CUBAN HEEL.

I was reading this BBC report detailing the EU lifting all sanctions against Cuba. Naturally the EUSSR wants to establish better relationships with this Raul Castro run communist hell-hole and as the BBC points out – via its’ sources in the Cuban dictatorship – the main point here is to show that Europe can have a foreign policy that runs against that of the USA. (Cue applause in Broadcasting House) I note that the BBC balances the outrage expressed by many Cuban dissidents at this disgraceful EU move with the view of a BBC correspondent, Michael Voss – who believes that Cuba will see this as a vindication of their hardball diplomacy. Can we now take it that the BBC speaks on behalf the Castro regime…just so we know where we stand?

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47 Responses to CUBAN HEEL.

  1. Cockney says:

    If there’s any bias in this report its against the decision to lift sanctions. There’s quotes from various dissidents very high up in the mix, there’s mildly sardonic dismissal of the ‘cocktail war’ sanctions as ‘symbolic’ and ineffectual (in contrast to the proper American ones), there’s the inference that this some sort of victory for the Cuban regime and a strategic defeat for the EU, there’s an allusion to dissent in the EU ranks…

    If they wanted some ‘balance’ they could’ve found some proponents of the fairly widely held view that sanctions haven’t achieved regime change in the last 50 years whilst helping to make ordinary Cubans miserable and denying a market to UK companies, so it might be time to try something else. Or they could just’ve taken the lazy option and elicited some bullsh*t from George Galloway.

    I don’t see how on earth you can interpret that as any sort of pro-EU or pro-Castro reporting.

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  2. Jack Bauer says:

    or pro-Castro reporting.

    How about the surreal upcoming BBC Radio eulogies to the malignant narcissist, torturer and murderer Che Guevera.. think that’s pro-Castro?

    The BBC (as an organization that is a wholly owned subsidiary of the leftist) rarely met a commie dictator it didn’t find time for.

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  3. Jeff Todd says:

    BBC’s attitude is disgraceful:

    Pinochet – kills of political opponents to stay in power = right wing monster.

    castro – kills of political opponents to stay in power = Left wing hero.

    Use the enviroment as an excuse and shut the BBC down.

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  4. Mailman says:

    Cuba’s only crime these days is that it has a commie government.

    These guys havent exported revolution for neigh on 50 years…YET they are still treated as outcasts by the international community.

    The simple fact is, if America had lifted its embargo when the Berlin wall fell there would be a KFC, Starbucks, McDonalds and Pizza Hut on every street corner and all the kids would be fat little f8ckers hooked on junk food.

    As it is, all the embargo has achieved is to keep Fidel in power.

    Secondly, part of the problem are these so called “political dissidents”. They have got their fingers buried so deep in the american political pie that they have just as much to lose as Fidel if relations between Cuba and the west are “normalised”.

    Mailman

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  5. Mailman says:

    BTW, when I say Fidel, I mean the Government of Cuba…not the person named Fidel…just in case there are some here who lack the mental capacity to understand what Im typing.

    Mailman

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  6. Jack Bauer says:

    The simple fact is (sic), if America had lifted its embargo when the Berlin wall fell there would be a KFC, Starbucks, McDonalds and Pizza Hut on every street corner and all the kids would be fat little f8ckers hooked on junk food.

    Blah blah blah. And you know this how? The What-If machine in your basement.

    Sure.. and that’s EXACTLY what they should have done with South Africa. Geez.

    As it is, all the embargo has achieved is to keep Fidel in powe

    NO. A ruthless communist dictatorship, imprisonment of political dissidents, suppression of political rights.

    You know, totalitarian stuff like that That’s what has kept the Castros and their claques in power.

    You know… like China? They’ve got McDonalds. And they are sooooo Democratic.

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  7. Hugh says:

    “Cuba’s only crime these days is that it has a commie government.”

    Amnesty International begs to differ

    http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17660

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  8. Mailman says:

    Jack,

    So Cuba is now on a par with China?

    hahahaha…ok, if thats what you want to believe then so be it.

