Note From the Underground

To Readers of Miami's Cuban Connection: I have spent the last several weeks working diligently from an undisclosed location on a story that has to do with Cuba. I am not convalescing. I am not in prison. I am not dead. All I can say is that some stories require more time reporting than others. And this is a story that deserves complete dedication and attention. Stay tuned,

Oscar

Comments

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

Interesting. I hope Oscar brings us something good back.

[Juan (Pancho) Valquez]

Interesting. I hope Oscar brings us something good back.

[amp]

You have my attention, Oscar. I hope it is good news.

[the Cuban anti-faggot]

Hey PeeWee, i dont think the Cubans on the island want Maimi Cuban faggots to infest that beautiful island with your HIV filth. No liberal faggots like you will be allowed.

[PEE wEE HERMAN]

You are rigth cuban faggott....

people who betray the liberation of cuba, are traitors, those of you faggots who live in miami and are in favor of castro will be deal accordindly.
muy bien antigaggot siguele dando duro a los mariconsones de fidel

the real pee wee not the fake caca dobbs

wHERE IS oSCAR?

NUFF

[Pee Wee Herman]

Ataca duro, no te aflojes ahora mariconson

listo pa la batalla

Nuff

[a thought...]

Oscar is hiding in the tree outside Fidel's hospital room over at Baptist. Even as we type, he is attempting to take pictures and disconnect some essential IVs at the same time.

And I'm sooooo excited to see the gay brigade has decided to disrupt the blog again. Welcome back, amp...you've been gone a while.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

AT:

Actually, the "Gay Brigade" may have a point. I have long wondered why the Catholic Church has maintained such exemplary silence in the face of 47 years of persecution.

Jaime Cardinal Ortega, archbishop of Havana and primate of Cuba, who is a veteran of the UMAP Homosexual-Re-Education Camps of the 1960s, recently asked the faithful to join him in offering prayers for the recovery of Fidel Castro, which would be like the Grand Rabbi of Israel asking for prayers for the leader of Hezbollah.

I have concluded that the Catholic hierarchy in Cuba is being blackmailed by the regime. The key--the literal key to this mystery--is the one that opens a cabinet filled with videotapes that document the hedonistic lifestyle of these men of godlessness.

Sadly, there is no institution in Cuba that is not putrid to the core.

[amp]

AT, thanks for the welcome. That is the best visual image of Fidel at Baptist hospital and Oscar outside on the tree. LOLOLOL

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Since Oscar is away and will apparently be away for quite some time, I wonder why John has not attempted to sneak back into this blog. It's completely uncharacteristic of his modus operandi. Has he been threatened with prosecution if he returns?

Or does the answer lie elsewhere? Is John being kept somewhere against his will and forbidden access to the internet? If so, where?

A madhouse, of course, is the obvious answer. Or is it a prison? Perhaps a work camp? Or does the FBI and/or G-2 have something to do with his disappearance? Or, finally, is his disaapearance faked?

I think it more likely that Social Services finally decided to come to John's "rescue." They have probably forcibly removed him from his fabled three-wall shack down by the River and put him up in some hellhole with four walls and running water.

I am sure, though, that John is planning his escape.

[a different thought]

Tellechea, Miami-Dade county does not provide internet access to inmates at any of the detention centers. That's why John's missing. Or, reality set in, and he could not keep up his double personality any longer. I personally think he's all over this blog under different disguises.

Can't wait to see what Oscar has for us, this must be good!!!!

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

ADT:

Yes, John is still here in many disguises. I have identified a few. But none appears to suit him, however. His classic "John Longfellow" persona--the real John, as it were--is still AWOL.

Perhaps he has amnesia and is wandering the streets aimlessly, looking for his Trans-Am and South Beach digs and his girlfriend AT.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Perhaps Oscar is looking for John.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

A lot of people are probably looking for John.

[a thought...]

Manuel, in no way am I condoning the atrocities the Catholic church has covered up. If you are a priest and you are a chid molester and you are caught, you need to go to prison or worse. I just don't want the blog to go back to those idiots who were posting all the pedophilia junk on here.

