| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:13 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba?
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Laidback742
Posts: 4,679
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With Obama taking office, do you think there will be, or should be, an attempt to lift the decades old embargo against Cuba? Is it really doing any good, and will it create change for the better by getting rid of it?
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:16 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba? |
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redhairNfreckles
Posts: 4,694
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Ya, but only after the Castro brothers kick it.....
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:19 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba?
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BandTMom
Posts: 38,059
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But what does Cuba have to offer?
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:23 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba? |
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redhairNfreckles
Posts: 4,694
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But what does Cuba have to offer?
Another port for a cruise ship to stop..... 
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:25 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba?
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Loreli
Posts: 25,408
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I think there will have to be repositioning and new talks after Obama takes office.
If countries can't help each other out, then concentrate on ones that can. First....while watching our backside.
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:32 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba? |
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BandTMom
Posts: 38,059
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I'm thinking cigars, Red. 
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:33 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba?
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cre8ive1970
Posts: 1,096
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But what does Cuba have to offer?
Club Gitmo 
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:35 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba? |
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BandTMom
Posts: 38,059
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Actually it was a serious question.
What does Cuba have to offer that would make negotiations to lift the embargo profitable to the U.S.?
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:36 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba?
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redhairNfreckles
Posts: 4,694
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, Loreli. We must devote 110% to getting our own country problems worked on when things settle down and he is officially our new President. I hate to say this, but we should also pull back some of the aid we are constantly giving other countries and start to take care of our own again. When things improve here, then we can help them again. Many countries hate our guts anyway, so why make them any more miserable by seeing the care boxes stamped with, "Provided to your country by the great citizens of the USA"
I'm thinking cigars, Red. Yep, my late father would have loved to have a good smoke like a Cuban Cee-gar!
[Edited on 11/9/2008 3:38 PM]
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:38 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba? |
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cre8ive1970
Posts: 1,096
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What does Cuba have to offer that would make negotiations to lift the embargo profitable to the U.S.?
Well, Fidel Castro could stop the hurricanes that George Bush directs onto unsuspecting Democrats. 
[Edited on 11/9/2008 3:39 PM]
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:39 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba?
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Laidback742
Posts: 4,679
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I'm not sure there is a huge benefit as far as trade, but from a political/human rights point of view, hasn't it really gone on long enough? I think that the US is one of only 3 nations that still feel the embargo should be in place.
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:42 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba? |
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Gallows_Humor
Posts: 13,662
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wiki....
[QUOTE].....The embargo was codified into law in 1992 with the stated purpose of "bringing democracy to the Cuban people", and in fact is entitled the Cuban Democracy Act. In 1996, Congress passed the Helms-Burton Act, which further restricted United States citizens from doing business in or with Cuba, and mandated restrictions on giving public or private assistance to any successor regime in Havana unless and until certain claims against the Cuban government are met. In 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton modified the trade embargo by requiring that foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies stop trading with Cuba. He also authorized the sale of certain US products to Cuba.
At present, the embargo, which limits American businesses from conducting business with Cuban interests, is still in effect and is the most enduring trade embargo in modern history. Despite the existence of the embargo, the United States is the seventh largest exporter to Cuba (4.3% of Cuba's imports are from the US).[1]
.....The United States of America and Cuba have a long history of close economic and political ties. Though Cuba had been a Spanish colony for nearly 400 years, the island had developed increasing trade links with the United States during the 19th century. In December of 1898, Spain ceded control of Cuba to the U.S. following its defeat in the Spanish-American War.
The U.S. assisted Cuba in its liberation from Spain in 1902, yet frequently intervened in Cuban political affairs. There was substantial U.S. investment in Cuban production of sugar and tobacco for export, and in tourism, as well as preferential access for Cuban exports to the United States. By 1926 U.S companies owned 60% of the Cuban sugar industry and imported 95% of the total Cuban crop.[2]
After liberation, the Cuban economy grew dramatically, particularly in tourism, as incomes rose and Cuba developed for the first time in its history a substantial and prosperous middle class. The Cuban Revolution of 1959 saw the overthrow of General Fulgencio Batista and the rise to power of Fidel Castro.
The U.S. government formally recognized the new Cuban administration, but relations were to deteriorate rapidly as the Cuban government passed the first Agrarian Reform Law, allowing for the expropriation of large-scale (largely American-owned, acquired via American right-to-intervention in Cuba's constitution at the time) land holdings.
The compensation offered (based on 20-year bonds at 4.5% interest for the tax-declared value) was seen as inadequate, and was rejected by American interests.
What also worried the American government was that by the end of 1959 there was evidence of a Cuban-Soviet rapprochement. During 1960, tensions between Cuba and the US escalated into economic warfare. Each time the government took control of American properties, the American government countered, with the end result the prohibition of all exports to Cuba on October 19, 1960......
