Democrat Representative William Delahunt just introduced H.R. 874, the “Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act” which will lift travel to Cuba restrictions for Americans and prevent the President of the United States from implementing any new similar restrictions.
The bill co-sponsors:
Rep DeLauro, Rosa L.
Rep Edwards, Donna F.
Rep Emerson, Jo Ann
Rep Farr, Sam
Rep Flake, Jeff
Rep McGovern, James P.
Rep Moran, Jerry
Rep Paul, Ron
No mention of any concessions by the castro regime. No mention of releasing political prisoners prior to enactment of bill. No mention of human rights violations or anything else. For Mr. Delahunt, etal, its prefectly acceptable that some Cubans spend their lives in cells like this:
If you travel to Cuba, you accept that as well.
It is not about your freedom to travel, but about the freedom of the people that you personally help quash, when you travel there as a tourist. Why was it so easy to understand that with South Africa, and not with Cuba??
Everyone I know who travels to Cuba brings as many bags as they can stuffed with clothes, toys, coffee… anything they can think of that the people on the island need and can’t get. With the difficulties our government has imposed on sending money, and the lack of goods available for sale even when someone has money, every trip to Cuba becomes something of a rescue mission.
I understand your position, and I actually agree with all of it, except the people who are actually paying the price for the travel restrictions have absolutely no control over who gets imprisoned.
Matt,
Please explain to me how is American tourism going to help the people of Cuba? The way I see it, taking $$$ to the Cuban government will be perpetuating those conditions you seem to be so very concerned about.
The Cuban government now is on life support. Giving them a transfusion of $$$ will do nothing other than save it’s life. PERIOD!
Anyone who travels to Cuba not only accepts it, they subsidize it.
Matt,
The castro regime puts us in that situation specifically because it knows that people will still send money and goods. They separate the Cuban family and then hold those remaining on the island as hostages while we continue to pay the ransom. Meanwhile, they use the ransom money to keep the family separate.
if we continue to send money and people and allow tourists carte blanche, what impetus does the castro regime have to change the system?
heartbreaking? Yes. Depressing? Absolutely. But it is we as a people that allow it and accept it. We can blame the regime for the implementation of the system, but our money is what keep it going.
What impetus does the regime have to change its ways now? Raul isn’t starving. Fidel wouldn’t be if he was alive.
Like I said, I understand what you are saying. I just don’t think what we are doing is going to change the situation, and 50 years of history backs me up there.
The loon Ron Paul is a co-sponsor. Figures.
Posted prematurely 🙂
Traveling to Cuba as a tourist, staying in the big hotel, etc… is subsidizing and supporting the current regime. But not all travel to Cuba can be categorized that way.
Traveling to Cuba as a tourist, staying in the big hotel, etc… is subsidizing and supporting the current regime. But not all travel to Cuba can be categorized that way.
Not all, but most. Increasing the number of American tourists will not significantly alter that balance.
Matt,
I have to disagree. I believe history confirms my point exactly. Cuban-Americans have been allowed to travel to Cuba since 1979. Cuba opened up to tourism in 1992. Thirty years of history confirms that despite 30 years of Cubans traveling back to Cuba,along with 17 years of tourism from around the world have changed absolutely nothing. yet the regime is still in power? Why? because of the money said travel brings in.
As long as the Defense ministry controls tourism in Cuba, absolutely nothing will change. And that defense ministry is subsidized from the outside, whether its a country like the USSR, Venezuela, or exiles sending cash to the tune of a Billion a year.
The reality of it all is that the regime has put us, the Cuban exile community as well as the Cubans on the island, in a lose-lose predicament. If we continue to send money and supplies to help our loved ones on the island in the same way we always have, we are in effect subsidizing the regime helping them keep the population subdued. If we stop sending money and supplies to our loved ones to stop aiding the regime in its repression of the Cuban people, we have to deal with the consequence that our families over there have to do without the most basic items. Whichever alternative we choose, all Cubans lose something.
But that is the gist of this dilemma in where many people believe there are only two alternatives: either block off everything, or give in completely to the regime.
There are other ways of dealing with this in where goods, money, and supplies can be sent to our families in Cuba through NGOs and other entities, bypassing the regime’s sticky fingers. The regime, of course, knows this and that is why they make this an either/or type decision. If the politicians in this country who are so eager to open the trade doors with Cuba would expend just a fraction of the energy they have expended to end the embargo to find an alternative way to help the Cuban people without helping the regime, we would not be having this discussion right now.
Cuba is not the first time the world has seen its relief efforts pilfered by a corrupt regime, and there are ways to deal with this. What is amazing to me, though, is that none of these politicians have ever uttered such a notion, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it has never crossed their minds.
A lot of evil regimes get their start by appealing to human sensibilities; whether it’s an attempt to correct social injustices or helping the downtrodden, they go thru the door of humanitarian motivations – only deceptively so. They way to help the people of Cuba shed their misery is not by opening more doors for travelers with food and clothing; that hasn’t helped in 50 years either. All you do is put a band-aid on a mortal wound, prolonging the suffering.
