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Sun 16 Oct, 2005 10:38 am
SALAMANCA, Spain, Oct. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Leaders from Ibero-American countries adopted a final statement demanding an end to the US economic blockade on Cuba, as they wrapped up a two-day summit on Saturday.
"We call on the United States of America to comply with that laid down in 13 successive resolutions approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations, and to bring an end to the economic, trade and financial blockade it maintains against Cuba,"said one of a set of final documents.
On Thursday, the foreign ministers of the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries made a call on Washington to end theblockade.
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque welcomed the decisionsaying it represented an "unequivocal signal of support for the Cuban people."
The US embargo against Cuba, which aims to squeeze the island'seconomy and push out Cuban President Fidel Castro, has lasted for more than 40 years. Cuba says the embargo has cost it 82 billion US dollars.
The move drew immediate concerns from the US side and its embassy officials in Spain said it could be interpreted as supportfor the Castro rule.
The officials also protested against the use of the word "blockade" rather than "embargo" in describing the US actions on Cuba. Spanish officials countered that the word "blockage" had been used in UN resolutions as well.
A total of 17 leaders of the Ibero-American countries were present at the summit, held annually among Spain, Portugal, Andorra and 19 Latin American countries.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also attended the summit. In a special address, Annan called for greater progress in trade talks,particularly in agriculture and aid to developing nations.
The presidents of El Salvador and Guatemala missed the summit to cope with domestic disaster relief in the wake of the HurricaneStan which killed over 1,400 in Central American and Mexico. The presidents of Nicaragua and Ecuador also stayed away.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has pledged65 million US dollars in aid to El Salvador and Guatemala to help with relief efforts.
Summit Secretary General Enrique Iglesias said his office wouldwork over the coming year to set up a fund to which each member country could contribute money to render help in future catastrophes.
The leaders discussed plans to forgive debt in return for investment in education, as well as efforts to strengthen coordination on immigration policies.
They also approved a Cuban-backed resolution on terrorism. The leaders said they supported steps "to achieve the extradition or bring to justice the person responsible for the terrorist attack on a Cubana de Aviacion plane in October 1976 which killed 73 civilians."
Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative, denied involvement in the attack and a US judge has ruled that Posada maynot be deported to Cuba or Venezuela, on grounds that he may face torture. Enitem
In the "What's good for the goose department":
"Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative, denied involvement in the attack and a US judge has ruled that Posada maynot be deported to Cuba or Venezuela, on grounds that he may face torture." Enitem
The arrogance and forgetfulness of the Spanish and Portuguese governments in this matter is remarkable. They both made an awful mess out of their colonial empires in America, bequeathing as they did legacies of authoritarianism, exploitive aristocracies and racism that continue to plague their former colonies - most of which openly acknowledged the United States as a model in their own struggles for independence, but all of which failed in part due to the Iberian cultural and political baggage planted on them by their former masters.
Our embargo doesn't affect any of these nations -- all of them are free to trade with Cuba to whatewver extent they find advantageous. Odd, isn't it that, except for Hugo Chavez's Venezuela, none of them have any subtantial trade with Castro's socialist paradise. Why? The answer is that Cuba produces little that anyone is interested in buying and has mo money to buy the products of others.
The U.S. embargo is a more or less useless relic of an earlier age - useless for the same reason: there is no basis for trade anyway. However, until Castro dies and opens the door for possible freedom for Cubans, removing the embargo would do more harm than letting it continue.
Quote:However, until Castro dies and opens the door for possible freedom for Cubans, removing the embargo would do more harm than letting it continue.
George, that sounds alot like "we had to destroy the village in order to save it"
I can't think of any reason for a connection here. We didn't make Cuba the impoverished tyranny that it has become. Helping this oppressive, incompetent regime and the inflated ego of its architect and chief oppressor limp along for a few more years would be no useful service to the unfortunate people of Cuba. The best thing we can do for them is to hasten the demise of this tyranny. After that at least a generation will be required for the enervating effects of socialism to wash out of the population. Cuba is a basket case, and almost none of the hypocritical nations that signed up to the resolution in question trade with it either. This is just an opportunity for them to tweak the nose of the Yankees. Let them play - however we shouldn't take them seriously.
Of course the U.S. should end its ridiculous embargo of Cuba. This obsolete relic of Cold War paranoia is maintained for no other reason than the fact that a small pile of tropical dirt less than a hundred miles from the U.S. coast has managed to maintain political autonomy despite decades of U.S. sponsored infrastructural and agricultural sabotage.
Mills, you are right on with your comments. This is like a thorn in the side. One has to admire the tenacity of the Cubans to be autonomous. Not very many countries have managed to maintain autonomy when the U.S. decides to take over. I wonder what will happen when Fidel dies? He must be in his 80's?
We don't need sugar, we don't need cigars, we don't need any more illegal immigrants.
With Cuba having nothing much else to offer, why should the US begin trade with Cuba?
