Here's another reason why the embargo should not be lifted .  Do Americans really want U.S. business working with Cuba's SS type state security to monitor communications of the Cuban people?  I don't think so.

From Capitol Hill Cubans: 

Telecom Italia Tired of Tapping Cuban Phones

Advocates of normalizing relations with the Castro regime constantly argue that the U.S. is "losing" business opportunities in Cuba -- due to sanctions -- and that foreign companies are taking advantage.

We recently discussedthis farce pursuant to a Wikileak-released cable in which Brazil's government admits that investing in Cuban ports only makes sense if the U.S. and Cuba developed a trading relationship.

In other words, that the target market for foreign investment in Cuba was the U.S., not the bankrupt Castro regime.

It seems Telecom Italia has learned the same lesson.

In 1995, Telecom Italia purchased a 27% stake in Cuba's provider, ETECSA. The rest is owned by the Castro regime's Ministry of Information and Communication, led by ruthless General (and former Minister of the Interior) Ramiro Valdes.

Thus, ETECSA is responsible, together with Castro's secret police, for tapping phone lines, monitoring conversations, Internet censorship and persecuting Cubans with home-made satellite dishes.

Think of the Oscar-winning movie about life in pre-1989 East Germany, The Lives of Others.

After 15 years of violating the Cuban people's rights,

Telecom Italia has apparently had enough and is looking to sell back its stake to the Castro regime.

Yet now, it's doubtful whether it can even obtain a premium for its repugnant work, as the Castro regime is broke and facing a severe liquidity crisis. Meanwhile, there are still people in the U.S. distastefully lobbying to invest in ETECSA, in order to collude in censoring the Cuban people.

According to Business Monitor International (BMI):

 

TI To Sell Etecsa Stake, But BMI Has Questions

Telecom Italia (TI) is understood to be on the point of returning its 27% stake in incumbent Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba SA (Etecsa) to the Cuban state. TI's decision comes as no surprise after talk of it selling to Spanish incumbent Telefónica circulated in 2009 and TI's CEO Franco Bernabè announced in October 2010 that the company was in advanced talks on the matter. The government wishing to take full control of Etecsa seems easy to understand, but BMI is skeptical the Cuban government is in a position to pay the 'premium' reportedly sought by TI.

At the time of Telefónica's reported interest in 2009, TI was said to have asked for US$780mn for the 27% stake. In its H110 report, the stake was reported to be worth EUR367mn (US$490mn). However, Cuba's mobile market, at less than 10% penetration, has exceptionally high potential for growth, a factor likely to attract considerable interest from potential investors.

Cuba's Attitude

Cuba's government has been enacting austerity measures in an attempt to bring the country out of its deep economic crisis. Rules regarding small businesses and self-employment have been relaxed, while it was announced in October 2010 that a million state employees are to be laid off by 2012. As the government seeks to cut spending and state subsidies,it is difficult to see how it might afford to buy back TI's share in Etecsa, particularly with the premium the Italian company is believed to be seeking.

Read it here.

Millions of tourists from democratic countries, including the U.S. have visited Cuba, but somehow, contrary to the kool-aid crowd school of thought, the Cuban people still have NO HUMAN RIGHTS. To those bozos who argue for the lifting of the embargo what do you have to say about this? How do you think more Americans visiting Cuba will end castro's embargo against the Cuban people? Will you travel to Havana, bypass the mojito tour and demand justice for Cubans denied their rights?

From the Herald:

U.S. scholarships get Cuban college students expelled

The Cuban government has denied exit permits to about 30 Cuban college students who had been offered U.S. government-funded scholarships for academic programs at American academic institutions.

Not only did the students lose the chance to attend classes for free in the United States, but some were accused of ideologically losing their way and were expelled from their colleges in Cuba. Those who were members of the Communist Youth Union were booted out, several students said.

"I've been told that I have been expelled from the university and that I have a hearing pending with the Communist Youth, where I am to receive a temporary sanction due to the fact that, in self-criticism, I acknowledged having applied for the scholarship,'' wrote a student selected for a leadership program in the United States.

The student, who asked to remain anonymous, said there is deep frustration among the selected students.

