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Embargo? What Embargo?

How many more boats like the "13 de Marzo" tugboat, and the riverboat "XX Aniversario” the Castroit military regime has sank in the last 60 years, sending to their death many innocent children, men and women? How many massacres like the Cuban-Chinese aboard the yacht “Pretexto”? Like the icebergs, where only ten per cent of the mass is visible above the water surface, the rest below the surface isn’t. The same happens with these mass murders of innocent people, where only ten per cent is of common knowledge, the rest below the surface isn’t known up to now.

Sixteen years later those responsible for this horrific massacre perpetrated upon the passengers of the tugboat haven’t been punished yet. The truth always appears eventually, despite all efforts to hide it. It is impossible to keep something secret forever.
 
Shootdown of Brothers to the Rescue aircrafts

Three U.S. citizens and a resident of Florida were assassinated on February 24, 1996 when two civilian Brothers to the Rescue aircraft, on a humanitarian mission, were ambushed in international airspace by Cuban MiGs. The shoot down was ordered by Raul Castro, brother of Fidel Castro, and commander in chief of the Armed Forces from 1959 to 2006.

The transcript of the attack shows that the pilots knew the planes were civilian Cessnas before firing missiles and downing two of the three aircraft piloted by Cuban Americans exiles. Report of the words of the pilots of a Cuban MIG-23 and a MIG-29 and of Cuban ground control--shows that ground control told the pilots four times that they were “authorized to destroy” the planes. The MIG-29 pilot told ground control that “I’m going to fire at it,” he identified his target as “a Cessna 337,” the aircraft flown by the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue.

An investigation by the U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization concluded the small planes were attacked in international airspace between Florida and Cuba.

In 2003, Raul Castro and two fighter pilots were indicted in the shooting down of two civilian planes in 1996 over the Florida straits. The regime intent was to terrorize the Cuban population on the island and in Miami.

Brothers to the Recue flew hundreds of missions and helped rescue thousands of men, women, and children from 1991 to 2003.
 
Sandokan said:
It is often said that the trade and investment embargo on Cuba be lifted because it has “failed.” But what is meant by this?


Measured by those parameters, U.S. sanctions have been successful in Cuba, and should be maintained. U.S. policy shouldn’t be used to bail out a failed dictatorship and help it survive.
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Why not? We have bailed out dictatorships for years.
 
Nickyjo said:
Why not? We have bailed out dictatorships for years.
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In your post you omitted the response to the question the trade and investment embargo on Cuba be lifted because it has “failed” on the original post.

Here is the answer: The effect of the embargo on Cuba has partially fulfilled its objectives. It prevented Castro from obtaining loans and lines of credit that would allow him to finance his permanence in power and avoiding the growth of the indebtedness of Cuba without benefit for the population. The regime defaulted in its foreign debt to its westerns creditors, and in 2013 its foreign debt amounted to $35 billion with the Paris Club, $35 billion with Russia, $25 billion with Venezuela, $10 billion with China and $10 billion with other countries, for a staggering foreign debt of $115 billion, the world’s biggest debtor nation per capita. Part of this debt has been write off by Russia, Japan, Spain, Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico and other countries, and dumped on the back of their taxpayers. Only one country doesn’t has a debt with the regime, the U.S., except for the confiscation of American properties that is one of the main reasons for the establishment of the embargo.

From the original post: Measured by those parameters, U.S. sanctions have been successful in Cuba, and should be maintained. U.S. policy shouldn’t be used to bail out a failed dictatorship and help it survive.

Your response: Why not? We have bailed out dictatorships for years.

This is the reason why not:

Communism, which advocate dictatorship of the proletarian, is a social system which institutionalizes envy, which uses pressure and the organized violence of the State to expropriate wealth from those who produce. Supposedly everything is shared by everyone and control by the government, there are no incentives to work and compete. The real embargo that the Cubans suffer is due to the Castroit ‘tyrannical' communist regime. As soon as the regime is removed from power in Cuba, and the country adopt political democracy, the people will become masters of their own destined.
 
Sandokan said:
In your post you omitted the response to the question the trade and investment embargo on Cuba be lifted because it has “failed” on the original post.

