Cuban question
MIAMI: I've just arrived in Little Havana, Miami, to find out what Cuban exiles make of this morning's news that Fidel Castro is stepping down.
The honest answer is that while there are a few grizzled veterans of the struggle who are more excited than they have been at any stage of the last 50 years, the crowd is pretty thin, and so younger Cubans have gone to work as normal. This is that there would have been 20 years ago at the news that Fidel was gone from power.
Having said that, the people I've talked to are really confident that there is going to be real in Cuba soon - and I guess the question for America's next president is whether that change would come more quickly , or without it.
Hello, I'm 
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Members of Congress as far apart politically as Rep. Jeff Flake, Republican-Arizona, and Rep. Charles Rangel, Democrat-New York, have called for ending the embargo. (They did so at a Cato Institute briefing last year.)
Ending the embargo would be the best move the United States could make to promote free exchange of goods and ideas and move Cuba in the direction of freedom. So far, it seems to have worked moderately well with China, why not Cuba?
One of Bush's hawks already said he expects no change regarding the stupid embargo. No surprise there... Although little distinguishes Dems from the GOP on the embargo, a Democratic president is more likely to lift it now that Castro has stepped aside. (It doesn't hurt to hope.) Cuba's beaches beckon, as does Havana's real estate.
Can anyone explain while there is still an embargo on Cuba? America trades with other communist countries. I believe that this just a relic of an outdated foreign policy.
I've always believed that democratic change should come within a country without trade embargoes and sanctions. Hopefully the foreign policy of the future American President will change this.
45 years of sanctions to a small island did not deter their ideals, simply made the country more self-reliant. The resilient people of Cuba will prevail with or without an American embargo. It simply goes to show that such measures are stubborn and are intended to interfere with their sovereignty.
Castro's regime did achieve impressive things in Cuba with regards to literacy and medical care, and tainted them all with oppression and dictatorship. One can but hope that Cuba can add Democracy to its achievments in the near future.
As Justin is so well aware, Cuba is a complex and beautiful country. The relationship between Cuba and the USA is equally complex and goes back to well before Castro. Let us all hope that the grudges that both sides have held can be set aside with a change in leadership on both sides. The people of Cuba deserve no less.
Gurpal,
Because the current administration in America operates on a system known as "double standards." This is whereby they have rules for one state and different rules for another state.
Anyway, old Fidel's off is he? This is a very historic moment. Apart from Liz Mk.2, are there any other world leaders who have been in power since 1959?
Well done me old mucker.
I don`t normally watch the 10 `o clock News on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳1 as it is both bland and unquestioning. I caught it this evening however and was struck by your report from Miami. Your sympathy with the rich, white Cuban exiles and their so-called 40+ years of suffering was plain. OK, so be it. But I thought the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ had to report in an unbiased way ? I am surprised you don`t try to hide your bias a little more. Perhaps I`m imagining it. But I know I prefer the more in-depth and questioning approach of Channel 4 News where there was a healthy spat between Krishnan Guru Murty and George Galloway about bias on the same subject. I`m sorry if this seems rather rude but your report went out to millions and it was irresponsibly skewed towards those troublesome exiles,wasn`t it? PS are you heartbroken that Mitt Romney is out of the presidential race? I know you were an admirer!
Cheers.
Dave
whoops! A quick surf has revealed that there are people out there who think you are too liberal and too"left"! Oh boy. You can`t win eh? I`m sorry about certain comments but I stick with my opinion of the 10 `o clock News. John Craven`s Newsround used to be harder hitting!
Dave
It impresses me how many so-called humanitarians and thinking people are agressive advocates of Fidel Castro. None can deny he was brutal, dictatorial, and militaristic. His economic policies were a disaster. Thousands died getting aways from him. Etc.
Most that scream about hypocrisy with such shrillness, proudly support this man. Free health care and education negates no rights, imprisonment of opponents, political repression, sponsorship of wars in Africa and Central America and Africa, and so much more? For some it obviously does.
I hope the embargo goes. I hope the stupid excuse,"he stood up to the US," goes with him and the embargo.
However, I hope Fidel's supporters across the world remember he sent his boys all over the world to wage war against people that posed no threat to Cuba. I hope they remember he systematically repressed Cuban freedom. I hope they remember what he really was. I doubt it.
@Justin's question: Besides Elizabeth II, there's one other person who's been in office longer than Castro: The Thai king has been in office since 1946.
Some learning opportunities for us?
Cuba - Life after Oil:
and
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil:
"When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba experienced a major economic depression. With imports of oil cut by more than one-half and food imports by 80 percent, people were desperate for food. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people. Cubans share how they transitioned from highly mechanized agriculture to using organic farming and urban gardens, and from an industrial country to a sustainable one. The film opens with a short explanation of Peak Oil, the imminent crisis caused by the all-time peak in world oil production. That Cuba faced and overcame just such a crisis shows the possibilities for the rest of the world."
Salaam/Shalom/Shanthi/Dorood/Peace
Namaste -ed
perhaps take a break from all the political fuming and what's-next-guesswork over Cuba and listen to George Gershwin's "Cuban Overture"
So communism failed to destroy the planet and capitalism is still on course, fueling the global warming, and getting us all there faster.
(3 nanoseconds to midnight)
Without a planet all this holier than thou breast beating doctrine yelling "my oppression is better than yours!" will be MEANINGLESS.
Fidel Castro is retiring from dictatorship. Maybe Bush and the oil aero and arms industry can do the same.
"...rich, white Cuban exiles and their so-called 40+ years of suffering...troublesome exiles"
By "troublesome exiles" do you mean all the people who left their homes and risked their lives to escape from a dictatorship? After living in South Florida for many years I can tell you quite a few of them are neither rich nor white. But they do have first hand knowledge of Fidel's mistreatment of his own people.
!Nos quiermous el cambio!
Carl writes that Castro's Cuba sponsored wars in Africa and Central America . . . what wars? The U.S. directed "contra" war against the democratically elected Sandinista government of the 1980s? Whatever aid Cuba contributed to Nicaragua during that period was put to good use to defend the country from terrorist attacks. El Salvador, where a U.S.-back, right-wing regime was systematically killing its own people during the same time period and the FMLN fighting to overthrow that dictatorship? Angola, where Cuban troops - at the invitation of the internationally recognized government of Angola - were fighting the right-wing terror group (UNITA)and in the process guarding American oil facilities?
Three words: Cuban American lobby. No politician will stand up to them for fear of losing the Florida vote. Politicians will sell their souls for just about any vote. God forbid they ever do something just because they feel it is their moral obligation.