I am telling you people that John was involved in an amphibious assault. He probably washed up on Varadero and is trying to find his way around the city. The TransAm has been traded for a 57 Chevy or a Chinese bicycle in order to allow him to blend in. At night, he is standing on the Malecon signaling other forces by waving one of those green glow sticks around. However, he probably has been distracted by a jinetera and the mission is now in jeopardy. If Cuba is not liberated, it will be his fault. But, if he succeeds, the TransAm will be enshrined forever in a museum at La Habana, along with a life-size statue of John and his mullet. There will be an interactive exhibit featuring music by Night Ranger, Foreigner and Journey, who will perform a version of "Guantanamera." The mullet will feature actual strands of John's hair so that the faithful can have a hands-on experience of running their fingers through the Great Liberator's 'do. The statue will be dressed in combat boots, camouflage pants, a white, strategically-ripped, tank-top, dog tags, aviator sunglasses and a Skoal baseball cap. In one hand he will have an AK47 and in the other, a Budweiser. His backdrop will prominently feature the American flag, the Cuban flag and a mural of the South Beach motels.

[JH]

A lot of people also hate right wing boguts who use god and the bible to justify their hatred and ignorance.

Be carful whom you wish to rot in hell becuase you might join them in eternity

[another view]

Guest Opinion: U.S. must end policies against Cuba
By ANA PEREZ

The Bush administration should act as a good neighbor toward Cuba instead of waging its political war against the island. It is unseemly that the administration is trying to take advantage of the uncertainty over the health of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Just two weeks after Castro underwent surgery, the Bush administration updated a May 2004 report titled "Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba." It has even hired a transition director to oversee the implementation of the plan for a "transition to democracy."

Some members of Congress, such as U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Miami Republican, are going so far as calling upon the Cuban people to take to the streets in defiance of any transitional government.

But all is calm in Havana. This is one more proof of a misguided policy that continues to rely on the fantasy of a few Cuban-Americans who still hold to the illusion of returning to Cuba in triumph 47 years after their defeat.

Even some Cubans who disagree with their own government have been voicing their opposition to the U.S. government's approach.

Oswald Paya, a leading political dissident in Cuba, told the Miami Herald: "I believe Cubans have to be the ones who solve our problems, and any interference serves to complicate the situations." He added: "The U.S. message should be to ratify that there is no such thing as a U.S. threat on Cuba, that there is no intention to intervene. It should say, 'Look, the Cuban process must be defined exclusively by the Cuban people."'

Paya is right. Cubans on the island should determine their own future.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration should discard its failed policy. It should lift the travel ban against Cuba and end the embargo. The people of Cuba have suffered enough from U.S. policies. Castro's ill health is no excuse to make them suffer more.

After nearly five decades, the U.S. government must finally end the needless gap between these two neighbors.

[nonee moose]

mmmffmmfmfmmfmf...

LouJIF

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

AT:

There is only one objection to the amphibious landing scenario — John can't swim. Heck, he can't even dog-paddle. So if he did go off to liberate Cuba or to join Castro's "John F. Kennedy Brigage" (with John, you can never know), he's probably still too scared to jump off the landing craft, despite frantic catcalls from the jineteras on the Malecón (imagine such a catch — a 47-year old virgin).

The Gay Brigade are free to talk about homosexuality if they want, but should confine themselves to homosexuality in Cuba.

[usambcuba]

Can we steer away from this discussion on homosexuality and focus on the latest news and U.S. Cuba policy? As if that matters or is relevant to the discussion?

It is astounding that there are some who actually believe that Miami hardliner Cubans will dictate the future of Cuba instead of Cubans on the island when Castro dies; or meaningful change will come to Cuba while the hatred between Cubans who opposed the Revolution and Cubans who supported the Revolution continues. It has to end.

Please, lets give Cuba a new opportunity, a new beginning, let it based upon goodwill and the opportunity to reconstruct and redevelop with a progressive mindset, not a process to settle old scores. There has been enough suffering on both sides. Haven't we all had enough of this insanity? Two generations is enough.

Do not the Miami Cuban hardliners recognize and see just how impotent their current position is, largely in part because of the policies it has supported and foisted upon American foreign policy? And yet they do not want to change their position. Orgullo de pendejo - foolish pride. Everyone I discuss this issue with, Cuban Americans and other Americans, believe the embargo is a failure and there is a yearning to visit and engage the Cuban people. What are the hardliners afraid of?

