Cuba predicts strong support at U.N. vote

[Say_What]

<clips>

LONDON (Reuters) - A senior Cuban diplomat has brushed aside the latest White House bid to undermine President Fidel Castro and predicts overwhelming international condemnation of U.S. sanctions at a U.N. vote next week.

"We are being persecuted by the most powerful nation in the world," Cuba's ambassador to London, Jose Fernandez de Cossio, said ahead of next week's annual General Assembly vote on the four-decade-old embargo against Havana.

He said he expected a "roughly similar" result to last year when 173 nations voted in Cuba's favour, with just three against, the highest number yet to back Havana at the assembly.

Cuba estimates the U.S. embargo has cost it $72 billion (50 billion pounds) in lost trade and revenues.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/031031/325/ecp45.html

[Mika]

1. Just a 'focus group'. Move along

We don't need no stinkin jobs here in America that Cuba trade could bring on. :shrug:

Haven't you heard.. its a "jobless recovery".

[Osolomia]

2. Just Americans behaving like arrogant assholes as usual

Nothing for DUhers to bother their silly little heads about!

[Say_What]

3. Cuba travel battle looms

As this unfolds, the Miami Herald today points out that Tom Delay appointed House conferees most of whom want to KEEP the travel ban. Of the 17 appointed, 14 oppose the ban. Many of the farm and ag groups are calling and visiting the hill as noted by Jody Frisch's quote below.


<clips>

...But House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Tex., has been an implacable foe of any easing of the sanctions. On Wednesday he named the 17 House conferees who will negotiate with the Senate over the bill and, not surprisingly, the group is tilted 10-7 in favor of those who want to keep the travel ban.

One House staff member who has followed the Cuba issue for years predicted this showdown: ``Tom DeLay will fight tooth and nail to get this Cuba change out of there. The big question is whether senators will push back or just give in.''

The 17 Senate conferees are dominated by 14 opponents of the ban, including seven Republicans. But the supporters of the ban include the Appropriations chairman, Ted Stevens, R-Alaska; and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the subcommittee chairman who handled the bill.

...''We're phoning, visiting the Hill, shoring up support, and the lineup of Senate conferees looks good,'' said Jody Frisch, director of USA Engage, a coalition of 600 companies and trade groups.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/7147628.htm

[Osolomia]

4. Battle Looms by Miami Herald not fit for LBN!

What a revolting shame that so many DUers prefer to avoid this issue like the plague and hope no one notices.

[Mika]

7. Weird isn't it?

Gotta sweep the Dem pandering and corruption under that CANF rug too, ya'know. Turn the lights on.. and the roaches scatter.

[Osolomia]

16. Dems have no one to blame but themselves

if they let a golden opportunity handed to the Party on a silver platter to pull the rug out from under Bush with Republican support slip through their fingers for many more years to come.

Sick of Cold War

Re: “Senate votes to lift Cuba travel ban,” Oct. 24. The U.S. Senate agreed with the majority of American people when it voted to lift the ban on travel to Cuba.

In a democracy the majority should determine policy. President Bush’s action restricting Americans’ ability to travel to Cuba deals a blow to democracy and freedom. President Bush allows Americans to travel to all other countries, including those countries listed in the “axis of evil” and China, but comes up with a weakly concocted and phony list of reasons for not allowing Americans to travel to Cuba.

I am a Cuban-American, have lived in the United States for more than 40 years and have not been back to Cuba during that time. I am tired of the futile, Cold War era, ineffective American oppressive tactics toward Cuba which only benefit the president and three Cuban-American congressmen in the Miami area.

JUAN PUERTO, Immokalee
http://www.news-press.com/news/opinion/031031spotlightbag.html

[Judi Lynn]

19. Excellent comments from a Cuban American in SouthWest Florida

Appreciate this wording:

I am tired of the futile, Cold War era, ineffective American oppressive tactics toward Cuba which only benefit the president and three Cuba-American congressmen in the Miami area.

There is, however, a complete anti-Cuba hate industry going on in South Florida, which reaches out and seduces some of our most right-wing politicians. Republican Rep. Dan Burton, Indiana, gets more funding from OUTSIDE his state, than from within. He's in deeply with them, just like Tom Delay, their dearly beloved former Senator Jesse Helms, and the preposterous Bob Smith, etc., etc.

