Cuba embargo lifted after the Cold War?

Cook

Banned
To at least some degree, the Fidelista are quite popular in Cuba as I understand it.

How could anybody possibly know?
The country has a secret police that lock up people who go around saying they don’t like Castro; it sort of makes taking an accurate opinion poll a little difficult.

I’m betting the news from Egypt isn’t getting much coverage on Havana tv.
 
Hey, anyone read that article I posted a few posts back? It states that it is a common misconception that speaking freely about Castro will land you a night in jail.(how true that is I don't know, judge for yourselves)

btw good sirs/madams, or should I say Comrades, I may be biased, but I see myself as something of a Socialist/communist. Do you have anything against that, hm?

Look around you. Corporate greed is prevalent almost everywhere you turn. Monsanto, The big banks, that old United Fruit Company(Ya you know what you've done guys).

Cuba under Batista was a right-wing nightmare. Did Fidel Castro not have the right to rebel against the oppressive, American backed regime that harmed the Cuban people? If not for the circumstances, Communism would've have never arisen at all(I guess desperate times call for desperate measures)

Are you fine with living under a country that supported murderous regimes across Latin America. One that could work with large corporations to work against the good of the people? And all in the name of spreading Democracy? And would

Communism is not dead. It has merely mutated into something more. It's changed with the times. Hopefully, China, DPRK, Vietnam, Laos, and Cuba can one day become socialist democracies...but that won't happen for a time.

Am I suggesting a radical measures are the only way? Not at all.

Cuba was, im other ho worse off then it is today. At least it's not Batista ruling...:)
 
I'll stand by my original assessment of their intelligence. The embargo has been in effect in one form or another for fifty years and it has demonstrably failed to achieve anything but make life harder for the Cuban people. Dictators never suffer because of sanctions, they'll always find a way to live in comfort even when their people are starving in the streets.

Fair enough, we'll agree to disagree then (to the chunk about their intelligence).


I think you overestimate the amount of control Castro can exert. Once the Cuban people get a taste of the Western good life, and I'm sure a good few of them have already through back door channels, Castro's going to have to make the choice between letting those people have access to more freedom and a better standard of living or having those people take those things for themselves.


And again I think you overestimate the amount of control the PRC has over it's people and you underestimate the effects of geography.

First China is always a special case because it contains a sixth of the Human race. Second the sheer size of the country makes it difficult for people in most areas to even no that there's a better standard of living to be had. Cuba is a lot smaller and much closer to the USA, those facts alone make it much easier to undermine a totalitarian goverment by economic means. Every American who visited Cuba and every dollar they spent there would be an ambassador for the Western way of life as opposed to the Communist way.

The thing is, Cubans are already exposed to the Western way of life. I'm Canadian, myself, and I know a large number of Canadians who have been to Cuba, and have been "ambassadors" for the Western way of life. The problem is, there is still the control. On top of this, those who work in the tourism trade are certainly exposed to Western standards (and much more importantly, currency), but the larger majority of the Cuban population is not. How influential is Western tourism to the average Cuban...I can't possibly know.

But, outside of the whole Cuban American intelligence angle, I don't disagree with you. I do think, if it can be managed, flooding Cuba with American consumer goods of all sorts can have an amazing effect on overthrowing the Castro regime, but I don't think it's a guarantee. The growing Cuban tourism industry is a factor in this. The Warsaw Pact was basically bankrupt by the time it collapsed. It's consumer goods were subpar to available Western goods, and on top of that, there were never enough goods to go around. Cuba has a healthy tourism industry, and with that, Castro receives the hard currency Cuba needs to keep some control.

Also, and forgive my ignorance on this, but how exposed is Cubans to American radio and television signals? I've heard of the Cuban government trying to jam signals, but, I can't exactly find out either way.
 
How could anybody possibly know?
The country has a secret police that lock up people who go around saying they don’t like Castro; it sort of makes taking an accurate opinion poll a little difficult.

A common misconception, I think you'll find. If it was true, then the Internet would be unknown or heavily censored in Cuba. It is not.

I’m betting the news from Egypt isn’t getting much coverage on Havana tv.

It will receive the treatment the regime desires. However, again there are alternative sources of information now available to Cubans. They won't only rely on Cuban official TV for their knowledge.
 

Cook

Banned
A common misconception, I think you'll find. If it was true, then the Internet would be unknown or heavily censored in Cuba. It is not.

Apparently a very common misconception.
Human Rights Watch said:
Cuba remains the only country in Latin America that represses virtually all forms of political dissent. In 2010 the government continued to enforce political conformity using criminal prosecutions, beatings, harassment, denial of employment, and travel restrictions.
Since inheriting control of the government from his brother Fidel Castro in 2006, Raul Castro has kept Cuba's repressive legal and institutional structures firmly in place. While Cuban law includes broad statements affirming fundamental rights, it also grants officials extraordinary authority to penalize individuals who try to exercise them.
Following the death of a political prisoner on hunger strike in February 2010 and the subsequent hunger strike of a prominent dissident, Cuba’s government has released more than 40 political prisoners, forcing most into exile. Many more journalists, human rights defenders, and dissidents remain behind bars, while the government increasingly relies on short-term, arbitrary detentions to punish its critics.
Political Prisoners, Arbitrary Detentions, and "Dangerousness"
Cubans who dare to criticize the government are subject to criminal and "pre-criminal" charges. They are exempt from due process guarantees, such as the right to a defense, and denied meaningful judicial protection because courts are "subordinated" to the executive and legislative branches.


Human Rights Watch said:
October 21, 2010
The European Parliament's award of its Sakharov prize for human rights to Guillermo Fariñas, the Cuban dissident who held a hunger strike to call for the release of other political prisoners, is a welcome step, Human Rights Watch said today. Since Fariñas ended his 135-day hunger strike, Cuba has released more than 40 political prisoners, forcing most into exile in Spain.


 
Apparently a very common misconception

Your quote says nothing about availability of information, only about the ability to express dissent in a public forum.

Which is a perfectly dreadful thing by itself but not particularly relevant to your ongoing discussion.
 
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