Cuban minister makes appeal to end U.S. embargo

[Say_What]

<clips>

Cuba's foreign minister made an impassioned appeal for the lifting of the trade embargo against his country, saying the blockade has cost the Caribbean nation $72 billion in the last 42 years.

In a 75-minute speech at a Harlem church, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said the Cuban people do not hold any hatred against the American people.

He stressed that Cuba was against terrorism and has been combating drug trafficking, but despite overtures the Americans have refused to lift the embargo.

"The blockade is a major obstacle to our development. (It) prevents and curtails our development," Perez Roque told a sympathetic audience of more than 800 people, many of whom repeatedly interrupted with chants of "Viva Cuba."

<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/09/28/international0750EDT0441.DTL>

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[7th_Sephiroth]

1. it wont happen

til castro dies, i'm afraid, than the U.S. will step in and cuba will become the 51st state or something to that effect.

[Mika]

2. Is that the way you feel, or..

Is that the way you feel, or is it an acknowledgment that imperial America does not have a representational democracy?

[dArKeR]

3. What American politicians have done to Cuba is a disgrace! No American

citizens support an embargo. Everyone wants it lifted. Except the Bush Crime Family types.

[Mika]

4. Dem members should demand representation from their reps

Important Vote on Travel rights to Cuba Coming to the Senate in September. Act Now!

On September 9th, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to give Americans their freedom back: the freedom to travel to Cuba. The Flake amendment to the Transportation, Treasury and Independent Agencies Appropriations bill passed the House with a 227-188 vote. This amendment would end funding for enforcement of the travel ban to Cuba. In the next few weeks, the same amendment will be introduced in the U.S. Senate. Now is the time to contact your Senators with a message that is simple, direct, and clear: Vote for Freedom, lift the ban on legal travel by Americans to Cuba.

http://action.ciponline.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=11673

[Judi Lynn]

5. Thanks for the reminder

It's something to follow up right away.

I'm lucky one of my state's senators is on the Senate Cuba Working Group, and has been to Cuba already, along with staff members.

This isn't NEW business, is it?

Senators, and even previous cabinet members have been involved in this since the mid-'90's.

It's going to happen. Now is a GREAT time.

[Muddleoftheroad]

8. Not even vaguely close

I'm an American citizen. I hate Castro. He's a scumbag dictator. Till he's gone, I support the embargo, as has Congress and every president since JFK.

[Mika]

11. Wrong. Congress supports ending the embargo

"Till he's gone, I support the embargo, as has Congress and every president since JFK."


You mean the US congress that majority voted to end the embargo the last three years, only to have the bills undemocratically killed in markup despite the fact that BOTH HOUSES voted to end the sanctions?


Muddle, why do you insist on ignoring the facts and regurgitating bovine effluvia? By doing so you relegate your credibility to that of a CANF mouthpiece.



Here are the votes on a bill to end sanctions earlier this month

http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=2003&rollnumber=483
http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=2003&rollnumber=484
http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=2003&rollnumber=488

[Say_What]

12. Ignorance about the history of Cuban - US relations

Typical for a CANF mouthpiece. Destroys any crediblity he might have had otherwise.

Here's a clip from an email received recently from a Cuban-American formerly secretary of CAAEF for California's Central Coast. It is part of a letter to Wesley Clark.

***********************************************

1- The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate have voted with
decisive majorities to ease the Cuban embargo. For the fourth
consecutive time, the lifting of travel restrictions to Cuba gained
wide-margin vote majorities in the U.S. Congress. Numerous polls show
that the majority of Americans and the majority of Cuban-Americans
support an end to restrictions on Cuba travel. In a recent poll in
Miami-Dade, 68 percent of Cuban Americans agreed that Cubans on the
island should decide when and if their political system should
change. A majority of Cuban-Americans have shifted away from a hard
line stance and have deep suspicion of politicians who play the Cuba
card to curry votes.

2- Most Cuban-Americans would not reject new policy initiatives with
respect to Cuba. We are traveling to Cuba and sending money
remittances in record numbers. In polls conducted by the Miami Herald,
the South Voters Registration Project, and moderate groups of Cuban
Americans, the vast majority (77% in some cases) of Cuban Americans in
South Florida under the age of 45 would be more likely to vote for a
candidate who would work to change U.S. policy toward Cuba to allow
more trade and travel, as opposed to one who did not.

3- In the U.N. General Assembly the U.S. has been isolated in its
44-year old embargo policy of Cuba, supported by the vote of only two
or three nations. - The lack of substantive changes in President
George W. Bush policy toward Cuba reflects opinion changes taking
place in our community. Even the Cuban American National Foundation -
the foremost pro-embargo voice since cradled into existence by the
Administration of President Ronald Reagan -- is promoting a policy of
partial engagement.

