Conventional collectivist created authority is a deception in consciousness. You are your own Authority!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Why Can’t I Go to Cuba?

I’ve always wanted to visit Cuba. It is a beautiful Caribbean island, I’m told, with many cultural attractions, nice people, great food, and lively music. But I’m an American and my government tells me that I am not at liberty to go there. If I do, I’d be committing a crime.  
Why?
I can go to Russia, communist China, and even Iran, the latest American designated bogey man nation, but I can’t go to Cuba, a nation that has never posed any threat whatsoever to me, or to the United States of America. I can visit just about any other nation in the world if they would have me, and I’m sure that Cuba would, but my Uncle Sam in the land of the free and home of the brave says “No!” You can’t go.
It wasn’t always that way. Back in the 1950’s and before, Cuba was the place to go for Americans looking for a good time. It was a safe, fashionable and cheap vacation spot, despite the fact that the Island was all mobbed up with probably one of the most corrupt governments on Earth.
Generalissimo Batista and his gang of right-wing fascist thugs had been in the business of looting and oppressing the Cuban people for years. The United States Navy used to dock vessels there on a regular basis to provide R and R for our sailors. They loved the place. Uncle Sam loved it too. My government wasn’t objecting to Cuba then as a vacation destination for me.
But then Batista went a bit too far, his people revolted for good reason, and their leader, Fidel Castro, a communist dictator, came to power. Now the Cubans are oppressed from the left instead of the right. He put an end to the corruption. He booted out the mob. In the process, he pissed off old Uncle Sam. And things haven’t been quite the same between our two nations since 1959.
The Russians tried to plant a few nuclear missiles there in 1962 when they thought they could get away with it. So Uncle Sam slapped an embargo on the Cuban people, a sanction which continues to this day despite the fact that the Russians backed down quickly and removed the threat.
Fidel Castro has never overtly threatened the American people even after our thugs tried to assassinate him several times. Most of the Cuban fat cats fled to the United States following the communist take-over. They’re the ones who want to punish Castro and the people they left behind.
So no American can do business with Cuba since then. We can’t sell to them. We can’t buy from them. We can’t even visit their beautiful island; much less enjoy their quality cigars. Cuba is our designated enemy simply because their government is communist and a bunch of Cuban American exiles are bitter about it.
China is communist too, and presents a far greater threat to us than Cuba, but they aren’t considered our enemy. Now I don’t like communism; in fact I hate it. I don’t like statism of any kind, including the brand practiced by my own government, but that doesn’t prevent me from doing business with statists as a practical matter and for my own good. I don’t boycott and embargo statists just because they are statists.
But a relatively small number of Cuban-American exiles, still bitter over the hated Fidel Castro for more than 50 years now have prevailed upon my government to prevent me from visiting Cuba.    
The Republican candidates for president are pandering to these folks to get their votes. Mitt Romney is no exception. He strongly criticized President Obama in a speech before a Cuban group in Miami for easing up slightly in relations between the United States and Cuba, and took a cheap shot at Castro in the process.
"If I'm fortunate to become the next president of the United States, it is my expectation that Fidel Castro will finally be taken off this planet," Romney told the US-Cuba Democracy PAC. "I doubt he'll take any time in the sky. He'll find a nether region to be more to his comfort."

What the hell did he mean by that? Will the United States of America be trying to assassinate a feeble old man again just because he’s a communist? That’s patently insane. Fidel Castro is clearly no threat to us now, if he ever was. He’s not even in power now. When he was in power he wanted to normalize relations with us.
Raul Castro, Fidel’s brother, the man in power now, wants to normalize relations. He actually wants me to visit his country. He wants to buy American products. He wants to sell to us. He wants to be friends. Left alone, Cuban communism will crumble from its own weight, just as it did in Russia, and just as it is doing in China.
But no – a few bitter Cuban exiles want to put a stop to it for spite. And his audience cheered when Romney faulted Obama for easing ever so slightly some restrictions on traveling and sending remittances to Cuba by Cuban-Americans.
"This president does not understand that by helping Castro, he is not helping the people of Cuba. He is hurting them. He is not putting forward a policy of freedom, he is accommodating and encouraging a policy of oppression," said Romney. "If I'm president of the United States, we will return to Helms-Burton and the law, [strict embargo sanctions] and we will not give Castro any gifts."
I guess I don’t understand either. I think it’s all a lot of nonsense. A half century of embargo has done absolutely nothing for Americans but has terribly and unfairly impoverished the Cuban people.
Why can’t I go to Cuba?

Why Can’t I Go to Cuba? – Part 2

8 comments:

  1. I love your stuff, but want to make a subtle yet important point. It wasn't Russia who wanted to put nukes there, but the Soviet Union. Just as you wouldn't confuse Castro's government with the previous regime, you shouldn't make the same mistake with Russia/USSR.

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  2. Thanks for the nice compliment. I get your point, but Cuba before Castro was still Cuba, and Moscow before the USSR was still in Russia. I've always thought of the two as the same. After all, it was Russia's quest for empire that resulted in the USSR. Yes, and America before the United States was still America. You could call us Americans.

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  3. Land of the free...free of what? Im canadian and my fiancé is from the us and i was planing a trip to cuba with her,inexpensive trip, beautiful sandy beaches,suberb scuba diving and loving people. Only to find out that she is not allowed to go,,,really, like a little kid, not allowed. Im so dissapointed in this kind of thinking.
    I get your frustration.

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  4. As long as you take a flight from Canada or the Bahamas you are safe. Cuba won't stamp your passport if you're an American.

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  5. Great post, you make a lot of good points. I would like to add, however, that the main reason for the embargo is not that Cuba posea any threat to the US. It's mainly becauae when Castro came to power he booted out all the big American corporations who were exploiting Cuba and he nationalized those businesses. These corporations have the US government in their pockets, hence the embargo.

    So, we can't go to Cuba because Cuba stood up to these corporations. It has nothing to do with you or me, but we are used as pawns against Cuba.

    The lesson being, you don't say no to US corporations when they invade your country.

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  6. This is America, a free country right? wrong! How dare the government ban us from our right! It should be our choice to make, rather or not we want to go to Cuba. Cuba is welcoming Americans to visit their beautiful country and enjoy it. they want to make peace. I thought that's what we were all about, making peace but I guess not. We can visit other country's that oppose more of a threat to us. It doesn't make any since. seeing as though my grandmother once lived there a lot of my family is from there, and who wants to visit a place if they cant enjoy it as well as learn about their culture. America is a free country I thought we can get over anything, this happened many years ago the issues the governments have between them. Get over it there's different people in different positions now and shouldn't matter anymore! All of the things we can overcome and are still dealing with today but in the process of trying to make peace with them why cant we do the same with this?! I should be able to visit my roots! maybe by the time we get a woman president she will actually make world peace. For now I guess Spain it is to learn about the other side of my family, I'll sit a wait patiently

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  7. Sounds like the doors or opening up for cheap vacations to Cuba. I always try to look for the good in the world. I'd love to visit Cuba.

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  8. thanks now i know

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