Here is the answer: The effect of the embargo on Cuba has partially fulfilled its objectives. It prevented Castro from obtaining loans and lines of credit that would allow him to finance his permanence in power and avoiding the growth of the indebtedness of Cuba without benefit for the population. The regime defaulted in its foreign debt to its westerns creditors, and in 2013 its foreign debt amounted to $35 billion with the Paris Club, $35 billion with Russia, $25 billion with Venezuela, $10 billion with China and $10 billion with other countries, for a staggering foreign debt of $115 billion, the world’s biggest debtor nation per capita. Part of this debt has been write off by Russia, Japan, Spain, Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico and other countries, and dumped on the back of their taxpayers. Only one country doesn’t has a debt with the regime, the U.S., except for the confiscation of American properties that is one of the main reasons for the establishment of the embargo.

From the original post: Measured by those parameters, U.S. sanctions have been successful in Cuba, and should be maintained. U.S. policy shouldn’t be used to bail out a failed dictatorship and help it survive.

Your response: Why not? We have bailed out dictatorships for years.

This is the reason why not:

Communism, which advocate dictatorship of the proletarian, is a social system which institutionalizes envy, which uses pressure and the organized violence of the State to expropriate wealth from those who produce. Supposedly everything is shared by everyone and control by the government, there are no incentives to work and compete. The real embargo that the Cubans suffer is due to the Castroit ‘tyrannical' communist regime. As soon as the regime is removed from power in Cuba, and the country adopt political democracy, the people will become masters of their own destined.
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For years we did not care about right wing dictatorships. We even set them up, armed them and defended their atrocities, some of which made Castro’s look like small potatoes. We only cared about Cuba because it has used a different economic system, not because it violated its people’s rights. Guatemala, Chile, Argentina, Nicaragua and more. Our attitude was summed up by FDR speaking of Anastasio Somoza Sr. of Nicaragua, “He’s a son of a bitch, but he’s OUR son of a bitch.” Our domestic policy has been magnificent. Our foreign policy in this hemisphere was no different than the Soviet Union’s towards Eastern Europe. I can’t defend the communism in Cuba, nor can you defend the way capitalism is practiced in some other places.
 
Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act

Fidel Castro in a demonstration in front of the U.S. Interest Section said, “Cuba will not buy even an aspirin, nor a single grain of rice…. A lot of restrictions have been placed which make it humiliating for the Country and also impossible to put into practice.”

When the “Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act” became effective in October 2000, the Department of Commerce approved export to Cuba of approximately $550 million in medicines, medical equipment, cash remittances, gift parcels and food (cash remittances and gift parcels account for about 75% of the total amount). In reality it has become a nominal embargo since the U.S. lifted the prohibition of the sale of agricultural and medical products to Cuba.

In spite of what Castro said in October 18, 2000, speaking to the demonstrators in front of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana protesting the U.S. legislation which allowed the sale of agricultural goods and medical products to Cuba, that the regime will not buy even an aspiring from the U.S., already in the last month of 2001 the U.S., at the request of the Castro to cope with the impact of Hurricane Michelle, exported $7.2 million in goods.
 
Alimport, the regime food import agency, affirmed that since operations began in December 2001 until December 2016, it has transacted more than $6.66 billion worth of business with US companies. Cuba’s National Statistics Office (ONE) placed the United States as Cuba’s fifth business partner at $801 million in 2008. Currently the US is Cuba’s first food supplier and the most generous donor of humanitarian aid for decades.

It was general opinion that the U.S. didn’t import anything from Cuba. But in reality the U.S. imported art, antiques, music, books, stamps and others items from 2004 to 2016 that amounted to $30 million according Cuba’s National Statistics Office.
 
The Castroit regime call the embargo a blockade, notwithstanding the fact that the U.S. is the fifth import business partner and biggest food supplier of the island. The embargo is a legal barrier of trade, which is a common diplomatic action. A blockade normally take place at sea, with the blockading power seeking to cut off all maritime transport from and to the blockaded country, it is an act of war.

The embargo only affects the American companies and their subsidiaries. Of the rest of the countries, over 190 are conducting trade with the regime, as confirmed by imports of $10.27 billion during 2016. The United States government’s embargo has had little effect on the Cuban economy, since it only represents less than 3 % of Cuba’s commerce with the rest of the world.
 