One of the few conservatives remaining in Congress. At the heart of this issue is the question of freedom – if you want to end travel to Cuba in order to stop supporting the Castro dictatorship, then start a social movement and convince people not to go. I certainly wouldn’t go to Cuba until it is free, whether or not it’s allowed. But what you shouldn’t do is pass a law limiting freedom of movement. It is especially hypocritical to ban travel for American citizens when one notices that banning travel is extremely similar to one of the cruel policies that Castro uses to suppress his own citizens.
I think that’s a horseshit argument that hasn’t been viewed that way by the courts. One of the few freaking things the Federal goverment is explicitly charged with undertaking is negotiating trade with foreign governments. The travel restrictions are a facet of our foreign and commercial relations.
“Thirty years of history confirms that despite 30 years of Cubans traveling back to Cuba,along with 17 years of tourism from around the world have changed absolutely nothing. yet the regime is still in power? Why? because of the money said travel brings in.”
Val, I am making a similar argument to several friends of mine. However, one point they might be able to make is that American tourism would be much different than Canadian and European tourism. I’m not sure I buy this argument, but it’s difficult to dismiss because we haven’t really seen it in action. Unless of course, we count pre-1959 where no tourists had problems with the Batista dictatorship. Here are a few things to consider that would potentially make United States tourism different (keep in mind I’m playing advocate):
1. The media coverage of the travel restrictions being removed would be HUGE.
2. With this media coverage, whether you like to admit it or not, there would also be tons of coverage about the CONDITIONS of Cuba, the oppression, etc. The ‘liberal’ media, as you so often fault, has been very good about this since Raul’s reforms.
3. Finally, it would be very difficult for a tourist to goto Cuba without understanding the legacy of the island which made the U.S. a nuclear target just 40 years ago.
4. Given these factors, the U.S. tourist would be more engaged and on the lookout for things that he or she would deem unacceptable.
5. Now it comes to a question as to whether or not these tourists will be able to see the full extent of Cuba’s oppression (they won’t), or if their exposure will produce sufficient angst to produce enlightenment. Finally, this enlightenment would have to translate into some sort of real, systemic change back in the U.S.
I think that points 1-4 are inevitable, but that point 5 is a HUGE stretch. It may educate some people about the dictatorship, but as you said, the Defense Ministry runs the island. I’m sure Cuba is already prepping new protocols to isolate tourists (moreso than it already does) from Cubans.
Daniel, I’m going to assume that you’re heart is in the right place but your head is in the clouds.
In response to your points:
1. Yes, it would be huge. That’s the whole point. The regime wants to raise demand for travel to Cuba. The media will gladly acknowledge this new development.
2. Bullshit. How much media coverage do Cuban living conditions get in the Canadian media? Any that there is, is the usual propaganda about health and education.
3. Bullshit. Tourists go to Cuba all the time. They get off a plane and onto a bus that takes them to an all-inclusive resort where they drink and eat til their heart’s content and then get on a bus an leave. Some of them venture into town where they meet Cubans that will tell them whatever they want to hear in exchange for a few CUCs. Tourism is not the great democratizer. Did Apartheid in South Africa fall because of waves of enlightened tourists spending cash at Sun City? No. Of course not that’s silly. A tourist’s responsibility is to have fun. I don’t begrudge them that. Just don’t pretend that it’s anything else.
4. Again bullshit. American tourists travel the world and stay in 5-star hotels while horrible shit goes on in the streets below. Do you know what the Brazilian police do to homeless kids? Where are the armies of American tourists putting pressure on the governments?
5. I don’t even know what you are saying. American tourists will go to Cuba for the same reasons that every other tourist goes for. To drink rum, lay on the beach, listen to Buena Vista music, photograph old cars and say how quaint this little dictatorship is.
American tourism to Cuba only serves to fill the pockets of the military. The same apparatus that represses Cubans.
Daniel, well, that explains why China is now a thriving democracy. Sorry, but your arguments just don’t hold up. Americans, have been traveling to Cuba, staying in hotels, and enjoying the “natives,” and US media is based in Cuba, and so tell me again where the reports are about the horrible conditions in Cuba? Cuba controls their tourism, and that includes Americans.
One thing I would ask is if the U.S. does allow the public to travel to Cuba, wouldn’t the Cuban government limit the amount of people going there?
I would assume they would, so that they can handle the flow of people. That way, they can orchestrate where people go and see. Imagine how many Americans would want to go to Cuba?? It would top off all the other countries…COMIBINED! The Cuban government doesn’t want to let people roam free, and see how Cuba really is.
Restricting the number of Americans who could go to Cuba might – might – raise enough eyebrows to get some real media coverage of conditions there.
But I agree that the last thing we need is a bunch of Americans agreeing with the Germans and Canadians who travel there that everything is just peachy because they don’t understand how thoroughly they are being manipulated.
“The loon Ron Paul is a co-sponsor. Figures.”
Shows how far the Republican party has drifted off course when the most conservative guy in the federal government is called a loon and George Bush is called a conservative.
