A Small Step Towards Sanity and the High Road

Mark of New Jersey

Mark is a Founding Editor of The League of Ordinary Gentlemen, the predecessor of Ordinary Times.

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7 Responses

  1. Katherine says:

    Yes! A small step, but a step all the same.

    My guess is that Raul Castro, at least, is likely to try to emulate China by liberalizing economically while keeping the country a dictatorship, knowing that communist economics and not dictatorship is what the US objects to. I hope I’m wrong – it would be nice if Cuba could democratize without losing the best medical care in Latin America.Report

  2. North says:

    In the words of Rick Mercer “Cuba should just join Canada. We’d call it Canuba and if the Americans didn’t like it we’d just say shaddap, we’ve got ya surrounded.”Report

  3. I’ve been a big proponent of lifting the embargo for years. It’s ridiculous. There is an American population that would be falling all over themselves to visit Cuba if it became a tourist destination. Forget the military…the greatest force for Cuban democracy is a floatilla of cruise ships filled to capcity with Americans and their money.Report

    • @Mike at The Big Stick, One of the first things I found startling when moving to Toronto were the travel posters for Cuba. I should say that I’ve American friends who have researched there and all of them speak very warmly of Havana as the sort of city one yearns to return to. So, I’d agree that that could be a good way to undermine the Castros.Report

      • @Rufus, There was a lengthy article about Cuba in a magazine years ago (I can’t remember where I read it) that talked about how amazing it would be as a full-scale tourist spot. Fantastic fishing, scuba diving, beaches, etc. I’ve also heard that there is an extensive network of trails from the revolutionary days which are now excellent for mountain biking. Plus I have no doubt the food and liquor are superb.Report

    • @Mike at The Big Stick, “There is an American population that would be falling all over themselves to visit Cuba if it became a tourist destination.”

      Hrm….maybe that’s actually the reason the embargo exists. The embargo is good for Puerto Rico’s tourism industry. So the bargain for keeping Puerto Rico as a territory rather than making it a state or giving it independence is that we keep the embargo against Cuba in place.

      Admit it – it’s a pretty fantastic conspiracy theory. Ok, maybe not. But at least that would be an explanation that would make more sense than “we’re putting pressure on the Castro regime.”

      And, yeah, an invading force of American tourists quite often has the propensity to be a more powerful weapon than the Third Infantry. That effect gets magnified by several orders when you add in the fact that Cuba would suddenly become the Spring Break destination to end all Spring Break destinations. I’m imagining the look of utter confusion on the Castros’ faces upon seeing beautiful, drunk and privileged upper-middle-class American college girls unironically prancing around Havana in Che Guevara bikinis. You can’t tell me that the Castros wouldn’t just give up then and there out of pure frustration and bewilderment.Report