The Black Spring

On March 18, 2003, the Castroit tyrannical regime arrested 75 Cuban dissidents and imprisoned them for the “crime” of voicing nonviolent opposition to the communist government. The regime accused them of accepting aid from the U.S. government, trying and sending them to prison in April. Among the imprisoners were journalists, librarians, human rights activists, and democracy activists. They were declare “prisoners of conscience”, by Amnesty International.
 
Execution of 3 Cuban blacks without due process

In April 2003, under Castro’s specific order the regime execute 3 Cuban black by firing squad without due process, for attempting to hijack a ferryboat to escape 9 days after their arrest. It was the first time anyone had been executed for trying to escape from Cuba. By executing them Castro sent a message to the black Cubans that dissent will not be tolerated.

Black Cubans live in the most dilapidated Havana neighborhood, and have the worst jobs. Only 5% work in tourism jobs that provide access to hard currency. But 85% of the prisoners are blackand mulattos. Many of the dissidents are black and mulatto. The message was clear, if you are black or mulatto and speak out, watch out.
 
Cuban-Americans restrictions to travel to Cuba

In April 2004 the Bush administration ended the migrations talks with the Castro regime in response to the crackdown of Cubans dissidents, tightened restrictions on Cuban-Americans travel to Cuba on June 2004. The chief beneficiary of the Cuban-Americans travel to Cuba was he Castro regime, which was able to generate over $100 million in hard currency in 2003. Travel was limited to one every 3 years, and restricted remittances of money and care packages to immediate family, in order not to benefiting members of the regime. This policy highlight the fact that Cuban-Americans are political refugees, not economic immigrants.
 
The Convertible Peso

On October 25, 2004, Fidel Castro announced that, as from November 8 the convertible peso will begin to circulate instead of the US dollar throughout Cuban national territory. The main reason to eliminate the dollar was to tighten the regime control over the economy. The convertible peso (CUC) value was set equal to the dollar, which is used to purchase anything on sale in dollars, mostly by tourists. The CUC is traded for 26.5 CUPs. The average salary of a Cuban worker is 930 CUPs monthly, equivalent to 35 CUPs per month, one of the lowest in the world. The double currency is a mess, a reflection of the island economy, where production and productivity are extremely low because of the regime planned economy. The country will remained poor and the Cuban people will continuous to flee.
 
On February 22, 2005, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control stablished the “payment of cash in advance” for the commercial sale of U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba. This was done to avoid the selling of agricultural products on credit. The U.S. Treasury Department guarantee that when a U.S. business extent credit to cover a sale abroad, the Commodity Credit Corporation guarantee the repayment to the company in the event of a default by the foreign entity. Under this program, the U.S. exporters always would get their money, and they would sell to the Castroit regime on credit. These credits will not be paid by the regime and the American taxpayers will be the losers, the ones to pick up the debt, as it happens at the present time with the taxpayers of many other countries that sell on credit to the Castroit regime
 
Aftermath of hurricanes Gustav and Ike

On September 3, after the pass of hurricane Gustav on August30, 2008, that caused widespread damage throughout the island, President Bush administration offer to send a disaster assessment team to the island and humanitarian aid after the pass of the hurricane. The regime declined the offer, but asked for the U.S. to suspend restrictions on travel and the sale of food and other materials it needed to recover. Of course this required the lifting of the embargo, which required approval by the Congress.

In realty what the regime was saying is “We do not want free humanitarian aid and emergency personnel, what we want is the lifting of the embargo so we can purchase food and supplies on credit, meaning that they will not pay back, like they have being doing to others countries that trade with them.
 
On September 9, after the pass of Hurricane Ike on September 8, that compounded the damage done by Gustav, U.S. reiterated the offer and “prepared to facilitate financial assistance from U.S. sources to the island.” It offer too an initial $5 million in relief aid. But the regime again rejected the offer, saying that “they would not accept a donation from the United States."

On September 17 Fidel Castro said: “the dignity of a people has no price… Those in our country who are upset about that are totally mistaken.” For him dignity was more important than helping the victims of the hurricanes when they needed it most.