I want to know what makes American tourists so different from other tourists? Why is it that everyone thinks Americans looking to have a nice cheap summer vacation would act like arbiters of freedom?
hasnt anyone here ever been on a cruise to the caribbean? Among the scuba day trips, did the cruise line have an all day package to ghettos on any of those islands? Did they put together a tour of prisons, lunch included? No. What makes anyone thing that Cuba as a port of call will be any different?
What this will inevitably do, however, is pave the way for the lifting of the embargo. And then what we will have is a bunch of US businesses opening up in Cuba using castro’s government slave labor source. What business wouldnt want a labor force where they wouldnt have to worry about unions, health benefits, salaries, morale, etc…?
You think conditions in Cuba are bad now? Wait till the American tourists and businesses get in there with castro still at the helm.
You’re right on Val.
It’s like Henry said:
American tourists travel the world and stay in 5-star hotels while horrible shit goes on in the streets below.
I say no American or western tourists are going to liberate the Cuban people from the tyranny of the Castro brothers, period.
The rest is horse shit.
To Henry, Ziva, and Val:
Please re-read my post. I was playing advocate for the argument, I do not necessarily agree with it whatsoever. I was merely trying to establish how American tourism may differ from other tourism.
You have used comparisons for Americans traveling to other countries and no systemic change has resulted. The same is true of Canadian and European tourists, we can all agree on this.
What I was trying to establish is that perhaps Cuba would be more unique, given its history and the popularity it receives from the media. Once again, I do not buy this argument. I think it’s important to understand it, though, so that we dismantle it…
I know this is not a forum where anyone has much interest in debating an alternative opinion with anything that smells like it is “Viva Fidel”, but, with Mr. Val Prieto’s permission, I would like to argue an alternative scenario to consider in respects to ending the embargo.
First, with all due respect to Mr. Alberto Cruz, the Cuban Exile community is not in a “lose-lose situation” at the moment. However, the Cubans on the island are in an extremely precarious position and most importantly they are in great need of the Cubans in Miami to take the right steps over the next few years to prevent a ‘lose-lose’ scenario.
The situation today in Cuba is about as complete of disaster as one could ever use as an example of what a failed socialist state is supposed to look like.
The country’s infrastructure has been gutted. Food and material production and distribution systems are non-existent or almost entirely decimated. The situation is el campo (especially in the east is worse than even Pinar). Havana is packed with Orientales and to put it mildly, the city seethes with discontent. The police presence in Havana is huge.
People are sick and tired of the inertia and failed promises of every sector of the government. Over and over again you can hear people say “We have no hope, there is no future in Cuba”
The medical situation is absolutely tragic. The infant mortality and HIV infection numbers the government releases since the 1990’s are complete and total propoganda. Suicide, abortion, and mental health issues – who knows what reality is, because the government won’t even say. Many seniors citizens suffer from malnutrition.
Notice how the Cuban government never talks about dentistry – this is because it would be impossible to hide the thousands of people walking around with open and festering wounds in their mouths and numerous missing teeth.
The communist party has destroyed the national currency. Only Chavez keeps some semblance of trade going – but the Venezuelan opposition is livid regarding his support (free oil) for Cuba. They will cut off the oil immediately if they can take power. The Chavito will be worth toilet paper in about 12 minutes there after.
I understand I am preaching to the choir here, but what I am trying to argue is to forget about what “Cuba was” and look hard at what it “is”, and then consider why the end of the embargo will help to rebuild the nation.
When Jorge Mas Santos called for humanitarian aid to be delivered after the hurricanes it had a profound effect on the population in Cuba. This gesture had a much bigger effect in Cuba that was perceived here in the U.S. (which is one reason I believe it was mentioned in the letter that Yoani Sanchez posted a few days ago). People were absolutely disgusted that the government (Fidel) would turn down and ridicule such an offer – this was not just because of the material support but because they are desperate to reconnect with the Cuban exiles and open their country up to the outside world.
The anti-exile banter that Fidel unleashed after the exile’s offer was a major misstep and was not well regarded by many people in Cuba, and apparently, has not been forgotten.
The situation internally in Cuba is going from really bad to much much worse (as in 1994-1996 and beyond worse).
Economically speaking – With embargo or without embargo, the Cuban Communist Party is in checkmate, dead as a door knob, and they know it. When the embargo ends, it means nothing to the legitimacy or economic viability of the CCP. The CCP doesn’t have any money (or industry left to generate currency, since they ruined them all). So to purchase any thing the US has to offer, they are going to need credits. And those credits are going come attached with loan guarantees that are going to be the moral equivalent of Fidel getting a public enema with a water canon administered by George Bush himself.
The CCP puts on airs and talks as if the tourist industry is going to help develop the country – this is completely laughable if didn’t distract from the absolutely brutal reality that the average Cuban sees himself facing today and in the future of his family on the island.
