Obama opens up travel and money tranfers to Cuba

[PhiGam]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

And this is about race....because...what exactly?

Let me attempt to get you back on track again.

This isn't about trying to open up the borders immediately or who gets to go to Cuba.

This is about trying to build a better relationship with Cuba and trying to assist Cuban citizens with making progress in their country.

In short, it's the US putting the ball in Cuba's court so that if it wants sanctions raised and a larger portion of the 'world pie' so to speak, that if the US is willing to extend a gesture, Cuba will do the same.

What you are talking about has nothing to do with the change in US polciy to Cuba.

Please...read...the article...in its entirety.



Thank you, I almost choked on my dinner.

I read it the first time... I brought up nationality because this policy is partially based upon nationality.

To me this is two separate policy decisions: one is travel but the important one is the money. I see this as a way for wealthy Cuban-Americans to funnel money to Cuban opposition parties and eventually move the country towards a revolution. If there's one thing that every Cuban-American I've ever met has in common it is a hatred for the Cuban government. I think that something Obama said during his campaign spills some light upon the real motives here: "It's time to let Cuban American money make their families less dependent upon the Castro regime." Read between the lines. The capitalists will be the wealthiest people in the country. As much as I would love for America to spread democracy to Cuba, this policy could end up being a disaster down the road once the Castros begin to lose power.

This raises many questions for me that the article doesn't answer.

If the government feels that Cuba is safe enough for Cuban-Americans to travel to (which it has been for years) then why do we still follow the dry-land policy?

How closely will we be monitoring the monetary transactions between countries?

What do we expect (if anything) to get in return from Cuba?

Does the Cuban government even want Cuban-Americans to visit, I know that they love having Americans come and spend money at their beautiful resorts but do they really want an influx of wealthy political detractors coming into their country?

Have we worked out any deals with Cuba regarding extradition and the rights of our citizens when abroad- especially regarding speech and political expression?

And the question that nobody has ever been able to answer: Why is it that I can visit Iraq, Somalia, Venezuela, Argentina, and China but not Cuba? Because of something they did 46 years ago? The idea that if we don't do business with them the people will get mad at Castro and force him out is obviously false.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by PhiGam

I read it the first time... I brought up nationality because this policy is partially based upon nationality.

To me this is two separate policy decisions: one is travel but the important one is the money. I see this as a way for wealthy Cuban-Americans to funnel money to Cuban opposition parties and eventually move the country towards a revolution. If there's one thing that every Cuban-American I've ever met has in common it is a hatred for the Cuban government. I think that something Obama said during his campaign spills some light upon the real motives here: "It's time to let Cuban American money make their families less dependent upon the Castro regime." Read between the lines. The capitalists will be the wealthiest people in the country. As much as I would love for America to spread democracy to Cuba, this policy could end up being a disaster down the road once the Castros begin to lose power.

This raises many questions for me that the article doesn't answer.

If the government feels that Cuba is safe enough for Cuban-Americans to travel to (which it has been for years) then why do we still follow the dry-land policy?

How closely will we be monitoring the monetary transactions between countries?

What do we expect (if anything) to get in return from Cuba?

Does the Cuban government even want Cuban-Americans to visit, I know that they love having Americans come and spend money at their beautiful resorts but do they really want an influx of wealthy political detractors coming into their country?

Have we worked out any deals with Cuba regarding extradition and the rights of our citizens when abroad- especially regarding speech and political expression?

And the question that nobody has ever been able to answer: Why is it that I can visit Iraq, Somalia, Venezuela, Argentina, and China but not Cuba? Because of something they did 46 years ago? The idea that if we don't do business with them the people will get mad at Castro and force him out is obviously false.

ok...so do you want to talk about this intelligently...

Actually here is a list of countries that Americans are WARNED not to travel to and some of those same countries are on your list.:

list from the State Department

Now keep in mind that this still doesn't mean that Americans are banned from going to those places moreso that if something happens and we are there, expect little to no assistance... I think you get the idea

As for the revolution issue, who knows, you may be right, you may be wrong, Castro only has but so much longer to live and maybe his brother or whomever steps up afterwards may be a bit more moderate, so why not spike the punch now...OOOOoorrrr there is still that possibility that by opening the doors a little bit Cuba acually may start getting its shit together.

One thing is for sure, I don't the the US will make the same mistake as we did with Iraq and find a busllshit reason to invade them.

The extradition and human rights issue...I would say you have to do your own homeowrk on that one and moreso see if that was one of the conditions that has to be agreed with as far as the Obama admin taking that step.

The money issue now ocme on, you know somebody will be watching!


It's rasing questions? Good, that was in part of why I posted this article. The US has had an ignore the hell out of Cuba stance for nearly 50 years with no signs of changing and maybe now smething can finally happen.