On September 19, U.S. made a new offer to supply $6.3 million in construction materials and shelters to help some 48,000 people victims of the hurricanes, but the regime didn’t responded to the offer. U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez in a phone interview with The Miami Herald said “It’s hard to understand — hard — how they put politics ahead of suffering,” United States is the first supplier of food and humane aid to Cuba and number two in sending money.
 
On September 24, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the inclusion of $100 million to help victims of hurricanes and reconstruction assistance to Haiti and other Caribbean island nations, allocating $30 million in emergency aid to Haiti. Has been estimated that $90 million of the $100 went to Haiti. Base on the population of Cuba and estimated losses, the help assigned to the island would had been $60 million in emergency aid and another $250 million on hurricane relief. Is the dignity so flaunted by Castro more important than helping ordinary Cubans when they most need it? The answer is a rotund “yes’
 
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Congressional spending bill passed on March 10, 2009, under President Obama administration

President Obama administration reversed the restrictions on travel policy to Cuba imposed in 2004. It lifted all restrictions on family travel and remittances in 2009. Family remittances limitation was removed with no restriction on the amount or frequency of the remittances. Cuba regularly ranks at the bottom of most internationally recognized rankings on political and economic liberty, and the state controls most means of production. The normalization of relations of Obama administration did not work.
 
No withstanding the fact the regime continues to ban political activity, that opposition parties are illegal, virtually all media remain state controlled, and Cuba has the highest number of political prisoners of any country in the Americas, Obama lifted all restrictions on family and remittances, without getting any concessions from the Castroit regime. Was a bad move by Obama, since the regime did not open up the island economy or offer meaningful concessions for normalization of relations with the United States.
 
Further ease of restriction on travel and remittances on January 14, 2014 by Obama executive order

These measures that ease restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba in order to “increased people to people contact, help strengthen Cuban civil society, and make Cuban people less dependent on the Cuban state”, have failed to accomplish those purposes. The increase in tourism and investments was answer by the Castroit regime by increasing the repression against Cubans dissidents. What this accomplished was to enriches and entrenches the military organization that control Cuba’s economy.
 
Besides, the exchange of the civilian Alan Gross for the 5 Cubans convicted spies set a dangerous precedent because it encourage hostage taking of American citizen to be used as bargain chips. Gross had clearly been held hostage by the Castroit regime determined to get its spies home. He wasn’t arrested for what he did, but for what they could do with him.
 
On April 14, 2015, President Obama issued a report to Congress rescinding Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The Castroit regime has a long track record of providing sanctuary to terrorists and sheltering U.S. fugitives who have murdered American citizens. One of those fugitives in Castrolandia is Joanne Chesimard, who was convicted of killing a state trooper in New Jersey. There was not a good reason to remove the regime from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
 
On the report President Obama certified that the Cuban government “has not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding 6-month period” and “has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future.”

Just a few days after the removal of the regime from the list of state sponsor of terrorism, a Colombian judge authorized the Chinese ship, which had been seized on February 28 with a cargo of weapons and war material bound for Cuba, to continuous travel with all the war material, without pressing charges, making it possible for the Obama administration to legally remove the Castroit regime from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
 
On July 1, 2015, President Obama announced that the U.S. is renewing diplomatic relations with the Castro regime and also called on Congress to lift the embargo.

The Castroit regimen economic and social polices had transformed the island into a hell hole. The economy is in shambles in a country with plentiful natural resources. Cuba is a vivid example of the economic and social failures of the Communist system.
 
Sandokan said:
On July 1, 2015, President Obama announced that the U.S. is renewing diplomatic relations with the Castro regime and also called on Congress to lift the embargo.

The Castroit regimen economic and social polices had transformed the island into a hell hole. The economy is in shambles in a country with plentiful natural resources. Cuba is a vivid example of the economic and social failures of the Communist system.
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The Progressives has always been tolerant of Communism. Most lefties don’t like capitalism and tend to aligned with socialist ideas. They would like to turn the U.S. into a socialist country, an authoritarian nanny state if the American people allow it to happen.
 
According to the World Food Program, the Castroit regime imports about 80% of its food, at a cost of $2 billion a year. Since the year 2000 the U.S. is the larger supplier of food to the island. Under the Castroit regime the agricultural production had remained stagnant.
 
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