Forget about the number of dollars tourism generates – they can generate dollars all day long, it doesn’t mean for an iota of a second that the CCP is running a profitable business. I respectfully ask any contributor on this blog to name one single industry, a single industry that the Fidel or the Cuban Communist Party has been able to manage profitably over their five decades of uninterrupted single party rule. As far as I know there is not one. Even with virtually free labor (paid off in worthless pesos) the CCP has annihilated all sectors, public and private.
Tourism is (and will be) no different. The only thing maintaining the semblance or trade alive is free oil from Chavez. Without that, the Cuban tourism industry would have been in complete disarray (and to be honest it doesn’t look too good at the moment regardless). Considering the CCPS accounting methods of the past, it is literally possible that more tourists would push it closer to bankruptcy – I know this goes against what sounds like common sense, but remember we are talking about the way the communists run a business.
So what is the Party Chiefs and guys who run CIMEX drive around in a bunch of Audis or Mercedes? The more they display or flaunt any affluence generated by their position in the state controlled monopolies the closer they are to getting their asses lined up against a firing wall when some enterprising young Captain from FAR has had enough.
Sans Embargo – A bunch of fat and drunk Americans chasing jineteras doesn’t really help the ‘Revolutionary’ cause either. Let’s not forget the Cuban people don’t really appreciate a bunch of tourists coming in and exploiting the situation or sleeping with 15 year olds, so I wouldn’t count them out when it comes to making their displeasure known (which they already do from time to time by spitting when the Canadian or German tourist walks by).
An even worse-case scenario for the CCP, is a bunch of Cuban-Americans, (like the people who write here on this blog), who while on “vacation” have been able to organize by internet and cell phones, who “just happen to show up at the Cathedral” to walk with Damas en Blancas, organize anti-government rallies, and assist the growing opposition movement on the island.
It is true that the police will take bribes to allow illegal businesses. The Cuban Coast Guard also takes bribes to allow fast boats to enter and exit. You can get the picture – if the Cuban police can be bought off to allow DVD stores to operate freely, they can be bought off while underground newspapers are printed and anti-government graffiti is sprayed across the country. When the place is overrun by digital cameras, it’s going to be pretty tough to keep the conditions in the hundreds of prisons and hospitals a secret.
Regardless, when the embargo ends, Fidel LOSES. He knows it. That is why he taunts the exile community into thinking it is a victory for him if they let it go. Nothing will be farther from the truth, that embargo is that final excuse he has to justify absolute devolution he has wrought on a nation.
Ending the embargo now does not prolong the Cuban peoples suffering and it will not reverse the inevitable. My arguement for ending the embargo is that it will hopefully save lives.
In my opinion, from what I have seen, the people of Cuba desperately need the people in Miami, but they are not in a position to say so or even dare to ask. Not for shoes, clothes, or some of life’s basic materials – those are nice but not what is essential to the Republic of Cuba at this time.
The people of Cuba need to see photos. They need to read letters. They need to hear stories. The need to welcome their friends and families who they have desperately missed and hug them and look into their eyes and know that they are not forgotten. They need to hear that Pedro, Maria, Giberto, Pepe and the 100’s of thousands of others of people who have disappeared from their lives are well, are happy, and remember them also. They need to see photos of weddings, of birthdays, of babies, of the lives of their families that they have been cut-off from for so long. They need to read letters from friends and family about forgiveness and about a life on the outside of a most beautiful island that has become a most horrific prison.
A couple of days ago you had pictures of a memorial to Cubans who have been lost. It is sobering and heart breaking in it’s scope. But there are millions of people in Cuba who would also want to join you in adding names and mourning those lives, but they are not allowed to do so.
But beyond that I think it is important to consider that you (the Cubans in Miami) and other Cubans around the world are also ‘lost’ to those families on the island also, and that they love and miss you as you miss them.
Fidel, Raul, Alarcon, Roque, and all their adherents have failed to deliver any notion HOPE for a better tomorrow to the Cuban people. But the exiles can do this, because they have not lost hope, but your fellow countrymen need to have you do it in person. They need to look into your eyes and know if they can trust you, that your intentions are real, that your hearts are with them. These are people who have been cajoled, criticized, and force fed what to believe for so long, fact and fiction can be hard to define.
I don’t know anything about Mr. Jorge Mas Santos, his politics, or his organization, but when he started to talk about sending aid to assist people – even people who weren’t affected by the hurricanes were moved to be hopeful and excited for themselves and for the whole country in the possibility of what it implied. When the offers of assistance were disregarded and ridiculed it seemed the Cuban people were embarrassed and embittered by the government’s response.
If the exiles can return, and talk, and pray, and conspire, in person, and share their dreams for a better day, they can transmit that hope to where it is most needed and to the people they love – that can be a dagger in the heart to the lunatic ravings of the CCP.
Many Cuban Americans pundits seems to spend a great deal of energy arguing about the fact that “Cuba is not a democracy”. I would argue it is time to forget about that for awhile.
I am arguing that ending the embargo is now essential to protecting the Republic of Cuba, the culture, and the nation-state which is sliding downwards towards a precipice – the Republic is a different thing from a democratic government.