    Hugh,

    Yes, we all know what a bastion on moral principle shamnesty international is.

    The simple fact is, Cuba is not the threat to world peace people want to make it out to be.

    Those “political dissidents” who continually stir up trouble in America have as much vested interest in Cuba and taking power as those who want to retain power.

    Had Uncle Sam removed its embargo when it had the chance then american cash would have flooded in to the country, and along with it all the benefits that come with that cash (fat kids, democratic elections, faceless multi-national conglomorates and so on).

    Now, for people like Jack to sit there pontificating about the evilness of Cuba and its supposed resemblence to China is an absurd joke.

    Mailman

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  9. Jack Bauer says:

    Mailman:
    Jack,

    So Cuba is now on a par with China?

    hahahaha…ok, if thats what you want to believe then so be it

    Pathetic. Glib. Shallow.

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  10. Mailman says:

    Yes, thats exactly what I thought of your earlier comment.

    Now, back to being an adult for a second.

    The American embargo has helped to keep Fidel in power because without it, with unrestricted market access he would have been swept aside years ago.

    What Fidel and co have been able to do though is to use the embargo as their bogey man. Just as Arab nations use Jews to channel hatred that would otherwise be directed at them, Fidel and co have used the embargo to bolster their rule.

    If this bogeyman wasnt there, Cuba would probably have suffered its own anti-revolution revolution. But because the poeple have something for their frustrations to be channel towards (ie. its not my fault you cant feed your kids, its all the vile evil imperialist yankee dawgs fault, go hate him!).

    Mailman

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  11. AJukDD says:

    Perhaps the EUSSR wants to get some useful information on how to keep its population in line and who better than Cuba…

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  12. Mailman says:

    China, North Korea, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia to name but a few…Im sure these havens of the democratic process would all be better choices for getting advice on how to control its people…unless of course you have swallowed all the “Cubans are the anti-christ” twaddle doing the rounds?

    Mailman

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  13. AJukDD says:

    So are you saying that all Chinese, North Koreans, Pakistanis, Iranians, Saudia Arabians are anti-Christs?

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  14. Peregrine says:

    Mailman
    Cuba “intervened” in Angola for nearly 20 years until the early ’90s. That hardly bears out yor statement that they haven’t carried out any revolutionization activities in the last 50 years.

    I also think that you do not quite realise the effect that the Cuban missile crisis had on the generation alive at the time. My mother still considers it the time that she was most scared in her life.

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  15. AJukDD says:

    Perhaps Mailman has forgotten those Cubans in Grenda too. You cannot take anyone seriously who ignores historical fact in making his annoucements and labels whole peoples as anti-Christs.

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  16. Mailman says:

    Peregrin,

    You say it yourself, until the early 90’s (yet fail to provide a link to back yourself up with).

    Funnily enough, we arent in the ‘early 90’s’ any more are we?

    ————-
    AJukDD:
    So are you saying that all Chinese, North Koreans, Pakistanis, Iranians, Saudia Arabians are anti-Christs?
    ————-

    AJukDD, are you saying all anti-christs are Chinese, North Koreans, Pakistanis, Iranians and Saudia Arabians?

    Mailman

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  17. Peregrine says:

    A link to back myself up with?? Anyone discussing Cuba should have some idea of the history of the place before they start putting forward opinions.

    You should like this one, very positive towards Cuba:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba_in_Angola .

    I don’t get your point about not being in the ‘90s now. Effective EU sanctions against Cuba ceased in the ‘90s and those being dropped now are the pretend ones (top bods not being allowed on shopping trips but still able to go on junkets etc).

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  18. AJukDD says:

    Mailman, well that is what you seemed to say. Have you got some sort of hang up on anti-Christs or something, read too many end of time stories at bed time with the hot milk?

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  19. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Mailman | 20.06.08 – 11:21 am |

    Had Uncle Sam removed its embargo when it had the chance then american cash would have flooded in to the country, and along with it all the benefits that come with that cash (fat kids, democratic elections, faceless multi-national conglomorates and so on).

