Embargo? What Embargo?

[Sandokan]

Cuban dissidents and the Embargo

Fidel Castro on November 2002, speaking in the first session of Cuba’s National Assembly, dismissed any possibility of success to the opponents of the regime. He said: “There is no opposition to speak of because the dissidents are like fish in an empty fish tank; there is no oxygen left for the counterrevolution and there will be even less in the future”

Most Cuban dissidents support the embargo. Among the dissidents that fight for the advance of Human Rights and peaceful changes towards democracy and social justice, and support the embargo the following one stand out:

Berta Soler, leader of “The ladies in White,” in May 20, 2014, in a letter to Obama said: “The position of the Ladies in White is that it should be strengthened. No oxygen to the Cuban government, no diplomatic overtures, because this will not benefit the people of Cuba. When there was a socialist bloc and the Soviet Union, rather than evolving we regressed. What the Cuban government wants is to buy time to stay in power.”

The economist Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, has a long history of working for human rights and Cuba’s freedom. She was one of the authors of the document “The Homeland Belongs to All”, which caused her to spent 19 months in prison. In her excellent analysis of the Cuban economy published in Revista Hispano Cubana, she wrote “Before the demise of the URRS, in Cuba the embargo was not even talked about but now it has become a matter of live or death for the regime, since only the financial flux from the United States, opening the possibility of obtaining lines of credit, the American tourism and the increment of the remittances of relatives, will allow the regime to confront the desperate situation in which it has submerge the country.”

 

[Sandokan]

According to Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet, who was sentenced in 2003 to 25 years in prison, replying to the statement of senator Dodd “The moment for lifting the sanctions against Cuba has arrived”, was "The lifting of the embargo must be conditioned on respect for human rights, the freeing of political prisoners, the acceptance of the multi-party system and free and democratic elections. This is a question of principles, not business.”

 

[Sandokan]

Since the crackdown on 2003, known as Cuba’s Black Spring, the pacific struggle of the Lades in White became the symbol of Cuban resistance for freedom and dignity. Berta Soler, leader of “The ladies in White”, in 2014 in a letter to Obama said: “The position of the Ladies in White is that it should be strengthened. No oxygen to the Cuban government, no diplomatic overtures, because this will not benefit the people of Cuba.”

On 2015, at the Oslo Freedom Forum, Berta Soler said: “We, Ladies in White, believe that these relations and conversations between the Cuban and U.S. governments will not be of any benefit to the Cuban people.”

 

[Sandokan]

Subsidies

The main source of Cuba’s income has mostly been foreign subsidies. From 1961 to 1990, Cuba received an average of $4.0 billion per year in subsidies from the Soviet Union. During those years the resources dedicated to the construction of houses and the infrastructure were minimal. Public transportation had not improved nor the rationing card suppressed. The standard of living of the population declined. The social and racial inequality kept growing year after year. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) ranked Cuba in 2001 in the penultimate place of poverty among the countries of Latin America. All those thousands of millions of dollars that arrived at the hands of the Castro regime did not benefit the Cuban people at all. Simply they were used to reinforce the power of Fidel Castro, to pay the cost of the wars in Africa, the subversion against the democratic governments of Latin America, and the creation of the repressive apparatus of the Department of the Interior.

From 2000 to 2014, Venezuela subsidies to Cuba amounted over $105 billion, an average of $7 billion per year, higher than the Soviet Union subsidies. According to the economist Carmelo Mesa Lago Venezuela subsidy to Cuba during 2008 totaled $9.4 billion.86

The Castroist communist regime foreign debt in 2015 reached $116.7 billion. The regime borrows billions of dollars per year to stay afloat. The regime is short in cash and cannot buy much of anything from other countries. Venezuela has now surpassed Russia as Cuba’s single largest creditor, estimated at over $30 billion. The regime could not survive for long without Venezuelan oil, and many other subsidies.

 

[Sandokan]

The Castroist regime, without current subsidies from its allies and the willingness of foreign creditors to indefinitely defer its debt, would face the untenable situation of either keep borrowing billions of dollars more per year to spend on imports or sacrificing other essential needs of the people. Cubans are now fleeing the country in record numbers seeing personal survival from the austerity measures of the second “austerity period”, avoiding a direct confrontation with the regime responsible for their fate. Those that cannot escaped, eventually will revolt against the regime, they have nothing left to lose.