Cuba is a republic that is today dying – literally, look at the population demographics. Young men and young women see no future on the island. They are sad, hungry, and desperate and ready to throw their lives away in that terrible ocean.
The days of Los Hermanos Castros being able to bask in their own glory will soon be at an end. The CCP has no plan and isn’t capable of fixing anything even if they wanted to. The task of rebuilding a destroyed nation is going to fall on the shoulders of the next generation. Those are the lives that must be protected now. There are already too many white crosses at your memorials, please consider that perhaps with thoughtful and measured actions the exile community can now prevent there being more crosses added to this horrific number.
Ending the embargo does not mean capitulation to a tyrant, it means the dogs are off the leash and it is time to get ready to fight, to defend, and rebuild the republic.
You are the heirs to a great and magnificent country and culture. I truly hope there are better days ahead for your people.
May God Bless the Republic of Cuba.
Beautiful sentiment filled with a lot of faulty logic. First of all it seems to me that removing the embargo will only mean that American corporations become business partners with the Cuban military just like their Spanish, French, Canadian counterparts. These corporations actually have a vested interest in the status quo.
Your arguments about the complete disaster of Cuba are exactly why I don’t want to extend even a thread of a lifeline to the regime in the form of increased tourist dollars. It doesn’t matter that Cuban industry is not profitable in the way we understand profitable. Increased access to capital means more money for the repressive machinery.
You talk about Jorge Mas Santos and his offers of aid but fail to mention the MANY MANY TIMES the U.S. government offered aid. We posted statement after statement from Secretary Guttierrez here.
You talk as if no Cuban exiles have ever been back to Cuba. First of all you know that the current restrictions are not absolute. I’m at the airport every week and see multiple flights to Havana and other Cuban destinations daily. People in Cuba are repressed, they aren’t dumb and they aren’t blind. They don’t need a collective hug. They need international solidarity AGAINST their captors. Capitulating to the regime does not send a message of solidarity AGAINST their captors.
The whole “remove the excuse” argument is tired and lame. If the WHOLE WORLD KNOWS its an excuse, who is going to be convinced when the embargo is removed? NOBODY.
Also the who “Fidel secretly loves the embargo” argument is tired and lame. He wants nothing better than for the embargo to be lifted without having to make a single concession so that he can take in a bunch of yankee greenbacks and then fuck all the investors over while continuing to harangue the U.S. with his rhetoric. See Canada which Cuba accused of Human Rights violations recently.
May God Bless the Republic of Cuba and save it from people who are advocating measures that will prolong the suffering.
Gabe,
You can post whatever bullshit you want, but the truth is that ending the embargo is capitulation to a tyrant and, I’m not willing to capitulate, period.
You can put up any argument about the Cuban people being totally disgusted with the Castro’s tyranny but at the of the day the Cuban people (other from a few dissidents) don’t have the courage to finally stand-up to the tyranny regardless of their disgust. This fact alone speaks volumes for the quality of the people in the island today.
They are more afraid to stand-up to the Castro brothers in any way shape or form than to get on a raft and be eaten by sharks in the Florida straits, that’s the sad and painful fact.
And it is more than about time that the Cuban people stood-up for their freedom, if they did they would get our total support and would finally open the eyes of the international community.
Unfortunately they have gotten so used to on receiving help from exiles abroad that is pathetic. it pains me to say this, but in a way they deserve what they have.
If the embargo would be enforced to its full force and no money remittances would be allowed to Cuba, then and only then you’ll see how quick there would be change for the better in that island.
Please don’t bring Jorge Mas Santos into this topic as I don’t have an ounce of respect for him as he has totally discredited the work of his father Jorge Mas Canosa.
Jorge Mas Canosa would not have capitulated to the tyranny.
Ditto Henry.
Hi Henry:
In regards to: “Beautiful sentiment filled with a lot of faulty logic. First of all it seems to me that removing the embargo will only mean that American corporations become business partners with the Cuban military just like their Spanish, French, Canadian counterparts. These corporations actually have a vested interest in the status quo.”
Let me ask you something, IF the embargo ended, and IF American corporations tried to get into bed with the Castro Bros Inc., how long do you think before a few of those company’s CEOs got a bullet in the head from someone in Miami who didn’t appreciate his family in Cuba being exploited as slave labor in this new business venture?
I’d guess 72 hours max before the death threats began. No way would such man live to see the profits from that type of venture.
Obviously, there will be no viable business in Cuba until ALL the CCP monkeys that are running the show are gone, and that means more than Fidel.
As far as the corporations that are currently making profit off the labor-for-peso-charge-in-dollar scam the CCP has going – those corporations are targets. Hit them where it hurts. There are some seriously deep pockets in the Cuban in Miami, short sell the stock and trash the company and tear it apart. If that doesn’t work, hit them another way. I am a little unclear on what the holdup is?
In response to FreedomforCuba’s “You can post whatever bullshit you want, but the truth is that ending the embargo is capitulation to a tyrant and, I’m not willing to capitulate, period.”
I think you are making my point – if Obama ends the embargo tomorrow, is there anyone in Miami going to change their mind about the misery that has been perpetrated on their family and who is responsible for that tragedy?
