Yesterday saw the first commercial flight from Key West to Havana in more than half a century. That so much time had elapsed between flights is a testimony to the idiocy of America’s foreign policy towards Cuba. Neither Cuba nor America has benefitted in any tangible way from this economic and cultural isolation. Havana is closer to Key West than Miami, and the two locales should be part of a cohesive economic zone.
Cuba and Key West have a long and interwoven history. Before the 1959 revolution, there was regular flight and ferry service to the island. Residents could fly to Havana for lunch and be back in Key West in time for dinner.
Our country’s New Year’s resolution should be to completely normalize relations with Cuba in 2014. It’s now more than 50 years since the missile crisis. Can we get this done?
Probably not.
But in 2015, after the mid-term elections? Maybe.
Meh.
I don’t think it’s an electoral negative anymore, even in Florida.
The biggest obstacle is that Sen. Bob Menendez is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee and he remains an obstinate opponent of any relations with Cuba.
He needs to be defeated in a primary for that, and also for his unwillingness to go along with the administration’s policy on Iran. Another reason he should go is that the New Jersey Democratic Party needs to clean up its act and it can’t do that as long as the Hudson County machine controls one of our Senate seats.
He needs to be defeated in a primary for that, and also for his unwillingness to go along with the administration’s policy on Iran. Another reason he should go is that the New Jersey Democratic Party needs to clean up its act and it can’t do that as long as the Hudson County machine controls one of our Senate seats.
Does that mean you’re also in favor of dumping George Norcross in the dustbin of history as well?
You don’t believe it, Booman. But how about the idiot beancounters of the Democratic National Committee? Do they believe it? Do they believe that they might lose Florida if they cross the…declining in influence, but still powerful…right wing/white wing Cuban emigré establishment in Florida? Is Obama under orders not to upset the applecart for fear of losing in 2014 and/or 2016? Betcha.
Ditto w/Menendez. Crooked as a snake with a broken back, for sure. But lose NJ? And possibly FL? Dare they take the chance, cowardly neolibs that they are? I doubt it.
And so we wait and twiddle our thumbs some more while the tide of history flows by and strands us on some socio-political economic sand dune.
Nice.
So it goes, though.
So it goes.
Bet on it.
AG
Don’t all those guys vote Republican anyway? I thought the third generation of emigres wanted to revisit their Cuban roots and favored free visitation and trade.
How narrow have been the presidential vote tallies in FL. Since 2000, Voice? Seems like it’s a recount/near recount squeaker almost every time. Who controls the digital polling info? Who controls the money? To whom does it flow? Which appointed hustlers are in charge? The last time I was in Miami, there were 1st and 2nd generation Cuban Americans in control on many levels. Police. Homeland Security. Businesses everywhere. Politics for sure. You can see the Democratic hustle for FL votes in U.S. Cuba policies and you can see it in the Israel policies as well. Just for that 1% or 2% margin of victory. Bet on it.
AG
That’s my point. Aren’t all those 1’st and 2’nd generation Cubans Republicans because they are anti-Castro? Aren’t they the guys opposing and discourse? They even opposed conservative Illinois Governor George Ryan’s trip and pleaded with him not to go. Unfortunately for them, there are a lot more corn farmers than Cubans in Illinois.
I personally think that those anti-Castro Floridian Cubans are not as powerful as they have made themselves out to be. I have encountered them on numerous occasions as a musician, and most of them make the average right wing nutter look like the soul of moderation and intelligence. But as I said elsewhere here, those DNC beancounters/votecounters are a punctilious lot. Fear runs beancounters and beancounters run political parties. So it goes.
AG
The big question is, if we normalize relations, will we ruin cuba? This is an island with enormous potential – their society isn’t nearly as stratified as other countries in latin america, and they could potentially develop in a more European direction, in terms of safety nets, etc. But if they’re overrun by American interests, I worry they could end up right where they started many years ago, with a robber baron criminal class running the show while most people are left with nothing.
We definitely need to end this stupid policy, but I hope the Cubans are ready to defend themselves when we do.
What’s up? Does the Mob what Cuba back? I’d rather spend political capital on raising minimum wage and tying it to CPI, implementing CPI-E, mortgage reform, trade reform, and more. Recogniz8ing Cuba is OK but there are a whole lot more priorities on the domestic side. On the foreign side, getting the Hell out of Afghanistan and the Middle East generally and Trade Treaty renegotiation come before Cuba normalization.
The Republicans will fight l8ike wildcats for this.