 

[Fletch]

The Castroist regime, without current subsidies from its allies and the willingness of foreign creditors to indefinitely defer its debt, would face the untenable situation of either keep borrowing billions of dollars more per year to spend on imports or sacrificing other essential needs of the people. Cubans are now fleeing the country in record numbers seeing personal survival from the austerity measures of the second “austerity period”, avoiding a direct confrontation with the regime responsible for their fate. Those that cannot escaped, eventually will revolt against the regime, they have nothing left to lose.

Youve kept this thread alive for 13 years. Whats it about again?

 

[Sandokan]

Foreign Debt

The Castroit regime defaulted in its foreign debt to its westerns creditors in 1986. In 2013 the regime’s foreign debt amounted to $35 billion with the Paris Club, $35 billion with Russia, $25 billion with Venezuela, $10 billion with China and $10 billion with other countries, for a staggering foreign debt of $115 billion87, the world’s biggest debtor nation per capita. Part of this debt has been write off by Russia, Japan, Spain, Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico and other countries, and dumped on the back of their taxpayers.

There is basically one country that the Castroist regime don’t have a debt with, except for the confiscation of American properties that is one of the main reasons for the establishment of the embargo, from which it could obtain credits, the United States.

What the Castroist regime really wants are loans and lines of credit guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury Department, since it doesn’t have hard currency to pay the interests on the lines of credit for the importation of merchandise. The U.S. "bail-out" of Cuba through loans and lines of credit will not be pay back and the American taxpayers will be ones to pick up the debt.

The infusion of loans by the United States would replace the shrinking Venezuela subsidizes, thereby delaying the transition of the Cuban people towards democracy and guaranteeing additional decades of oppression and misery. The Castroist tyrannical regime looks forward to the day when the military apparatus and the massive repressive security service will be maintained at the expense of the United States government.

“The U.S. "bail-out" of Cuba through loans and lines of credit will not be pay back and the American taxpayers will be ones to pick up the debt.” These credits will not be paid, and the American taxpayers will be the losers, the ones to pick up the debt, as it happens at the present time with the taxpayers of many countries like Spain, Argentina, Canada, Venezuela and others.

 

[Sandokan]

Cuba’s problems are not the result of the embargo. Cuban economy’s bankruptcy is the sole responsibility of Castroit regime. It is due to the corruption and ineffectiveness of a military dictatorship that is against private property and free enterprise. Under this system the economy will continuous to deteriorate without any hope of improvement and the foreign debt increasing.

 

[Sandokan]

Bill Re-Introduced in Attempt to End Cuba Embargo | The Federalist Society (fedsoc.org)

Mar 21, 2023

Earlier this month, the Freedom to Export to Cuba Act was re-introduced by a bipartisan group of senators proposing the removal of the trade embargo placed on Cuba.

With aims to normalize trade relations with Cuba, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) bill was re-introduced in order to “create new economic opportunities by boosting U.S. exports and allowing Cubans greater access to American goods,” as quoted in a statement from Klobuchar’s office.

The bill reiterates that other U.S. laws regarding Cuba’s human rights-based injustices be kept intact. As stated by Senator Murphy, “ we can expand opportunities for American businesses and farmers to trade with Cuba while still holding the Cuban government accountable for its human rights record. This bipartisan legislation is a smart fix that will create American jobs and benefit the Cuban people.”

Additional support of the bill has been found in Senate Finance Committee Chair, Ron Wyden (D-OR) who has pushed for increased licenses for Cuba’s small and medium-sized businesses as well as international banking access.

Strong opposition to the bill is expected, potentially including from Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who serves as the Senate Foreign Relations Chair.

Since there is virtually no private sector in Cuba, opening trade would only help the Castroist regime, not regular Cuban citizens. The 90% state-owned economy ensures that the Cuban government and military would reap the gains of open trade with the United States, not private citizens.

 

[Juks]

Since there is virtually no private sector in Cuba, opening trade would only help the Castroist regime, not regular Cuban citizens. The 90% state-owned economy ensures that the Cuban government and military would reap the gains of open trade with the United States, not private citizens.