No. Never. Not in a 1000 years.
Maybe I am putting to subtle of a point in it. I am not talking about a big group hug. I am talking about a proactive, concerted approach. 50,000 – 100,000 pissed off Cuban exiles walking the ruined streets of Havana and spreading the idea of revolt across the entire island is not going to help Raul now matter how many Audi dealerships or Copellias he thinks he is going to build in order to impress the Canadians.
You guys understand that plenty of people in Cuba, right now, hate the Canadian, French, and German tourists right? Spitting in contempt as they walk by, yes?
I am not for a minute suggesting that any Cuban anywhere on this planet capitulate a fraction of a millimeter on any of their God-given rights to placate any American corporate or political interests. The United States has been good to Cubans but the Cubans have returned all that they have been given ten-fold to this country. In my opinion, as an American, I think the United States should have done more, but that is another discussion for another time.
What I am suggesting, is that since Marti and Maceo had to actually go back to Cuba, with boots on the ground, to help their fellow countrymen at the time of crises, that you guys in Miami who still have the passion, courage, and determination to affect change, and most importantly, a vision for the future, get ready to do so now. And what I am suggesting is that since the younger generation of the exile community has access to the money, technology, and means to organize to affect change, and since they are not paralyzed by fear, they have a responsibility to come to the aid of their country.
I am suggesting that the people in Cuba, need you now, there, with them, helping them change the situation. I am not saying “I have the answers” and I am not saying “bring guns”, I am saying that those people really need you and your belief in the future of the Republic of Cuba to be an influence their lives (even if they wouldn’t articulate such a thing). They are ready to join you now today, but I don’t see how they are expected to do that, short of a military coup?
No one responded to my point – in Cuba, people literally see no future – you in Miami on the other hand see a great and grand future, as soon as a few choice people are removed from the scene. The CCP and Castro Inc are done, done, done, regardless of what Granma or Chavez says is going to happen.
Tourists can walk around and take all the pretty pictures of old buildings they want, but the country is right now seething with frustration and prepared for revolt. There are police and security agents who are ready to join you guys, it’s just no one knows who in the hell to trust.
I strongly disagree with any assertion that the people of Cuba are cowards or not motivated to change their situation. Marti moved his ass north when the situation require also.
People in Cuba are actively doing their best to protest and affect change with the resources they have at their disposal. Sometimes it is graffiti, sometimes it is music, sometimes it writing, sometimes it is immigration, sometimes it is more (an example is a few CIMEX stores getting hit by Jewish lightning, etc). A few months ago I witnessed a unit fully armed soldiers taking up defensive fire positions along the southernmost highway outside of Los Palacios. From the look on their faces and from the captain screaming, I don’t think they were hunting hutias.
So I certainly wouldn’t describe the country as stable and I am sure we have all heard the rumors about the containers of AK 47’s being stolen from the port in Havana, etc.
Obviously it is tough to determine what is chisme and what isn’t on radio bemba. But it really sounds like there is a potential rafter crises brewing that could make Mariel look like delightful picnic.
I would like to say “I understand the anger and frustration you guys have, etc etc” but that would be a complete lie. I don’t think anyone who hasn’t seen members of their family beaten, killed, or humiliated and their culture torn from them has any right to be judge the reaction held by Cuban Americans, emotional or otherwise. So I am not saying “I understand” because I don’t in my darkest days have any imagination of what that could be like to have seen my family or friends put through that.
In my opinion, the killings, and camps, and prisons, and forced exile of the Cuba is one of great ‘untold’ genocides of the 20th century, and the true scope and magnitude of it has not been honestly recorded in the history books yet (as apparently mainstream US media is too excited talking about perfect health care system the communists deliver to be concerned about the actual number of prisons on the island). I assume this is all made the more nauseating and infuriating because those policies continue to this day, all the while Hollywood and American Academics like to celebrate and glorify the putos who made it happen.
What I am saying, as an outside observer who admires your culture very much, that the situation in Cuba is deteriorating, badly, rapidly, and the potential for 1000’s if not tens of thousands of more dead Cubans is, in my opinion, very real. I am saying, a large rafting crisis may start in between March and April.
I hope I am wrong, I really do. You guys are welcome to laugh at me and call me names all day long if I am. In fact, if I am wrong about a major incident happening between March or April I will be happy to send the editor of this blog a fine bottle of rum or scotch (his choice) as an apology for wasting his time with my concerns.
But if you think it’s bullshit, you guys should email some family on the island and get their feedback related to food supply and raft building, especially in Holguin.
So I am not suggesting capitulation, I am saying the embargo is going to end, and I am suggesting a change in tactics to save lives and to rebuild a devastated nation.
Of course, since we are on a public blog I would ‘NOT’ be suggesting anything to cause problems to CIMEX or Habanatuer like:
1) Counterfeiting CUCs
2) Tagging government buildings, hotels, or tourist buses with grafitti
3) Burning the Not-Gaurded-at-Night Casa de Cambios
4) Renting highend CIMEX cars for the day & returning them with sugar in the tank
5) Walking in protest with Las Damas en Blancas
Or anything else like that that could be done if the island were flooded tourists.