And as a matter of foreign policy and diplomacy, political and economic isolation and humiliation is an ineffectual position from which to bargain and negotiate.

Lift the travel restrictions and allow more trade to resume, we need to start talking with and engaging one another even if we are not speaking with Castro. That is how we can help and facilitate change in Cuba.

[a thought...]

The hatred between Cubans who were opposed to the revolution and the Cubans who supported it is not something that will be cleared up any time soon. If you were forced to leave your home, your business, and your country, would you be all that anxious to rush and embrace the fellow countrymen who supported that thievery? I don't think so. If they supported the revolution, then they can live with the results.

By the way, still no uprising from those "suffering" on the island. Apparently, they are not as bad off as we keep hearing about if they are willing to continue living under Fidel and/or Raul. Bueno, I guess they have been afflicted with that great American word that usually accompanies either an eye roll or a shrug of the shoulders....."whatever."

[a different thought]

It's a shame that this blog has sunk to the lows of gay-bashing...why don't you all join Raul and Fidel, they invented gay-bashing along time ago, and they did not do it the name of God...idiots.

[usambcuba]

Hatred is a poor ally for any constructive endeavor.

It is also not a good fertilizer for democracy or anything creative.

I think the expectations in the community thus far with Castro's illness and the succession are based upon flawed reasoning. There are two factors to consider-

1) 70 percent of the Cubans living on the island know only life under Castro AND the Embargo. There is no other reference point in their experience. It is human nature to fear the unknown and choose the status quo over uncertainty. It requires leadership, motivation, vision, and empowerment to take the risks necessary to facilitate change. Where is the vision, leadership, and motivation? In Miami? Hardly. The hardliners are driven by hatred and vengeance. Not the stuff of winners in life.

2) Our policies with Cuba are a total failure. Yet the hardline community that empowers it and politically prostitutes it, refuses to accept this reality and change course. So the impotence we are witnessing is no accident. But heck, the politicians keep collecting those embargo checks. Make sure if you want our present policies with Cuba to continue to vote for the Diaz-Balarts and Ros Lehtinen this November. They know how to bring democracy to Cuba. NOT!

We are creating what is happening in Cuba by OUR actions. Felicidades -

AT - we make the suffering of the Cuban people worse with our policies. We need to stop our complicity. And again, you have not personally been to Cuba recently so you cannot fully comprehend experientially what I am saying.

I believe when the United States changes its policies with Cuba, that change will be truly possible in Cuba. The other factor involved in this equation is facing his mortality.

[a thought...]

Again, I repeat...if the suffering is so horrible, why haven't the people finally asked for change? Why is no one hurrying to the dissidents sides?

[the Cuban anti-faggot]

a different thought,

You need to read the bible. As a man you know that Miami is infested with faggots like PeeWee. And as a Cuban you know that faggots like PeeWee are not acceptable in the Cuban society. Im not attacking you. All i am saying is that you should not be defending faggots like PeeWee. Or else one can assume that you are PeeWee's gay lover.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

"[L]a muerte le tiene miedo a fidel. Ese
cabronzon esta protegido por los babalues
africanos y los santeros de Stgo. de Cuba" — Pee Wee Herman

The Devil protects his own.

[nonee moose]

Cuban Anti-fag...

no escupas pa arriba... y que no te coja enseñandole las nalguitas a nadie por el US Dollar... if I do, I'm gonna be very disappointed...

U-sam: see post #'s 95-97, 122-192, 201-299, 1417-2032, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum, as to why the naivete of your "unilateral disarmament" theory of the embargo does not work, at the very least while the current regime is still in place... I am convinced you are either a) an electronics salesman; b) a travel agent (possibly including Aruca); or c) a high level Cuban official at CIS in DC (do you have to pay your own Comcast bill for the internet access? or does the Foreign Ministry?)...

From now on, your breezy harps on the embargo should be preceded by a brief fanfare (perhaps the one from "Fractured Fairy Tales" on the Bullwinkle and Rocky Show?)...

Still haven't been... still don't know what it's like... still don't believe in leprechauns...

[a thought...]

They're always after me Lucky Charms....

[a thought...]