From my earlier post that you choose not to answer
So to all the 5% relatives, who now live in the US where they fled during the revolution, and who still justify the impoverishment, exploitation and theft from the Cuban people and think they should be entitled to the loot they didn't manage to take with them on the run to USA, I say Fxxx you…claiming the loots of murderers and bandits

To be fair (and I am not pro-Cuban, but right should be right) before Fidel Castro and the revolution, 95 % of the people where starving big time. They had no access to electricity. Corruption was double the one in Russia of today. Unemployeement enourmous, those who had jobs had to except levels for wages equal to those in 1910. Demonstrating students and workers where systematically killed. Trade union premises were occupied. Opposition( mostly communists) and union leaders where systematically murdered. The rest (5%) living in luxury though... The corruption was enormous much worse than the one in Russia of today. Infront of the 1952 elections, the Orthodox Party (in which Fidel Castro was a member) was on its way to a certain victory. But the election never took place. With US support, Batista staged a military coup in March 1952.

And yes, the US has since the occupation (1902) very much been the reason for Cubas demise and developement. US companies looted Cuba, within the economic agreements concluded between the United States and its puppet regimes on Cuba (the 5% that had good living standards, or in more modern terms, the Cuban oligarchs...)). In the 1920s, the United States controlled almost the entire Cuban economy. Companies such as United Fruit heavily exploited the island for export crops, sugar, tobacco and bananas. The distortion of the country's economy was driven to such an extent that, despite agriculture being the main industry, large quantities of food had to be imported. USA monopolies not only owned sugar mills, oil refineries, banks, small industries, telephone and electric grids, but the US embassy was also the one that effectively controlled the court, government and president. This neo-colonialism differs from the old colonialism mainly in that the exploited country, Cuba, itself was forced to bear the costs of the oppressive apparatus and staff it. For Cuba, this meant that the countryside was underdeveloped, and that prostitution and gambling flourished in Havana and elsewhere where crime, mafia rule and racial discrimination thrived.

So to all the 5% relatives, who now live in the US where they fled during the revolution, and who still justify the impoverishment, exploitation and theft from the Cuban people and think they should be entitled to the loot they didn't manage to take with them on the run to USA, I say Fxxx you…claiming the loots of murderers and bandits

 

[Sandokan]

The embargo should be maintained because open travel is insufficient to promote change in Cuba. Many democratic countries already allow travel to Cuba with no results. Lifting all travel restrictions to Cuba would not lead to improved conditions or the spread of democracy. The Castroist regime has not demonstrated a willingness to negotiate in good faith with the United States.

 

[Nickyjo]

The embargo should be maintained because open travel is insufficient to promote change in Cuba. Many democratic countries already allow travel to Cuba with no results. Lifting all travel restrictions to Cuba would not lead to improved conditions or the spread of democracy. The Castroist regime has not demonstrated a willingness to negotiate in good faith with the United States.

It’s not as if the US posture towards Cuba over the decades has involved good faith.

 

[Sandokan]

Professors at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, 98 percent agreed Cuba's economic hardships were due to the Cuban government's own policies, not US sanctions. The Castroist regime likes to claim it is, and use it as a scapegoat for all their problems.

 

[Sandokan]

The Castroist communist regime absolute state planning has destroyed nearly all production on the island. As Cuban people say, "Blockade? There is no blockade. The chickens say 'Product of USA' right on the side." The regime is the typical example of an economy based on eating your seed crop. You can see it in the thousands of buildings that are in disrepair. in Havana and other cities.

 

[Sandokan]

Cuba’s economic crisis is worse than after fall of the Soviet Union, economists warn | World | union-bulletin.com

Story by Nora Gámez Torres, Miami Herald

August 10, 2023

Cuba, which for decades was one of the largest exporters of sugar in the world, now has to import sugar to meet its domestic demand.

Six decades after the Cuban Revolution, the country is again undergoing a severe economic crisis, this time worse than the infamous “Special Period” in the 1990s, as the economic downturn that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union is known. But Cuba is also experiencing a boom in private enterprise, a contrasting reality fueling more inequality, economists gathered in Miami to analyze the situation on the island said.

