Embargo on Cuba - Isn't it about time we drop this?

[Ming]

Originally posted by faded glory
errr......about 2 million Cuban americans would disagree

Your last comment, and not any of your three points, is the real reason.

2 Million Cuban Americans can "VOTE" here. Citizans in Cuba can't They are a strong political force. No one really wants to piss them off...

[Alexander's Horse]

The saddest part about the Cuba situation is that Castro was more a nationalist than a communist and when he took power he made overtures to the United States, including visiting the country. Unfortunately, people like VP Nixon and Edgar Hoover branded him a communist and a threat to the United States. This drove him into the arms of the Soviets.

[David Floyd]

2 Million Cuban Americans can "VOTE" here. Citizans in Cuba can't They are a strong political force. No one really wants to piss them off...

Most of whom live in one place - Florida. One place with the 4th most electoral votes in the nation. One place with 2 million voters voting one way WILL swing the electoral votes to one candidate or another. Cuban Americans are, unfortunately, one group that has too much power, especially relative to their overall size.

[Bereta_Eder]

nt (obviously)

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by paiktis22
nt (obviously)

why do you lie

oh, I think that Castro is a bad distator but there is no reason for us to continue the Embargo

if he was anti-US there would be

Jon Miller

[Alexander's Horse]

Interesting sidelight to the Cuban missile crisis. The Soviets put nuclear artillery into Cuba and the United States didn't know about it. If say the U.S. had invaded Cuba the decision on whether to use the nuclear artillery against the invasion force lay with the Soviet field commanders.

[axi]

Saying that USA is doing a blocus becaus Fidel is an Didactor, is just bull****.

There may be some truth behind your error there kid...

"Didactor" means teacher in Greek (sounds alot like "dictator", doesn't it?)

In fact Castro IS a big teacher for us all: he showed us how to make the Revolution and defend it against the full force of the imperialists. He is an inspiration to all communists around the world.

HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE!

[Bereta_Eder]

Originally posted by Jon Miller


why do you lie

oh, I think that Castro is a bad distator but there is no reason for us to continue the Embargo

if he was anti-US there would be

Jon Miller

rolf

no, it was a spontaneous appresiation of the Ramones. then I realized that i had not clicked «a new thread»



that was fecking hilarious

[Kyle]

Originally posted by axi


He is an inspiration to all communists around the world.

A dictator for your role model, that ought to bring in the recruits and sympathy.

[Bereta_Eder]

yup I'm a little bit drunk

Originally posted by Kyle



A dictator for your role model, that ought to bring in the recruits and sympathy.

yeah but was it dictator or was it didactor? better learn your Greek before you speak

[Kyle]

Re: yup I'm a little bit drunk

Originally posted by paiktis22

yeah but was it dictator or was it didactor? better learn your Greek before you speak

You need to not be drunk when you post.


He said Castro and that is what I was referring to.

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by paiktis22
I'm sure Germany will be the first to defend the french in such a case as the rest of the EU that will be a sight to see Germany and France side by side

Of course we would love to be on the side of the winners from time to time...

[Alexander's Horse]

If the Cuban Americans had any sense, and I know some of their leaders don't, they would support an end to the embargo.

Opening up Cuba would probably quickly lead to the collapse of the Castor regime and the Cuban Americans could clean up investment wise because they have lots and lots of money plus the local links to set up tourist businesses and so forth.

[mactbone]

Steinbrenner won't allow it. He wants to be the only one with easy access to Cuban ballplayers.

[Shi Huangdi]

Castro, darling of the international left. Too bad he's a dictator and a thug.

From www.amnesty.org
(A leftist organization which favors an end to the embargo)

Individuals and groups peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly continued to face repression. Some conditional releases of prisoners of conscience gave rise to hopes that the attitude of the Cuban government towards dissidents might be thawing, but new sentences and a serious escalation in repression during the closing months of 2000 discouraged such optimism. Journalists, political opponents and human rights defenders were subjected to severe harassment. Several hundred people, at least 13 of whom were prisoners of conscience, remained imprisoned for political offences. The authorities continued to use short term detention, house arrest, threats and harassment to stifle and discourage political dissent. The courts continued to apply the death penalty.

In Cuba, repression of dissent is legitimized by the Constitution and the Penal Code. Some offences against state security, such as ''enemy propaganda'', as well as offences against authority, such as ''disrespect'', have been widely applied to silence critics. Others, like ''dangerousness'', are ill-defined and open to politically motivated misuse. At times, dissidents have been convicted of criminal offences believed to have been fabricated in order to discredit them or their organization or in retaliation for peaceful expression of their beliefs. Detained dissidents have on occasion been held for long periods without trial, or convicted after procedures that did not meet international standards for fair trial.

A number of members and supporters of opposition groups were detained without trial. More than 100 were rounded up and held briefly in the days around 10 December.

AI(Amnesty International) last visited Cuba in 1988. Since then the government has not responded to the organization's requests to be allowed into the country.

https://www.hrw.org

The Cuban government's intolerance of democracy and free expression remained unique in the region. A one-party state, Cuba restricted nearly all avenues of political dissent. Although dissidents occasionally faced criminal prosecution, the government relied more frequently on short-term detentions, house arrest, travel restrictions, threats, surveillance, politically-motivated dismissals from employment, and other forms of harassment.

Cuba's restrictions on human rights were undergirded by the country's legal and institutional structure. The rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly, movement, and of the press were strictly limited under Cuban law.

The government continued to prosecute people for "illegal exit" if they attempted to leave the island without first obtaining official permission to do so. Such permission was sometimes denied arbitrarily, or made contingent on the purchase of an expensive exit permit.

Another prominent activist who was still behind bars as of November was thirty-nine-year-old Dr. Oscar ElÃas Biscet González. Biscet received a three-year prison sentence in February 2000 for protests that included turning the Cuban flag upside-down and carrying anti-abortion placards

Whether detained for political or common crimes, inmates were subjected to abusive prison conditions. Prisoners frequently suffered malnourishment and languished in overcrowded cells without appropriate medical attention. Some endured physical and sexual abuse, typically by other inmates with the acquiescence of guards, or long periods in punitive isolation cells. Prison authorities insisted that all detainees participate in politically oriented "re-education" sessions or face punishment. Political prisoners who denounced the poor conditions of imprisonment were frequently punished with solitary confinement, restricted visits, or denial of medical treatment.

Penal code changes dating from the late 1990s had extended capital punishment to cases of drug trafficking with aggravating circumstances.

The authorities routinely detained and questioned independent journalists, monitored their telephone calls and visitors, restricted their travel, and put them under house arrest to prevent coverage of certain events. In May, in recognition of such tactics, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a U.S.-based press freedom group, named President Fidel Castro as one of the Ten Worst Enemies of the Press for 2001.

The government recognized only one labor union, the Worker's Central of Cuba (Central de Trabajadores de Cuba, CTC). Independent labor unions were denied formal status and their members were harassed. Workers employed in businesses backed by foreign investment remained under tight government control. Under restrictive labor laws, the authorities had a prominent role in the selection, payment, and dismissal of workers, effectively denying workers the right to bargain directly with employers over benefits, promotions, and wages.

Human rights defenders were systematically harassed. The authorities routinely used surveillance, phone tapping, and intimidation in its efforts to restrict independent monitoring of the government's human rights practices. In some instances, they employed arbitrary searches, short-term arrests, evictions, travel restrictions, politically-motivated dismissals from employment, threats and other forms of harassment against local activists.

The left discredits itself by venerating these thugs. If Castro wants trade with the USA, he should restore siezed US property.