embargo00

Embargo!

>> Forum: soc.culture.cuba
Subject: US EMBARGO TOWARDS CUBA
Date: 07/31/2000
Author: humberto0

Embargo?, What Embargo? The Castro's blockade of Cuban citizens ? - Yes, get rid of it. This blockade is of 200%; 100% in the material and 100% in the moral and civil.
The US embargo towards Cuba is easy to remove, only 3 events must occur: -as stated by congressmen Lincoln Díaz-Balart, March 25 1998, Washington, DC.-
1. The establishment of a transition government in Cuba that would free all of Cuba's political prisoners
2. The legalization of all political parties.
3. A call for public elections.
The US embargo of Cuba is directed at its communist system and its supporters. That system that is a declared enemy of the US, that is capable of committing physical and moral harm, that does not respect anything or anyone, that is a liar, that is a murder , demonic and deserving of being eliminated.
The partial embargo only manages to limit the spread of communism, to change the current system, it is necessary to denounce and confront it. But not taking action and forgetting will only manage to prolong the suffering of the Cuban people.
The embargo has been most effective in the last few years due to the end of Russia's aid to Cuba. This economical aid provided to Cuba is estimated to be 70 to 120 billion dollars. This aid is larger than that received by all of Latin America. It would also be necessary to include military aid in these numbers, however, it has not been possible to put a dollar amount on this type of aid.
The embargo is not responsible for the hardships of Cuba's citizens and this is understood by the majority of Cubans. Cuba's land is very fertile and capable of nourishing its people. Castro is the person responsible for the Cubans not being able to eat fruits, vegetable, coffee, sugar and fish. However, with respect to medicines, how is it that Castro is capable of exporting 2 tons of medicine to Peru and sell medicines, made in Cuba, in Nicaragua?
The US embargo towards Cuba accounts for only 10 to 14 percent of the worlds total economy. Castro conducts business with the rest of the world! This tyrant only seeks US dollars and other countries are helping him in order to collect the debts which Cuba owes them. For example: Cuba owes $800 million to Spain & $750 million to Japan alone.
The embargo directed towards South Africa was a world wide blockade, just like the blockade directed towards Iraq oil supplies. Nelson Mandela is currently in power due to the effectiveness of the embargo which forced a change in his country
In 1958 (Pre-Castro Cuba), Cuba possessed .86 heads of livestock per person and its consumption of fish per pound was 5.6 compared to 5.4 in the United States. (Statistics provided by the United States Department of Commerce)
The per capita of the Cuban people in 1959 (Pre-Castro Cuba) was $2000, today it is $120. Sherritt International, a Canadian company in Cuba, employs Cubans at a wage of $9500 per year. This money is paid to the Cuban government which in turn pays the Cuban workers in Cuban pesos to what amounts to $10 per month. This is slavery because the workers have to no rights to negotiate better salaries or benefits.
The state of slavery is maintained by the Tyrant to maintain supreme rule over the island. The system uses employment like blackmail in order to maintain control of its dissidents. This type of labor practices is opposed to democratic principles and human rights. The United States, the largest supporter of these types of rights and principles in the entire world, loses its leadership and morale when it legitimizes a tyranny and when when it makes commercial treaties or mutual agreements with tyrannies like those of Castro and Saddam.
Date: 08/17/2000
Author: humberto0
Posting of the excellent article by Don Feder, where he analyze the incorrect arguments of lifting the embargo, answering very convincingly the arguments in favor of that granting permanent normal trade relations to China apply to Cuba, as well.
Don Feder Embargo keeps us out of Castro's bed
[url]]http://www.jewishworldreview.com[/url] -- AN AMENDMENT to an agriculture bill allowing the unrestricted sale of food and medicine to Cuba is the camel's nose in the door of the tent.
The amendment, which could be voted on this week, is sponsored by Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., who apparently wants to be known for more than breaking his term-limitation pledge. In a New York Times piece, Nethercutt writes that arguments in favor of granting permanent normal trade relations to China apply to Cuba, as well.
"Trade promotes democratization," Nethercutt contends. Our trade with the People's Republic helps us to resolve "thorny issues like human rights, religious persecution and national security."
It does no such thing. We've been engaged in large-scale trade with China for over 20 years, and Beijing is every bit as repressive, aggressive and undemocratic now as then.
I was against permanent trade status for China. Still, it's possible to have supported PNTR and logically oppose the Nethercutt proposal.
Unlike China, Cuba does not have even the semblance of a market economy. [b]On The Wall Street Journal's Index of Economic Freedom, Cuba ranks dead last among 154 nations.[/b] U.S. trade may not have made the average Chinese freer, but it has made him more prosperous. Commerce with Cuba will benefit no one but Castro.
Unlike Beijing, which runs a $60-billion annual trade surplus with America, Cuba is broke. Between 1989 and 1997, its exports declined 65 percent. [b]Since 1986, Havana has suspended payments on its $15 billion debt to Western nations.[/b]
Nethercutt's amendment prohibits the U.S. government from subsidizing Cuban purchases. The restriction is meaningless. Castro can no more pay for food with hard currency than he can start his own space program.
Still, the dictator understands that once companies like agri-giant Archer Daniels Midland begin selling to him, even on a modest scale, the farm lobby will push for taxpayer support.
"Just think of the access we could have to the emerging Cuban market with loans, guarantees and credits," they'll plead. Castro looks forward to the day when his apparatus of state terror will be underwritten by his avowed enemies.
He also believes that trade will lead to lifting the tourism embargo. Then vacationing Americans can help keep his Stalinist regime afloat.
China is halfway around the globe. Cuba is within rafting distance of Miami. We have historic ties to the island and are home to 1.5 million Cuban exiles.
It's not that we don't care about human-rights violations in China, but communist brutality in our backyard is even more of an affront.
Mao Tse-tung has been dead for 24 years. But Cuba is ruled by the same tyrant who was in power for most of the Cold War. [b]During the missile crisis, Castro urged Khrushchev to use nuclear weapons against us.[/b]
Until he lost his Soviet subsidies, Fidel's foreign legion spread revolution from Nicaragua to Angola. The State Department lists Cuba as a sponsor of international terrorism. The regime is currently harboring nearly 80 fugitives from U.S. justice, including several cop killers. Despite the embargo, the United States allows unlimited humanitarian aid to the island, provided it's distributed by non-governmental agencies. In 1999, the Commerce Department approved the export to Cuba of an estimated $550 million in food, medicine and medical supplies. But Castro wants us to do business with him directly. He wants to control distribution. (The Maximum Leader withholds food as punishment.) Amnesty International says Cuba's political prisoners are routinely denied medical care to break them. And Fidel looks forward to the day when the Yankee imperialists toss him a subsidized lifeline. Two Cuban doctors in Harare, who sought asylum at the Canadian embassy, are being held by the government of Zimbabwe. Castro desperately wants them back. If he gets them, they could end up floating face down in Havana Harbor. That's the type of thug Nethercutt wants us to slip between the sheets with.
The congressman says trade with Castro will "support American farmers and American values." Farmers are certainly familiar with the stuff of which that pledge is made. They spread it on their fields every spring.

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