The author's sense of proportion is correct. Only a TINY group of people actually benefit from the millions and millions of dollars keeping them afloat yearly, unknowingly handed to them by U.S. taxpayers. American businesses also suffer in the loss of revenue from a close neighbor.

[Mika]

5. Lincoln Diaz PROMISED the Miami "exiles" that he would get this killed

I do believe that he will. Our Dems are too spineless, and won't face Delay and Diaz down.

[Judi Lynn]

17. He destroyed the career of Colorado Rep. David Skaggs

when David Skaggs discovered how much taxpayer funding is disappearing down the black hole in Miami, Radio and TV Marti, programmed and operated by Miami Cuban "exiles" at the great expense of the American taxpayers, sucking in almost 30,000,000 dollars a year.

He tried to get funding removed, and Diaz-Balart told him that he would go after every project he valued, and he did. After he did his damage to Skaggs, by killing Skagg's Colorado projects, the Cuban American National Foundation took out advertising in Colorado newspapers detailing how they had killed Skagg's programs.

Skaggs was simply unprepared to see people get this low-down and dirty.

(snip) Skaggs deserves notice and credit for doing something no member of Congress from South Florida, from either party, has had the courage to do: publicly declare that TV Martí is a farce and that funding for it should cease. “It is, by any fair and objective analysis, a joke,” Skaggs offers during a recent interview. “And it is all the more hilarious — or offensive — because of the high soberness of those who attempt to defend it.” (snip)

Skaggs was astonished by the onslaught; he commented at the time: “It’s a set of tactics I have not encountered in politics before. I have encountered my share of hardball, but it’s a little more brazen than I have seen.” Time has not changed that view.

“There has always been a defensiveness on the part of the proponents of the Martís that, in my mind, the lack of merit of the whole operation,” he says. “I think they well know that this is a fairly tenuously justifiable operation. And so the very vehemence with which they launch into opposition whenever challenged reveals how fragile they realize this proposition is.” (snip)

http://www.westword.com/extra/defede1.html

It's time to pry these rabid barnacles off our foreign policy.

[Judi Lynn]

6. This is the 13th year we'll be seeing the U.S. standing alone

with the loyal support of Israel, which actually trades a lot with Cuba. We look so peculiar, spending in 12 hours what Cuba spends in an entire year for defense. The David and Goliath resemblance is hard to overlook.

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

Just noticed this article actually represents Cokie Roberts, as well as her husband. Shocked the hell out of me, as I had assumed she had become a total Bush tool by now!

(snip) Parties combine efforts to open travel to Cuba
Commentary by Cokie Roberts and Steven V. Roberts
October 31, 2003

Politicians often act on political motives — that's the way the system works. Leaders don't last long if they fail to represent their constituents or respond to electoral reality.

But occasionally a politician's motives are so damaging to the public interest that even members of his own party start gagging. And that is what's happening now, as a growing number of Republicans are opposing President Bush's policy of enforcing and even strengthening the travel ban against Cuba.

In a word, the anti-travel ban policy is nuts. It helps Castro instead of hurting him. But the administration sticks to it for one simple reason: to pander to the hard-line, anti-Castro Cubans who cluster in South Florida.

Fortunately, a wave of good sense is sweeping over Capitol Hill. With the help of 19 Republican votes, the Senate last week passed an amendment to a spending bill barring the use of government funds to enforce the travel ban. A sizeable bloc of Republicans helped push an identical measure through the House. (snip/...)

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=40&screen=news&news_id=27927

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. SMART little fellows, ain't them?

with the loyal support of Israel, which actually trades a lot with Cuba.

Heh. Good for them. :evilgrin:

[Say_What]

11. Not only do they trade with Cuba, they visit in droves

like this article from yesterday pointed out:

<clips>

Despite lack of diplomatic ties, Israeli tourists flocking to Cuba


... “We assume that at least 10,000 Israelis have already visited Cuba,” said Daniel Faians, president and CEO of Polaris Group, a large travel wholesaler and airline agent based in Tel Aviv.

Overall traffic from Israel to Latin America is estimated at 80,000 per year, of which half are limited-budget mochileros, or backpackers, Faians said.

“But those who go to Cuba aren’t mochileros,” he said. “They stay in deluxe hotels and travel in private cars with private guides.”

... Israelis generally pay $1,000 to $1,500 for a seven-day tour of Cuba. That includes accommodations at four- and five-star hotels but excludes airfare, which can cost another $1,100 or more.