    Oh, sure. Like that wouldn’t have just made Castro more wealthy and entrenched in power. It’s a dictatorship, and pouring trade dollars into dictatorships doesn’t change that. It just makes rich dictators (see North Korea, Zimbabwe, Uganda, etc.).

    Never mind the fact that lifting the embargo, along with all the money the Soviet Union was pouring in back then, would just have made for a stronger Communist footing nearby. The US embargo may not have done much to get rid of Castro, but it sure as hell did a lot to stop the spread of Communism in the region. That was the real point of the whole thing.

    And it worked.

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  20. Mailman says:

    Except there is a slight difference between North Korea, Zimbabwe, Uganda is there.

    None of these countries are on America’s door step, which would have guaranteed american influence had the embargo been lifted.

    Then again, I guess after years of being told Cuba is the bogeyman, why not continue to believe that aye 🙂

    Peregrine, christ 1991, whats that, something like 17 years ago.

    Lucky its not something that just happened yesterday aye. That was a close one!

    Mailman

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  21. Peregrine says:

    Mailman
    There are people I know to whom ’45 in Burma was yesterday. The BBC and its 50+ year olds are currently celebrating ’68. There are still old leftists out there dreaming that ’79 didn’t really happen.

    17 years isn’t even one generation (I am not sure whether they are measured in 25 years rather than 20 nowadays), just because time passes doesn’t mean that memories and experiences on which we base our views fade.

    The wonder of youth may be its lack of fear but its ultimate disappointment is to replecate the errors of its forebears.

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  22. gus says:

    Mailman is a moron.
    Cuba is a hell hole. Mailman you pathetic imbecile, did you notice that Cuba imprisons and executes those who feel they have a right to speak.
    It’s the Hotel California, you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.
    Let me ask you something you commie dimwit Maildude. What if?? What if Maggie Thatcher or John Major had made themselves EL PRESIDENTE for LIFE, and locked up your sorry ass???

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  23. BaggieJonathan says:

    Cuba is very egalitarian.
    All get the same wage.
    Seriously, they really do.
    However hard you work.
    Whatever work you do.

    Of course efficiency is abysmal and everyone gets 20 pounds a week, there are limits on freedom of speech, no democracy, no freedom of travel, everyday shortages of many things, limits on religious freedom and consumables we have come to expect as normal are simply non existent.

    But what the hey, ain’t it grand.
    The wonders of communism in action.

    Of course those praising it up don’t actually have to live there.

    No wonder so many leave Cuba or want to try to leave given even half a chance.

    The Cubans even try to get into their neighbour Jamaica, when most Jamaicans want to get out – don’t believe me, ask one, there are plenty in the UK these days to ask.

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  24. AJukDD says:

    Mailman you are extremely naive, David Presier pointed out the reasons above.

    This is a typical BBC report in that it leaves out key facts, the embargo was applied because 70 dissidents were jailed, now the BBC has not detailed whether they all have been let out (does anyone know, my undestanding was that some are still in jail), but there is perhaps a clue there, releasing prisoners, perhaps the EUSSR is rewarding Cuba for thinking about letting them out of jail. This is typical EU, they have no real principles, so can not even stick to a principled stand they made a couple of years back.

    I suppose this is to check whether Raul is more open then his brother, a vain hope from what I can see.

    While democracy is failing in Latin America and new despots are developing, it is not wise to give a leg up to a failing despotic regime.

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  25. BaggieJonathan says:

    So sorry, my mistake – the average wage is 10 pounds a month not 20 pounds a week.

    Even more of a communist paradise.

    Though capitalism is stalking the communist paradise, apparently some my soon be earning as much as 13 pounds a month, smashing the heavenly cuban system with counter revolutionary capitalist nonsense.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7449776.stm

    NOT!

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  26. gus says:

    Peregrine and David Preiser, please notice that several posters have shown Maildude the folly of his ways.
    Angola, Grenada, Human rights atrocities for decades, El Presidente for life.
    And MAILDUDE is simply too stupid to see the truth.
    He doesn’t want to see the truth. He’s a commie.