Lifting the Cuban embargo would send a message of confidence in our
own American ideals. The time has come to reach out to new voices in
the Cuban American community and permit us to focus not on the wounds
of the past but on our common hopes for a brighter future. -

...5- Gen. Clark, if you are elected, please devise a new foreign policy
by ending all counterproductive sanctions to other countries and
promoting democracy and investment without exploitation or support to
dictatorships that keep their people in poverty, illiteracy and
hopelessness. - History tells us that as a result of our wrong
policies during the second half of the XX century, in Central America
and the Caribbean alone, more than 500,000 mostly indigenous people
were killed by the armies trained by and with weapons supplied by the
U.S.A. - The U.S. ambassadors often acting as partners of our
multinational corporations and corrupt local politicians.

[Muddleoftheroad]

15. Congress

Sorry, but that's how Congress works. Till there is strong enough support IN CONGRESS to change that, my comment stands.

Wow, you criticize because I don't like dictators here or abroad. Nice consistency on your part.

[Osolomia]

17. So you support the minority and ignore the majority in Congress

and want to talk about “dictators” eh? LOL, "Nice consistency on your part"!

What part of these votes by the US House of Representatives on 9 September 2003 don’t you understand?

http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=2003&rollnumber=483
http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=2003&rollnumber=484
http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=2003&rollnumber=488

What do you consider to be "strong enough support IN CONGRESS" when even 53 Republicans slapped you and Bush in the face over this in those votes!

Who on earth do you think you’re fooling in this WWWW day and age?

[Mika]

18. Sorry, but the US isn't run democratically

"Sorry, but that's how Congress works."

Yep. Like I said, the bills in previous years were UNdemocratically killed despite the fact that BOTH houses voted to end the sanctions. Who the F are we to dis Cuba's system when we have such a lack of representation here?




"Till there is strong enough support IN CONGRESS to change that, my comment stands."

Muddle, what part of bipartisan majority do you not understand?




"Wow, you criticize because I don't like dictators here or abroad. Nice consistency on your part."

Muddle, it isn't me who claims that Cuba is run by a dictatorship, but it does seem to me that you, like the Bushistas, support undemocratic processes that disenfranchise the majority of Americans and their reps on this, while accusing the Cuban government of doing the same to its people.

Unfortunately, Muddle, hypocrisy is all too consistent from your camp.




Don't ask questions!

[Osolomia]

16. Oh really? Funny, I haven't heard and Dem prez candidates say that

How come? Is Kucincich the only one with the cojones to say what needs to be said?

[Vogon_Glory]

6. Embargo and Trade Restrictions Stupid But Won't Be Dropped

I agree that it's time to end the Cuban embargo and the travel restrictions for US citizens, but it won't happen as long as George Deucey-U Bush and Tom DeLay are in office and as long as the GOP feels obliged to kiss the ring on hard-line Cuban exiles' fingers. Dubya wants Fidel as a boogeyman and the GOP thinks it needs the Cuban exiles' votes and campaign donations.

I've traveled to Cuba twice. My impression is that Cuba could greatly improve its economy by making permanent economic reforms to allow individuals and small businesses to buy and sell their labor in the private sector. The current Cuban regime's continuing idolatry of Marxist-Leninist-style socialism is the major stumbling block to Cuban creativity and drive to a better future.

If the Cubans adopted private sector reforms, Cuba could substantially raise its standard of living and begin to develop a healthier economy without having a <darn> thing to do with the whims of the incumbent in the White House or Castro's estranged in-laws.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Pittsburg, Kansas professor hosting Cuba radio show

When Kansans are involved, you can be sure they believe it's a safe enterprise!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Story last updated at 5:04 a.m. Sunday, September 28, 2003


Couper's radio series to take listeners inside America's secret neighbor

By OLIVE L. SULLIVAN
Morning Sun Staff Writer
Bu'cando, a new radio show debuting on KRPS Monday, will give listeners a wonderful, in-depth, opinionated, musical look at the country of Cuba, a country that is only miles away in terms of distance, but worlds apart in so many other ways.

John Couper, assistant professor of communication at Pittsburg State University, created the 10-part radio series after two visits to Cuba in the past year. The radio show will be broadcast on 89.9 FM each Monday morning at 6:35 and 8:35 during "Morning Edition."

"It's amazing to have a world that in so many ways is diametrically opposed to the U.S. in almost every way, and yet it's just a few miles away," he said. (snip)

"The basic idea in both cases is to give people a sense of what really goes on in places that they have a narrow and shallow view of," he explained. The series will use voice clips of interviews, and lots of music. (snip)

(snip) There will also be a lot of Couper's ideas of Cuba. "It's sort of impressionistic," he explained. "I'm trying to struggle with saying what the world's like for Cubans when I can't really know that."
(snip)

http://www.morningsun.net/stories/092803/loc_20030928045.shtml

[Muddleoftheroad]

9. $72 Billion

Implies that Cuba has some inherent right to trade with the U.S. It does not.

Embagoes are legal ways nations have of expressing their displeasure at the actions of other nations. As long as Catro rules his little dictatorship, we should continue to express our dissatisfaction by continuing the embargo.

[Osolomia]

10. With so much bigotry, hypocrisy and deceit from the Dems

No wonder the long list of Repubs who are defying Bush on this issue are more progressive than the status quo around here. What a shame!