"Our state of mind couldn't be worse. We feel unprotected. Nobody will defend us nor challenge the Cuban government to claim our right to exercise the option any university student in the world has.''

So much for cultural exchange and it begs the question—why would anyone want their kids to study in a place that suppresses true learning by subverting inquiry, and which denies its citizens access to information?

Read the whole thing here.

There are a two must read posts about the embargo up at Capital Hill Cubans. One debunks the long held belief by many, that the majority of Cubans blame the embargo and not the regime for the shortages and hardships they suffer. The other is this excellent reminder of the embargo's original purpose, which it continues to serve.

A (Timely) Historic Reminder
by William Hawkins*

The United States first imposed economic sanctions on Communist Cuba in 1960. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1964, Secretary of State Dean Rusk laid out the aims of the policy, which it should be noted did not include any expectation that the sanctions alone would lead to the overthrow of the Castro regime.

"First, to reduce Castro's will and ability to export subversion and violence to the other American states; Second, to make plain to the people of Cuba that Castro's regime cannot serve their interests; Third, to demonstrate to the peoples of the American Republics that communism has no future in the Western Hemisphere; and Fourth, to increase the cost to the Soviet Union of maintaining a Communist outpost in the Western Hemisphere."

Measured by its aims, U.S. sanctions policy has been successful in Cuba, and should be maintained because it continues to serve the first three of the four ends set out by Secretary Rusk.

The only goal that is no longer a concern is number four, as the Soviet Union has disintegrated. Before its collapse, the USSR was providing Cuba with $5 to $7 billion in aid each year and spending scarce hard currency on the purchase of oil for Cuba. With some effort, it was able to offset Cuba's loss of trade with the U.S. though the cost became another nail in the Soviet coffin.

*"No 'Normalization' Until the Castro Regime is Gone," Family Security Matters, April 10, 2009.

I just received an invitation to participate in PBS's Wide Angle Blog Talk Radio Show this Thursday at 11 a.m. EST. Correspondent Aaron Brown will host a live debate, the topic: should the U.S. lift the trade embargo on Cuba? Brown will moderate a discussion between Phil Peters, author of the blog The Cuban Triangle, who advocates lifting the embargo, and Mauricio Claver-Carone, author of the blog Capitol Hill Cubans, who believes the embargo should be maintained.

This is a chance for the community to voice their opinion, so please send the questions and comments you would like me to share on the show by emailing me at ziva@babalublog.com, or in the comments section.

The link to the show's site is here.

The Cuba Research and Analysis Group (CRAG) recently initiated a letter to President Obama  requesting an end to the "Cultural Embargo" against Cuba. The esteemed Paquito D' Rivera, exiled Cuban musician and author responds; published with the authors permission:

Music can Wait
by Paquito D'Rivera (English / Español)

It’s been more than 5 decades since Fidel Castro jumped to power, and upon his arrival, a real army of “defenders of Cuba”, carrying on with an uncontrollable compassioned spirit, started to come out of nowhere and everywhere. Direct descendents of those legendary admirers of so out of fashion figures like Lenin, Stalin, and Mao, after Che Guevarra’s death in the Bolivian jungle in 1967, the image of the argentine bandit fit them like a glove, in substituting those discredited idols of the past. The problem is that this exclusive “Cuban compassion” package seems to apply only to those that sympathize with the longest–lasting dictatorship on the planet, while ignoring the hundreds of thousand of exiled, separated families, people marginalized for their political and/or religious believes, prisoners of conscience, executed, and those who have died at sea trying to escape Castro’s paradise, actual playground of these tourists of foreign revolutions that so often spent their ideological vacations there (paid in dollars) with or without permission of the America authorities. The psychological embargo, we could call it.

Recently, a group of artists, educators, academics, professionals and American impresarios, have written a letter to President Obama, complaining how adversely they have been affected by the embargo imposed by the US government against the Castro dictatorshi p. They demand their right to freely go to the Island, and to welcome any Artist that the Cuban cultural authorities send to the US without any pre–conditions. Not a single word towards the millions of Cubans who wish to exercise their rights to leave and enter their country freely. What an egotistic and uncompassionate position! To speak of the free flow of art, culture, information, ideas and debate, when it is denied to millions of Cubans the access to the internet and other most basic sources of information, and while dozens of independent journalists live threatened or already are serving long jail terms, just to inform and try to be informed.