<http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=13381&intcategoryid=5>

[Say_What]

10. Cokie Roberts criticizing SmirkBoy. I loved reading that!!

Especially these excerpts:

...The Bush policy toward Cuba directly contradicts his own approach toward virtually every other totalitarian country, from China and Vietnam to autocratic regimes across the Muslim world.

In all these cases, the United States follows a clear strategy of engagement. The more travel, the more trade, the more exchanges, the better. Every newcomer crossing a closed border is a potential revolutionary. But only when it comes to Cuba does American policy deny this undeniable truth.

...By what definition of national interest does this make any sense at all? How can the United States preach openness and liberty to the rest of the world and yet bar American citizens from traveling freely to a neighboring country?

...Banning travel to Cuba undercuts America's rights, interests and reputation. Congress should insist on its decision to end this travesty, and, if necessary, override the President's veto.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. Canada has never accepted the USA's attitude on Cuba

. . . We trade on a regular basis, and also we enjoy the free travel/holidays in Cuba, which by the way, is a beautiful Country.

. . Obviously this pisses off the USA's WH,

as as far as I know

Canada is pretty well respected in the World,

so when we do something the WH "forbids" - then the WH "looks bad"

All the Military Might in the world will NOT get you respect, just fear and wariness

Sorry to say, although the US was one of my favorite places to visit, and HAD planned to retire in the "Sunny South", I wouldn't cross that border for a ton of money

George W. Bush has destroyed your country, in my eyes anyways - -

Just My Humble Canadian Opinion

[Say_What]

13. Loved that Godfrey-Milliken Bill

<clips>

The Godfrey-Milliken Bill - A Canadian response to the Helms-Burton Law

FORT YORK, TORONTO -- MP John Godfrey (Don Valley West) and MP Peter Milliken (Kingston and the Islands) have announced their intention to introduce the Godfrey-Milliken Law as a private members bill in the House of Commons. Godfrey-Milliken follows the precedent established by the Helms-Burton Law in the United States enabling the government and citizens of one country to seek restitution from the government and citizens of another for the alleged trafficking in confiscated property.

The Godfrey-Milliken Bill would permit descendants of the United Empire Loyalists who fled the United States in the years following the 1776 American Revolution to reclaim land that is rightfully theirs and was confiscated unjustly and illegally by the American government and its citizens.

Furthermore, the Bill would enabled Canada to exclude corporate officers, or controlling shareholders of companies that engage in "trafficking", as well as the spouse and minor child of such persons from entering Canada.

The Bill, to be known as "The American Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Loyalty) Act", is consistent with the new moral standard in international commerce set by Helms-Burton. Descendants of the 80,000 American Loyalists who fled the future United States of America and whose property was confiscated by self-constituted revolutionary courts should be equally entitled to prosecute U.S. citizens who now benefit from or enjoy seized Loyalist estates.

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43b/080.html

[ConcernedCanuk]

14. Thanks - and it seems that more and more Americans are looking to Canada

... just like the natives

... just like the blacks/negroes (not quite sure what is politcly(sp) correct there)

... just like the "draft dodgers" re: Vietnam

... just like every OTHER person that wants to live in a DECENT country -

oh yah - don't furget

- we don't have much of a WarMachne

- but we got free HeathCare for EVERYONE

shame on us - right ?

NO !!

- Shame on ur BFEE and their "gang of thugs"

[Johnyawl]

15. I love it! I want my property back!

I have an ancester, a farmer in New Jersy, who was a loyalist, and resettled on Prince Edward Island at the end of the Revolution. That part of the family would later re-emmigrate to the US. (My Great-Grandparents were born in Canada).

hehehe Now that would be funny;(in the ironic sense of funny) an American citizen sueing the American government in a Canadian court to recover property confiscated from his loyalist great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. And all brought about because a bunch of Cuban expatriats sitting in Miami wanted a way to harrass Fidel. It would be the most delicious irony if that piece of property was owned by a Cuban-American. (there's lots of Cubans in New Jersey)

[Judi Lynn]

12. Here's a look at how things stood after the U.N. vote in 1995

(snip) On Nov. 2, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly voted 117 to three with 38 abstentions in favor of a resolution to condemn the US embargo against Cuba. Voting against were the US, Israel and Uzbekistan (one of the former Soviet republics). In last year's vote on an almost identical resolution, only the US and Israel voted against, while 101 voted for and 48 abstained. In 1993 the count was 88 to 4 with 57 abstentions, and in 1992 it was 59 to 3 with 71 abstentions. Of Latin American nations, this year only Guatemala and El Salvador abstained, while all the rest voted for the Cuban-sponsored resolution. Even Argentina, which had abstained in the previous three years, voted in favor this year. Several weeks ago, Cuba promised to pay its $10 million debt to Argentina.

