Congressmen Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Jim McGovern will be facing off on C-SPAN, tonight, November 19th, from 9:15 – 10 PM for a debate devoted to Cuba policy. Congressman McGovern is a member of the radical Progressive Caucus, and a critic of U.S. policy toward Cuba. C-SPAN will be taking calls from viewers.
Cuba Central, dedicated to normalizing relations with castro’s Cuba, is urging their readers to call in. Babalu readers, don’t let them monopolize the phone lines with propaganda, call the show, and tell America the truth about Cuba.
I’m looking for the call-in number, and will post it before the show if I am able to find it.
*UPDATE: It’s Cuba night on CSPAN:
C-SPAN SPECIAL PROGRAMMING
Life, Politics in Cuba
Tonight, C-SPAN looks at the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba, the history of U.S.-Cuba relations, and life & politics in Cuba through video & interviews recently recorded in Havana. We also hear from journalists & government officials from both countries and then open the phones for your comments & questions.
05:18 PM EST
0:17
Address
Cuban Missile Crisis
White House, Oval Office
John F. Kennedy , United States
05:36 PM EST
0:36
Speech
Future of Cuba
Heritage Foundation
Edwin J. Feulner , Heritage Foundation
Carlos M. Gutierrez , Department of Commerce
06:14 PM EST
0:41
Interview
Cuban President Interview
Cubavision International TV
Fidel Castro , Cuba
07:00 PM EST
2:00 (est.) LIVE
Call-In
U.S. Cuba Policy
C-SPAN Abroad
The beginning and end of this live program may be earlier or later than the scheduled times. l
H/T: Ray
I started watching when Marx, the Tribune reporter, was being interviewed and later Alarcon. I had to switch the channel because I was getting sick, looking at which way this was pointing. It would seem there was only one perspective being covered. My favorite was the insistence that they (C-span) talked to a lot of people, even the man on the street. Yes, the man on the street is going to tell them the truth. No idea, these people have. Maybe, it improved afterwards, but it looked like a hatchet job to me.
rsnlk- I was still at work when it aired but I managed to catch some of the Marx interview. What I heard confirms what we have all been saying; allowing American tourists into Cuba is not going to change anything. Here we have Marx, a journalist who was kicked out of Cuba for writing article the regime didn´t like, he lived there for years with his family and clearly is not a bad person. Yet there he was literally talking out of both sides of his mouth. The segment I heard, he was speaking about the great education, even though yes it is political, rada rada rada, but clearly a it is a “benefit” of the revolution, yet he did not want HIS children in that system. Gee, I wonder why? Ditto the great free healthcare. That’s as far as I got and had to take a work related call. Everyone I’ve talked to so far has told me that the call ins were worse, that there were no calls critical of the regime. How can that be? Looks like CSPAN just poured their credibility down fidels toilet. Did anyone watch the whole thing? What about the Diaz-Balart – McGovern dialog? Was there any thing worth salvaging from these programs?
There were some good call-ins, one case specifically where a Cuban-American called Alarcon a liar to his face. Alarcon’s responses to any question consisted of 2 things: 1) holding up his book of declassified US gov documents and 2) asking for the lifting of the travel restrictions so that callers to come to Cuba and find out for themselves. When questioned about political prisoners, he said there were only dozens or so jailed over the past 50 years, and that’s because they received U.S. funding to go against the regime… this is the basis upon which a later caller accused him of being a liar.
Other highlights from Alarcon… at one point he compared the Cuban government to one “of the people, by the people, for the people”…ha..right… and said that there are “wide and open discussions throughout the country” regarding changes that need to be made in Cuba. Bullshit again.
I will give some kudos to the reporter, who asked some pretty tough questions at times.
The D-B and McGovern segment, in my opinion, was not as exciting as hearing fellow Cubans get the chance to tell Alarcon exactly how they felt. I actually nodded off at one point… probably to the lull of McGovern’s repeated catch phrases (e.g. “embargo is a relic of the Cold War”, “… hasn’t worked for half a century”) Interestingly, one person called with the sole intent of attacking D-B by linking him to the “Cuban mafia” and insinuating that he had a “business relationship with Fidel.”
I will note that in the Alarcon segment callers were from across the country, but in the D-B/McGovern segment, callers were mostly focused in south Florida. Unfortunately, not too many of the embargo supporters were able to make compelling points…