Cuba Targeted at Democratic Convention

30 thoughts on “Cuba Targeted at Democratic Convention”

• During my last visit to Havana in January, a building collapsed killing 4 young people. One the those 4 young people was a delightful teenage girl who lived next door to my casa particular. I held her grieving mother in my arms for nearly an hour until she fell asleep the night of the collapse. If my rants appear “hoary” it is because I lost my voice grieving over the avoidable loss of a young life. “Lawrence W” chooses to call me names and deflect my comments by comparing the wealth of problems in the US to what we are talking about in Cuba. What he does not do is deny that the comments made about Cuba are true. If “Griffin” writes something that is untrue or if I write something that cannot be verified, I invite “Lawrence W” to enlighten us. But to simply call the truth as presented propaganda as a way to defend your support of the regime is childish.

• Welcome to Lawrence’s leftist Bizarro World, where historical fact is propaganda and propaganda is fact. No wonder he cannot see the difference between affluent consumers lining up to by the latest gadget and underfed Cubans lining up to by their meager rations before the limited supply is sold out. It is touching to hear him describe the scarce Cuban diet as “healthy”. What was the Holomodor then, Stalin’s Fat Farm Weight Loss Camp?

  I’ve been to Cuba but not the resorts in Varadero where the tourists are presented with a Potemkin village of the Revolution. I travelled on my own around Havana & Matanzas. I plan to return soon to visit Santiago and the eastern end of the island. When I travel I keep my eyes and my mind open.

  The embargo is a double-ended sword. The US imposed a trade embargo on Cuba, which has had harmful economic effect on the country. At the other end, the Cyban government imposed an embargo on the Cuban people banning free speech, free travel, free economy and human rights. This internal embargo has inflicted far more harm on the Cuban people. I wish for a day when both embargoes are lifted.

• I trust others will see the hypocrisy of ‘Griffin’, who complains of me not staying on topic, dumping boilerplate Zionist propaganda on us that has nothing to do with Cuba. Well, almost nothing. As I recall Israel was the only country in the last UN vote condemning the US embargo, that voted against it, except the US of course.

  ‘Griffin’ writes, “The notion that Florida Jewish money controls the anti-Castro policy of the US is ridiculous.” Well yes, but who wrote that it did? Time to bear down and read more carefully ‘Griffin’. Your obsessive posting is taking on toll on your reading faculties.

  ‘Griffin’ doubts the US is maintaining the embargo “out of fear the American voters will be inspired by the Cuban Revolution”. Then why is it? ‘Griffin’ and his ilk claim it has no or minimal effect on Cubans except to offer a convenient excuse to the government for answering citizens’ complaints. ‘Griffin’, why do YOU think the US is maintaining its insane 50-year embargo?

  Oh, and ‘Griffin’, you don’t have to travel to Havana to see crumbling buildings – Detroit, presumably, is much closer to you – or long lines for consumer goods – go to any Canadian Tire store (‘Griffin’ claims he’s Canadian, like me) on a Saturday to see long lines of consumers queuing for affordable consumer goods on the opening day of its weekly sale. Or for that matter, on the first day of a new Apple Computer gewgaw.

  Capitalism has inspired as many long lineups it seems, many times out of greed, not necessity. I personally prefer the latter.

  Oh, and beef-soy mixes are much more healthy for you than the traditional one-pounder on the barby that has contributed to the increase in morbidly obese people in your country, wherever that is. Presumably eating well and Cuba’s superior health care system, is what has kept the populace so healthy.

  ‘Griffin’ should really travel to Cuba to see for himself rather than just parroting ‘Moses’ hoary old rants about crumbling buildings in Havana.

• ‘John’, I think you will agree, we are not here to discuss Israel and Palestine. I’m sure you are aware that what I wrote is in agreement with the Cuban government and I’m confident, also with Havana Times writers. But then, I am also in agreement with the entire world, save the occupier country, Israel, the Jewish Diaspora, and the governments who are in thrall of Jewish money.

  Al Jazeera’s comment on the undemocratic ramming through of the Jerusalem resolution at the Democratic Convention, despite sizable voiced opposition, was that it showed US citizens are getting fed up with their government being controlled by powerful interest groups like the Jewish lobby.