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  27. field.size says:

    There could be an easy peasy test of how the people like the current set up, let them vote on it….silly me, just another one of those things all communist regimes regard as unnecessary, after all they know best you know.

    It also fits in why the EU might be sympathetic to a place like Cuba….look at their reaction when the Irish didn’t vote the way they were supposed to…..the silly billy’s will have do it all over again….until they get it right. That’s how it starts off, Cuba is how it ends up, I would like the BBC moved there lock stock and barrel. As they like the place so much it would be a win win situation.

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  28. gus says:

    BaggieJonathon, has anyone ever asked why Cubans could not create their own Capitalism? Why is foreign investment necessary. Did Ray Kroc need Cuban investment to start McDonalds. Did Richard Branson need Cuban investment.
    Castro has his pals. Russia, (the former USSR), China, N.Korea, VietNam, Venezuela etc etc etc.
    Why havent’ these COMMIE PARADISES started fast food chains in Cuba?
    Why haven’t they started Auto-plants, casino’s, golf courses, Restaurant chains, and Marxistland amusement parks.
    You see dummies like MAILDUDE are simply too stupid to add 1 plus 1 and come up with 2.

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  29. Mailman says:

    Whats with the ad hominem attacks?

    All some of you have to do is actually open your eyes and you will see the part the embargo’s have played in keeping fidel and co in power.

    I incorrectly said Cuba hadnt been in the revolution export business for 50 years. Ok, my bad…however, they have been pretty clean for nearly the last 20 years…and all the time the Cuban regime is kept in power by the embargo.

    Now, if you mean just because I have the capacity to think for myself and not be a slave to group think…then perhaps you are right Gus, perhaps I am a moron, a commie dimwit, a pathetic imbecile! 🙂

    Mailman

    ps. I see shamnesty international says no one has actually been put to death in Cuba for a number of years now. How many countries with a death sentence can you come up with the same statistic?

    Oh dear, I guess thats just another dimwitted, imbecilic comment from a commie lacky aye Gus? 😉

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  30. Mailman says:

    “AJukDD:
    This is a typical BBC report in that it leaves out key facts, the embargo was applied because 70 dissidents were jailed”

    Bloody hell…imagine what America and the world would have done if Cuba decided to carry out a bit of ethnic cleansing aye?

    Then again, you reckon America would have tried to invade after the Bay of Pigs if Cuba had imprisoned 71 people?

    Phew, once again…another close one there mate!

    Mailman

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  31. Mailman says:

    Peregrine, what do you suggest would be a good frame of time to judge if something has changed?

    17 years? 20 years? 60 years?

    Mailman

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  32. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Mailman,

    Yes, the embargo helped Castro’s image and position, but I don’t believe that he would have stepped down or been overturned if there had been no embargo, or the embargo was lifted decades ago.

    That would only have encouraged him, as well as those who supported him at the time. The idea that Castro would have been magically replaced years ago with a democratic government is just not very believable. Until the 90s, he was getting lots of support from the Soviet Union, not to mention China and North Korea, and who knows who else. It was and still is in the best interests of the enemies of the US to keep Castro entrenched in power, regardless of any embargo.

    Your contention is wrong. The only thing the embargo did for Castro was to make him even more of a darling of the Left than he would otherwise have been.

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  33. AJukDD says:

    Mailman, I was reading that book about Che’s time as Head of a certain jail, that was a sort of ethnic cleansing…

    I really do not understand what point your trying to make, the EU put an embargo on because Cuba jailed 70 odd dissidents and have dropped even when they have not been freed.

    The decent left at Harrys Place recognise Castro for what he is/was, are you so blinded by your conditioning that you cannot see that the people don’t matter to Castro and his ilk, just ideology.

    I that Communism would be a great system if human nature meant that there was not so many freeloaders around, or evil gits like Stalin.