.....The United Nations has condemned the embargo as a violation of international law since the 1990s. In 2002, for example, the United Nations condemned the embargo by 173 votes to 3.[21] The Foreign Minister of the Republic of Cuba, Perez Roque called the embargo 'an act of genocide'. Cuba has also denounced as "theft" the use of frozen Cuban assets to pay for lawsuits filed in the US against the Republic of Cuba. [22]
......The US government has budgeted $39 million in 2008 for "broadcasting to Cuba".[82] Broadcasts to Cuba are managed by the International Broadcasting Bureau and consist of Radio Marti and TV Marti, both of which include news and cultural programming intended for residents of Cuba.[6] Radio Marti is broadcast primarily from a transmission station located in Boot Key Harbor, within the City of Marathon, FL. TV Marti is broadcast from an aerostat ballon 10,000 feet above Cudjoe Key in the Florida Keys.[83][84]
.......Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba and has been used by the United States Navy for more than a century. It is the oldest overseas U.S. Navy Base, and the only one in a country with which the United States does not have diplomatic relations.[1]
The Cuban government opposes the presence of the naval base, claiming that the lease is invalid under international law. The US government claims that the lease is valid.
By the war's end, the U.S. government had obtained control of all of Cuba from Spain. A perpetual lease for the area around Guantánamo Bay was offered February 23, 1903, from Tomás Estrada Palma, an American citizen, who became the first President of Cuba. The Cuban-American Treaty gave, among other things, the Republic of Cuba ultimate sovereignty over Guantánamo Bay while granting the United States "complete jurisdiction and control" of the area for coaling and naval stations.
A 1934 treaty reaffirming the lease granted Cuba and her trading partners free access through the bay, modified the lease payment from $2,000 in U.S. gold coins per year, to the 1934 equivalent value of $3,086.36 in U.S. dollars, and made the lease permanent unless both governments agreed to break it or the U.S. abandoned the base property. Since the Cuban Revolution, the government under Fidel Castro has cashed only one of the rent checks from the US government. The Cuban government maintains this was only done because of "confusion" in the heady early days of the leftis
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:44 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba?
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Gallows_Humor
Posts: 13,662
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....The Cuban government maintains this was only done because of "confusion" in the heady early days of the leftist revolution, while the US government maintains that the cashing constitutes an official validation of the treaty. The remaining uncashed checks made out to "Treasurer General of the Republic" (A position that has ceased to exist after the revolution) are kept in Castro's office stuffed into a desk drawer.[/quote]
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 3:48 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba? |
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redhairNfreckles
Posts: 4,694
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Well, if he'd send them back they'd at least pay off some debt....how selfish of him. 
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 4:03 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba?
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vinnytmd
Posts: 6,004
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Since whack jobs in Hollywood donated tens of millions to Barry and they think that Castro is some sort of savior Barry has no choice.
Barry will probably appoint idiots like Sean Penn and Danny Glove as Sec Of State or an Ambassadorship. They will help the USA turn into a communist third world banana republic just like Cuba and Venezuela.
This will fulfill Barrys Marxist desires and keep him in good stead with Hollywood.
[Edited on 11/9/2008 4:04 PM]
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 4:04 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba? |
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Loreli
Posts: 25,408
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start to take care of our own again perfect 
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 5:23 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba?
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Angel54214
Posts: 18,199
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This article is from August 18, 2007:
Castro: Cuba Not Cashing U.S. Guantanamo Rent Checks
HAVANA (Reuters) - The United States pays Cuba $4,085 a month in rent for the controversial Guantanamo naval base, but Cuba has only once cashed a check in almost half a century and then only by mistake, Fidel Castro wrote in an essay published on Friday.
The ailing Cuban leader, who has not appeared in public for more than a year, said he had refused to cash the checks to protest the "illegal" U.S. occupation of the land which he said was now used for "dirty work".
"The base is needed to humiliate and to do the dirty work that occurs there," he said of the detention camp where some 355 terrorism suspects are still being held with no legal rights despite international criticism.
Castro, who turned 81 on Monday out of public sight, said the U.S. checks are made out to the "Treasurer General of the Republic," a position that ceased to exist after Cuba's 1959 revolution.
He said only one U.S. check was ever cashed -- in 1959 due to "confusion" in the heady early days of the leftist revolution.
Castro's refusal to cash the checks to protest the "illegal" occupation has been long known. In a television interview years ago, he showed the checks stuffed into a desk drawer in his office.
The final installment of Castro's long historical essay on Cuba's hostile relations with the United States -- written for future generations -- was published by the ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma.
The essay entitled "The Empire and the Independent Island" recounted Castro's view of U.S. efforts to control Cuba since U.S. troops landed on the island in the Spanish-American War that secured Cuban independence from Spain in 1898.
The United States retained 46.8 square miles (121 square kilometers) at the entrance to Guantanamo Bay in eastern Cuba for a naval base, which has been used as a prison camp for Taliban and al Qaeda terrorism suspects since the Afghanistan war following the September 11 attacks in 2001.