The Ambassador is constantly blaming the embargo for Cuba's ills, but I have yet to receive a response to my question about why there is no clamor from the island.

Don't tell me they're scared to rise up; the dissidents are frightened as well. They've been harassed, beat up and imprisoned. However, I am sure that the many would love to allow the few to revolt, to fight and to die for freedoms the many would later enjoy without having to have risked anything. They will be the first ones cheering in the streets about how they overthrew Castro while the people who actually did it will receive martyr's funerals. That is what upsets me.

You want the embargo lifted, demonstrate! You want freedom, fight for it like countless people have done before you. Don't sit back and let others do it for you. Dissidents alone can do nothing while the general populace sits at home contemplating their new Chinese appliances. Again, where would the U.S. be if it had meekly submitted to the British Crown's whims? These people have been under Castro's heel for 47 years. Show some of that famous Cuban fighting spirit and stop letting the revolution do your thinking for you.

And, Ambassador, no, I haven't been to Cuba and no, I don't plan to go until La Barba is dead and buried. And your comment that I can't say anything until I go there is inane. All you claim is suffering, suffering and more suffering. And again I ask, if they are suffering so much, WHY AREN'T THEY FIGHTING TO END THE SUFFERING??? Que comodo to sit and wait for the family in Miami to take care of them. Maybe they think the revolution will be sent over there from here as well.

[Gringo]

Ambassador:...there is a yearning to visit and engage the Cuban people.

Personally, I'm tired of having to wait until I travel to Canada to get my stash of Cuban stogies, then having to stuff down my pants just to be able to enjoy them on this side of the border.

Tourism in Cuba would be great, I can also indulge on the heat from some of the Cuban senoritas.

I suspect Ambassador if after the love.

I suspect the Cuban Anti-Faggot is actually Michael Jackson, you canr read his firts post for my evidence.

[Cuban American!!!!]

The early bird catches the worm!!

Its time the Cuban People take action aganist the government in Cuba. They need to take some kind of Action Stand up for thier HUMAN RIGHTS. Let the outside world see that they no longer wish to live in such way. Then maybe help will be sent.. is it ever going to end? Se murio Celia Cruz y el Hitler de el caribe sige vivo. Que pena!!!

[usambcuba]

Nonee Moose - like your position is on our policy with Cuba - you are wrong.

I am none of those things in your multiple choice.

The only truths stated is that I love the Cuban American people here and Cubans on the island.

And I am diplomatic.

You can choose to continue to bask in the impotence of your position while our Cuban brothers and sisters on the island continue to suffer due to our policies and an authoritarian regime. And regretfully, it is the positions like yours that keep our country from truly engaging and helping the Cuban people, especially now with Castro on a deathwatch.

I stay consistently on message and appreciate the challenges to my positions that make me think and consider.

Yes, I am focused on love. Love is what missing in our policies and on the island. And as religion is supposed to teach us - love is the only antidote to hatred.

[nonee moose]

U-sam:
I told you many months ago, when we started this great embargo cha-cha, that my positions are not rooted in hatred by any stretch. My family had little in Cuba and they have little here. I don't know of any relatives that were tortured or killed, nor of any family that remains on the island. I sympathize with all those on this blog who have suffered and lost family members, homes, and last but not least, their freedom. My position to you has always been devoid of emotion one way or another, rooted in dispassionate logic, or as close to it as I can muster.

My disagreement with you is perhaps precisely that you allow your compassion and what I will freely assume is your genuine concern for the Cuban people, whether oppressed on the island or here in the US, hindered of access to their loved ones, to cloud your assessment and therefore your understanding of who it is exactly that you would place the good faith of your unilateral "de-bargo" in.

In all the time I have been reading your posts, complete with bobs and weaves and ropas and dopas, I have never ever ever heard you intimate what special insight you might have into the mindset of the regime (specifically, albeit less relevant with each passing day, the mindset of fidel himself) that would lead you to believe that he, or any of them, would allow the scenarios you so plaintively sketch for us here to occur. Not once have you given even a passing nod to the facts, not theories but facts, of the labyrinthine bureaucracies of the regime already entrenched for years and made robust off the flesh of numerous other foreign investors (and I note, without any visible tangible benefit to the Cuban people). You only ever offer the dismissive wave of your hand, and sugest "your way" has never been tried. Never a concrete statement, just "happy talk". Unless you wear little round glasses and your wife broke up your band, you're gonna need alot more than love.