    My grandmother was a communist, and I had many debates with her on this very subject, you really need to think it through, but anyway, why do I bother, its like trying to warn the normal joe about Islam, or the EU, bloody waste of time. I will get worried when they start affecting me they say including my elder brother, yes but by that time it will be too damn late…, people are just so so stupid, didn’t the second world war teach people anything?

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  34. Jason says:

    The embargo has nothing to do with keeping the Castro’s in power. Not a bit of it. Cuba has been able to trade with numerous countries over the years and indeed has. Yet, the country is still visibly frozen in a time warp in which it looks like nobody has bought anything new since the 50’s (the left thinks these old cars and run-down buildings are “cool”). Why? To claim that the economic prosperity of a nation rests solely on trade with America is ludicrous. The reason why Cuba is poor is not because of the embargo but because communism is not capable of producing wealth and prosperity, period.

    We could spend hours here going into the moral, philosophical and economic reasons why communism and all forms of socialism fail. Chief among them is that there is no such thing as the “common good” since humans are individuals with their own separate hopes, dreams, aspirations, desires and expectations – which is why any attempt to force people into devoting their lives to a centralized goal is destined for disaster. What’s good for one man is not good for another, and so on.

    The fact that nowhere in history have communists been democratically elected should set the alarm bells ringing, as should the fact that every attempt at communism has ended in mass slaughter, since the only way to force individuals into a common goal they want no part of is to threaten them with death and make good on that those threats.

    Mailman, you are a shameless apologist for Cuban communism and you should think about what you are saying. So nobody has been executed in Cuba for “some years now”? Everyone who has ever died of poor health care, poverty or in their attempt to escape the hellhole that is Cuba was sentenced to death (by communism) and executed (by communism). The left has been disgusting in its willingness to spread Castro’s propaganda regarding such things as health care, repeating the lie that Cuba’s is some of the best in the world – in reality, ordinary Cubans are limited to rotting, decaying hospitals outside of Havana that have equipment that has not been updated since the 50’s, while tourists with $$$ and left wing journalists are shown around Potemkin hospitals in which everything is new and shiny.

    To blame the US embargo for Cuba’s poverty is to completely ignore the fact that every other communist country has been an impoverished hellhole, too. How many tens of millions did Stalin starve to death?

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  35. Mailman says:

    AJukDD, I think we have our wires crossed. Im talking about the American embargo, not the EU one.

    David, why does Castro have to step down if his people are living in prosperity, something made impossible by the US embargo.

    Remember that Castro was the net result of large faceless companies who WERE raping the local population (labour wise, and maybe carnally too?) and returning virtually nothing back to the local population for their efforts.

    Had those same faceless corporations cared more about the people and less about their massive profits then someone like Fidel would have remained a bit player and we would all be sitting here singing the praises of Batista.

    Jason, Im a shameless apologist simply for pointing out the role America has played in keeping Fidel in power?

    Fecken hell, lucky I didnt come out and say how much I love the colour red aye [insert rolling eyes].

    The point Im trying to make is that the US embargo has ensured Fidel stayed in power long after his stock was up. Just like the aye-rabs, Fidel has been able to channel his countries hatred towards something he can use to keep himself and his lacky’s in power.

    Without that bogeyman, Fidel would have been swept aside years ago, just like the majority of former commie countries have done with their former dictators.

    Mailman

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  36. Rigoberto Vilardell says:

    Oye, Mailman; Callate la condenado boca!

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  37. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Mailman | 21.06.08 – 8:51 am |

    David, why does Castro have to step down if his people are living in prosperity, something made impossible by the US embargo.

    Remember that Castro was the net result of large faceless companies who WERE raping the local population (labour wise, and maybe carnally too?) and returning virtually nothing back to the local population for their efforts.

    Had those same faceless corporations cared more about the people and less about their massive profits then someone like Fidel would have remained a bit player and we would all be sitting here singing the praises of Batista.

    You think Castro would have helped his people live in prosperity? And how many other Communist dictatorships have done that, then? Illogical, not supported by the data.

    In any case, the “restless natives” origin of an anti-Batista movement has nothing whatsoever to do with what Castro did once he was in power. Or are you now excusing everything he did because nasty capitalist pigs oppressed the masses beforehand? I hope that’s not what you mean.