  Listening to the news this morning, hearing that my government, Canada, has broken ties with Iran, I can only agree with Iran’s response – that the Canadian government is extremist and severely under the influence of the Zionist regime”.

  Keeping to topic, Cuba, this is a disease of capitalism – undue influence by powerful interest groups that negate the democracy that the US hypocritically claims Cuba does not have.

  Your analysis of US election results sounds plausible. It is also a pointed example of the extremely Machiavellian, cynical mechanisms that are in place in the US. Who in their right mind would want to live under a system like this? It makes getting up in the morning and feeling good about the day extremely difficult. It’s not just me that feels like that here. The Canadian government has just made it even more difficult.

• Technically, it is possible to win without Florida’s 29 EC votes but neither party is willing to write it off. That means both will campaign hard in Florida. They won’t risk alienating the Cuban-American vote. after the election, if he wins, Obama might move to relax the embargo further. Romney won’t.

• i made a mistale above. i wrote…….but i do not favor romney because i am starry eyed. i meant to write obama. obama is better than the other one.

• Lawrence, Jerusalem is the defacto capital of Israel and I don’t think that the 1948 resolution matters a damn. The palestinians also want Jerusalem as their capital. But there is a big difference between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Jerusalem has fewer pork restaurants and street walkers.

• griffin, believe it or not, i am perfectly well aware of everything you have written about cuban and american media. i could give YOU a very long list of american alternate media starting with democracy now! tom dispatch, truthout, show me the money, naked capitalism etc.etc.etc. i also know this. it is not what so called free media in so called free countries tell you that matters. it is what they do NOT report. lying by omission. the australian media is not free and i have always resented being treated like a muppet or mushroom. i could tell you what australian journalists call rupert murdoch. they don’t kiss ass there. the cubans have the cuban internet but all countries have one. word of mouth. the manila rumor mill is notorious. a certain australian politician caught on candid camera in a pedophile brothel. a certain judge protecting drug traffickers etc.

• Its a shame so many people are sonutterly ignorant of historical facts. The UN resolution declaring the partition of Palestine was in 1947, not 1948 . The resolution endorsed both a Jewish state and an Arab state with Jerusalem as a shared capital under UN jurisdiction. The Jews a cepted the offer, while the Arabs refused it.

  In May of 1948 the Jewish authority declared the creation of the state of Israel in the land the UN had designated for it. Immediately it was attacked by the armies of 6 Arab states. The Arab League announced their intention to destroy Israel and slaughter all the Jews. Israel fought for survival and won. The land now called the West Bank was occupied by Jordan, along with East Jerusalem which annexed it into their Kingdom, in violation of the UN resolution. Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip, in violation of the UN resolution. None of the invading Arab states made any mention of creating an independent country for the Palestinian Arabs on the land they occupied.

  In June of 1967 Israel was again attacked by 3 Arab armies with the publicly declared intention of destroying Israel and killing all the Jews. They said nothing about creating an independent Palestinian state. Once again Israel fought for her survival and won. This time, Israel had captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Sinai.

  The notion that Florida Jewish money controls the anti-Castro policy of the US is ridiculous. The claim that the US is doing this out of fear the American voters will be inspired by the Cuban Revolution if only they could see the crumbling buildings of Havana, the slums of Santiago or the long lines for rationed beef-soy mix is truly laughable.

