Exactly WHY are we continuing to boycott Cuba?

[Yael]

I don't get it.

The "Communist dictator" argument? Okay. So explain our continued support of China; who holds the mortage to our house, the keys to our economy and continues to export poison to our people and polute the globe. I guess we are selective when determining which Communist dictators pose a threat and which don't.

Who EXACTLY are we hurting here? Castro? Please. He is doing fine. The rest of the world is kicking back with a brandy and a hand-rolled cigar yet we as Americans are not allowed to visit the white sand beaches and put money into the hands of the impoverished people who would give their left arm to tap the tourist industry 90 miles off their coast.

Hrm -- maybe it is that they are a 'threat' to the US. I mean, we did have the Bay of Pigs scare and all, aye? Color me a progressive, but I am pretty much over it. Why? BECAUSE IT STARTED AND ENDED ~45 FUCKING YEARS AGO!!! Hatfields and McCoys, anyone?

I seriously don't get it and would appreciate anyone who can give me a logical explanation for this continued boycott.

Thanks in advance.

[JeffR]

1. If you're searching for a logical explanation, you won't find one

Ain't that America?

[Yael]

19. How about an illogical one?

[razors edge]

24. Because conservatives

lost a beautiful place to congregate and have sex with children while they were wined and dined by United Fruit.

They are still pissed of that they now have to go to the Dominican Republic for fun, and on their own dollar to boot.

[Yael]

26. LOL!

Well, I guess there is that. Heh.

[razors edge]

31. It has just seemed to me a real possibility.

Good a reason as any I have heard so far. Just curious, did my response come close to a DUzy?

I was in all honesty being serious, but if the chuckle fits...

[Megahurtz]

2. I Feel Like You Do.

I think that it's a Bunch of Shit.:argh:

[jgraz]

3. So politicians don't lose the votes and $$ of a few thousand pro-Batista fanatics in FL

[Miss Chybil]

4. Maybe, because Cuban-Americans vote?

Just a guess...

[Yael]

20. And if we hadn't destroyed their economy over the last 4 decades

then they wouldn't be risking live and death to get here...

[shaniqua6392]

5. We need to be boycotting China right now!!

Cuba does not poison our children and pets like China. I am so sick of this. Who cares about Cuba???

[Speck Tater]

6. The bully always picks on the weak.

We don't have the military strength to pick on somebody our own size so we pick on the military midgets like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cuba. Besides, we just got in the habit of declaring every part of the Soviet Empire our enemy, and since Cuba is all that's left of that extinct enemy, our government just hates them out of habit. There's not one single good reason, actually.

[Disturbed]

10. All US Govt's since Kennedy will never forget the betrayal of

Fidel Castro. The punishment will continue as long as any Castro is in power in Cuba.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

39. Betrayal? Was he a US agent or something?

[tanyev]

7. Because Castro nationalized West Indies Sugar, owned by the Walker/Bush family.

They've never forgotten.

[sallyseven]

8. Habit, stupidity, arrogance, and a little fear

communism is catchy you know.

[rndmprsn]

9. becuase they are commies...

just like the chinese who have most favored nation trading status!

[sniffa]

11. or why..

http://www.reuters.com/article/inDepthNews/idUSN0721902420070812

[Yael]

17. Wow -- what a sad story!

That poor woman. :(

I am not saying that Castro is without fault. God knows that Che Guevara made that point crystal clear and his image lives on.

It isn't the Castro government that I am supporting here (I am progressive, not communist) -- I am thinking about the people. Tourism is a largely cash-basis economy (private tours, tips, etc...)

I am just not seeing the logic between us being told that we can't visit/support these people yet we can go to Darfur, Moscow, Kabul -- anywhere else we want.

[Taverner]

12. The CANF and the Sugar Industry

It is a marriage from hell - the Cubans who used to run things fled to Miami, kept practicing to take Cuba back. Kind of like the KMT, but with more money. Anyway, they kept lobbying congress vis a vis the CANF, and Jorge Mascanosa.

And the Sugar industry does NOT want an competition. So they got together with the CANF and lobbied congress and proved to be an important voting bloc in the Miami area.

Not all Cuban-Americans are Republican - and not all are so rabidly anti-Castro as the CANF. But they had the money...so...

[Yael]

18. This I did not know. Thanks!

[mod mom]

13. George H Walker + Cuba:

KEVIN PHILLIPS: George H. Walker was a real piece of work. I mean, he was a buccaneer. He was sort of a Joe Kennedy, but with a social register type qualification. He got involved in the 1920's with a bunch of Cuban companies, because of his ties to Percy Rockefeller and the National City Bank. They handled a lot of investments in Cuba. He was a director during the 1920's of eight or nine Cuban companies. George H. Walker had ties to the -- investment ties that were independent, so he had invested in some of these companies. One of them turned out several -- several turned out to merge into something called West Indies Sugar. West Indies Sugar became one of the major American companies in Cuba, and George H. Walker Jr., the son of George H. Walker and Prescott, Bush's cousin was a director, held a family seat on West Indies Sugar. Now during the late 1950's, West Indies Sugar was based in the Indy province in Cuba. That's where the Castro insurgency was developing. Castro and his people sort of shook down West Indies Sugar. They used their trucks and hit them up for money and so forth. They were unhappy with the Castro movement. In 1959 or 1960, I forget which year, Castro's people nationalized West Indies Sugar, and at this time George H. W. Bush's uncle was Director of West Indies Sugar. The value of West Indies sugar had been about $50 million and it wound up being virtually peanuts. I don't know how much their stake was. I couldn't begin to guess. It may not have been nearly as much as one would suggest from the bigger numbers. They were an unhappy set of campers when West Indies Sugar went bye-bye.

