• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Three U.S. Lawmakers Meet With 'Energetic' Fidel Castro

BulletWounD

BulletWounD

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 3, 2009
Messages
984
Reaction score
210
Gender
Undisclosed
Political Leaning
Undisclosed
WASHINGTON -- Former Cuban President Fidel Castro was "very engaging, very energetic," U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, said following a congressional delegation's meeting with the ailing revolutionary where a wide range of issues were discussed.

Castro met Tuesday with three members of the Congressional Black Caucus in his first known meeting with American officials since he fell ill in July 2006.

Lee was joined in her meeting with the 82-year-old Castro by Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Calif., and Rep. Bobby Rush, D. Ill.
Click to expand...

Three U.S. Lawmakers Meet With 'Energetic' Fidel Castro - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com

Another report (which I cannot track down at the moment), she claimed that Castro was "hardly the type of man" she expected him to be. We have this general idea, this notion, that all dictators are like Hitler. They're all pure evil, hateful, and belligerent. Well, even Hitler had a human side. You could see it in the tapes we've acquired of Hitler and Eva and her family. It's important to note that Hitler was an actor, who projected a false image of invincibility.

Here's a video of Stalin, in his address to the nation regarding the invasion of the USSR:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IGbjPqFFvA"]YouTube - Stalin speech - November 7, 1941[English subtitles][/ame]

As you can see, Stalin was NOT a belligerent hatemonger. He was a gentle giant; the kind of guy with whom you might leave your kids when you go on vacation. It's hard to tell that this is the man who orchestrated pogroms, purges, and outright genocide (along side his cronies in the Communist Party).
 
Last edited:
Dav said:
These were the only people willing to treat a brutal dictator like an old buddy.
According to an AP article I was about to post here they are completely sympathetic to Castro's regime.
Click to expand...

Post it. If it's too close to this article, post it in this thread. I'd like to see it.
 
Here's something I've never understood about Cuba - if it's such a great place and is so free, how come they don't let citizens leave?
 
RightinNYC said:
Here's something I've never understood about Cuba - if it's such a great place and is so free, how come they don't let citizens leave?
Click to expand...

Obviously you don't remember Jimmy Carter reaching out and embracing Fidel Castro, which culminated in the Mariel Regatta.
 
RightinNYC said:
Here's something I've never understood about Cuba - if it's such a great place and is so free, how come they don't let citizens leave?
Click to expand...

It's because they have a micro-economy that requires every person to man their station, so to speak.
 
Dav said:
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > AP News



So not "completely" sympathetic, I suppose.
Click to expand...

Will anybody help me pay for free tickets to Cuba? If Cuba is so wonderful they should move there. We need to get these people out of here.

California Democratic Rep. Laura Richardson, who also met Fidel with Illinois Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush, said Castro "looked directly into our eyes" and asked how Cuba could help Obama in his efforts to change the course of U.S. foreign policy.
Click to expand...

You can't be serious.

"We did not come to negotiate, we came to associate and cultivate," said Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, another delegation member.
Click to expand...

What an absolute EMBARRASSMENT. GET OUT OF HERE!

In a column posted on a government Web site late Tuesday night, Castro wrote about his meeting with the three U.S. representatives, saying Cuban leaders "weren't aggressors, nor did we threaten the United States."
Click to expand...

Never mind that they nationalized (stole) American companies. Never mind that they hosted Soviet missile battalions on their soil. We're just going to forget all of that. They're our friends now.
 
I just read the Politico version of this story and they really went about it the wrong way.

This statement is just beyond retarded.

In a statement following the meeting today, Castro said that the delegation had expressed to him that a segment of American society “continues to be racist,” and is at least partly to blame for the travel restrictions.
Click to expand...

I would've said the following:

"Over the years our countries have had an interesting and complex relationship but I believe it's time to form more of a straightforward relationship between us"
 
chevydriver1123 said:
I just read the Politico version of this story and they really went about it the wrong way.

This statement is just beyond retarded.



I would've said the following:

"Over the years our countries have had an interesting and complex relationship but I believe it's time to form more of a straightforward relationship between us"
Click to expand...

The embargo was enacted as a result of Castro stealing American businesses. Oh but those weren't "black businesses" so who cares? Yes, a segment of society continues to be racist and that segment is overwhelmingly black.
 
Here's something I've never understood about Cuba - if it's such a great place and is so free, how come they don't let citizens leave?
Click to expand...

Myth: Cuban's are not permitted to travel.

