Trump & Cuba

Great Debates
1

No, not this Cuba; this Cuba.

Today Mr. Trump announced that he was abandoning and/or altering various aspects of the previous administration’s stance, including re-instituting a people-to-people travel ban and other sanctions.

So the immediate questions are:

A) Is this, overall, a good idea?

B) What aspects of it specifically, are good and/or bad?

C) How likely is this new stance to be productive; i.e. to effect change that the US would like to see?

Any other points that don’t fit neatly into those 3 questions are, of course, welcome.

I don’t think it’s a good idea. Decades of sanctions had little to no effect on the country, it’s government, it’s leaders or it’s people. I see no reason to think that “we just didn’t give it enough time”.

I think the easiest and longest-lasting way to effect change is to draw them into our economy and our popular culture, as we’ve done with China, for instance. Co-dependence also provides leverage, and it does so by helping people live better lives; “you catch more flies with honey” and all that.

I also think it lessens the US’s standing in the world; we cannot be trusted to keep our word when everyone sees that we will change our stance unprovoked.

I don’t think it’s going to help the Cuban people and I don’t think it’s going to engender a lot of goodwill there, either.

All-in-all, I think this was a mistake and that it will, eventually, come to be seen as one of the larger mis-steps in US foreign policy since the turn of the century.

What say you?

2

I just realized that I forgot to link to the AP story about this.

3

I really thought this was one of the Obama initiatives the big goofball wouldn’t try to spitefully roll back.

4

Rolling it back was a campaign promise.

5

So was building a wall

Back to Cuba, was there really very many who were upset by Obama’s move? It seems unusually popular

6

Enough conservative Cubans to cost Hilary the state IMHO.

7

Marco Rubio and a few old Cubans in Miami are about the only people happy about this reversal. At least that is my understanding.

I’m hoping this won’t mean I don’t get to visit there in my future. My grandfather was Cuban and I’ve always wanted to go. I was so happy when Obama made it possible.

I really don’t understand this decision on the part of Trump. It just feels spiteful.

8

Yeah, I know. I was hoping he’d apply his “fucking over my subcontractors” persona here rather than his “most honest man in politics” persona.

9

The problem is that those old Cubans’ votes are tied to the embargo but, despite the majority of Americans thinking it’s a failed policy, almost nobody else’s vote is attached to the issue.

10

The people who care the most about this are all dying away. Trump is just doing this for the same reason he does everything: to put on a show for those who still fall for his bullshit. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about Cuba.

11

All Havana has to discretely approach the Trump Organization with the offer a concession allowing a casino monopoly and Trump will reverse course.

12

The boatload of Cuban refugees I sat down with and broke the news of Obama’s announcement were quite upset about it. Utter disbelief and disgust.

The week Obama announced a change in Cuba policy there was a group of Cuban refugees camped out at the beach 200 yards up the road from my home. They were waiting for the weather to improve before continuing on to Honduras and we sat and talked a few days. Then I brought the news.

They stated Obama was being fooled and did not see the real Cuba and how these moves would embolden the Cuban government. The news seriously saddened them.

13

Well, I guess they’re happy now

14

So unlike the Trump we all know and love.

15

Wow, we really had the Castro dictatorship on the run until Obama fucked it up. Well, another 60 years of more of the same is bound to work!

16

The policy didn’t help the Cuban people at all for the first 50 years… it probably just needs a few more centuries to make it work. Good job Trump for bringing us back to an unproductive and pointless past!

17

Of all the things a person could do as President, how did Cuba ever even hit the Hot One Hundred? Earthquake preparedness would be higher on my list.

18

The list is not in order of things that would be good to do. It is in order of “did Obama do them?” This was next on the list, so Trump undid it.

19

“Just last month Russia resumed oil shipments to Cuba after a hiatus of over a decade – its saviour in the interim has been Venezuela. As Venezuela falls apart at the seams, Cuba needs someone else to stop it collapsing too. If not America, then Russia. Putin recently forgave 90 per cent of Cuba’s debts to his country. There are reports that Russia is in talks about opening a military base on the island again.”

Unsurprisingly, Russia could benefit (again) from Trump’s actions.

20

It’s also one of those things he can do all by his lonesome, so it’s an easy “accomplishment”. Sign the paper and done! Check the box and move on to the next accomplishment.