The other Cuba thread got me wondering. I understand the events of the 1950s and 1960s, but why is this still an issue in 2012? The only explanation I’ve seen is the powerful Cuban-American lobby, but it just doesn’t make sense. Americans are willing to give up their freedom and the potential economic benefits of trade because of a small special-interest group? The pro-Israel lobby is much more powerful, I would think, but they do not dictate trade and travel moratoriums for ordinary Americans. Not a perfect parallel, of course, but I’m hard-pressed to think of a good analogy. And of course I can’t see how it’s in American interests to have a poor and unfriendly neighbor; wouldn’t it be safer, in terms of both terrorism and the economy, to have a productive trading partner?
As far as I know, Cuba is the only country that Americans are not legally allowed to visit. Is it just that no one wants to bell the cat (=be the first to admit the status quo isn’t working), or is there some benefit to the way things are that I’m not seeing?
The reason is that we imposed the embargo in the 60s and there hasn’t been a successful effort to end the embargo yet.
There wasn’t a Cuba lobby back when this started, so it wasn’t imposed at the behest of the Cuba lobby. It was part of the Cold War. Cuba had just turned communist. This explains why the embargo was imposed.
Now, why hasn’t it been repealed? The Cuba lobby is concentrated in Florida. Florida is a swing state that can go either Republican or Democrat. The Cuba lobby is, or was, large enough that it could make up a swing bloc. That is, in a system where 49.5% of the voters form a bloc favoring one policy, and 49.5% of the voters form a bloc favoring another policy, the 1% of the voters who aren’t part of either bloc can decide policy by voting with one fo the other blocs.
This has the potential to make small dedicated voting blocs extremely important far out of proportion to their representation in the electorate.
So, no party has wanted to anger the Cuba lobby by giving up on the Cold War embargo and normalizing relations with Cuba. Plus, Castro is still alive. I bet you a dollar that when Castro dies normalization will suddenly become politically possible.
Friends report it’s a great Honeymoon destination. Keen photographers like it, too. Beautiful, friendly people, everyone says. I hope to visit quite soon.
The US? Some kind of wacked out ideology thing. Welcome to the 1960s
Anyway, the purported reason for the embargo was that the Cuban government nationalized property belonging to Americans, and ending the embargo is contingent on returning or compensating the former owners of that property.
It’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s the actual origin of the embargo and supposedly why we don’t end it.
That makes sense for the origin of the embargo. It makes no sense at all for why we don’t end it. (And no, it’s not supposed to be a Pit thread: I want to understand, is all.)
The bit about the ability of a tiny minority in a large swing state is an interesting thought. So basically, ANY significant minority in Florida can hold national policy hostage, but the same people in California or the entire population of North Dakota acting in unison have no effect whatsoever. A fascinating system, but it seems somewhat less than functional.
There is some limited travel to Cuba from the US. I have friends who just went. It was a very controlled tour, but perfectly legal, and I believe it did not have to go through an intermediary country.
Well, shucks! You sure taught me a valuable lesson and have injured me greatly. I must now slink off into my secret hiding place to lick my wounds. Good burn, dude. Seriously, if you’re going to go at me for my crappy retort I do think you’re obligated to at least come up with a good reply of your own.
NB: There are ways for US citizens (not of Cuban ancestry) to go to Cuba, including through Canada. You just have to do separate flights. I’ve gone there (for the music), by way of Mexico. The details were discussed recently in this thread: “Travel to North Korea but not Cuba?”
My 91-year-old uncle is traveling to Cuba this year on some sort of approved program. Can’t remember what it’s called, as I’ve misplaced his letter. He’s still pretty active – turned 90 last year on a three-day cruise of the Danube River – and is not Cuban or even Hispanic. His wife, my aunt, is Hispanic, but with roots in Mexico and not Cuba, so it’s nothing to do with Cuban affiliation. I’ll try to find the name of the program.