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In reply to the discussion: Cuba Condemns Libya Attack on Americans [View all]99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)3. That's not at all clear to me. Can you support that assertion?
While Miami burns... Obama and Cuban-American politics
ARTURO LOPEZ-LEVY , 12 September 2012
US policy towards Latin America has paid a substantial price for President Obamas kowtowing to the Miami hard-right wing. For example, Venezuela withdrew from the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights of the Organization of the Americas (OAS), and there is a chance that no Summit of the Americas will happen in 2015 unless the United States changes its position on Cubas participation. Several countries in the Americas, from Nicaragua to Ecuador, spent years without a US ambassador due to Senator Marco Rubios (R-FL) obstructionist caprice.
In a clear distortion of American values and presidential foreign policy prerogatives, the pro-embargo machine is taking the debate away from questions related to security threats and the constitutional right to travel theoretically enjoyed by Americans, to whether it is fine, or ethical, for an American traveler to smoke a cigar, drink a mojito, and dance salsa. Unfortunately, the Obama administration's Treasury and State Department have surrendered the constitutional and moral high ground. Could somebody in the administration ask Senator Rubio: what is the problem with Americans having a good time once they do their full share of religious, educational, and humanitarian work in Cuba? And exactly what threat does a mojito or a salsa dance pose to American national security?
http://www.opendemocracy.net/arturo-lopez-levy/while-miami-burns-obama-and-cuban-american-politics
ARTURO LOPEZ-LEVY , 12 September 2012
In this year's election, half of Cuban-Americans who are eligible to vote either came from Cuba after 1994 or grew up in the United States. Unfortunately, the White House is passing up the opportunity to hold a rational discussion of Washingtons policy towards Cuba.
US policy towards Latin America has paid a substantial price for President Obamas kowtowing to the Miami hard-right wing. For example, Venezuela withdrew from the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights of the Organization of the Americas (OAS), and there is a chance that no Summit of the Americas will happen in 2015 unless the United States changes its position on Cubas participation. Several countries in the Americas, from Nicaragua to Ecuador, spent years without a US ambassador due to Senator Marco Rubios (R-FL) obstructionist caprice.
In a clear distortion of American values and presidential foreign policy prerogatives, the pro-embargo machine is taking the debate away from questions related to security threats and the constitutional right to travel theoretically enjoyed by Americans, to whether it is fine, or ethical, for an American traveler to smoke a cigar, drink a mojito, and dance salsa. Unfortunately, the Obama administration's Treasury and State Department have surrendered the constitutional and moral high ground. Could somebody in the administration ask Senator Rubio: what is the problem with Americans having a good time once they do their full share of religious, educational, and humanitarian work in Cuba? And exactly what threat does a mojito or a salsa dance pose to American national security?
http://www.opendemocracy.net/arturo-lopez-levy/while-miami-burns-obama-and-cuban-american-politics
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What (or who), pray tell, is the "Cuban oligarchy"? That's the first I've ever
coalition_unwilling
Sep 2012
#41