I spent the weekend in Miami and was on my way home early Tuesday morning when I heard on the radio that Fidel Castro had decided to hand power over to his brother.
When I told the friend driving with me the news, and how disappointing it was that we had just left Miami and missed the inevitable celebrations that would probably be going on in Little Havana and elsewhere in Miami yesterday, the conversation went like this:
Him: “So, does this mean there won’t be a Cuban embargo anymore?”
Me: “No, of course there will still be an embargo, Cuba is still going to be communist.”
Him: “But, if we ended the embargo, their communist government might fall in about a week.”
Me: “Yes, that’s true, but the politicians don’t care more about ending communism in Cuba than they care about campaign donations from the Cuban expatriates who hate Castro and want a Cuban embargo.”
In fact, many people and groups, including a few braver-than -the-average members of Congress have asserted that they believe the Cuban embargo has allowed Castro to maintain power for decades longer than he would have been able to otherwise because it has impoverished his people and given him fodder to stir hate of America and democracy.
If we really dislike communism and Castro and what he and it stand for, we should end the Cuban embargo and allow the Cuban people to grow powerful enough to overthrow their regime and start a democracy for themselves. Despite 47 years of failed attempts, the US never managed to bring down Castro. In the end, Castro brought himself down (with a little help from Mother Nature and old age, which of course the free market will hopefully solve for us all, one day).
Tags: Cuban embargo, Castro resignation, Castro resign, Castro embargo, Fidel Castro
Talk about diverting the issue. The embargo is about the most obscure part of this whole story you could have possibly focused on.
The story is Fidel stepping down and the possible Fall of Communism.
The embargo is a wonkish side-bar that nobody could frankly give a flip about.
Try to stay focused on the fundamental story of Liberty vs. Fascism/Communism/Obama-sim.
Eric Dondero
February 23rd, 2008
Well, the end of communism in Cuba would also be a huge story. However, ending the Cuban embargo would help American businesses of people I know, such as small farmers, and would help me, because I want to travel to Cuba someday, and I also don’t want to break the law, so that’s what I particularly chose to focus on in this post. I obviously do not think that communism should exist anywhere, and if our government doesn’t as well and wants to enforce embargoes against those who practice communism, why do we trade with China or Vietnam?
Many people have chosen to discuss the end of Castro’s reign through the lens of the embargo, including “The Economist” in its latest issue’s leader.
If the fundamental story IS “Liberty vs. Fascism/Communism/Obama-sim,” then the United States would lift the embargo, which restricts the rights of US citizens to travel where they want or trade with whom they want and has done little to nothing to end communism on the island.
libertariangirl
February 23rd, 2008
Man i just love your blog, keep the cool posts comin…..
hot arabic girl
March 22nd, 2008