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Agreed. This embargo should be long since removed.
Yes
No
Other (please specify)
Here is another crappy US policy that very arguably has propped up a dictatorship for more than half a century.
I would say that pulling the sanctions would "call the bluff" of the Cuban government about the big bad USA.
If we completely pull the sanctions, the government of Cuba will have no one else to blame, and the Cuban people will be smart enough to see that.
I think we should have confidence in the Cuban people to figure this out for themselves. The Castro brothers are not immortal.
Agreed. This embargo should be long since removed.
Yea, but that train is being driven by Cuban Americans (CANF, Cuban Liberty Council) and I don't think it's likely that they will give up their cause until anyone named Castro is GONE. Also those organizations wield enough political power here (Florida, of course) that I don't think many elected officials would back such a plan without their support.
In this vein, Fidel Castro is very much alive. It remains to be seen whether Cuba is currently ruled by Castro-ism or Fidel-ism. On the one hand we may have to wait until Fidel and Raul kick off.
OTOH if we dropped the embargo, we'd find out right away. We could start dictating the tempo and the agenda, instead of waiting for developments on the ground in Cuba.
I'll say yes, but I doubt any president has the balls to do something that would upset a large voting block of Cuban-American voters in a swing state the size of Florida.
At this point there is no real purpose for it. The Cold War is long gone and at this point it would be instructive for many Americans to visit the people's island paradise....and enjoy some Cohibas rolled by Cubans.
I will say this, I deployed to Guantanamo in mid-2002, and I was absolutely amazed at how beautiful the water and scenery is there.
I've never studied the situation well enough to have an answer. I would like to see sanctions removed Problem is, there may be perfectly valid reasons to keep them in place.
And as we all know, the heavy presumption in favor of settled policy means never having to give your reasons.
For WC, it's apparently enough merely to allude to the possible existence of good reasons, to justify the embargo.
The embargo is stupid.
It should've been gone a long time ago . . .
sounds to me like he's a bit too reliant on his government.
damn lib .
What about the travel restrictions? That will bring in billions in tourism dollars for them.
fly to another country and get a flight from there.
If we normalized relations with Vietnam, we can normalize relations with Cuba.
you damned dirty gook lover.
Don't get me wrong, please. I would like to see travel and trade restored. I honestly believe it would have been long ago unless there is a valid reason.
What changed since the Clinton administration besides Castro? Wouldn't he have restored trade if there wasn't a good reason to maintain the sanctions?
Nothing will get Cuba out of its dictatorship faster than empowering the poor with foreign trade.
That reason is Florida.
What's strikes me as odd about your appeal to authority WC is the authority you appealed to. Was that supposed to be smilie-free sarcasm, or do you really defer to the Triangulator in Chief on this?
What's changed? Ten years have passed. The second and third generations of Cuban Americans may not see eye to eye with the first. Fidel may be on death's door. Americans are getting tired of an embargo that punishes the Cuban people and is ineffective against their rulers.
It's time to drop the embargo and shrink our overseas presence. Be friendly to all and if they don't like us, 'em.
I am not one that simply agrees with authority. I hate authoritarianism myself.
There are two sides to this. Nobody has brought up why we still sanction them, and I don't know why. I simply am one who doesn't want such changes to be made out of ignorance. Liberals make ignorant changes because it 'feels good,' or is 'politically correct,' or a number of other stupid reasons. Conservatives try not to.
Neither have you.
Make the argument for it, WC. Enough lame appeals to authority.
It isn't a concern to me to do so. I am simply pointing out that there might be a valid reason to maintain the sanctions. I am curious, but have bigger priorities.
Again, I would like to see the sanctions removed. What I would like and what is practical isn't always the same.
But would removing the sanctions really have much of an effect? Aren't we the only ones who DON'T trade with Cuba?
I did hear something today that may shed some light on why the U.S. sanctions are still in place. There are numerous corporations and private individuals who owned property in Cuba before Castro took over and nationalized everything. He simply confiscated all private property - regardless of ownership. Many of those U.S. corporations and individuals have made claims for compensation - and some of them go back 50 years! If relations are normalized, does that put our gov't on the hook for compensating these parties? If so, that's a very good reason why the sanctions are still in place.
I don't see why the US government should be responsible for US corporations that had holdings in Cuba, if Castro was the one who took ownership.
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