George is spot on. Again.
uh...........woiyo
the cigars would be good...................lol
rodeman wrote:uh...........woiyo
the cigars would be good...................lol
Are you unable or unwilling to persue the question...WHY should we eliminate the sanctions??
georgeob1 wrote:I can't think of any reason for a connection here. We didn't make Cuba the impoverished tyranny that it has become. Helping this oppressive, incompetent regime and the inflated ego of its architect and chief oppressor limp along for a few more years would be no useful service to the unfortunate people of Cuba. The best thing we can do for them is to hasten the demise of this tyranny. After that at least a generation will be required for the enervating effects of socialism to wash out of the population. Cuba is a basket case, and almost none of the hypocritical nations that signed up to the resolution in question trade with it either. This is just an opportunity for them to tweak the nose of the Yankees. Let them play - however we shouldn't take them seriously.
So then you're also in favor of an embargo against China, right?
I'm surprised at you george(sorry McG!).For all the time you spent at "Foggy Bottom" or Langley you have a weak grasp of the complete failure of JFK's Cuban Embargo, A little history:
JFK proposed the embargo to punish Fidel for storing Russian missiles so close to our Miami beaches. It was supposed to bankrupt Cuba and Fidel but 40 years later Fidel is a billionaire and he will grasp the helm of Cuba til his dying day. In the meantime the Cuban population has suffered through 40 years of deprivation and our cuban immigration problems are a direct result.
The embargo might have been a worthy tool during the Cold War . but after 1991 when the USSR folded it became as useless as a man's appendix.
Make no mistake, this is a human embargo not a trade embargo. As you astutely pointed out, there's not much we need from Cuba(except rum and cigars)
The human toll, the breakup of families, Ilian, the deaths in the Florida straits...these are the true legacy of JFK's embargo.
Republican Chuck Hagel has bravely sponsored the "United States-Cuba Trade Act of 2003."
I think every voting Democrat should fire off a letter of congratulations to this senator.
Finally, Fidel has long relied on the embargo as a smoke screen to hide the true nemesis of Cuba: himself.
George: Portugese and Spanish racism? I guess you've never been to Brazil or Cuba. I'll bet you our racism to our Native tribes and our slaves makes their racism pale in comparison
panzade you silly goose, it's the principle of the thing not the people, we are fighting communism, collateral damage and all that is just the price to be paid by "them"
Oh and george "destroying the village to save it" is exactly what it is.
No No No
There are already too many American tourists in Cuba <whacks of them fly in on Canadian charters>.
Keep away.
Cuba is bad for Americans.
Leave it to the scandalous Canajuns.
Americans travelling to Cuba should be punished.
Stay away!
We don't want to share our beach chairs.
Panzade,
I didn't suggest that we should impose an embargo on Cuba if there was none in place already. What I said was that at this point more harm would be done by lifting the embargo than by leaving it in place. Apparently we agree that the original imposition of the embargo was justified -- we disagree on just what might be the side effects of lifting it now. The truth is the embargo is a phoney issue designed to distract credulous people from the fact of the continuing oppression of the Cuban people by a bankrupt political system that has been thoroughly discredited around the world, -- and by a superannuated tyrant who has sat on the backs of the Cuban people for over 40 years, without ever even the pretense of a democratic election. One must be softheaded in the exterme to suppose, in the face of these obvious facts, that the US embargo is a significant factor in this sad tale.
The United States did not do any harm to Cuba or the Cuban people. Their poverty and oppression are entirely of Cuban origin. We did not split up any Cuban families. It was the Cubans themselves - the most energetic and productive of them who fled that unfortunate island of their own accordf and often at great risk to themselves. These people have become a valuable addition to the composite mosaic of American culture and economic life
I have no idea of Castro's wealth or lack of it. I suppose he has all the materials and products of his impoverished country at his disposal. Fidel and the bankrupt authoritarian system that sustains him are the real enemies of the Cuban people - not the U.S. embargo.
I have spent a great deal of time in Brasil and know the language and culture reasonably well. Their style of racism is different from ours, but no less real. The distribution of wealth tells the story quite well. Perhaps you should do some reading on the various revolutionary movements in which the people of Spanish America from Argentina to Mexico freed themselves from their former Spanish masters. These were in major part racial wars fought over a complex mosaic of native Americans, black slaves, Europeans, and mestisos - admittedly a more complex picture than ours, but racial nonetheless - and with lasting consequences.
We agree on a lot george and I respect your thoughtful analysis. But it seems as if you're saying we shouldn't liberate the man that has resided in a dark dungeon for 40 years for fear that the rich food and sunlight might somehow cause his death.
I grew up in Argentina and our history classes never portrayed the struggle against Spain as racial just as the colonists here didn't throw off the yoke of England for racial reasons. More like economic ones. There was indeed a racial flavor to the rush to exterminate the Patagonian natives but this was at the hands of second generation settlers that were always casting about for someone to feel superior to.
If I was a Cuban (I'm not) I would want the embargo lifted.
However if i were a Cuban (I'm not) I would be hoping that Fidel didn't try for a "free trade" agreement with the US or succumbed to free trade blandishments.
I've seen how the free trade agreement works with Canada and if I were a Cuban (I'm not) I would be really worried about Cuba getting shafted by the US (again).
I wish you guys (georgeob and panzade, and OF COURSE, fbaezer, would speak more about South America when you talk.
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