Or is it that cloaked in your message of compassion, you're not responsible for niggling little details like repression, and the thought police, and firing squads? The removal of such details costs nothing. No purchase necessary.

I must tell you, this deux ex machina theory of yours, is the stuff of legend. You know?

[usambcuba]

Nonee- I appreciate your perspective and offer you this to think about -

Why would one keep walking down the same path only to wind up falling off the cliff over and over and over again?

Why shouldn't we try something different if we are not getting the result we want, actually we are getting a result with the embargo that is worse, we are hurting the Cuban people too???

You are defending failure and you are not showing compassion for the exacerbation of the misery that has been created by us. When your brother is down on the ground you do not kick him more hoping that is how he is going to stand and fight against a bully.

How do you fight repression, the thought police, and firing squads?

Not with an embargo...

[usambcuba]

Here is another thought Nonee figuratively -

There is a tree in Cuba that has 6 million branches that extend into the United States, representing the 6 million on the island who have direct ties and family in the United States.

The embargo and our policies deny the power and possibilities of those extensions.

[a different thought]

To the idiot who addressed me.

Two things:

1. Gay bashing or any other hate type crime is wrong. (If we embrace those, why not embrace Castro's regime?)

2. I am a woman.

Let's get back to the discussion on Cuba...

A.T. I too find it strange that nothing has come from the Islanders, but then again, fear has a mightly way of shutting some folk up. Remember they too just saw pictures of the Beard alive and recupertating. The other thing the Exilio has to remember, is that 70% of the people on the Island were born under the Beard. Those are some pretty high numbers. You can't rebel if you do not know there is something better to rebel for.

[usambcuba]

ADT - excellent point. Human nature trumps ideology. 70 percent of the Cubans living on the island know only two things, Castro and the Embargo. We could introduce the Cuban people to all things American by lifting the embargo.

[a thought...]

Yes, ADT, I agree that the majority that were born under the regime don't know any other life. However, I find it ironic that the people that are clamoring loudest for freedom for Cuba are not the supposed suffering on the island, but those that have actually been able to escape. And I cannot believe that every single dissident was in Cuba before Castro; that would put them in his age bracket. There are younger people in the dissident movement; I am stating that if everyone on the island who truly wanted freedom would join with the dissidents, we would see action. But just saying they don't know any other way of life makes me wonder why so many brave the ocean to get to Miami. Those are young (and old) on those makeshift rafts; they must have figured something out even though they have lived their whole lives under Castro. Do you see what I'm saying?

And I will write this again and tick off people: There are those that are sitting on their fannies waiting for others to do their fighting for them. Why fight? I'm sitting at home receiving aid from my family in Miami; there is nothing to buy in Cuba, so why work? If "freedom" comes, okay. If I have to keep sitting here, okay. The ones that want it will fight; the ones who think Fidel will take care of them forever will sit. Because they are used to being told what to do, what to think and what to pay lip service to and it's easy to live as an automaton.

The Ambassador wrote: You can choose to continue to bask in the impotence of your position while our Cuban brothers and sisters on the island continue to suffer due to our policies and an authoritarian regime.

How about blaming Castro instead of the U.S. for all of Cuba's problems? Is it so difficult to admit that if Castro would actually practice what he preaches the pueblo would not be suffering? How about his sharing his millions with his people? Cuba is receiving money from the tourists that visit from all the other countries; where is that money? I'll tell you where: check Castro's bank account. That selfish, family-breaking pig has all the cash. Enough with blaming the U.S. for Cuba's problems. Put the blame squarely where it belongs: on the Castro brothers.

I am not a hardliner, so don't call me one. But don't ask me to give my cash to Castro; he has enough. My family gave at the office, so don't tell me to visit Cuba and then I can have an opinion. I don't need to visit a sewer to know it reeks.

[nonee moose]

Cuban A-F is a stupid. He is also louJIF.

U-sam:

Foreign policy hurts, what can I tell you? Your brand of "something different" is so flawed by its complete neglect of reality. It's like lighting incense but neglecting to flush the toilet... it may smell nice, but you still got a bowl full of shit.

