Biden's Missed Opportunity in Cuba

[orangecrush]

JULY 18, 2021, 11:14 AM
When U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to return America to the global stage after four years of isolationism under Donald Trump, the Caribbean was admittedly not a priority. And in the middle of a battle royal with Republicans over domestic spending, the last thing Biden wanted is a foreign-policy crisis infected by politics.

The Caribbean had other ideas. After reeling from a presidential assassination in Haiti that left a power vacuum on top of extreme violence and a growing humanitarian crisis, Biden now confronts historic protests in Cuba that have elicited a chorus of support from American lawmakers, anger from the Cuban government, and a fear of a mass exodus of Cubans to U.S. shores.

If Cubans are protesting massively, that’s because the island is facing the worst economic crisis in decades, causing hardships for the Cuban people that rival those during the so-called Special Period in the 1990s, when the collapse of the Soviet Union devastated the country. Food shortages, skyrocketing inflation that has made goods even more expensive, and hourslong electricity blackouts have been compounded by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic—which dried up tourism dollars and remittances from Cubans living abroad that have served as vital sources of foreign currency and income for families on the island. Public anger boiled over during the hot, sweltering summer when the country saw a surge in coronavirus cases. Record numbers of cases have strained the country’s health system to the point where even basic medicines are unavailable.

Cuba’s communist regime has been able to weather multiple economic and political crises since taking power some 60 years ago by blaming the U.S. embargo on the island. But Cubans’ anger has turned against President Miguel Díaz-Canel, the head of the Communist Party and the first person outside of the Castro family to lead the country since the Cuban Revolution. Díaz-Canel’s financial mismanagement of the Cuban economy and the growing hardships created a growing boldness among civil society, driven by younger dissident Cuban artists, to make their demands known. The protests have caught on like wildfire to more than 40 locations across the island—a nearly unprecedented show of defiance.


https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/18/biden-cuba-missed-opportunity-humanitarian-crisis-embargo/


It's not too late.

As a ham radio operator, I am aghast that when Cuban ham radio operators started reporting on repression after the internet blackout, the Cuban government threw up jammers blocking the entire 40 meter band halfway around the world.

Seeing Youtubers in their 20's hauled off by Cuban government thugs while live streaming was horrifying. I fear for their safety.

The remnant of Castro's regime serves no purpose except to keep the Cuban people under Putin's thumb.

It is time for Democrats to support freedom for the Cuban people, not in the way right wing Cubans in Florida claim to, but in a way that will allow Cubans to make their own choices, keeping the good things they have, and getting rid of the misery brought upon them by Russian puppet masters.

[montanacowboy]

1. I agree

this is a golden opportunity to put the Miami Cubans in the Democract's column
and what can the Repukes do? vote against any move the Biden Admin does to help Cuba?

Get with it Joe!!!

[orangecrush]

3. Exactly!

Bet Joe is on this already.

[lordsummerisle]

2. Tear Down This Embargo n/t

[orangecrush]

4. AOC

Is spot on.

[UTUSN]

5. What's the definition of "support"? - Plus, the (solutions?) in the article:

Why is it "Biden's missed opportunity" right out of the box? I looked in the article for what they want Dems to do and think these are them, which I think are already being processed by the Admin:

" ... renewing access to remittances and loosening travel restrictions to the island would help people cover their basic needs. The United States can also speed up efforts to get vaccines to Cuba" -- plus opening the internet

As for the post above saying that Dems could get the Florida Exiles in the Dem column - that *AIN'T* gonna happen, probably ever unless they get the full scale invasion they've always wanted.

*** My little, unsophisticated opinion of the wingnut Cubans, shaped over my adulthood of frustration (re-post) is:

*Huzzah* to the Cubans rising up in Cuba and a word to the post-Exiles here
* First of all, congratulations and solidarity to the Cubans in Cuba standing up for themselves, THERE. Finally, after all these years of their suppression.

* Next, to the Exiles protesting here: Consider making it real by somehow *MATERIALIZING* your support physically over THERE. Here's the deal: We Dems/Libs were solid in support of the revolution against the Wingnut dictator BATISTA and welcomed CASTRO and GUEVARRA, even glorified them. But soon thereafter they showed who they were - and forget the "Communism" B.S. - who they were were murderers and fortune stealers for themselves in Swiss banks. Then the First Generation of Exiles here, who were wingnuts in their own country to start with, turned against JFK and the Democratic party over the Bay of Pigs, and became willing tools for the old CIA and our wingnuts here. Then followed endless pains in the neck to us Dems from both sides - the CASTRO provocations (e.g., the Mariel dump, pokes in our eyes with USSR) and the Exile-CIA generation going full Repuke here. Not to mention that the Cubans got perks with immigration policies that other nationalities (say, Mexico) did not get. Plus, such benefits as Cuban-Americans advancing with lightning speed for top political offices (U.S. Senators), leap frogging over other minorities (say, Mexican-Americans).

* So, now that it's safer and your compatriots in Cuba are risking their all, perhaps you might consider going back, this time using your now more refined Right Wing doctrines in ways that are not oppressively dictatorial. I personally will advocate to support you over THERE.

***** After all, that's where your heart has always been, so from this Bleeding Heart Liberal I just want to bless your heart!

***** Here's a thought: Let's send RUBIO and CRUZ over there to spearhead our aid!

[orangecrush]

6. This should be an op

Well said, Sir!

[UTUSN]

7. Whew! - I was afeard was going to get whupped! - It *was* an OP a day or so ago but sank as usual!

I didn't think my take was too close to your link, since I'm ticked off about BIDEN being slammed with his every move or slammed about his not going far enough.

[orangecrush]

8. It was spot on

Thanks!



I'm sure Joe knows what he's doing, I would just love to see Cuba get out from under Putin is all.