1 of 1Full Size Featured Broker sponsored link Money Center Power. Price. Service. No Compromises.
The base was initially a coaling station for the U.S. Navy to protect the approaches to the Panama Canal.
Castro said the enclave was "illegally usurped" by the United States, adding that the base no longer had any strategic military purpose in the age of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers packed with fast fighter-bombers.
"If we have to wait for the collapse of the (capitalist) system, we will wait," Castro wrote. He said Cuba was always on alert to the threat of a U.S. invasion.
Castro handed over power to his brother Raul on July 26 last year after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery. His health is a state secret, but few Cubans expect him to return to office.
The Cuban leader, the last of the major Cold War figures still alive, is seen as a Stalinist tyrant by his enemies but is widely admired in the Third World for standing up to the United States, a David-versus-Goliath role he has relished.
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 6:49 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba? |
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Loreli
Posts: 25,408
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Cuba (disambiguation).
Republic of Cuba
República de Cuba
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Patria o Muerte (Spanish)
"Our Homeland or Death"a
Anthem: La Bayamesa ("The Bayamo Song")
Capital
(and largest city) Havana
23°8'N 82°23'W? / ?23.133, -82.383
Official languages Spanish
Ethnic groups 65.05% European (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese), 10.08% West African, 23.84% Mulatto/Mestizo, 1.03% Chinese
Demonym Cuban
Government Socialist Republic
- President Raúl Castro
Independence from Spain
- Declaredc October 10, 1868
- Republic declared May 20, 1902
from United States
- Cuban Revolution January 1, 1959
Area
- Total 110,861 km² (105th)
42,803 sq mi
- Water (%) negligible
Population
- 2007 estimate 11,394,043[1] (73rd)
- 2002 census 11,177,743
- Density 102/km² (97th)
264/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2007 estimate
- Total $125.5 billion (2007 est.)[2] (not ranked)
- Per capita $11,000 (2007 est.)[2] (not ranked)
HDI (2007) 0.838[3] (high) (51st)
Currency Cuban peso (CUP)
Convertible peso d (CUC)
Time zone (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST) (Starts March 11; ends November 4) (UTC-4)
Internet TLD .cu
Calling code +53
a As shown on the obverse of the 1992 coin[4] (Note that the Spanish word "Patria" is feminine and is translated into English as either "Cradle" or "Place of Birth" or "Homeland".)
bThe Constitution of Cuba states that "Cuba is an independent and sovereign socialist state [Article 1] and that the name of the Cuban state is Republic of Cuba [Article 2]."[5] The usage "socialist republic" to describe the style of government of Cuba is nearly uniform, though forms of government have no universally agreed typology. For example, Atlapedia[6] describes it as "Unitary Socialist Republic"; Encyclopædia Britannica[7] omits the word "unitary", as do most sources.
c At the start of the Ten Years' War.
d From 1993 to 2004 the U.S. dollar was used in addition to the peso until the dollar was replaced by the convertible peso.
The Republic of Cuba (IPA: /'kju?b?/, Spanish: Cuba (help·info) or República de Cuba (help·info) Spanish pronunciation: [re'pußlika ðe 'kußa]), consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles), Isla de la Juventud and several adjacent small islands. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean at the confluence of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Cuba is south of the eastern United States and The Bahamas, west of the Turks and Caicos Islands and Haiti and east of Mexico. The Cayman Islands and Jamaica are to the south. The national flower is the "flor de mariposa" (Butterfly Flower) and the national bird is the Tocororo or Cuban Trogon.[8]
Cuba is the most populous insular nation in the Caribbean. Its people, culture and customs draw from several sources including the aboriginal Taíno and Ciboney peoples, the period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of African slaves, and its proximity to the United States. The name "Cuba" comes from the Taíno language the exact meaning of which is unclear, but may be translated either "where fertile land is abundant" (cubao)[9] or "great place" (coabana).[10] The island has a tropical climate that is moderated by the surrounding waters; however, the warm temperatures of the Caribbean Sea and the fact that the island of Cuba sits across the access to the Gulf of Mexico combine to make Cuba prone to frequent hurricanes. Cuba's main island, at 766 miles (1,233 km) long, is the world's 17th largest.
so perhaps we could do a crops deal with them.
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 8:18 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba?
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lefthandedluckie
Posts: 6,386
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My generation has always thought Castro had something to do with President Kennedy's Assassination! I still believe that today!
I would never want to see a Castro get anything my country has to offer in anyway! Until they, the Castro brothers, are all dead the Cubans can wallow in their squalor till hell freezes over as far as I am concerned!
If the Cuban people want to take care of those murderers then fine we can help them immediately!
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| Nov 9, 2008 @ 8:24 PM |
Should Obama try to change policy towards Cuba? |
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waterfire
Posts: 2,946
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OP
yes
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