Building up a database of police and state security agents and military men and prison gaurds who are open to taking bribes would not make sense either. Bringing in books and magazines, starting an underground newspaper, unifying the opposition, those would be ‘bad ideas’ for anyone to consider doing under the guise of tourism…..
I guess it is far better to spend time finding new and innovative ways to post blogs critical of Pelosi (which is odd because I already thought we all agreed she is una puta completa).
Anyways, I am sorry Henry doesn’t like my ideas but I do think the graffiti idea is workable (they sell spray paint in the dollar stores now). Maybe you guys have some suggestions of some catchy slogans I could write on the walls, as my spanish is not good. The last one I heard that I liked was “Fidel con Sangre mejor que Raul con Hambre”. Maybe you have some better suggestions.
Viva Cuba!
Wow, Gabe your comments suddenly take a turn from a group hug to killing CEOs.
The first thing I have to say is that the communist party doesn’t really wield the power in today’s Cuba. It’s the military FAR and the interior ministry, MININT. But I’m guessing you know that based on the knowledge you’ve displayed. I don’t understand why you’d continue to talk about the party though.
Secondly, there’s nothing preventing any of the actions you described. Cuba has capacity for about 2,500,000 visitors annually. The last couple of years their numbers have been down but still in excess of 2 million. Plenty of cover for anyone who wants to pose as a tourist but has ulterior motives. It’s not like getting to Cuba from the U.S. is that hard. People make unauthorized trips every day. And thousands make authorized trips every week.
Protesting with las Damas de Blanco is a great idea, that’s why human rights groups have done so in the past. They of course are immediately deported.
As for a rafter crisis, that’s very plausible. First of all we have a weak president in power who is not going to hold the regime accountable. Look at the mass migrations of Cubans in the past. All under weak Democrat presidents. Republican presidents have repeatedly announced that a mass migration from Cuba would be seen as a crisis that would demand military intervention. The regime didn’t dare test it. But with Obama they’ll be pushing the envelope constantly.
I don’t think your plan to flood the island with tourists and investment dollars will do anything to destabilize the regime. Sorry. It defies logic.
I am not advocating the killing of CEO’s but I would argue that type of push back is not out of the question, considering the history of the use of force by Miami, if American businessmen try to exploit the situation. I am not sure I am going to lose much sleep over it though.
I think the end point (that we probably agree on) is that there is NO viable solution with any economic or political stability until the exile community in Miami is allowed to participate and assist in rebuilding process in Cuba.
We are going over a few points here so let me try to address them properly. I am not advocating flooding the country with investment dollars or tourists. I think flooding it with Cubans and their Cuban-American kids could do a lot of good in giving people a lot of perspective on which direction they need to be headed as a society.
There is one side comment I want to make here – the ‘big post-embargo investment scenario’ that Roque and Lage are hoping lets them refurbish and retool their political machine, no way is it going to happen the way they plan (but that is another very long email and I am taking up all of Val’s comment space so I wont go into it.)
You are right on the money about FAR and MININT running the show, and that is really the crux of the concern that I have regarding the country. My critique was about was not a failed ideology or socialist government, I felt it has gone way beyond that – but rather a failed nation state where a complete breakdown of even the most basic health and human services, electricity, water, and security are gone – and it is headed in that direction as we write.
The CCP basically destroyed civil society, and now that police-state is breaking down, violence (robberies, stabbings, beatings) are up in even once quite safe neighborhoods in Havana and Pinar.
Obviously Cuba is ideally situated as an excellent launching point for narcotics trafficking, etc into the United States. My attitude is that from what I have seen, concerning breakdown of morale and and security forces conduct (bribes) – this country getting turned into something that looks like the ganglands of El Salvadore or Tiajuana Mexico is now no longer out of the question. If the FAR is willing to ‘look the other way’ for fast boats heading to Miami, why not for planes or boats loaded with cocaine? Once that system gets set up, how is that poison going to get extricated from democratic society?
My perception is that the regime would be more than happy to allow a ‘controlled’ exodus in order to get some malcontents off the island today. But currently the situation is under such pressure that if that were to allowed to happen, a small exodus could escalate exponentially and neither FAR or MININT could control it.
I know there are some logistical reason why ‘another Mariel’ seems improbable. For example, boats from the United States were allowed to dock in Cuban ports during Mariel, but not during Cojimar. But today, armed with cell phones and GPS, the Cubans could quite easily rendevous at sea with the cousins in Miami. And these guys are in fact getting the GPS and they have the coordinates of where they want to go.
I mentioned the CCP for a couple of reasons, and I know this is going to sound absolutely fricken’ crazy but I am repeated a train of thought that exists on the ground in Cuba, so I ask your indulgence.
Today, there exists a whole group of guys, in Cuba, who regard themselves as ‘real communists’, that think Fidel and Raul, are not actual communists (but sort of psuedo-bourgeious something or other). In fact, they believe that Castroismo and Communismo have nothing to do with each other. They don’t say this publicly of course, because then they head to jail with everyone else who has an alternative opinion.