This really sounds like a bad joke to me. What Cuban citizen or group on the island could possibly send a similar document to Raul Castro, without ending up in jail, after receiving a Marxist and sovereign whipping? If not, ask the poet Maria Elena Cruz Varela, whom they made her swallow the paper on which she had written her denouncement to Fidel Castro.

That this out-of-place petition be signed by the likes of Harry Belanfonte and Carlos Santana, does not surprise me. But the adherence of some of my compatriots and music colleagues, knowing so well what a “respectful dialogue with the government of Cuba” really means, it seems at most, ridiculous. Much more appropriate would be to send a similar petition to the Castro government, demanding the right of ALL Cubans to express themselves without20coaxing, to travel freely in and out of our country, to democratically elect our leaders, and then, ask for the signature of these artists, educators, academics, professional and American impresarios, that are so interested in the free flow of ideas between our peoples. In the meantime, the music can wait. Don’t you think so?

Sincerely:
Paquito D’Rivera
Cuban exiled musician and author.
July 29-2009

In Spanish below:

la Musica, Puede Esperar.

Desde hace casi cinco décadas, a la llegada de Fidel Castro al poder, comenzaron a salir por todos lados, armados de un lastimero e incontrolable espíritu compasivo, una verdadero ejército de “defensores de Cuba”. Eran herederos de los antiguos admiradores de figuras ya desprestigiadas y demodé como Lenin, Stalin y Mao, y quienes tras la muerte del Che Guevara en la selva Boliviana en 1967, la imagen del bandido argentino les vino como anillo al dedo para sustituir a la de sus anticuados, inquietantes e izquierdantes ídolos anteriores. El problema mayor es que esta exclusiva “compasión cubana” parece tocar solamente a los cubanos simpatizantes de la dictadura mas antigua del planeta, ignorando y excluyendo completamente de su área compasiva a los cientos de miles de exiliados, familias separadas, marginados políticos y religiosos, presos, fusilados y muertos en el mar huyendo del paraíso castrista en el que estos turistas de revoluciones ajenas toman sus vacaciones ideológicas (pagadas con=2 0dólares), con o sin prohibición de viajar a la Isla. El embargo psicológico, podríamos llamarle.

Recientemente, un grupo de artistas, educadores, académicos, profesionales y empresarios americanos, han escrito una carta al presidente Obama, quejándose de cómo han sido ellos adversamente afectados por el embargo cultural impuesto por el gobierno estadounidense contra la dictadura castrista. Exigen su derecho inalienable a viajar libremente a la Isla, y a recibir sin condiciones a cuanto artista envíen a puertos americanos las autoridades culturales de la Cuba de Castro. Ni una sola palabra en cuanto a los millones de cubanos que desean salir y entrar libremente de su país. ¡Qué egoísmo caray!, hablar del “desinhibido flujo de arte, cultura, información, ideas y debates”, cuando a millones de cubanos se les niega el derecho a la más básica información a través del Internet, y mientras decenas de periodistas independientes viven amenazados o cumplen ya severas penas de cárcel por el solo delito de informar e informarse. Esto parece una broma. ¿Qué ciudadano cubano o grupo de ellos en la Isla podría enviarle un documento de esta índole a Raúl Castro sin terminar en la cárcel, después de una soberana y marxista pateadura? ¡Sino que le pregunten a la poetisa Maria Elena Cruz Varela, que le hicieron tragar lo que había escrito!

Que esta inoportuna carta de petición lleve las firmas de=2 0Harry Belafonte , Carlos Santana y otros miembros de la incoherente “Izquierda Caviar” americana, no me extraña. Pero la adherencia de algunos de mis compatriotas y colegas músicos, conociendo muy bien lo que significa realmente “un dialogo respetuoso con el gobierno de Cuba”, me parece cuanto menos, ridícula. Mucho mas apropiado sería dirigir una misiva similar al gobierno de los Castro, demandando el derecho de TODOS los cubanos a expresarse sin coacción, entrar y salir sin trabas de nuestro país, elegir democráticamente nuestros gobernantes, y entonces pedir la firma de estos artistas, educadores, académicos, profesionales y empresarios americanos, tan interesados en el libre flujo de las ideas entre nuestros pueblos. Mientras tanto, la música puede esperar, ¿no les parece?

