Cuba conundrum
In 1959, Fidel Castro led a force of Cubans that overthrew a brutal, corrupt dictatorship led by a United States-backed dictator named Fulgencio Batista.
Since that time, Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton and the present President Bush have served in office.
Now we have made up with Russia, China and Vietnam, with whom we have fought both the Cold War and an actual fighting war.
Cuba sits 90 miles off of the coast of the United States of America. Yet we have been in a state of Cold War with Cuba since 1959.
My question is, “why”?
John D. Sullivan, Lakewood
Because people like you don't have a very good grasp of history. Fidel Castro is just as brutal as his predecessor.
While it is in our best interest to work with Russia and China, Cuba is not.
I guess you don't remember him beheading some of his military officers he believed to be traitors and I guess you don't remember how he has tortured innocent people in his prisons either.
While our Government may have a policy of conveniently turning a blind eye to known brutal dictatorial regimes there's no reason to add Cuba to the list.
So, let me get this straight. If you are killing and brutalizing thousands or even millions, it is ok to not take a stand because we have some self interests to maintain, but if you are only brutalizing a few thousand and we have nothing to lose by taking a stand, it is alright to be tough. And you wonder why the US's reputation has gone down the toilet internationally. Actually, the real reason this is maintained is that there is a huge voting block in Florida who want this cold war continued. It is that simple. In short Republicans and Democrats have sold their souls for a few votes. Furthermore, it can be, and has been, argued that that the best way to bring about the collapse of the current regime is to open everthing up and that our embargo has kept the current regime in power.
Posted by Kevin on July 17, 2007 07:30 AMFYI - the rest of the world thinks it's hilarious that the U.S. embargos and prohibits it's citizens from traveling to Cuba.
Every other country in the world allows it's citizens to travel there for vacations. I have friends who there frequently and love it. Cuba has great big, beautiful resorts just like any other other Caribbean island. I've seen pictures of them in travel brochures I got in Toronto. There just aren't any Americans at them.
So, our boycott of Cuba hasn't done anything to harm their economy because the rest of the world still goes there. If anything, our boycott has probably just helped them preserve their culture from being overridden by typical ugly American tourism.
Sorry to be blunt, but that's what it is. Americans insist on having McDonald's and Pizza Huts everywhere they go. God forbid we go to another country and experience another culture.
Posted by Thomas on July 17, 2007 09:17 AMCommunist Countries..
Even Mexico isn't a friend....
Just when it's convient for them..These countries don't care about America.
So,...WHY?
We, as citizens of the 'Most Free Country in the World" are unable to visit a backwards and poor little island of the coast of Florida because it has a nasty dictator and a history of revolutions. No I am not talking about Haiti, I am talking about Cuba the other poor and backwards island that has a brutal dictator. Our foreign policy is being held hostage to a bunch of Cuban escapees who automatically get US citizenship once they make it to US soil and concentrate themselves in the southern end of a critical swing state.
Posted by Sean on July 17, 2007 03:37 PMThe question:Why the embargo?
The answer: Castro very nearly enabled a hemisphere-wrecking atomic war to take place.In the Kennedy-Kruschev negotiations,Fidel Castro's Soviet handlers managed to save his life and his regime,but his country's punishment is that while Fidel Castro lives,Cuba gets nothing.They got off easy.