    Once again, let’s clear the smokescreens and get back to the real issue: Communism. Not Fidel, not the cult of personality. Castro was unable to raise Cubans’ quality of life (oh, except for family, friends, baseball bosses, and party apparatchiks, naturally) because of Communism and his own ego. Not because of the big bad US. Plenty of money was pouring into his pockets for decades from various sources. He and Arafat were two peas in a pod on that score.

    For starters, $6 billion a year from the Soviets, plus exporting nickel to plenty of countries, plus a multi-million dollar cigar industry. And where did it go?

    Angola, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Grenada.

    Castro spent more money trying to spread Communism into South America than he did improving the lives of his own people. Kissinger was actually going to the table with him before he pulled that crap in Angola.

    This was all about Communism. And the US prevented its spread by shutting Castro down as much as possible. No thanks to plenty of others. Blaming the US for the plight of ordinary Cubans is out of order.

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  38. Jason says:

    Mailman, deal with this point. Cuba is not poor because of the US embargo. It is poor because of communism, which has never once in history been capable of creating or sustaining any kind of wealth or prosperity. If the US were to lift the embargo, does this mean Cuba would suddenly have have the economic freedom it needs to become prosperous? No! It would still be a communist country, albeit one which traded with America. I don’t see at all how the end of the embargo would get the Castros out of power.

    As for your comments about pre-Castro days – so they weren’t perfect, but people were far better off. Cuban farmers earned more than many European farmers, for instance. What Cuba needed was simply less corruption, more accountability and more protection of the individual rights needed to secure a prosperous society. Not a communist dictatorship. Did the people want communism? Of course they didn’t. Did they vote for it? Of course they didn’t. Did Castro and Che exile, imprison and kill thousands of people, even modest property owners and farmers, simply for the crime of owning property? Yes.

    The reason why Cuba still has a Castro dictatorship is because they rule by fear and oppression like every other communist dictatorship – not because of the US embargo. Far from being some “great Satan” which unifies some kind of support among Cubans for the leadership of their island prison, the US is something to be aspired to, somewhere they have been, in their millions, prepared to take to shoddy rafts in shark infested waters to reach.

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  39. I hate socialist vermin says:

    Why isn’t that communist twat kordobo commenting on this thread?

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  40. gus says:

    Fe-Mailman, I didn’t ad hominem attack you. I ripped your moronic logic to shreds. I did rip you, but I didn’t ad hominem you.
    Why don’t you grow a pair of balls fairy boat?
    Why is it that f@#$ing commies like you are willing to take my freedoms and income, but you squeal like Prom dates when you get your candy ass handed to you in pieces?
    Castro’s Cuba is horrible. Those who don’t walk the Commie line are imprisoned or killed. Those who want to leave are shot at or worse. You freaks of nature either don’t know or don’t care. You sicken me you pathetic ass-hat.
    I made those cases Fe-Mailman.
    But weak kneed commie bastards like you, cry and whimper like date rape victims, hoping that you’ll gain sympathy and some sort of victimhood.
    Not from me you waste of sperm. You’re a commie, and I don’t like commies.
    Ok?

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  41. Mailman says:

    David Preiser (USA): “For starters, $6 billion a year from the Soviets, plus exporting nickel to plenty of countries, plus a multi-million dollar cigar industry. And where did it go?”

    David, you are talking about pre-soviet collapse AND the Cuban cigar industry was decimated by the US embargo, thus directly affecting all those employed in the cigar industry.

    Prior to the US Embargo, 67% of exports and 70% of imports involved the US in one way or another where the embargo cost the Cuban economy nearly $70billion (which was conveniently offset by them Red Devils from Russia).

    Not only did the US embargo ensure Castro stayed in power BUT it also ensured Cuba and Russia had an excuse to get warm and comfy in bed together.

    Jason, Cuba remains poor compared to the West due to its isolation from a market that would suck the life out of its cigar and tourist industry!