Cuban-American Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) blamed the administration of US president Bill Clinton for having done "nothing serious to avoid the condemnation of his own policy in the United Nations General Assembly." As an example, Diaz-Balart cited the vote of Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in favor of the resolution, "in moments when Aristide continues to be almost literally under the custody of the US army in his presidential palace." Diaz-Balart also criticized the fact that US ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright "didn't even make a speech in favor of the embargo" at the Assembly session.
(snip/)

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/143.html

The number of nations abstaining is rapidly decreasing as they begin to drop their defensive noncommittal status and vote against the embargo.

You note the U.S. was able to snag UZBEKISTAN to vote for the embargo as well as Israel. Sounds like the Coalition of the willing, doesn't it?

[Osolomia]

18. Here's a look at how the world sees it in 2003

for those who might have missed this:

Resisting a blockade
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=18611&mesg_id=18611

There's no excuse for ignorance about what's happening here and why.

[tlb]

20. Castro's not long for the world, the embargo will be gone soon enough then

Both parties have been fairly consistent on this point for two generations.

[Say_What]

22. Waiting for Castro's death --(Gusanos favorite pastime)

Always a pleasure to read Max Castro (no relation to be Cuban leader). This was published Tuesday, July 3, 2001 in the Miami Herald.

<clips>

Forgive me for taking up the subject this late, but I was in New York City at a conference when word came of Fidel Castro's latest departure. I missed the latest outbreak of frenzied anticipation and speculation that takes place each time Fidel dies, comes close to dying or is diagnosed with a fatal illness -- events that happen every two or three years in Miami. This time it looked so real and the local media coverage was so intense it took a week to catch up.

In case you don't believe me about Castro's repeated near-death experiences, you can look it up:

In the spring of 1994, Fidel's death was so imminent that the Cuban American National Foundation held a press conference to announce its readiness to take part in a transition. Then Castro showed up at a Havana conference attended by hundreds of overseas Cubans.

In 1996, an exile activist made the front pages when he announced that he had credible information that Castro was suffering from terminal lung cancer and had less than two years to live. You can do the math.

On Sunday July 19, 1998, readers of El Nuevo Herald woke up to a banner headline: Castro's doctor speaks. The story was based on the testimony of a Cuban neurosurgeon, Elizabeth Trujillo, who recently had treated Castro for a near-fatal condition. Or so she said.

http://64.21.33.164/CNews/y01/jul01/03e9.htm

[Judi Lynn]

23. Yep, I've heard this one tons of times from Miami gusanos

I prefer this economic quote from the article, from Max Castro, writer for the Miami Herald, who also is Cuban:

'Waiting for Fidel' to die is a poor and uncertain substitute for a Cuba policy.

[Judi Lynn]

27. While we're waiting

Posted 10/31/2003 5:15:04 PM

Georgia Companies to Attend Food Show in Cuba

A delegation of Georgia food companies is attending the 21st Havana International Trade Fair this week in Havana to feature a wide array of agricultural products.

J. Gregory Higgins, director of marketing and international trade at the Georgia Department of Agriculture, told GlobalFax that the fair is the largest trade fair held annually in Cuba and one of the largest in the Caribbean. He also said it is expected to attract some 1,700 exhibitors from 60 countries and more than 120,000 visitors.

The event is not just an agricultural fair but also features consumer goods, machinery, equipment, technology, raw materials and services. (snip/...)

http://www.dynamicpublisher.com/dynamicpublishernews/newsarticleID=00001287.htm

Looks as if they slipped by the _Bush total blockade this time, doesn't it?

[Say_What]

24. Both parties consistent in pandering for votes--happened ever since JFK

Both parties have always pandered to el exilie. It's been known for years--Gore did it during 2000 and every other candidate pandered to them as well--except for Kucinich who had enough courage to call it for what it is. He made history in Miami when he said that last week. The first presidential candidate EVER to call the embargo a failed piece of sh*t that ought to be lifted and he got a standing ovation.