Flush the toilet first, U-sam. Then I'll help you with all the aroma-therapy you want...

[usambcuba]

A.T. -

You said -

"The Ambassador wrote: You can choose to continue to bask in the impotence of your position while our Cuban brothers and sisters on the island continue to suffer due to our policies and an authoritarian regime."

"How about blaming Castro instead of the U.S. for all of Cuba's problems?"

I do blame Castro too. Read my sentence again "...continue to suffer due to our policies AND an authoritarian regime"

Its just we in the United States do not have control over Castro. Only the Cuban people on the island do.

On the otherhand we do have control over our own policies and behavior and our behavior concerning Cuba is atrocious and spurred on by those in the community - the hardliners.

"Is it so difficult to admit that if Castro would actually practice what he preaches the pueblo would not be suffering? How about his sharing his millions with his people? Cuba is receiving money from the tourists that visit from all the other countries; where is that money? I'll tell you where: check Castro's bank account. That selfish, family-breaking pig has all the cash."

That is a matter to discuss with Cuban government officials and ask to see the Cuban government budget, where they are spending their money. Read public reports - google Cuban government budget expenditures and see the data.

I do know they have purchased over one billion and a half dollars worth of food from the U.S. since food sales were allowed on a cash basis.

"Enough with blaming the U.S. for Cuba's problems. Put the blame squarely where it belongs: on the Castro brothers."

AT - we share the blame for the misery of the Cuban people because we are complicit by persisting in keeping a failed embargo and restrictions that keep Americans, American goods, and services, and most importantly family members away from Cuba, the very things that would help promote change on the island. Now the argument is - well the embargo may be a failure but it is not supporting Castro. That is hogwash. And it is time, especially now with Castro in the dusk of his life, to end our part in the insanity.

"I am not a hardliner, so don't call me one."

I submit you are behaving like one.

"But don't ask me to give my cash to Castro; he has enough. My family gave at the office, so don't tell me to visit Cuba and then I can have an opinion. I don't need to visit a sewer to know it reeks."

It is clear based on the reality and facts of the present situation that you do not have complete information. I can objectively argue that you cannot speak about Cuba accurately because you have not been there personally. You have no personal experience of the island, the people living there on the island. Your ties are run through your family's experience. I submit you still have not filled out your personal experience yet. You have not gone to Cuba yourself and assess everything against what you see and are told by everyone. Anyone who has been to Cuba in this debate has an advantage over you. And anyone who has been to Cuba in the last 3-5 years will have a vastly different perspective to those who left in 60's and 70's and the 80's and have not returned to visit since. The perspectives that matter most now are the present, not the past. The past is what got us to the present.

Do not let arrogance or foolish pride block you from investigating for yourself and have your own experience and not limit yourself to what I or anyone else tells you.

Blaming Castro does not ameliorate the problem. There is an ongoing bad situation in Cuba for the people there caused by two things - an authoritarian government and an embargo, ours, that only makes the suffering worse. We can at least end our participation in that macabre dance that is only empowering Castro.

Take a good look at the community and see just how impotent everyone is choosing to be by supporting these crazy restrictions. So do not be surprised when succession trumps transition. And do not be surprised when all the human and financial resources that the community could offer in a post Castro Cuba will be delayed and delayed until enough say se acabo, basta.

We are losing our ability to help the Cuban people right now by our self-imposed isolation.

Helping the Cuban people does not come from the $500 million in tax money wasted to date on TV and Radio that most Cubans cannot listen too nor from $80 million that will go to a handful in Cuba and only further support the repression as the Cuban government will claim interference and subversion by foreign powers. And it does not come by blocking normal travel and trade and an embargo.

[a thought...]

By the way, AT and ADT are two different people. Just read our posts and you can tell. However, John seems to be on the prowl here.

To the Ambassador: I am not arrogant and nor do I have "foolish pride". I am not a hardliner; I defy you to find a post where I have stated that the embargo needs to remain in place. I am seeing both sides of the embargo story and see arguments for both keeping it and for eradicating it.