• griffen, at present, there are 110 not certain. the republicans don’t think that paul ryan can carry his own state of wisconsin so have been trying to change winner takes all in wisconsin. if not successful and the democrats take the wisconsin 10 that leave 100 undecided. if the republicans take florida they would then still need 22 to win from 72. it has never happened before but 21 would be a draw. none of the published polls matter. they are all biased. the important polls are in marginal states and congressional districts and are secret and the results are never released. while i admit that romney should be able to get 22 of 72 that is not certain. he is way behind with women. 100% behind with african americans. what the bruce springsteen fans think is hard to say. the squeezed working and middle classes and how many realize that the republicans have been more to blame for them being squeezed.. this election will show if romney courting the worms, gusanos, is the best course or obama making gusano jokes and courting those who want an end to the embargoes. i realize that obama has had a bet each way in the short term. then there is how organized the party machines are at getting out the vote. the weather will be a factor. will there be fraud? the newspaper headline “DEWEY WINS” is famous. as for how many understand that romney will reduce taxes again for the wealthy, let infrastructure run down, run more huge deficits etc. is hard to say. most people only understand that they get enough for a fifth, a bottle. then there are the tax havens. how many people know and how many resent it? you can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. then there’s 6 degrees of separation. i am not a political fool nor do i claim to be a top expert. griffin, i suspect that you are repeating what you have read. the winner must take florida. the winner probably will take florida but i still don’t think that obama will necessarily lose if romney takes florida. i’d jump at the chance of an even money bet on obama. but i do not favor romney because i am starry eyed. i am not even an american, allah be praised! karl rove is on the record as to who he thinks will win. BUT IF OBAMA DOES WIN BY VERY MUCH MORE THAN 29 VOTES, WITH OR WITHOUT FLORIDA, I’LL BE BACK! one final word. since i was a young man people have said to me……….it’s never happened before. i say……………there’s always a first time. “chaos” james gleick.

• And for those who might have difficulty seeing through ‘Griffin’s’ limited comprehension, it has been noted many times in the US press – I can provide the links – that the Cuban-American block is shrinking as the sons and daughters of the original Cuban worms who fled Cuba feel differently than their forbears.

  True, it’s money, not numbers that matter as Dawn pointed out when the Democrats cooked the books and outrageously suspended democracy, supporting the Jewish lobby – Jews being 1.7% of the population – in supporting Israel in establishing Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state, in total contravention of the 1948 UN resolution defining the partition of Palestine to allow for a Jewish state.

  But, and I don’t mean this to be demeaning to the cashed up Cuban gusanos living in Florida – side by side to VERY wealth Jewish communities – they appear to be poor white trash in comparison, in diminishing numbers – septuagenarians and octogenarians – hardly likely .to be power players in anything other than their golf carts.

  The point being, it is extremely difficult to take ‘Griffin’ seriously in asserting this is what drives US Cuban policy. The US DRIVES US CUBAN POLICY. It’s scared shitless it’s citizens will see a better way.

  Everybody I know and everything I’ve read would agree with ‘Griffin’, writing, “All that said, the embargo also serves a purpose for the Castro government. It provides the necessary backdrop for the siege mentality and a convenient excuse for every shortage and economic failure.”

  So why doesn’t the US drop its insane embargo? It seems obvious they feel more confident bringing the Cuban government down by maintaining the embargo than by eliminating convenient excuses. Cuban people, of course are paying the price. ‘Griffin’ could care less.

• John,

  All print media, all TV stations and all radio stations in Cuba are run by the state. A few independent websites exist, but as so few Cubans have access to the internet, the presence of dissenting voices on the web is tolerated, up to a point.

  There are hundreds of independent media outlets in the US, in print, radio, TV and internet. They do have their political biases, sometimes reflecting the interest of various political ideologies or of the business interests of corporations and individuals who own them or advertise on them. In the US, FoxNews is heavily biased to the Republican Party, and MSNBC, CBS, CNN, ABC are slanted to the Democratic Party. But they are not owned & controlled by the state. Lest somebody say the US media all follow the corporate masters, it’s easy to point out there are many US based media sources that are very much leftist and anti-corporate in their ideology, radically opposed to capitalism.

• Again, for those who have difficulty with reading comprehension:

  Florida is a swing state with 29 electoral college votes. Anybody who wants to be president must win Florida. Cuban-Americans represent a significant voting block in Florida. Therefore political candidates from either party will not risk alienating them.

  The few Cuban-American senators and congressmen want to keep the embargo on. The much larger Congressional Black Caucus is decidedly anti-embargo and pro-Castro. If it were a simple matter of votes in congress, the embargo would be lifted.

  Florida’s electoral college votes are the key reason the embargo stays.

  All that said, the embargo also serves a purpose for the Castro government. It provides the necessary backdrop for the siege mentality and a convenient excuse for every shortage and economic failure.