Never fear. Cuba will survive and prosper once the remaining revolutionary old guard is gone.
Will it be “ruined” in the process? That depends on your definition of the term. The U.S. has already…as thoroughly as it possibly can do so…”ruined” Cuba with 50+ years of economic and paramilitary/spook warfare. It is, to put it mildly, a broke country. Not “broken,” though. Just broke. I was there for over a week a couple of years ago with the Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Orchestra, and let me tell you…Cuba is a low-hanging fruit just waiting for the picking and the U.S. is way back in the race. There are European, Canadian and Chinese interests just waiting to buy in and the economically sound (semi-sound at the very least) Caribbean/Central/South American countries are queued up to join the competition as well.
Most of the Cuban people are waiting with great anticipation for the auction to begin, probably about a week after Fidel’s funeral. Canadian and European resort hotels are already all over the seaside areas outside of Havana that I saw, and the Chinese presence in Havana is very strong and seriously on the hustle.
Will the culture be ruined by sudden prosperity? Maybe, but I doubt it. It has survived the worst that the U.S. has dared to lay on it and I believe it will survive multinationalism as well. Will Disneyfication take place? Skin deep, like all Disneyfication. Underneath, the Cuban soul will keep on burning.
Bet on it.
AG
Question.
What are the impediments to normalizing relations? What could Obama do by himself and what would need to be done by Congress? The details have fallen from awareness for me about this. I know there has been much propaganda against this over the years, but what are the real laws involved? The Lobby has been quite diligent in setting up a congressional spider web of obstructions to unravel before normalizing relations with Iran. Of course, that’s what they are good at and they have a lot more clout to wield.
I don’t see the same dynamics wrt Cuba and it could actually be quite a winner for the Dems to proceed with normalizing.
I seem to recall that then Republican Governor George Ryan needed a special visa just to visit Cuba. He went and actually openly discussed trading Illinois corn for Cuban sugar. But then he got sent to federal prison for selling driver’s licenses for campaign contributions.
I just wonder if there is a provision in the law such that the President could declare Cuba ‘not a problem anymore’ and open up relations at whatever level would be allowed by the law.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a consequence of our irrational stance towards Cuba and not the cause of our stance. More than half of Americans don’t have a clue about the missile crisis much less the why of US policy. And perhaps less than a clue as to what our policy comprises.
If the dumbass rightwing ex-pat Cubans haven’t gotten in fifty years that the Cuban Missile Crisis ended their dream of a US invasion and overthrow of the Castros (something that even kids like me at the time, understood), they are never going to get it.
Way past time to move on.
I thought the Cuban Missile Crisis was a consequence of our pre-positioning IRBM’s in Turkey?
Many moves and countermoves in that old chess board. However, take away the US embargo and multiple plans to invade Cuba, including the most visible Bay of Pigs disaster, and assassinate Fidel, and it’s highly unlikely that any USSR missiles would have been sent to Cuba. The US missiles installed in Turkey did become a bargaining chip in the showdown, but doubtful it was a proximate cause.
Let’s wait for the first free and open election.
In the USA?
What?
Oh. You mean in Cuba, not not the U.S.!!!
Oh.
Sorry.
Nevermind.
Yore freind,
Emily Litella
As long as the Castro brothers are alive, los historicos on Calle Ocho here in Miami will carry on like gallinas sin cabezas. They don’t see it as just a political issue but as a personal one. Each one of the first generation of exiles believes that Fidel himself marched into their home, put his boots up on the coffee table, ground his cigarette out in the carpet, and then took the house, the car, and the business. Granted, they are few in number, but like the Tea Party, their voices are loud and anyone running for office in Miami-Dade County has to be pro-embargo and anti-Castro if they hope to be taken seriously by the Cuban bloc. I worked with a woman who had all of her family documents and titles to the DeSotos just waiting for the day when Fidel and Raul fall off the perch and she and her family can go back and claim what is rightfully theirs.
The glimmer of hope comes from the fact that the younger generations are not as entrenched. To most of them, Cuba is the land of their grandparents, and even the recent immigrants see the embargo as a failure. Plus, they see an island teeming with millions of people just itching to buy anything from America, even if it isn’t a high-ticket item. Judging by the state of the automobile in Cuba, the first person who opens a NAPA Auto Parts store in Havana will be an overnight millionaire.
Don’t Cubans know that it would be cheaper to buy directly from the manufacturers in Asia and avoid the US middleman fees?
Hmm, I can see republicans objecting on racial grounds. They already complain Miami is like a 3rd world country.