Reality: Cubans do travel. Access to travel within in the island is readily available. Buses and trains link the entire 1,200-km stretch of the island, with relative efficiency. Many of the vacation resorts that tourists frequent, are also places of retreat for nationals.

Cubans are also active international travellers. It does take a fair amount of paper work for a national to be granted a VISA and passport, but the same holds true for Canada. Cuba has a plethora of foreign embassies and foreign interest offices throughout the world. These places exist to establish healthy relations with foreign countries, but they are also there to aid Cuban travellers.

It is unfair to claim that Cubans can not travel because of a low valued Peso. People travel in Cuba for similar reasons that people travel in Canada. Let it be for pleasure, business, or educational purposes.
Source

The embargo was enacted as a result of Castro stealing American businesses.
Click to expand...

The embargo was a political tool whose purpose was to cripple Cuba's economy and deal a blow to the Soviet satellite state. It is a dinosaur of the Cold War.
 
Khayembii Communique said:
Myth: Cuban's are not permitted to travel.

Reality: Cubans do travel. Access to travel within in the island is readily available. Buses and trains link the entire 1,200-km stretch of the island, with relative efficiency. Many of the vacation resorts that tourists frequent, are also places of retreat for nationals.

Cubans are also active international travellers. It does take a fair amount of paper work for a national to be granted a VISA and passport, but the same holds true for Canada. Cuba has a plethora of foreign embassies and foreign interest offices throughout the world. These places exist to establish healthy relations with foreign countries, but they are also there to aid Cuban travellers.

It is unfair to claim that Cubans can not travel because of a low valued Peso. People travel in Cuba for similar reasons that people travel in Canada. Let it be for pleasure, business, or educational purposes.
Source



The embargo was a political tool whose purpose was to cripple Cuba's economy and deal a blow to the Soviet satellite state. It is a dinosaur of the Cold War.
Click to expand...

I will oppose the Cuban regime forever until they stop squashing the freedom I personally cherish the most: free speech and free press. Whether the embargo itself is effective or not is another question...
 
I will oppose the Cuban regime forever until they stop squashing the freedom I personally cherish the most: free speech and free press. Whether the embargo itself is effective or not is another question...
Click to expand...

So the effectiveness of a policy is irrelevant to whether or not you will support it?
 
Khayembii Communique said:
So the effectiveness of a policy is irrelevant to whether or not you will support it?
Click to expand...

Nope. I will support whatever policy is most effective. I don't know what that is at the moment.
 
Khayembii Communique said:
So what's the point of supporting a completely ineffective policy?
Click to expand...

This post isn't about whether the embargo is/isn't effective. It's about the willingness of our politicians to coalesce with tyrants. I, for one, do not believe suppressing economies is a viable way of changing internal policies. If anything it provides a scapegoat to the tyrants and allows them to solidify their grasp on the general public.

However, there is some viability in forbidding commerce with tyrannical socialist/communist nations to prevent our ever-altruistic and far-sighted businessmen from "selling them the noose."
 
Last edited:
Khayembii Communique said:
Myth: Cuban's are not permitted to travel.

Reality: Cubans do travel. Access to travel within in the island is readily available. Buses and trains link the entire 1,200-km stretch of the island, with relative efficiency. Many of the vacation resorts that tourists frequent, are also places of retreat for nationals.

Cubans are also active international travellers. It does take a fair amount of paper work for a national to be granted a VISA and passport, but the same holds true for Canada. Cuba has a plethora of foreign embassies and foreign interest offices throughout the world. These places exist to establish healthy relations with foreign countries, but they are also there to aid Cuban travellers.

It is unfair to claim that Cubans can not travel because of a low valued Peso. People travel in Cuba for similar reasons that people travel in Canada. Let it be for pleasure, business, or educational purposes.
Source
Click to expand...

The ability of pre-approved individuals to get visas is not what I'm talking about. How do you justify the absurd lengths that Cuba goes to in order to prevent its athletes from leaving?

Pre-empting a move by Cuban athletes to defect during the Beijing Olympics beginning Friday, Fidel Castro has cautioned them that while people would cherish the “struggle” of those who try to win a medal, they would also remember the “traitors”. “At the Olympics, due to begin on August 8,our athletes in different sports will struggle to win the gold with more dignity than ever, and our people will enjoy their gold medals as they never have,” Castro said in a statement.

He added: “Then the fanatics will remember the traitors.”
Click to expand...