Sinceramente:
Paquito D’Rivera
Músico y escritor cubano exiliado
Julio 28-2009

Read it here.

And he ain't a right wing intransigent .... so what's wrong with the rest of the hard left?  Too much time on the bong?

Well what do you expect from a bunch of wankers who seem to be more interested in the President's new dog.

Last year the dictator told the Cuba people they would have to tighten their belts.  Since the ration card only lasts about two weeks out of the assigned month of days, and children over the age of seven are not allowed milk, I'm not sure just what they were supposed to give up.

Always, when the Castro's talk about austerity for "the people," it doesn't include them or the appointed elite.  While the average Cuban family struggled with food shortages, Castro II was busy replacing big brothers' fleet of Mercedes with BMW's, the new preferred image of the dictatorship.  According to the Cubanet article, between the years 2007 and 2008 the supposedly cash strapped dictatorship purchased 160 shiny new ones. 

No word on whether or not he would have preferred Cadillacs were it not for "the embargo."   

Read it in Spanish, here.

This is the first in a series of posts about the Cuban embargo.

Myth: The castro regime doesn't really want the embargo to be lifted.

Fact: It is a major foreign policy objective of the castro regime to have the U.S. trade embargo removed without making any concessions.

For the last seventeen years Cuba has introduced a resolution at the United Nations General assembly condemning the embargo.  It has passed all seventeen years. Interestingly, the resolutions have all come after the Soviet Union collapsed and Cuba lost all of its subsidies from the eastern bloc.  

The castro regime spends an inordinate amount of its propaganda in efforts to denounce the embargo which it falsely calls a "blockade". These are the search results for a Google News search for the terms "Cuba" and "Blockade".  There are currently 295 articles in the Google News queue with those two terms in them.  Almost all are from official regime outlets or their foreign partners.

Despite the embargo, the United States is Cuba's largest food supplier.  Cuba purchases American food on a cash-up-front basis and has maintained a strategy of spreading such purchases around various U.S. states so as to spread influence with regards to lifting the embargo.

In 2005 John Kavulich resigned from his position as head of the the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.  A 2005 Miami Herald article about his resignation affirmed that:

...Havana was buying goods from specific U.S. states in order to push their congressional representatives to vote for easing U.S. sanctions on Cuba.

Kavulich explained how the regime exerts pressure on state leaders to lobby for an end to the embargo.  

It also first reported in 2003 that Havana was requiring U.S. firms and some U.S. politicians to sign ''advocacy agreements'' -- promising they would lobby Congress to ease the sanctions -- before Cuba would buy their goods.

''These agreements are a corruption of the commercial process,'' Kavulich complained at the time. "Once you include an advocacy clause, they're no longer commercial agreements; they're political documents.''

Former presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee was one of the state officials that lobbied for lifting the embargo when he was governor of Arkansas so that rice farmers in his state could sell to Cuba. In 2002, he wrote a letter to President Bush urging for an end to the embargo.

So as you can see the castro regime has been playing every angle in trying to convince Washington to remove the embargo without making concessions. They have used propaganda to shape public opinion, they have used the institutions of the United Nations to put pressure on the United States and they have used the lure of potential commerce to convince legislators and governors from different states to lobby for an end to the embargo.

Do these look like the actions of a regime that secretly wants the embargo to remain? The answer is clear. The castro regime wants the embargo removed.

The idea that the regime is afraid of trade and tourism is a fallacy. Cuba trades with countless other nations and more than 2 million tourists visit every year. The dictators in Havana have perfected a method to keep such activities from "corrupting" the Cuban people.

Regardless of their intentions, anyone that lobbies for an end to the embargo is lobbying in favor of the desires of the castro regime. Period.