US lawmakers seek reason for Beyoncé Cuba trip

[DFW]

21. That's my point

The "anti-kommanist" battle cry is already fading rapidly. It's not as if there is some kind of Soviet juggernaut still lurking around, and Fidel has withdrawn pretty much from the scene anyway.

Yes, the repressive regime is still in place, but big deal. No invasions of American territory threaten to be launched from Cuba's shores (as if any ever were). We do plenty of bizi with enough repressive regimes, so that isn't the only sore point, either.

So what advantages does the United States have by keeping the embargo in place? None that I can discern. Hell, if I didn't know better, I'd suspect that foreign hotel chains and energy development firms were bribing our Republicans to keep the embargo in place as long as possible. That way, any attempt by US economic interests to gain a hold there will be too little and too late by the time the embargo is dropped.

It's what I'd do in their place. They get to exclude US interests from competing for a little while longer, and the Republicans get that which they covet most (money). It's an embargo made in Republican heaven. The only thing left will be to see if those Republicans in the pockets of the foreign interests can stave off the Republicans in the pockets of the US interests from dropping the embargo. I don't even know what Democrats have taken what positions on the issue. I doubt that all of our Reps in Congress are completely immune to the lure of the buck, but I also doubt that many Democrats are opposed to lifting the embargo in any case.