If anyone is arrogant, it is you. You told me "You have not gone to Cuba yourself and assess everything against what you see and are told by everyone". I have spoken to people who have gotten here less than a year ago and if they don't have firsthand knowledge, then who does? It is terrible over there. I have not said that no one should travel to Cuba; I have stated that I CHOOSE not to go. No one has ever told me not to go. I know a Jewish girl who won't buy German cars; she wasn't alive during the Holocaust, but are you going to tell her she wasn't there so her lack of experience isn't worth anything and she should run out and get a Benz? Just because you have traveled to Cuba doesn't make you any more wordly or any more savvy than anyone here.

What I have repeatedly stated is very simple: 1. America cannot invade Cuba to "free" the Cuban people; 2. Cubans on the island who want freedom need to join forces with the dissidents and fight; and 3. If you support the current regime in Cuba, then stop whining, quit asking for aid from relatives in Miami and enjoy the wonders of the revolution.

Very basic, I know, but that's it. So stop telling me to go over there and get the "real" experience because here is a fact: I will stay in a hotel on Varadero and not in someone's home. I won't go over there and try to get some run-of-the-mill Cuban to tell me what he thinks of Miami and Castro so I can get the standard response of "The U.S. is evil and Castro is wonderful." They still have repression of free speech over there and I won't jeopardize someone just to conduct a poll for you about the pros and cons of the embargo.

I do agree that the money spent on Radio Marti is money spent on preaching to the choir.

[usambcuba]

AT - I agree with you on your three numbered points.

My point is that your personal experience of this debate is not complete because you have chosen not to go and see for yourself. And that puts you at a disadvantage. In between the extremes on both sides lies the truth and facts.

Please do not attack me as arrogant because I stand for your personal expansion of your own knowledge and experience. As I have said, you are a thoughtful participant and woman on this blog and I respect you.

[a thought...]

Unfortunately, when you accused me of arrogance, I took umbrage with that statement and if I offended you, I apologize.

You have always encourage me to go to Cuba and I have always declined UNTIL he is gone. I will gladly go then and spend weeks getting to know a country that, by all rights, should have been my home. My home, however, is here. And I will not trade the U.S. for any other country because, even with all its fallacies, it still stands for freedom and democracy (regardless of whoever is sitting in the White House at any given time; my feelings for politicians have been well-documented on this blog).

[a different thought]

Ambassador,

I've always been with you on the down with the Embargo thing, but it is so not fair to disqualify our opinions because we have not visited the Island. Did you forget, it's still illegal to go...

One can still form an opinion as A.T. has from her discussion with people who have had their experience. I do not have to try crack coacine to see it's distruction and the fact that I want no part of it. Those of us who remain on this blog actually trying to discuss Cuban issues, let's play fair.

[Pancho]

a thought wrote: Cubans on the island who want freedom need to join forces with the dissidents and fight;

Fight with what? The Miami Cuban lead embargo has prevented any type of money to build a resistance. Now you sound very ignorant. Sitting back on your nice comfortable American couch. Urging Cubans to fight with nothing. Why dont you take your Spanish lazy ass down there and fight? I know why. Because it is easy to urge others, which you and your parents refused to do.

[Professor]

"Fight with what? The Miami Cuban lead embargo has prevented any type of money to build a resistance....

Here's a retard following the Amabassador's lead...Tell me Pancho, the lifting of the embargo will create instant wealth for the Cuban people to rise up and rebel against Castro.

Also, Ambassador, everyone has been patiently waiting for your honest and straight forward response to the question of what facts you have to support your version of how events will unfold in Cuba after the embargo is lifted.

Ambassador, you have been very good about responding to every opposing post, point by point, but why have you refused to provide solid facts and not simply state that the old way hasn't worked so this other approach most certainly will.

Keep in mind that the lifting of the embargo can have more than the 1 effect you keep pushing on here, so why will things turn out that way Ambassador.

[a thought...]

Pancho posted to me: Fight with what? The Miami Cuban lead embargo has prevented any type of money to build a resistance. Now you sound very ignorant. Sitting back on your nice comfortable American couch. Urging Cubans to fight with nothing. Why dont you take your Spanish lazy ass down there and fight? I know why. Because it is easy to urge others, which you and your parents refused to do.

