This is why I support getting rid of Castro. But the way we're doing it won't work. Castro gets to tell Cubans that we suck. Now we know that's not true, but we don't get a chance to tell our side of the story because we've tried to cut off all contact with the country. We've been doing that longer than Moses spent wandering in the desert, and we've got bupkus to show for it. So let's normalize relations, same as with the Soviet Union. You know, the former Soviet Union. Let the Cuban exiles scream -- five years down the road they'll be thanking us when they're flocking to Havana Marlins games.
It's obviously unrealistic to expect the embargo to bring democracy, but I think it's equally unrealistic to expect normalization of relations to bring democracy. After all, Cuba already has travel and trade relations with most of the democratic world, and that hasn't done much for political freedom. Castro has put together a highly efficient authoritarian system. Barring an outside invasion, it typically takes a major internal division within the regime to bring that kind of government down.
Works for me, but I wouldn't necessarily expect everything to be sweetness and light after Castro dies. His brother, who heads up the military, is next in line - and I doubt he's any less authoritarian than Fidel. I'm not aware of any influential democratic reformist tendencies within the regime, and there's no substantial democratic opposition movement outside the regime. Of course, any instability will lead to some sort of US involvement, which might help but (in my opinion) is more likely to make things worse - especially if the current administration is still in power. Post-Castro scenarios are pretty murky, but there are lots of obstacles to a fast or smooth democratic transition.
'Patrimony' literally means 'property of the Father'. That hardly sounds like the egalatarian class equality they preach now, does it?
"Castro personally backed Molina's effort to start a neurological rehabilitation institute, which under her guidance pioneered fetal tissue transplants and other treatments for patients with Parkinson's and other neurological disorders. But she broke with Castro more than a decade ago and became a harsh critic of Cuba's tightly controlled socialist system." So she wants to move to Miami & become a wealthy neurosurgeon?
She wants to go to Argentina to visit her daughter. Maybe Maradona should intercede in her behalf, since aparently he's so close to Castro.
Sure, but are those countries 90 miles away and jammed w/ a ton of exiles dying to spend money to go visit family and consume products from the homeland? No. They're not. Truly, who will have more influence over Cubans, some Italian man or woman going to Cuba for sexual tourism and/or beaches, or ppl who will be spending time w/ their family and discussing life in general? Especially when these ppl would be sending even more money to finance a push towards capitalism. That's the difference. The embargo kills off dialogue and commerce, both of which have proven to be more effective to delegitimizing Castro's regime. The grinding poverty of the "Periodo Especial" after the collapse of the Soviet Empire became the impetus of a mass questioning of the system, to a degree unprecedented in the history of the regime. So when Clinton loosened the noose around Castro's neck, the resultant dialogue and commerce did wonders to cement that questioning and provided the necessary funds to finance a gradual move away from communism. Nobody on that island believes in Castro any more. Not the case 12 years ago. My family (Spanish emigres in Cuba) was divided on the communism front, w/ 3 uncles devoutly communist. That changed when the country opened itself up to tourism and we were allowed to visit. THAT's when 3 separate commies went anti-Castro, w/ one finally leaving despite going to Cuba to participate in the Revolution.