Ah, the good old days in Cuba. After living for 30 years in Miami and listening to the old so-called "Exilios" and all their propaganda about the "Monster" and the halcyon days of Fulgencio Batista before he took over, you'd think they were thrown out of Eden or something.
Actually, under Batista, most Cubans were dirt poor, most had no electricity or running water, and anyone who dared complain was locked up or shot. The only ones who made out well in Cuba mainly lived in Havana in princely comfort where they counted their ill-gotten profits from the cheap labor they employed on their sugar cane plantations. These were the same people whose families made out well under the Spanish, too. Same as it ever was -- until the Revolution that is.
I was just listening to writer T. J. English on Fresh Air and he was talking about his new book "Havana Nocturne" on the era of the mob and Batista.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p... Harper Collins:
"As the Cuban people labored under a violently repressive regime throughout the 1950s, Mob leaders Meyer Lansky and Charles 'Lucky' Luciano turned their eye to Havana. To them, Cuba was the ultimate dream, the greatest hope for the future of the American Mob in the post-Prohibition years of intensified government crackdowns. But when it came time to make their move, it was Lansky, the brilliant Jewish mobster, who reigned supreme. Having cultivated strong ties with the Cuban government and in particular the brutal dictator Fulgencio Batista, Lansky brought key mobsters to Havana to put his ambitious business plans in motion.
Before long, the Mob, with Batista's corrupt government in its pocket, owned the biggest luxury hotels and casinos in Havana, launching an unprecedented tourism boom complete with the most lavish entertainment, the world's biggest celebrities, the most beautiful women, and gambling galore."
http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061... See, this is what the dozen or so old coots, the ones who can still manage to get out to protest in front of Elian's family's house, want back. Not freedom, clearly, because there was no such thing, but gambling and sex! The original "exiles" were the rich Cubans who benefited from the largess of Meyer Lansky.
McCain on Cuba policy:McCain's policy is basically more of the same. He says: "As president, I will not passively await the day when the Cuban people enjoy the blessings of freedom and democracy."
He plans on keeping the Embargo in place until Raul and Co. agree "To release all political prisoners unconditionally, to legalize all political parties, labor unions and free media, and to schedule internationally monitored elections. ... Make no mistake Cuba is destined to be free. Cuba is destined to be free."
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2... Uh huh. When was Cuba ever free?
I don't know, it's been almost 50 years now and the Embargo hasn't done anything to convince the Cuban regime to knuckle-under. Simply saying you won't lift the Embargo
is sort of just sitting passively by, isn't it?
Maybe, sending the Marines down to wrap this problem up just before the election, a la Granada, would be just the thing.
Something the Cubans should keep in mind about the US coming down to "liberate" them and their resources, btw . . .
George W. Bush on his Cuban policy:
"Some of you are members of the Cuban military, or the police, or officials in the government. You may have once believed in the revolution. Now you can see its failure. When Cubans rise up to demand their liberty, they -- they -- the liberty they deserve, you've got to make a choice. Will you defend a disgraced and dying order by using force against your own people? Or will you embrace your people's desire for change?"
October 2007
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/20... George W. Bush in his message to the Iraqis:
"I urge every member of the Iraqi military and intelligence services: If war comes, do not fight for a dying regime that is not worth your own life.
And all Iraqi military and civilian personnel should listen carefully to this warning: In any conflict, your fate will depend on your actions. Do not destroy oil wells, a source of wealth that belongs to the Iraqi people. Do not obey any command to use weapons of mass destruction against anyone, including the Iraqi people."
March 17 2003
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/17/... /
Obama on Corn:And, what about Obama on Cuba? Who knows? But just think of all the sugar cane in Cuba they could sell to us for ethanol (that would get their economy going) but as the NYT reports, Obama is in the pocket of the corn ethanol interests.
NYT:
"Mr. McCain advocates eliminating the multibillion-dollar annual government subsidies that domestic ethanol has long enjoyed. As a free trade advocate, he also opposes the 54-cent-a-gallon tariff that the United States slaps on imports of ethanol made from sugar cane, which packs more of an energy punch than corn-based ethanol and is cheaper to produce. . . Mr. Obama, in contrast, favors the subsidies, some of which end up in the hands of the same oil companies he says should be subjected to a windfall profits tax. In the name of helping the United States build 'energy independence,' he also supports the tariff, which some economists say may well be illegal under the World Trade Organization’s rules but which his advisers say is not."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/us/polit... 