[Say_What]

13. Francisco Aruca on Perez Roque

Francisco Aruca was in NYC over the weekend where he participated in the big rally for Cuban foreign minister Felipe Perez-Roque. To listen to his report and discussion the meeting, go to http://www.rprogreso.com and click "Listen", and then the button for today, Tuesday 9/30. Here's the synopsis from an email I recieved:

**************************************************

He spends a modest amount of time on the
war and occupation in Iraq and then gets to
the meat of the thing after about 20 minutes.

He attended a meeting of about 250 Cuban
Americans with the Cuban Foreign Minister,
Felipe Perez-Roque. The FM made some
important announcements which Mr. Aruca
reported with great enthusiasm.

The special "entry permit" which Cubans who
live abroad have had to obtain in the past is
no longer going to be required as of April of
next year. This has been an expensive and
an annoying issue for Cubans for a long time.
It was justified on the understandable basis
of the island's security needs, given the role
some Cuban exiles have played in terroristic
activities on the island. Barring any unforseen
major problems between the US and Cuba,
this will be implemented next April.

The Cuban government, Mr. Aruca explained,
feels it now has sufficient security arrangements
in place that it won't have difficulty in this area.
In the past, Cuba has felt the need to invidually
investigate prospective visitors because of their
fear of violent actions. Now they have enough in
the way of computers and so on to not need that.

The longer term goal is to normalize relations
between the two countries. Aruca explained
that, as he understood Perez-Roque's remarks,
some of the problemmatic areas which Cubans
and Cuban Americans have criticized, such as
the limitations on freedom of expression which
occur on the island wouldn't be needed if Cuba
didn't have the "seige mentality" that it has had
to have in the past.

In this respect, perhaps the most telling comment
the Cuban foreign minister made was about the
jailings earlier this spring, which he compared to
Japanese-American internment during the
Second World War. This was justified by the US
at the time on the basis of US national security
needs. Aruca explained that this was what the
Cuban foreign minister wanted people living in
the United States to give some thought to.

He also announced that the postponed
conference on Immigration and Nation will
now be held next May in Havana. Aruca also
said there was some discussion about the
idea some Cuban Americans have raised
about retirement to Cuba, though Aruca had
no details to share on this broadcast.

During the discussion Aruca also pointed out
that this weekend will be the second time that
the rightist anti-Cuban exile groupings have
tried to counter a public meeting with forces
in favor of normalization. The two meetings
will face off in Miami with Mikhail Gorbachev
speaking at the normalization-oriented event
and Roger Noriega at the blockade-backing
event.

Then he took questions and calls. You can
listen to the entire program here:
http://www.rprogreso.com and go to today's
broadcast. Great talk radio.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Another announcement by Felipe Perez Roque

will make getting back and forth to Cuba (on over 8 scheduled daily flights from Miami, New York, and Los Angeles to Havana) even easier:

(snip) Cuban diplomat says Cuban natives living in U.S. won't need permission to travel to Cuba
Tuesday September 30, 2003
By JOHN PAIN
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI (AP) Cuban natives living in the United States soon will no longer need permission from the Castro government to travel to the communist island if they hold a Cuban passport, a Cuban official said Tuesday.

Lazaro Herrera, a spokesman with the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, said the change will take effect early next year. Cuban exiles now wishing to visit their homeland must obtain special permission before making the trip.

The proposed change was announced by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque at a meeting with about 300 Cuban-Americans in New York on Saturday, Herrera said. The Cuban government is changing its policy to try to improve relations with Cuban exiles, Herrera said.

``For many years, we've been making steps with the Cuban community abroad that haven't been able to advance more because'' of the opposition of Miami's Cuban-Americans, he said. ``Now there has really been a generational change in Florida, where there is a majority of Cubans who support normal relations with the island.'' (snip/...)

http://cbsnewyork.com/national/Cubans-Visas-aa/resources_news_html

[Judi Lynn]

19. More info. on new Cuban-American travel to Cuba

(snip) Cuba travel rule change elicits mixed reactions

By Vanessa Bauzá
HAVANA BUREAU
Posted October 1 2003

HAVANA · Calling it an important goodwill gesture, Cuban-Americans favoring an end to economic sanctions hailed Havana's long-awaited decision to eliminate entry permits for émigrés visiting their homeland.

But those who favor the current U.S. embargo on travel and trade with Cuba called the move a ploy aimed at stimulating the island's sagging economy by boosting Cuban-American travel.

Under the new immigration rules, which take effect in the spring, Cuban émigrés no longer will need Havana's prior approval to travel to the island, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told about 300 Cuban-Americans in New York on Saturday.

"Everyone was on their feet, screaming and yelling. To say that this was well-received is an understatement," said Elena Freyre, executive director of the Cuban-American Defense League and a longtime anti-embargo activist. "I think there are a lot of people who have not gone back because it just rankles them to ask for permission." (snip/...)

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/caribbean/sfl-pacuba01oct01,0,7163245.story?coll=sfla-news-caribbean