    You also should do a little digging about pre-Castro sugar production and the lack of “wealth” that industry created for those farmers who were little more than slaves for the large companies running the plantations.

    Gus, did you lie when you clicked on the “Im over 18” button to get here? 🙂

    Mailman

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  42. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Mailman | 23.06.08 – 10:06 am |

    So there’s no problem with Castro spending more money on trying to spread Communism throughout the world than helping his own people? There’s no reason to isolate him for that?

    China and North Korea picked up the slack when the Soviet cash cow died, although that support has mostly dried up now as well.

    In any event, the idea that a dictator stayed in power only because of a US embargo is a joke. He had imprisoned, exiled, or murdered any rivals or possible instigators, and continued to jail and oppress those who opened their mouths in the press right up until he stepped aside. Castro would have been even more entrenched in power, and spent even more money trying to spread Communism around the world if the US had lifted the embargo. A rich Cuba would have meant a rich Castro and more money to spread Communism.

    No thanks.

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  43. Mailman says:

    David,

    Cuba hasnt “exported” revolution for decades.

    See as this seems to be your only reason for enforcing an embargo, would you not agree that it appears the only reason an embargo is being enforced is simply because they are commie bastards?

    Even Shamnesty International recognises that Cuba doesnt use its death penalty, even though it has one. How many countries do you know with a death penalty havent actually used it?

    The fact that many former Eastern Block countries have ousted their communist rulers as soon as barriers to trade were opened proves you dont have a point.

    All America has done is to keep Castro and co in power. The longer the US embargo is kept in place, the longer Cuba will remain communist, it really is as simple as that.

    Mailman

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  44. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Mailman | 23.06.08 – 11:10 pm |

    See as this seems to be your only reason for enforcing an embargo, would you not agree that it appears the only reason an embargo is being enforced is simply because they are commie bastards?

    No. Let me remind you about my contention that lifting the embargo and rehabilitating Castro and Cuba would have only further entrenched his power, and opened up vast new sources of revenue. If Castro was using the old Soviet cash to spread Communism, why on earth would you expect me to believe that he wouldn’t do it with US dollars or other revenue? That does not logically follow at all.

    Even Shamnesty International recognises that Cuba doesnt use its death penalty, even though it has one. How many countries do you know with a death penalty havent actually used it?

    Irrelevant.

    The fact that many former Eastern Block countries have ousted their communist rulers as soon as barriers to trade were opened proves you dont have a point.

    I’m afraid you are misrepresenting history here. It’s more like the other way round. Not only that, but Castro’s Cuba is a different situation to places like Romania, Hungary and Poland.

    All America has done is to keep Castro and co in power. The longer the US embargo is kept in place, the longer Cuba will remain communist, it really is as simple as that.

    This is the same old song they used to sing about holding hands with the Soviet Union. Wrong idea then, wrong idea now.

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  45. mailman says:

    David said “He had imprisoned, exiled, or murdered any rivals or possible instigators”

    Oh, so now the fact Cuba doesnt actually use its death penalty is irrelevant? Perhaps you should have thought of that before you made the above “irrelevant” comment.

    You see, the convenient thing you miss about countries like Poland, Romania, Hungary, Czech republic, East Germany and so on is that none of them had an American state ruthlessly pursue a policy of isolation against them.

    These countries, given the chance and given American support have made changes to how they are run.

    Now, do you for a second believe any of this could have happened if America had decided to isolate them in the same way it has ruthlessly isolated Cuba?

    You might want to close your eyes to the truth Dave…but the truth of the matter is America, in relation to Cuba, is the problem, not the solution.

    Mailman

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  46. David Preiser (USA) says:

    I’m sorry, Mailman, but your grasp of history and the realities of the Cold War really skews your analysis on these things.

    I can see the truth now: Cuba is really an innocent victim of US aggression. Castro really would have used US money in an entirely different manner than he did Soviet money, and the place would have had a miraculous change unlike any in history.

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  47. mailman says:

    Yes FINALLY, you admit the truth! 😉

    Mailman

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