Would the world end if the US ended its Cuban embargo and began treating it like any other country?

Obama shook Castro’s hand… FYNAL PROF THAT OBUMA IS A CUMONIST!!!~

Remember the “Bay of Pigs invasion” where our marines landed in Cuba and Castro’s army put down their guns and directed our troops towards Castro? We invaded a country that was more than pleased to have us show up. The real question is, why isn’t Cuba a state yet? You’re right about the embargo, it’s very dated and useless at this point because our allies gave it up long ago. I would take it a step further and treat them as a favored nation and even welcome them in to the fold of our country. Sure, the government is crap but the people are generally pro-US.

In US presidential politics, Florida is an important swing state these days. This has been evident since before the Bush-Gore contest in 2000, with the swing then going to Bush by the thinnest of margins. So no candidate can afford to alienate a major voting bloc in Florida.

One of the major blocs there is Cuban expatriates, many of whom escaped during or just after the Castro takeover of the country. These people were upper middle class and upper class citizens of Cuba, and they are now middle and upper class Americans – and they definitely turn out to vote. They themselves are very unwilling to let bygones by bygones with Cuba, and would look with extreme disfavor on a candidate (or president) who would “normalize” relations with that country without some sort of quid pro quo or return of their former property (which has now been severely degraded in value as a result of the general impoverishment of Cuba). So their outrage is certainly understandable.

Since most of those staunch anti-Castro folks are getting on in years now, the window may be opening to finally permit a thaw, but it has been a long time in coming.

Without the embargo, Castro would have been gone (or forced to give his people more freedom) decades ago.

The problem is the people people in Florida who gave up and abandoned their country. They think ownership of the island is their birthright.

When the embargo ends, either they’ll buy up Cuba like the oligarchs did in Russia, or the people who actually endured the hardships will maintain unity and retain their sovereignty.

Then Americans could import pharmaceuticals at a decent price.

Can’t be having that now can we?

@DWW25921 “Remember the “Bay of Pigs invasion” where our marines landed in Cuba and Castro’s army put down their guns and directed our troops towards Castro? We invaded a country that was more than pleased to have us show up.”

You may want to actually read some history because that’s not exactly what happened. For one our troops never invaded Cuba. A US-sponsored force of counter-revolutionaries (supported by a small crew of US personnel) did. For two rather than Castro’s army putting down their guns they handed the US-sponsored force’s their collective asses. The whole thing was a huge international embarrassment for the United States.

You are right about Cuba being more than pleased to have us show up however. It was a massive PR coup for Castro’s government. Che Guevara even relayed a message to President Kennedy: “Thank you for the Bay of Pigs. Before the invasion our revolution was weak. Now support for it is stronger than ever”.

@Darth_Algar That’s how it was explained to me by a friend of mine who was in the navy at the time… Surly he didn’t exaggerate! Thanks for the textbook explanation nonetheless.

@CWOTUS basically explained it, and some other jellies.

Florida is a swing state and a lot of the Cubans who came over in the first “waves” to America are still alive and voting. They are Republican, hate Kennedy (which is one reason they are Republican) and don’t want to help Castro in any way.

Imagine if Castro dissapeared and Cuba became a democracy? Then the Cubans would have to go through the same immigration process as other immigrants. Not that they have it easy. A few just died off of our Keys yesterday according to one Cuban man who was near death who almost made it to our shores.

@DWW25921 War stories are never exaggerated!

Even NORWAY sends its health professionals to Cuba to learn how an effective health system works. The powers that be want the truth about Cuba hidden from obvious view.

@cazzie My husband’s cousin went to Cuba (her husband and sister did) to get medicine for her cancer treatment. They tried to pay for it and the Cubans didn’t have a price to charge them, they just gave it to them. They said Cuba was awful though, such a shame. Her doctors in America said they didn’t know for sure if it was the Cuban medicine, but her pancreatic cancer stopped growing. Eventually the diseases ravaged her though.

@DWW25921 Sorry, but if that’s the way your friend explained it then he was, quite frankly, full of shit.

As to the last part of my question, it was less than an hour before I saw Fox News begin to denigrate the president for being polite.
Evidently, in their opinion, the Prez should have poked his eye out instead of shaking hands.

West Germany exported goods to Eastern Europe. And what happened? The Wall came down. Perhaps the US should try the same with Cuba.

@mattbrowne A lot of people in America support getting rid of the embargo. My guess is the majority does.

@CWOTUS I hope you are right about them finally dying out. Not that I wish them dead, only that hopefully the hatred dies with them. I have my doubts however, my wife worked with a woman who was a first generation American of Cuban parents who came over immediately before Castro took over and they had certainly passed on their hatred to her and her brother. Both of them were born here yet vilified Castro and the country he ran.

@rojo I don’t feel it has anything to do with hating Castro whether you are ok or not with the embargo. All Cuban-Americans I know want Cubans to be free and to live in a democracy. They also all hate Castro. Where they differ is whether they identify as Reoublicans or Democrats, and even aside from that, whether they think the embargo helps or hurts the Cuban situation.