• The two Bobbsey twins at the seashore – the Straits of Florida – ‘Griffin’ and ‘Moses’, relentless propagandists / agent provocateurs for the US, as usual spin their web of disinformation. ‘Griffin’ writes, and ‘Moses’ seconds, “that for Americans, “Cuba itself is irrelevant”, ” the parties are not all that interested in Cuba, and the general public even less so” and ” the US is not “obsessed” with Cuba.”

  If only that were true, many of Cuba’s problems would disappear. If the US is not obsessed with Cuba, then why is it maintaining an insane and outrageous 50-year embargo against an “irrelevant” country that would be absurd if it wasn’t tragic?

  PLEASE, Americnas, stop the obsession with Cuba that the Bobbsey twins claim you don’t have!!!

  Also, STOP “the steady drum beat of propaganda [emanating from agent provocateurs like ‘Griffin’ and ‘Moses’] that continues to try to drive into the head of every Cuban the looming and constant threat of [ their government]. This fear is not without reason, but the urgency has long since passed and is now an historical remnant”, to paraphrase the Bobbsey Twins.

• if you need a friend in washington, buy a dog! harry truman.

• very interesting comments here….as we look forwad to go back and visit our Cuban friends again in Octubre

• I’m somehow reminded of Obama’s Twitter response to Clint Eastwood’s ’empty chair’ rant. What’s the difference between the “senile, pamper-wearing octogenarian” Cuban-American ‘gusanos’ who fled Cuba and the Castros? The Castros occupy the Cuban ‘chair’.

• it is true that cuba, like las filipinas, is obsessed with el norte. with the fortunes of war, and peace treaty negotiators, cubanos could be speaking dutch or french, and looking to paris or amsterdam with america as an irrelevancy. the democrats are trying to straddle the fence and keep both sides in florida half happy. those that want an end to embargoes and those who want their landed estates back in who knows how many more years. but i think that obama could win without florida but with florida obama is certain to win. we will all see in november. i have seen bacardi ron in cuba. does this mean that the bacardi family has moved on? the bacardis have done well enough since leaving cuba just like the chinese who fled shanghai for hongkong.

• as america is no longer a white majority country, the only hope that the republicans have in the long term is a lot of minority candidates including at the president-vice president level. mainstream parties have gone extinct before. in britain, the whigs were replaced by the liberals who were replaced by the labour party. the republicans emerged just before the civil war. teddy roovevelt was very progressive especially for the times. if a new party emerges to replace the republicans this doesn’t necessarily mean that they will remain with the original ideologies. the british labour party was very imperialistic but presided over decolonization because they were more realistic than the tories. one might call it the facade of decolonization.

• As they said about ‘Nam. We are destorying Vietnam in order to save it.

• Bolstering civil society with independent religious groups is a useless exercise. this may come as news to the democratic party but cuba is not a christian country. the majority are in disorganised religions. african religions which are a perversion of catholicism or maybe it’s the reverse. it’s hard to say. these religions resemble catholicism in some ways like saints but many religions have common beliefs. there was a holy trinity and the eucharist for the risen god the son in egypt 1,000 B.C.E. bread and beer rather than wine. many african religions including islam began their african journey in egypt so it is possible that coptic christianity’s belief system was in black africa long before slaves were brought to america. this is certainly true of ethiopia which is not only christian but also had a thriving jewish community called falashes until most migrated to israel. the falashes claim descent from the queen of sheba but soloman and sheba is a tale of doubtful authenticity. bolstering civil society is newspeak for subverting the present government.

• Cuba has an independent media, Havana Times and satellite dishes. Although it must be said that the T.V. broadcasts from el norte are not independent. they are the lamestream media. the FOX/POX ministry of propaganda for example.

• Well said.

• The title of this article is misleading. The Democrats are not “Targeting Cuba”. Neither are the Republicans. They are targeting the Cuban-American voters in the key swing state of Florida. Whoever wins the election in November has to win Florida and its 29 electoral college votes. Cuba itself is irrelevant.

  Aside from election cycles the parties are not all that interested in Cuba, and the general public even less so. The Cuban-America relationship is far more important to Cuba than it is to the US. I hate to have to be the one to break this too you, but the US is not “obsessed” with Cuba. In fact, it’s Cuba that is obsessed with the US, as the steady drum beat of propaganda from Havana continues to try to drive into the head of every Cuban the looming and constant threat of the Yanqui Imperialists. This fear is not without reason, but the urgency has long since passed and is now an historical remnant.