Now, their apparent plan is that when Fidel is gone, they (the real communists) will get to run the show and “fix everything”.
Personally, I find it incredulous that there are actual literate adult males on the island thinking a ‘real communism’ is going to be what really gets the country up a moving again but they are serious. This is one reason the Cuban to Cuban ‘group hug’ as you call it is to drive the FAR closer (politically) to Miami and away from those lunatics.
As it has been explained to me and I am literally quoting someone here, “When Fidel dies we are going to have two types of people. People who want communism and people who don’t. Then we are going to have a civil war. There is no future in Cuba.”
Of course, there is a wildcard in the equation – if Chavez leaves the scene via natural or unnatural causes I think think a regime (MININT) collapse will happen in a very short time. Hugo may not be as long for this world as he seems to think.
Either way, it is a mess.
I am just a gringo who likes the culture, the music, and has an opinion – maybe some of you guys from this blog can post some interviews with some guys who have recently gotten off the fastboats within that last couple of months. Their opinion is going to be much more insightful than mine, I can put you in touch with a few if you are interested, I am sure they are going to know a hell of a lot more about the intricacies than I do.
Anyways, I appreciate all the feedback and criticism from you and your fellow bloggers, I wish we could be having it in a cafe somewhere on the island but that may happen sooner than one might anticipate. I hope you don’t perceive anything I have written as minimizing or trivializing the situation because it is really so tragic as what is occurring there.
By the way, this is off subject a little, have you seen any of the art coming out of there, not the tourist crap but from legit Cuban artists (not the state sponsored guys)? Pretty tough stuff. Let me know if you are interested and I will send you a link.
I don’t think your plan to flood the island with tourists and investment dollars will do anything to destabilize the regime. Sorry. It defies logic.
Gabe,
I second Henry’s views.
In my view there are only two actions that would bring the regime down in Cuba.
1. Total comdemnation and complete enforcement of sanctions (including stopping money remitance to the island) against the regime from the whole western international community.
2. Total enforcement of all the clauses in the Helms-burton act by the USA (plus stopping money remitance to the island).
If these two options were to happen at the same time, it would get so unbearable for the people in the island that they would finally revolt in mass against the tyranny and the game would be over for the Castro brothers.
The Cuban Army will repress the people up to certain point, but the moment they see that the whole people rises it’ll be a different story and many of the regular troops will revolt themselves and that will tip the scales against the regime.
The only people in Cuba today left willing to defend the Cuban Revolution and the Castro brothers are the ones who have their hands stained with the blood of the people (the elite in power).
I know that that these measures would be inhumane to the people in Cuba but unfortunately the regime has been much more inhumane to the people for the last 50 years.
Unfortunately neither option has never happened, and it won’t.
So God only knows what the future will bring.
Mr. Marks,
I take offense with your words: “IF the embargo ended, and IF American corporations tried to get into bed with the Castro Bros Inc., how long do you think before a few of those company’s CEOs got a bullet in the head from someone in Miami who didn’t appreciate his family in Cuba being exploited as slave labor in this new business venture? ”
It shows that you’ve believed all the crappy untrue propaganda published by apologist media all over the world with regards to the exile community when in fact, the only people putting bullets in heads have been Cuban Government operatives in Miami, shooting Cuban Government denouncers with priveledged information.
The exile community is varied, and many Cuban Government supporters live among the Cuban exile community in Miami, and live without fear of shot in the head. Your statement alone makes anyone reading this blog for the first time, think that the thugs are the ones that live in Miami, when the true mafiosos are 90 miles South.
I read your posts, and at first I thought you were just being idealistic, but you express yourself just like many professors in the universities who under the guise of critizing the regime, actually try to mold the young students’ mind into thinking lifting the embargo would be good for the Cubans and bad for the regime.
As for the Cuban government secretly wanting the embargo to remain, it is one of the tired tactics of that piggish regime. That is only done to try and manipulate the exile community into supporting the lifting of the embargo because it is what fidel really doesn’t want. Were that true, the Cuban Government would have never spent or continue to spend so much money in asking for the exact opposite where ever they get the chance to speak anywhere around the world.
Furthermore, the current Cuban government, for all you out there that think otherwise, IS NOT INTERESTED IN ANY TYPE OF CHANGE. Their only concern is to stay in power until they are all safely burried or incinerated, because they know that any change will open the doors, or rather set the justice wheels in motion for their eventual “crimes against humanity” trials. These people would rather these take place after they’re dead. Oh and the CCP is nothing, it is an international front to give the impression there is some sort of institutionality when in fact there is none. The CCP has never had industry or currency, their only function ever, has been ideology.
Suffucating the regime is the only way, the repression is too great and has existed for too long to think the people will rebel. Any other action will prolong the existance of the oppresive regime. Putting money into their bags will not eventually trickle down to the public, they’ll resell whatever is surplus, as they do the with the free oil from Venezuela. They resell it to other countries.