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Beyonce and Jay-Z's Trip to Cuba

Who did the Cuban vacation help

  • Total voters
    19
Ben K. said:
Isn't quite easy for an American to visit Cuba?

Don't the immigration officers just not stamp your passport and wave you on? Or so I heard from some Americans.

Going there this Summer. Can't wait. So option 3 it is.
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I've heard some Americans do sneak in. They go to Jamaica, The Bahamas or Canada then buy a ticket to Cuba from there. Supposedly the Cuban government works with American travelers and lets them in to visit without stamping their passports. Most however do it legally and request a travel embargo exemption on religious, educational or cultural exchange grounds. Recreational travel is what's not legally allowed.
 
FilmFestGuy said:
I have a friend who just got back from Cuba on a cultural exchange trip and loved it - the music, the people, the culture...Obviously, not the government.

It's time to give up on this ridiculous embargo. It's been so successful that the regime is still in power nearly 50 years later.

I guarantee you if it became an American tourist destination again, the regime could not conceivably last much longer under pressure for modernization.
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I wonder about this. Cuba is starting to decentralize, but I think the embargo dies with the Castro brothers. I would love to take a vacation to Cuba at some point in my life because from speaking to people who immigrated here from there it sounds like a beautiful island with a great culture. I know some of the food I've enjoyed from Cuban immigrants was fantastic, the music is awesome, and they have a love of life that is second to none. Sounds like great people to party with.
 
CanadaJohn said:
Actually, if you look at it closely, the embargoes on North Korea had little effect originally because it only harmed the little people - when they started to embargo luxury goods and fancy cars, Kim Jong-un sat up and took notice and he's suddenly quite bellicose and threatening - now they're hurting where it counts. With Iran, the embargoes are working because they have severely undermined any power Ahmadinejad still had in the regime - the people hate him and even the Ayatollahs are about to throw him under the bus - they don't like their dirty work coming under so much overt scrutiny.

Cuba, however, is much different in that its regime is harmless and its people love America and American culture and their communist friends are fading away, including Chavez recently, so the time may be ripe for opening up relations between the two countries - Canada's relationship with Cuba and their people has not harmed us in any way.
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Agree here. At present the Castro brothers have nothing, it was a different story during the cold war when Russia was backing the country, especially during the '60s but now Cuba is boxed in, cut off, and toothless. Realistically we could have a decent relationship, and Raul Castro seems more than willing to discuss the future so I say it's harmless to open up diplomatic avenues.
 
CRAP! Cuba was a nice place to go without running into tons of americans, you guys are going ruin that :(
 
Smeagol said:
It was legal.

In my humble opinion by virtue of the fact Beyonce and Jay-Z and American cultural icons who engaged in cultural outreach while in Cuba I think was it qualifies as a legitimate Treasury Department authorization. I think the more efforts can be made to get the people of other countries to embrace Americans, especially countries we are at odds with at some level, it helps foster good will toward us and helps create a "pro-America" global culture. This is IMHO good for America even if the results are not always seen immediately.
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You're assuming that the "culture" that Jay-Z purveys is valuable and, uh, "cultural." The demi-monde of hip-hop isn't representative of who I am or what I stand for as an American.
 
sawyerloggingon said:
First thing Americans will do is buy up all those 50s cars.:lol:
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And, they will "kidnap" all those Cuban mechanics who kept these old beasts running for 50 years..
This, we have coming..
Now, what to do with our rich old men...


I may vote on this one..
 
nota bene said:
You're assuming that the "culture" that Jay-Z purveys is valuable and, uh, "cultural." The demi-monde of hip-hop isn't representative of who I am or what I stand for as an American.
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I may change my mind, open my mind, perhaps to this hop-hip "music", thanks to a conservative..
 
rocket88 said:
Embargos work so well! We put one on Cuba and....oh...Well, there's the one on Iran...oh they're still in charge too...North Korea.....

Somebody help me out here.
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Many dictatorships without embargos still exist. More than enough to counter your examples and have a dozen left over. Each country must be treated differently, as context and priorities are always different in each case. Any recommendation of "universal policy" towards other nations is founded in nonsense.
 
earthworm said:
I may change my mind, open my mind, perhaps to this hop-hip "music", thanks to a conservative..
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Good! You do need to open your mind if you base your musical preferences on politics.

As a musician, I find this even sadder than the people who "hear" music only as "background noise."
 
sawyerloggingon said:
First thing Americans will do is buy up all those 50s cars.:lol:
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There aint that many left, the Europeans have been importing cars to cuba for a while now
 
nota bene said:
Good! You do need to open your mind if you base your musical preferences on politics. Open my mind ?? meaning ?
One thing I have detected in this age...a lack of sensitivity in conservatives....why ??

As a musician, I find this even sadder than the people who "hear" music only as "background noise."
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IF ?
Music, all kinds, good and bad, is apolitical.
Generally true, IMO.
Its my experience that todays "music" , far too much of it ,is the same as background noise.
And I also know that this is not logical.
Some music of today may be on a Bach level....and no-one senses this...now.
 
ecofarm said:
Many dictatorships without embargos still exist. More than enough to counter your examples and have a dozen left over. Each country must be treated differently, as context and priorities are always different in each case. Any recommendation of "universal policy" toward other nations is founded in nonsense.
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NO
Every nation should be treated the same....with fairness and respect....
If they have dictators, they will remove them...they, NOT us...
How many decades will pass until we learn this ??
 
earthworm said:
NO
Every nation should be treated the same....
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No, context matters. No nation is the same, treating them as such is dealing in fantasy.
 
ecofarm said:
No, context matters. No nation is the same, treating them as such is dealing in fantasy.
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I agree, but I also extend this logic to domestic situations. This country, far too often, tries to make equality out of true inequalities.
 
Mathematician said:
I agree, but I also extend this logic to domestic situations. This country, far too often, tries to make equality out of true inequalities.
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I think blacks, gays and women (for examples) are the same as everyone else and should be treated as such barring criminal conviction.

What do you mean?
 
nota bene said:
You're assuming that the "culture" that Jay-Z purveys is valuable and, uh, "cultural." The demi-monde of hip-hop isn't representative of who I am or what I stand for as an American.
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Im making no judgement call on the value or quality of the cultural contributions of Jay-z and Beyonce, only that music is a component of cultural expression and therefore would obviously qualify for travel exemptions with respect to the Cuban travel embargo. And although from what I understand level of influence on the culture is not a factor in determining exemption eligibility, like it or not Jay-Z and Beyonce are leading American cultural influencers both in the US and around the world in music, dance, sports, glamor and motion picture theater.
 
Well, I am making a judgment call on the "culture" they wish to export. And I am delighted that Jay-Z bragged in a rap about his special connection to Obama. Maybe he'll learn something from the backlash.
 
ecofarm said:
I think blacks, gays and women (for examples) are the same as everyone else and should be treated as such barring criminal conviction.

What do you mean?
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Women are not the same as men. If this were true, we wouldn't have distinct military standards, debates over who has control over abortions, etc. I'm sick of people wanting their differences recognized if and only if it is to their advantage in a given scenario. Similarly, a same sex pair is not the opposite sex pair. IMO, you accept the reality that there are significant differences and take the bad with the good.
 
Mathematician said:
IMO, you accept the reality that there are significant differences and take the bad with the good.
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I agree with this part in that every individual is different and that should be recognized; nonetheless, I believe the gender role (or expectation) differences between blacks, gays, women and the majority are the result of social factors and not biological variation.
 
I can agree in part. But I don't think that testosterone is without influence, and this is "biological."
 
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