I was not born in Cuba and I was born after all this mess started. I was urging Cubans to join the dissidents; there is a dissident movement in Cuba as has been well-documented. I am not Spanish, goofus, I am American. And, as such, cannot go to Cuba to "fight". Wasn't that tried previously in 1961 when Cubans in America tried to reclaim La Isla? Oh, yeah....

Do you really think giving the Cuban people money will make them go get weapons to overthrow Castro? No, they will have money and not have to work, so why fight.

Don't call me ignorant, you glass house dweller....

[usambcuba]

A.D.T - homework assignment - can you find a legal way to go to Cuba? Do you qualify for a license?

http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/cuba/cuba.pdf

If you have first degree relatives living in Cuba, you would qualify to visit under the family license.

You may want to check the other avenues that are specified in the regulations.

The comparison of crack cocaine is a poor one. Compare apples to apples. The issues from the United States is reflected in travel, trade, and family. Make the comparison there, not to an illegal drug.

And my point is intended to point out there is a blank slate on the issue of Cuba in your personal experience - everyone elses experience, and then yours. And I believe when you have a personal experience of the issue, you will be in a much richer position to discuss the issue regardless of the position you take on the issue.

Pancho raises a legitimate point that I have heard raised from frustrated Bay of Pig veterans. I have had the pleasure to meet many of them and get to know two well enough for an in-depth discussion. The two I spoke with, complained that besides of the lack of air support, they felt that as they looked back in hindsight the community did not rally behind them in the numbers required and that their success plan was dependent on the involvement of the United States military, when it should not have been. That only perpetuated the perception and history of the United States meddling in the internal affairs of Cuba from the days of the Platt Amendment. These two Bay of Pig veterans I know, when I speak with them today favor lifting the restrictions and ending the embargo.

Professor - insulting people does not serve you. I do not call you a retard because your views are retarded.

How will events unfold when the embargo is lifted? I do not have a crystal ball. I do know that Castro can no longer stand on a soapbox and claim the U.S. is at economic war with Cuba and threatening the Revolution. Let the Revolution fall on its own sword. Its clear it will not fall by our sword. Lifting the embargo will actually isolate the repression if it continues as it is now and make the situation translucent. Then maybe, the Cuban people will have the space to evaluate their situation and choose a new course for themselves. I do not believe it will be a throwback to Pre-Castro, but the status quo will not continue as is. I base this on my own study, knowledge, and experience. I do know that American goods, services, and people will flow into Cuba. That in of itself will be a good thing and stimulate change. The American people are the best ambassadors of democracy, not guns, bullets, or bully tactics. The political whore that is the embargo will finally die as well.

Figuratively speaking, maybe then that human tree in Cuba with 6 million branches into the United States will have a chance to grow many leaves and flowers and make new seeds.

The Cuban government will than have to face the reality of the consequence of expropriation and the demand for compensation and the separation and loss of life within the Cuban family and face its own countrymen in America on new terms. Cuban Miami can no longer be called mafia. And rather a hostile confrontation, my hope is that moderation will prevail.

Why will things turn out that way? Because human nature trumps ideology. Because it has not been tested yet in the collective experience of United States Cuba relations yet. Be scientific for goodness sakes. Test the theory.

You sound like the scientists who fought Copernicus. Your communication comes from fear Professor.

What are you afraid of Professor?

What do you think is going to happen when the embargo is lifted?

All I know right now is that the Cuban people are suffering more because of our embargo than they are empowered to change anything on the island. So lets end our contribution to their misery.

You do not empower people with brutality.

[Professor]

"I do know that American goods, services, and people will flow into Cuba. That in of itself will be a good thing and stimulate change."

What American goods are you talking about...America currently operates under a trade deficit, which means we import more than what we export. We are consumers for the most part Ambassador, so I ask you again as everyone opposing view on here has asked, what more, in terms of goods and services, can we give the Cuban people that no other country in the world who is doing business with Cuba cannot give them. Please tell me what we make here that is not made anywhere else either through proxy or directly???

So we then go back to the duplicity of your position and come to the only conclusion that you must be either a salesman, Castro operative or just hard-up for some Cuban love.

Since you don't have a crystal ball, if you're theory is put into place and it failes, can I then call you a retard??

[PEE WEe Herman]

It seems that some of my earlier posts have been eliminated?

Could that be the work of longjogn or Oscar?