• John, I think separating protesters from conventioneers by a fence protects the safety of both the protester and the conventioneer. Especially if the protester shares your apparent lack of capacity to accept that others may disagree with your beliefs but nonetheless merit your respectful discourse. What you seem to wish to ignore is that in Cuba, fence or no fence, the protesters would have been arrested and worse. The 5 to 1 ratio of police and other “agents” of the government (which agency might that be, hahaha) could also represent a lack of protesters and not an overabundance of police, couldn’t it? Besides John, if you have been to Cuba, you have heard the old joke about the population in Havana? One million civilians and one million police. The fact is Cuba uses more police per citizen for marches, concerts, mardi gras, etc. than any other city in this hemispere. I believe Obama and Biden to be of high moral character which is my right. Obviously you disagree which is your right. I am neither ignorant nor lying when I suggest that the vetting of both democratic and republican candidates is thorough and pluralistic. We know what these guys wore to their high school proms for chrissakes. That you disagree with the current candidates does not make their selection flawed. It simply means that your particular interests was not shared by a large enough group of like-minded people. Western media is not flawed in the same way Cuban press is flawed through the withholding of information. Rather, western media is vulnerable to accusations of laziness and herd mentality. No western newsman worth his salt can resist a juicy bit of dirt that would expose or scandalize someone rich, famous or powerful. It is a business and scandal sells. If the NYT could have exposed Bush & Co. with the fact that no WMD existed at the time of the invasion they would have run that story as fact as you can say Hiel Fidel. Oh wait, they did expose the story, didn’t they? John, the problem lies in that most news sources don’t do the investigative work to find real news. Look up the word “totalitarian”. If you think the US is a totalitarian government and Cuba is not, I don’t think you know what it means. BTW, is there such a thing as bottom-up religion, bottom-up imperialism? Really?

• Moses,

  The last time the Democratic convention was held in Boston, protestors were kept in a FENCED OFF area .
  So much for allowing protest.

  At the Republican convention the police and other agents of the government outnumbered the protestors by 5-1.
  That’s intimidation and a very effective suppression of democratic rights .

  Your description of the United states as a democracy is either an instance of ignorance or just a blatant lie and probably a good proportion of both.

  To explain:
  A presidential election campaign in the United States costs in excess of a billion dollars for each candidate. No potential candidate of any moral character has the chance of reaching that height much less even being accepted at the lower levels of the Democrat or Republican parties unless they are unequivocal supporters of both capitalism and the imperialism it spawns.

  Each of the people for whom we are allowed to vote is preselected by the big money people long before they ever get to the convention halls .

  Just try and debate the fact that neither party can possibly nominate anyone for whom the major contributing corporations and wealthy individuals will not contribute the huge sums absolutely necessary to win an election campaign.
  It would be political suicide .

  So in the United States , no less than in Cuba , we are only allowed to vote for a person who represents the status quo . In Cuba the PCC makes those decisions. In the U.S. it is the oligarchy; the rich and powerful who make those decisions.

  To suggest that any measure of democratic decision making is allowed at the media extravaganza circuses that are U.S. party conventions is, again, either ignorance or outright lying and misrepresentation on your part.

  As for a free press in the U.S. , you are once more ignorant of or misrepresenting the reality that the corporate media in the United States exists to sell product.
  They do not exist to inform the public. They are a business.

  They are not free to tell the truth of things like politicians lying about WMDs until well after the wars and atrocities have been committed and justified in the dumbed-down public’s mind by the obvious lies that the corporate media dare not expose for fear of economic backlash in the form of sponsor boycotts, lowered Nielsen Ratings , and government exclusion to official news sources all of which would cost them their business .

  There is no need to jail people in a totalitarian country like the United States when their methods of mind-control via censorship under the so-called “freedom of the press” are so sophisticated and the electorate so sheep-like in their obedience, indeed, their preference for a totalitarian society as exhibited by the overwhelming support for top-down capitalism, top-down religion and top-down imperialism.

  You are a faithful servant of totalitarianism and have absolutely no credibility when it comes to pointing fingers at Cuba.

  The Cuban people are at the end of the 50 year war by the U.S. against them and as bad as things may be in many areas of Cuban life, they sure don’t agree with you as can be seen even in the writings of the harsh critics who are the writers here at HT.

• Alberto N Jones said: “..of senile, pamper-wearing octagenarians, hoping to die and be buried in the land of their birth.”

  You just described the Castro Family Oligarchy!

  FOREIGN POLICY MAGAZINE: The Castro family playground- Blake Hounshell Friday, May 2, 2008
  http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2008/05/02/the_castro_family_playground

• Thanks for reminding me, Alberto, of that “Christmas dinner in Havana,” refrain, first heard by me when I was a callow youth, in the early 1960’s, when one of the Batistiano emigres voiced it on Miami TV. Like Miss Havisham in Dickens’s “Great Expectations,” the remaining members of that generation of the Miami mafia will become cobwebbed skeletons while waiting.
  As for the Democrats, four years ago the only ones for which I voted where in the local- and state-wide races, including my congressman, whose progressive bonefides are certified, as well as my senator who, though an independent, votes with the Democratic caucus. In the last presidential election, my daughter worked long and hard for Obama; not so this time around.
  Our political system is crying for the birth of viable third- and fourth-parties, but the system has been rigged by those in power–be they Dems. or Repubs.–to frustrate this option. Still, it has happende in the distant past (19th Century) and may happen again, when the two major parties reach political bankruptcy. Let us hope this happens sooner, rather than later.

• This is more of the same. No other issue have been used and abused as much in south Florida, as the hypocritical behavior of all politicians from both parties running for high office, in their Miami pilgrimage in search of Votes and Cash!

  Stopping at the Versalles (Miami Counterrevolution Basilica) to have a cup of Cuban coffee, a pastelito, a few learned Spanish words and a foto-op promising the “liberation” of Cuba under his/her leadership, continue to be absorbed, devoured and digested, by a mass of senile, pamper-wearing octagenarians, hoping to die and be buried in the land of their birth.

  Cruelly exploiting this deep feelings of thousands of Cuban-Americans, amoral politicians spanning the Cesar Odio, Mel Martinez, Ronald Reagan, Perez-Roura, Bill Clinton through wannabe David Rivera, Marco Rubio and other neocons, continue to promise shamefully on their AM Radio to a captive audience, this year it will be, “Christmas in Havana”, no matter the harm or deception.

• I fully support the Democratic platform with regards to Cuba. While I disagree with the arguments made in the Republican platform criticizing the current administration’s latin american policy, I also generally support the aims set forth by the Republicans with regards to Cuba as well. Dawn Gable clearly supports the Castro dictatorship so her biting criticism regarding US policy is expected. What I do not understand is how she can keep a straight face and remain critical of US democracy, however flawed, while attending a national convention which showcases the very access to policy-making and policy-makers wholly denied to Cubans in Cuba. This is the penultimate in hypocracy! While she may not agree with the platforms set forth by either party, at least there is an unmolested opportunity to disagree. She will not be detained by secret police and held overnight in a dungeon for publicly expressing her differences. No one is going to turn off her cell phone or prevent her from leaving her hotel room. She will not come back to her hotel to a gang of government-paid thugs outside shouting “worm!, traitor!” and throwing paint on her as she opens her door. In the US, there are least two different official opinions regarding policy towards Cuba, the Democrats and the Republicans. That makes one more than is allowed in Cuba. I can just smell the critics responding now. The influence of corporate money, the powerful 1%, the lack of real diversity of opinion, blah, blah, blah. The fact remains that no one will go to jail for their differences. One the other hand, imagine if you would, a CNN reporter reporting live from the floor of National Assembly in Cuba. Can’t imagine it? Neither can I because it ain’t gonna’ happen. Outside the convention hall in Charlottethis week there are scores of anti-Obama protesters with signs and bullhorns exercising their constitutional right to express their disagreement with the current government. Those who would support the totalitarianism in Cuba should ask themselves, when was last time you saw that in Cuba. Why is that? Does everyone love Fidel? ‘Nuff said.

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