<clips>

No to the ‘blockade,’ says Kucinich in Miami

...A lesson, I believe, other Democratic Party candidates should learn. For too long politicians running for national or statewide office pass through this area and take the traditional Cuba hard line. And my advice to them has been, “Sure it works for Bush and others like him within the Republican ranks.” But I continue by reminding the candidate that if it’s the Bush-backed republicans they’re trying to overtake, to not kid themselves into believing that if you parrot the hard line, the Cuban vote will turn to you.

As the SVREP Miami poll demonstrated earlier this year, there are many Cubans in Miami ready, willing and able to listen to another opinion from politicians. And although this type of response will not guarantee a Kucinich, for example, a majority of Cuban votes in this area, it will garner him a significant percentage of these voters who may not have been participating because their interest in Cuba is not being addressed.

“No to the blockade,” said Kucinich in Miami

In other words, the Kucinich visit to Miami last week, and his statement on Cuba, will definitely be a strong plus for the candidate come the March, 2004 primary here in Florida.

http://www.rprogreso.com/

[Vogon_Glory]

26. Castro's Not Long For This World, But...

I may agree that Fidel may kick off in a few years, but I rather doubt that the embargo will go by then--unless the US has a major electoral regime change of its own first.

I suspect, however, when Fidel passes on, the next Cuban leader will be able to achieve at least as much of the effect if not more of what Fidel hoped for by dropping the travel ban by liberalizing the Cuban economy and allowing small to medium sized businesses to operate independent of state and party control. It is Fidel's obsession with Marxist-style socialism that helps keep the Cuban economy in such sorry straights.

A Cuba with close ties to the European Community and with a growing economy ought to give the Cuban exiles in Florida and New Jersey conniption fits.

[Judi Lynn]

21. Human Rights Watch condemnation of the embargo from last year

Time to End the U.S. Embargo on Cuba



(Washington, May 17, 2002) President George Bush should terminate the economic embargo on Cuba, Human Rights Watch said today. Describing the embargo as a failed policy, Human Rights Watch said that it imposes indiscriminate hardship on the Cuban people and impedes democratic change.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If the goal is to improve human rights conditions in Cuba, then the embargo should be ended.
Washington needs a smarter approach."
José Miguel Vivanco
Executive Director
Americas Division
Human Rights Watch

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Monday, President Bush will reportedly give a speech reaffirming his administration's support of the embargo. In its current form, the embargo bars nearly all U.S. trade with Cuba, and prohibits U.S. citizens from visiting the island unless they can show that they fall into certain narrow categories.
"If the goal is to improve human rights conditions in Cuba, then the embargo should be ended," said José Miguel Vivanco, Executive Director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. "The embargo has proved itself ineffective and even counterproductive to the human rights cause."

Human Rights Watch recommended that after ending the embargo the U.S. government should adopt a more calibrated policy, one that would respond to incremental changes in the Cuban government's human rights practices. "The embargo is a sledgehammer," said Vivanco. "Washington needs a smarter approach."

Human Rights Watch pointed out several serious flaws in the more than forty-year-old policy. First, it is an all-or-nothing approach aimed at overthrowing the Castro government, which does not allow for any relaxation in response to measurable improvement in Cuban human rights practices. It therefore does nothing to encourage such improvements, instead providing the Cuban authorities with a convenient justification for their repressive policies. (snip/...)

http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/05/cuba0517.htm

[Judi Lynn]

25. Castro asks Latin American movement leaders not to be dogmatic

Castro asks Latin American movement leaders not to be dogmatic
Friday October 31, 2003
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press Writer

HAVANA (AP) Cuban leader Fidel Castro called on leaders of social movements from across the Americas to find their own methods for change rather than copying existing political models including communist Cuba's.

Castro told leaders of groups representing Indians, workers and others late Thursday night that they should ``seek their own way'' as they press for change in their countries around the Western Hemisphere.

Castro was expected to speak again Friday evening at the closing of the General Assembly of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences, which represents important academic researchers from around the region.

The leaders of social movements were invited to speak to the assembly on Thursday.
(snip/...)

http://cbsnewyork.com/international/Cuba-LatinAmerica-ai/resources_news_html

[Judi Lynn]

28. Missouri Southern to present Cuban play

Story last updated at 1:21 a.m. Saturday, November 1, 2003

Missouri Southern to present Cuban play

JOPLIN, Mo. - Southern Theatre will present Deviations by Julio Matas at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 12-15 in the Bud Walton Theatre at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo.