Fidel praises and cautions Cuban athletes before Olympics

Cuban leader Fidel Castro has threatened to pull his country's boxing team out of the world championship in the US to prevent fighters defecting.

...

In the most recent case, Rigondeaux, a double Olympic and amateur world bantamweight champion, and Lara, a world amateur welterweight champion, failed to show up for their fights in Rio despite being favourites to win gold.

Brazilian police detained them last week for overstaying their visas.

...

But an Arena spokesman told Brazilian media the boxers had later changed their minds about signing out of fear for their families' safety back in Cuba.
Click to expand...

BBC NEWS | Americas | Travel ban threat for Cuba boxers

Anytime you need to post guards to keep your own citizens from fleeing whenever you go overseas, that should be a sign that your country is a ****hole 8 ways from sunday. Can you think of any other countries that do the same thing?
 
Ah yes, once again we see the same Libruls who championed Osama Bin Laden’s rhetoric against the USA and George Bush Administration, the same Libruls who claimed that we are a nation that tortures, the same Libruls who think Chavez is a populist popular leader who cares about the people now claim that a brutal Communist Dictator is NOT the person he has been portrayed by those mean (liberal) historians.

Michael Moore came to the same Librul conclusion in his documentary on health care where he not only claimed the Cuban people had BETTER Healthcare, but that it was FREE!

Yet the nation resembles a worm hole back to the 1950's where most infrastructure is decrepit, poverty is a way of life and whose citizens are forbidden to leave and anyone who is a dissident to the leadership vanishes into despicable prisons to die from torture and abuse.

Yep, we really do need to open up trade and relations with this Communist Dictatorship so that they can continue holding their citizens hostage and fund their ONE party system with US dollars.

There should be no doubt that the lunatics are now in charge of the asylum within the new Community Organization of the United States.

Bravo Libruls! :2wave:
 
Khayembii Communique said:
Myth: Cuban's are not permitted to travel.
Click to expand...
:lol: international travel silly!

Cubans are also active international travellers. It does take a fair amount of paper work for a national to be granted a VISA and passport, but the same holds true for Canada. Cuba has a plethora of foreign embassies and foreign interest offices throughout the world. These places exist to establish healthy relations with foreign countries, but they are also there to aid Cuban travellers.
Click to expand...
As one of the few US citizens who has been to Cuba I can assure you that international travel if restricted to only those who can be trusted to return. There's a reason I didn't see any fishing boats in Havana during my stay.

It is unfair to claim that Cubans can not travel because of a low valued Peso. People travel in Cuba for similar reasons that people travel in Canada. Let it be for pleasure, business, or educational purposes.
Source
Click to expand...
Yet Mexicans don't appear to have this problem. Hmmmmmm.

The embargo was a political tool whose purpose was to cripple Cuba's economy and deal a blow to the Soviet satellite state. It is a dinosaur of the Cold War.
Click to expand...
Ever since Castro renigged on his deals with the US after we spent time money and people getting him into power so he could lead a democratic country he has been untrustworthy and an enemy. The embargo ensures that this kitten never becomes a tiger in our own backyard.

The road to US acceptance is obvious. Castro CHOOSES to keep the status quo and we oblige.
 
scourge99 said:
:lol: international travel silly!

As one of the few US citizens who has been to Cuba I can assure you that international travel if restricted to only those who can be trusted to return. There's a reason I didn't see any fishing boats in Havana during my stay.

Yet Mexicans don't appear to have this problem. Hmmmmmm.

Ever since Castro renigged on his deals with the US after we spent time money and people getting him into power so he could lead a democratic country he has been untrustworthy and an enemy. The embargo ensures that this kitten never becomes a tiger in our own backyard.

The road to US acceptance is obvious. Castro CHOOSES to keep the status quo and we oblige.
Click to expand...

Your factual points illustrate the absurdity of Coomunique's assertions about Cuba, but I want to touch on this myth:

Originally Posted by Khayembii Communique
The embargo was a political tool whose purpose was to cripple Cuba's economy and deal a blow to the Soviet satellite state. It is a dinosaur of the Cold War.

Europeans, Asians, South Americans and Canadians all have open trade relations with Cuba, as well as, permit tourism. The notion that the US embargo has somehow crippled Cuba’s economy requires willful ignorance.

What has crippled Cuba’s markets is the same Centralized Communist control that led to the implosion of their former benefactor the Soviet Union.

Good lord people, don't they teach economics and history in high school anymore? Or do people just choose to ignore them so that they can fit things neatly into their anti-American anti-free market Socialistic political denial?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom