More One more instance proving President Ronald Reagan was a great president. He appointed this ambassador and Bush #41 was smart enough to use him as an advisor.
Liberills think that their FEELINGS of what is right come before such measly considerations as patriotism, responsibility, or that annoying document written by dead white guys.
One idea of a strategy would be to have a public discussion with Jimmycawtuh about cuba. He could grab that crooked media line about "It's time to revisit Cuba and ask if our policy over the last 40 years has really worked," and simply use the opportunity for exactly that purpose. Think how excited the networks would be! Prime time! Dubya could look interested, conciliatory, firm, and ask annoying questions to Jimmy about such minor nuisances as Angola, or sponsorship of FARC in Colombia and how that looked pretty similar to what happenedin Nicaragua and El Salvador during Carter's horrid administration. Let Jimmy remind the public why they voted for Reagan. Dubya can reinforce that good decision by politely rejecting the idea of a visit and slamming the twerp in full view.
Since Gore shaved his beard, there should be no confusion. . .
So long as Cuba's dictator maintains his stranglehold on every aspect of Cuban life, ending the embargo would be counterproductive. It would do nothing to end the far more restrictive embargo that Castro imposes on the Cuban nation. It would give him the propaganda victory and the US dollars he craves, but it would do little to bring liberty or hope to ordinary Cuban citizens.
Every president since JFK has extended the Cuban embargo; to lift it in exchange for nothing - no free elections, no civil liberties - would be a betrayal of the very people we want to help. ''Tiende tu mano a Cuba,'' says Paya when I ask what he thinks of American policy, ''pero primero pide que le desaten las manos a los cubanos.'' Extend your hands to Cuba - but first unshackle ours.[End Excerpt]
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Letters to the Editors: U.S. is right to keep pressure on Castro's Cuba - © St. Petersburg Times published April 3, 2002 -Re: A walk through Havana reveals the sadness, by Jeff Jacoby, March 17. [Full Text] What a refreshing thing to read an account of what life is like for the typical, non-Communist Cuban. This is one of the few accounts I have seen in the press that does not paint the misleading picture of the happiness of the Cuban people under the Castro regime. My observations are not just personal opinions but are the result of a 30-year study of countless sources of life in Cuba.
For those who would insist on lifting America's trade restrictions with Cuba and decry the strong support of the Cuban-Americans who fled the Communist takeover of their country . . . try walking in their shoes. If you lost your home, business, farm, profession and personal possessions to the Communist takeover of this country and fled to Great Britain, don't you think you would pressure the British government to do everything to bring down that Communist-American government?
Castro holds the key to unlocking the door to trade with the United States; he need only allow free elections, honor human rights and release the political prisoners. When that happens, the people of Cuba will benefit from the resurgence of their economy. They, too, will be able to go into grocery stores with shelves stocked with food. It will no longer be just the Communist Party and its power elite that pocket the dollars of tourism and foreign investment in Cuba.
The United States is doing the right thing to keep up the pressure. The people of Cuba, who want to change the system, cannot change it from within the way we can change our government. They have no non-Communist newspapers or TV. They cannot have rallies and protests without disappearing into the prisons. They cannot elect someone who will improve their lot. They cannot even meet in homes without Communist state spys knocking on their doors and reporting them to the party.
As recently as May 2001, Castro, while visiting fellow terrorist regimes in Iraq, Libya and Iran pledged, while in Tehran, "The people and governments of Cuba and Iran can bring the United States to its knees."
Do we really want to help this terrorist government on our doorstep or should we keep at least as watchful an eye as we are keeping on other terrorist regimes half-way around the world? -- William C. Gregg, Belleair [End]