-snip

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/12/1448237

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Because if we don't the commies will take us over.

Serious answer.

[Initech]

15. Because Bush's dad hates Cuba?

:shrug:

I'm convinced that Bush Sr. was the man behind the trigger in the JFK assassination, which in turn was payback for Kennedy fucking up the Bay Of Pigs invasion, which was meant to kill Castro.

Yeah, I wear the tin foil hat with pride, but that's my theory.

[Yael]

21. Theories welcome. :)

Thanks to all with the * Sr. posts -- another angle I was unaware of.

[TahitiNut]

16. ADM and HFCS ... CANF ... etc.

:shrug:

[Wiley50]

22. Ever Been to Miami's "Little Havana" neighborhoods?

Those old Cuban Americans down there hallucinate, as most olds folks do

of the "Good Old Days" when Cuba was ruled by Batista (and the US mafia)

Havana was the Las Vegas of the 40's and fifties

It's sorta like why the US has vetoed dozens of United Nations sanctions against Israel

The Little Havana Lobby and the AIPAC lobby have way too much control over our government.

Well, it's not exactly the same situation.

I mean Palestine was never the Las Vegas of the 20's and 30's

But, you get my drift

Lobbies have too much control over our government

Whether Geo-political, energy, pharma, insurance, ect, ect

[Yael]

27. Well, I did live in Florida for 12 years (1990-2002) and am a joint Israeli/American citizen.

I am not getting your point on the connection?

[Wiley50]

29. Just That Lobbies, ALL Lobbies, have too much influence on our govt. That's all n/t

[madrchsod]

23. florida`s cuban population

[HughMoran]

25. Old habits are hard to break?

:shrug:

[Xithras]

28. $$$$

There are still Americans who claim to own land in Cuba, and US court decisions support those claims. Cuba has rightfully told those Americans to F off. The boycott will ostensibly remain in place until those debts are paid.

The reality, of course, is that Americans hate to admit they were wrong.

FWIW, I think the boycott backfired, and that Cuba would have gone the China route decades ago if American dollars could have flowed into the country. Without the boycott Cuba would have a thriving multi-billion dollar tourist business running by now, and simple greed would have pushed the centralization required for a strong socialist government out of the picture. Fidel would have been "retired" for someone less objectionable, and more willing to work with American investors.

With American dollars off the table, there has never been any incentive for the Cuban's to try anything else, so Castro has remained in power.

[dflprincess]

32. I've heard that the time to visit Cuba is before America does open trade with it

If you wait until American dollars are flowing in there'll be a Starbucks and and McDonald's on every corner. Why bother to go then?

[Xithras]

34. True. Most environmental groups consider the embargo a good thing too.

It's stifled the coastal development that has overrun pretty much every other island in the Carribbean. Cuba today has some of the most pristine waters, some of the largest undeveloped beaches, and the largest untouched coral reefs in that part of the world. If development had been occurring there for the past 50 years, the coasts would be lined with casinos and high rise hotels, and the water would be polluted with industrialized runoff.

For the people of Cuba, the embargo sucks. For the islands environment, it's been somewhat positive.

[bemildred]

30. The disobedient must be punished, same reason we killed Allende.

And many others ...

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

==================
GROVELBOT.EXE v4.0
==================



This week is our third quarter 2007 fund drive. Democratic
Underground is a completely independent website. We depend on donations
from our members to cover our costs. Thank you so much for your support.

[kenny blankenship]

35. Because we can

and because the long term example made of Cuba serves as a warning to any other small countries who might be thinking about crossing Uncle Sam.

[warren pease]

36. A communist country a mere 90 miles from our shores...

...just a quick trip for soviet-trained commandos in plush power launches, invading our sacred homeland, kidnapping our women and children and subjecting them to secret godless socialist rituals such as equal opportunity and gender equality, taking them back to a place that embraces the horrors of a state-sponsored universal health care system, the anti-christian sounds hip-shakin' heathen salsa, ... So many awful, unamerican influences await the unwary traveler or kidnap victim.

Either that or it's the sugar industry thing, but that's so much less interesting.


wp

[Javaman]

37. because our government suffers from Rainman syndrome. nt

[aikoaiko]

38. Because Castro is alive. Once he dies we will have an "epiphany:

and all will be well.

[Hippo_Tron]

40. Florida's 27 electoral votes

When I went to Europe a few months ago and got my hands on Havana Club rum I was ranting nonstop about how I couldn't buy it in the United States.

The older generation of Cubans that votes solidly Republican anyway are the ones that really push for this. My dad is convinced that if Clinton hadn't spent most of his second term defending himself over monica-gate, he would've gotten around to normalizing relations with Cuba and that if a Democrat gets elected in '08 they will ultimately end up doing it. I don't share his optimism because I don't think they have the spine. One of the reasons that I support Obama is that he leads me to believe that he's more likely to do it than Hillary, but I certainly have no assurance of that.

[napi21]

42. BINGO! It'a all about the cuban vote in Fla! n/t

[Boojatta]

41. Is there a neutral option?

Trade with a dictator and get blamed for wrongdoing by the dictator. Refuse to trade with a dictator and get blamed for poverty in the country ruled by the dictator.

[TahitiNut]

44. The conundrum of all foreign relations ... the people vs. their government.

We make it far more of an equivalency relationship than is realistic or ethical ... and then lament the differences even in our own nation. IMHO, it's just another indication of how global corporatism is joined at the hip to the political elite in this country. That's not to say that global corporatism is monolithic. It's not. It's factionalized ... but all factions share the attitude that the hoi polloi are a mere means to their ends.

[BlooInBloo]

43. Because it solidifies the racist white Cuban voting block in FL.