.

However, it has not provided shelter for new people being sought for terrorist activity since 2006, the document says.

The designation as a state sponsoring terrorism results in sanctions, including being prohibited from buying weapons from the United States or getting economic assistance from Washington.

In the case of Cuba, however, Washington has maintained an economic embargo against the communist-ruled island since 1962. EFE

Link: Latin American Herald Tribune - Cuba: U.S. Has No “Moral Authority” to Speak About Terror

Originally Posted by attaboy

What about the Cubans who had their property appropriated?

What about the limey's that had their property appropriated during and after the war of independence? A lesser known aspect of early US history is that the federal government ordered the states to make restitution or restore confiscated property and assets to their rightful owners- but the states, en bloc, refused to do so. I don't see that being used as an excuse for perpetual sanctions against the US.

Basically, the ongoing virtual blockade of Cuba by America is long past it's sell by date, heck the Berlin Wall came down in 1989- and international Communism along with it. It is only being kept in place by a politically influential Cuban/ American lobby that benefits from the status quo- which is why, for example, sweet toothed Americans actually pay double the world price to feed their sugar addiction.

If Florida wasn't a swing state, the embargo would have ended years ago.

Originally Posted by sabang

Originally Posted by attaboy

What about the Cubans who had their property appropriated?

What about the limey's that had their property appropriated during and after the war of independence? A lesser known aspect of early US history is that the federal government ordered the states to make restitution or restore confiscated property and assets to their rightful owners- but the states, en bloc, refused to do so. I don't see that being used as an excuse for perpetual sanctions against the US.

the federal government at that time had little sway over the States. it was how it should be.