Dr. Alex Pinkston directs the special production for the Cuba Semester which places an emphasis on the history and culture of that island nation.

Matas has been heralded as the finest Cuban playwright of the 20th century. Matas' writing and directing talent has been a staple of the Havana theatre scene and the Cuban film industry.

A founding member of the Cuban National Theatre, which emerged in 1960 following the Revolution, Matas has produced plays and short stories, as well as critical writings on literature, film, television and theatre.

Many of his plays present a tragedy arising form the conflict between destiny and human will.

In Deviations such a tragedy occurs during that critical moment in Cuban history when centuries of family tradition were being jeopardized by American intrusion. (snip/...)

http://www.morningsun.net/stories/110103/loc_20031101038.shtml



Less than 50 miles away, in Kansas, an American Cuba traveller shares his experiences in radio programs in Pittsburg:

A glimpse at Cuba

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)

(snip) Before leaving for Cuba, the professor studied Spanish, learning enough to be able to converse solely in that language. "I'd just go up and make friends," he said. (snip/...)

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

[Osolomia]

29. Browsing Cigar Aficionado mags for references to Arnold’s illegal habit

I came upon this timely article by Wayne S. Smith, who DUers ought to know by now:

The Future of Cuba
A Leading Cuba Expert Renews His Optimism at Widespread Change
by Wayne S. Smith

I returned to the United States from Cuba in late September, and, for the first time in more than two years, I felt a sense of optimism. In Cuba, shortages had still been apparent at every turn; people continued to wait in long lines for almost everything, including buses that never seemed to come; even medicine was hard to come by. But while life remained grim, I sensed the anticipation that things will soon change for the better.

… No wonder people felt a sharp sense of relief with the electricity on again most of the day. If nothing else, they could at least sleep at night. Most Cubans with whom I spoke seem to believe it was more than a temporary respite. They knew that Total, the French petroleum company, was to begin drilling its first well off the north coast of Cuba in the fall and that there is a very high chance of a major oil find. It may result in the same kind of heavy, high-sulfur oil produced ashore, but even that will make a major difference. It can be burned in electric power plants and thus mark the possible end of blackouts.

But far more important than oil in stimulating optimism were the economic reforms announced by the Cuban government. Castro had already legalized the dollar... But then he opened up the service sector and agriculture to private enterprise on an individual basis. Those who wish to open tailor shops, television repair shops, garages and bakeries can do so. State farms will be converted into private cooperatives run on the basis of profitability. Individual citizens will be leased land that they can cultivate on their own. The law does not say they can sell directly to consumers, but few doubt that they will do so.

… It is this belief--that the process is irreversible--that has, more than anything else, excited the growing sense of optimism. Observers in the United States narrowly focus on the limitations of the current reforms: that individuals can open private enterprises, but they can only employ members of their own families; that individuals can cultivate private plots, but are not authorized to sell to consumers. Yet the great majority of Cubans see these "limitations" as fiction. They note that private enterprises were operating even before the most recent changes were proposed and in most of these, one or more individuals were already working for another. That practice will continue and grow, they say. Further, whatever the law says, those who cultivate plots will, without question, sell directly to consumers, as will the new cooperatives. The government may delude itself and say there will be no "farmers' markets," but in fact these markets already exist.

More…
http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Archives/CA_Show_Article/0,2322,807,00.html

Notice that this article was published in Winter 1993!!!

Ten years of international condemnation later and look at the USA’s stand on the embargo against Cuba to this day, quite the example for the rest of the world to follow eh! Any wonder why they don’t?

[Judi Lynn]

30. I'm flabbergasted. That was over 10 years ago.

I was noting, while reading the article, that so many of the things within it already contradict what the Cuban "exiles" and American right-wing propagandists tell us continually as the gospel truth!

[Osolomia]

31. Flash forward to today: "An interesting anecdote"

A friend in S. Florida has been registering voters for a progressive organization. He has run into many Cubans, and a lot of the young ones are registering as Democrats. The ones he registered from Hileah were all Democratic.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=628448#629592

Go figure!

[Judi Lynn]

32. Interesting observation from an occassional contributor to DU Cuba threads

You have to hand it to him for admitting this interesting factoid!

I used to think he was probably either an "exile" or second generation Cuban-American, himself, due to his distinctive "take" on US-Cuba relations.