“The economic crisis in Cuba that started around 2019 has worsened, approaching or surpassing the magnitude of the severe crisis of the 1990s,” Carmelo Mesa Lago, the most prominent expert on the Cuban economy, said at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy at Florida International University. Click link above for full article.

In 2022, Cuba produced 473,000 MT of sugar cane, only 61% of the 761,000 MT produced in 1868, at the beginning of the 10 year war a 152 years ago. Once the world’s leading producer now has to import sugar from Brazil and France to meet its internal consumer needs and the 400,000 Mt contracted to export to China. Sugar is rationed in the island at a rate of 4 pounds per month per person. The comply destruction of the sugar industry is due to deficiencies and mismanagement of Castro’s communist regime, it has absolutely nothing to do with the U.S. embargo.

 

[Sandokan]

Cuba, in 2002 with the closure and dismantling of 104 of the 156 existing sugar mills stopped being a sugar power. It went from being the world’s largest producer and exporter of sugar cane, to produce only 1.1 million tons in 2010, quantity slightly larger than the 1.05 produced in 1894 before the War of Independence.

 

[Sandokan]

U.S. policy shouldn’t be used to bail out a failed dictatorship and help it survive. The only effective embargo that today affects the Cuban people is the internal embargo of the Castroist communist regime, that doesn’t generate the wealth necessary to a healthy economy.

 

[Sandokan]

The approval of credits to the Castroist regime by the United States would only replace the Soviet subsidy that they no longer receive and will delay the transition of the Cuban people towards democracy guaranteeing additional decades of oppression and misery.

 

[Sandokan]

In the year 2000 the United States Congress lifted the prohibition of the sale of agricultural products and medicines to Cuba, thereby allowing Castro’s regime to buy everything it needs. Under this system the economy has continued to deteriorate without any hope of improvement. The effect of the US embargo is minimal on the regime economy, it only represents 6% of the regime commerce with the rest of the world. Cuba will still be a failed economy without the embargo.

 

[Sandokan]

Looks they’re running out of physical money as well. It’s really sad. I feel bad for those who live in the countryside , the elderly, or even those who have no family outside.

The solution is to give more economic freedoms to the people, but the regime knows that this would take away their power and could even end the system as happened with the USSR.

 

[Sandokan]

Cuba: U.S. Policy Overview (fas.org)

Updated August 29, 2023

U.S. Policy

The Obama Administration initiated a policy shift away from sanctions and toward engagement and the normalization of relations. Changes included the rescission of Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of international terrorism; the restoration of diplomatic relations and eased restrictions on travel, remittances, trade, telecommunications, and banking and financial services.

The response of the Castroist communist regime to the ease of sanctions and restoration of diplomatic relations, was the brutal repression of the spontaneous pacific mass protests that started on July 11, 2021 all over Cuba.

 

[Sandokan]

The Biden Administration criticized Cuba’s repression and imposed targeted sanctions on those involved, including financial sanctions on three Cuban security entities and eight officials, and visa restrictions against 50 individuals involved in repressing protesters.

 

[Sandokan]

Senator Marco Rubio sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, urging he update and add new entities affiliated with MININT and MINFAR to the Cuba Entities list that prohibit transactions with entities affiliated with the MININT and MINFAR, due to the ongoing human rights violations against the Cuban people.

 

[Sandokan]

Both MININT and MINFAR operate hotels, tourism agencies, marinas, stores and financial institutions. Entities not included in the restricted list, tourist that used them, pay considerable sums of money to them and thereby fund the ongoing repression, the detention and the torture of Cuban children and political prisoners.

 

[Sandokan]

The brain injuries suffered by American diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Havana according to a panel of scientific experts, found that pulsed electromagnetic energy, also referred to as microwave energy, was the most plausible culprit of Havana Syndrome. The syndrome. The syndrome emerged in late 2016, when U.S. diplomats serving in Cuba began reporting “bizarre sounds and sensations followed by unexplained illnesses and symptoms, including hearing and vision loss, memory and balance problems, headaches and nausea.” Russia has denied any link to Havana Syndrome symptoms.