Cuba Politics News and Information
EFE
A dozen of the country’s leading business organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Thursday that President-elect Barack Obama should at least initiate the process of scrapping Washington’s 46-year-old economic embargo against Cuba.
“We support the complete removal of all trade and travel restrictions on Cuba,” the groups said in an open letter to Obama. “We recognize that change may not come all at once, but it must start somewhere, and it must begin soon.”
Complaining about draconian restrictions on journeys to the communist-ruled island, the organizations said it was “simply wrong” that U.S. citizens were free to travel to North Korea or Iran but not to Havana.
They also urged the future president to make it easier for U.S. firms to take advantage of limited exceptions to the embargo that permit Cuba to purchase food and other necessities from the United States.
Havana has repeatedly made the same request in recent months as Cuba struggles to recover from the effects of three hurricanes.
Obama promised during the campaign that he would scrap Bush administration regulations sharply limiting the ability of Cuban Americans to visit their homeland or send money and goods to family members on the island.
While the Democrat said on the stump that he would not end the embargo, his victory in last month’s election has fueled calls to normalize ties between Washington and Havana.
The author of the text sent to Obama, National Foreign Trade Council Vice President Jake Colvin, said Thursday that he had circulated a similar letter a year ago but found few organizations willing to sign.
This time around, the missive was signed by the Chamber of Commerce, American Farm Bureau Federation, Business Roundtable, National Retail Federation and Grocery Manufacturers Association, among others.
The document cites a 2001 government report that estimated the Cuba embargo was costing U.S. exporters up to $1.2 billion annually in lost sales.
Colvin’s letter also points out that the U.S. Treasury Department devotes far more resources to enforcing the Cuba embargo than to tracking the finances of Al Qaeda.
Just last month, Treasury imposed a fine of more than $12,000 on Internet travel agency Priceline.com for offering its services to Cuban citizens, the letter said.
Obama would need congressional approval to completely dismantle the embargo, though he could use executive orders to ease the restrictions.
A poll released this week shows that 55 percent of Miami’s Cuban Americans say the United States should end the economic embargo, while 65 percent say Washington should re-establish diplomatic ties with the island.
The strong support for lifting the embargo reflects a change in South Florida’s Cuban-exile community, which has traditionally backed keeping the sanctions in place until the communist government in Havana frees political prisoners and embraces democracy.
Florida International University’s Institute for Public Opinion Research interviewed 800 Cuban-American adults for the survey.
The poll showed a sharp division by age group, with 65 percent of respondents between 18 and 44 saying they opposed the embargo, while 68 percent of those 65 and over expressed support for keeping it in place.
In response to a question about whether there would be “great political change” in Cuba, some 29 percent of respondents said it would likely occur in the next two to five years, while 25 percent ruled out any change as long as the Castro brothers held on to power.
Fidel Castro, who is 82 and still convalescing from a serious illness that struck him in July 2006, formally resigned the Cuban presidency early this year in favor of his younger brother, Gen. Raul Castro.
Though anxious to revitalize Cuba’s economy and raise living standards, Raul has given no indication he plans to loosen the Communist Party’s grip on power.
—————————————- Havana Journal Comments—————————————-
Havana Journal Inc. owns USCubaTrade.com and is always looking for development partners.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CONTACT US with news tips, press releases, announcements, travel notes, etc
Apparently Fidel Castro agrees that Cuba should talk with Obama about lifting the Embargo.
Signature:
This is my signature - get yours in Your Control Panel. Go ahead and add a link to your site. Self promotion is permitted as long as it is beneficial to our community.
I believe its time to explore, positive thinking! Lets face it; improved relations with cuba would mean goods and services would be sold and traded, bringing about economic benefits to both sides and an improved way of life to millions or cubans. We need the Money, they need the products we produce! Lets strike a deal.
If the Cuban government is asking for the credit embargo should be lifted, doesn’t that imply that this will not break their tight grip on Cuba? I mean, just because America lifts the credit embargo, Cuba has the right to block whatever will debilitate the role of socialism in society.
Honestly though, a person like me who is pro embargo would have to see certain conditions met, like:
-No tax on remittances to family members.
-Freedom of travel to Cubans as well.
-High financing rates to all transactions, and strict government oversight which penalizes Cuba for not paying on time (as they have a long history on flopping on payments worldwide).
-Political tolerance to opposition in Cuba.
-Freedom to all political prisoners.
Seems fair.
I’m drawing my conclusion about Cuba’s potential behavior, based on the status quo in Cuba at this time. Cuba already trades plenty with European countries, Canada, gets aid from China,Russia,Venezuela, buys cash only from the United States, YET the country still looks like a garage sale, BUT NOT the lavish hotels for foreigners, nor the living conditions and amenities for the nomenklatura.
If the country is like this with the economic ties that Cuba has, it can only get better for tourists and nomenklatura, with crumbs (oh yeah and “free"healthcare and education) for the massses.
