The Impact of Cuba’s New Customs Regs

13 thoughts on “The Impact of Cuba’s New Customs Regs”

• Hi Lawrence,

  The more we read, the wider our exchange, the closer we come to finding common ground in our supposedly differing views. I agree fully with your premise except, that Cuba have been literally at a stand still, rightfully defending itself, but at the same time, it is been subjected to a “wasting” “debilitating” position imposed from abroad, which have begun to have its effect on the country’s youth, affected by scarcities, lack of basic resources and leading them to think only of migrating.

  Among the many things my limited knowledge and experience of the US-Cuba stalemate could suggest, is to introduce and immediately achieve greater results towards either weakening beyond repair or outright demolishing the embargo/blockade in a very short time, is the following option:

  Promote among 80 million retirees in our hemisphere, many of whom are living slightly above the poverty line, suffocated by the never-ending increases in their cost of living, safety breakdown, violence against the aging, adverse weather, high cost of housing, food, medicine and total disregard by a community too busy to care, while thousands of prime vacant lots in valleys, waterfront, suburban, hillside or inner city through the length and breath of Cuba are ignored and where none of our guests, would ever fear being assaulted, raped, robbed or murdered, as it commonly occur in their respective countries and most importantly, they would be able to live comfortably with their actual basic income.

  This simple concept would mean, billions of dollars in housing income for Cuba, the creation of hundreds of thousands of well paid jobs in healthcare, senior care, recreation, personal care, transportation and travel, generating hundreds of millions of additional dollars, which could begin to finance the huge development the country demands to move out of its present stagnation.

  What could the United States do to stop its senior citizen from relocating to Cuba in search of conditions their country have proven incapable of providing? Will their retirement funds be frozen and subjected to hunger as they tried to do to Cubans?

  Would the United States deny their citizens a visa or send out the Coast Guard to stop and shoot at those sailing towards a better, affordable, safe living conditions?

  How can anyone, anywhere, argue in favor of keeping the Embargo/Blockade in place, when their own citizens have chosen to live in the “hell” they have described and is now denounced by the actions of their citizens, by unmasking false assumptions, lies and wicked effect the embargo exerts on the citizens of Cuba, for whom they will become exceptional eye witnesses?

  Dear Lawrence, what legal instruments would Cuba require to implement a project as simple as this, except for the screening of all applicants for proper social behavior, addictions or perversions?

  How difficult could it become to further release small and mid size business to provide the services, hundreds of thousands of new, semi-permanent residents would require to live in comfort?

  This is just one, of the many options under the rug, that could expedite the demise or demolition of what Cuba can only relish in October, when the UN, in what have become a yearly ritual, list all of those countries who oppose, denounce and decry the cruel US embargo and the 2-3 accomplices who support this monster, to no avail.

  There are viable options. There are ways of testing its feasability. There are ways of reversing this project in face of an adverse outcome. There should never be the unwillingness to try, explore and evaluate!

• Alberto,

  Thank-you for joining the conversation. You succinctly and concisely summarized what the US blockade represents. Perhaps, as you wrote, we can reach other common understandings through a fruitful exchange of ideas.

  You write that I have “tried to convince us all, that standing firm, not coming up with innovative, creative ideas, that may alter the status quo, is the way for Cuba to go, even if this leads to the biblical Lot become a pile of salt.”

  I suppose I have, not out of desire, but out of believing what is possible is limited in the current circumstance except to stand firm – what armies in combat have to do when offensives are not possible without losing ground, or the war.

  The ‘Tokyo Roses’ of this website would have us believe it is a lost cause, attempting to win with propaganda what has been unwinnable through other means.

  The ‘Griffin’s of this website would have us believe that surrendering to the persecutor is the only way to come out ahead.

  And you, as I read it, feel that it is possible, with “creative ideas, methods, devices” to ‘bore holes in the blockade. I would argue that this is what the Cuban government has been trying to do, and is trying to do with the current reforms. Can it do better? Maybe, but it is up against enormous odds that are almost impossible to imagine, possibly more enormous than any other country in the world has ever had to face, maybe throughout history.

  The odds for success are not good but it is still possible if Cubans can come to terms with the Tokyo Roses, the defeatists and those who have unreasonable expectations for what ‘creative ideas, methods and devices can achieve.

  I believe some things can certainly be done – different things, by Cubans and by its friends outside Cuba. I don’t think that tying into young Cubans’ unrest without offering a perspective of what it’s really like outside Cuba – not the proliferation of consumer goods available here, both useful and junk, more the latter I’m afraid – but of what’s missing – what really matters for citizens’ general well-being, is being helpful.

  There is no question what you wrote, that the US blockade that Cubans have had to endure, with “tremendous dignity and at incredible price in human suffering for half a century” is outrageous. It is what all nations and groups have to endure when they are under a state of siege. By definition, they are crimes against humanity.

  But we are not “still debating the cause, effect and consequence”, I think. Those are all well-known. We are trying to agree on the best way of dealing with it.

  We certainly agree that ending the US blockade will prove one way or another what the Cuban government is capable of.

  I believe the crux of our differences lie with what we feel the Cuban government can do at this time. You write it has “supplanted thoughtful thinking, creativity, the ingenuity of the 1960-70, skepticism and fear mongering of regime change by those with vested interest in keeping things in Cuba As IS.”

  That is possible. Prolonged struggles are inevitably corrupting. With the imposition of the US blockade – blockades are commonly characterised as a declaration of war, one of the reasons US propagandists prefer the term embargo – the Cuban Revolution has never been allowed to reach a state of completion.

  And the enemy propagandists of the Revolution leap on any corruption, in vague terms, ignoring the monolithic corruption that is common in their own country that make Cuban government officials look like angels in comparison.

  To see if we can reach some common ground, I put this forward for your consideration, to see if we can agree on what Cuba is up against in order to achieve a realistic picture of what Cuba’s government is capable of doing.

  Cuba has had to contend with, for more than 50 years, the ambitions of the most powerful country on earth that is currently exhibiting behaviour that can only be described as like someone drunk on power, that exhibits no values whatsoever except the pursuit of power and world control, that has been successful at selling to its people ideas formulated by its elite class, utilizing the full power of its monolithic marketing industry, developed for selling products, required as the basis of capitalist systems.

  Under the circumstances, calling for “the day, when decency, morality and justice will return to our hemisphere on behalf of the victims,” however noble, is more in the realm of an unreachable fairy tale than a blueprint for what practicably can be done.

  The increasing disparity of income in the US is placing ever-increasing power in the hands of the few. The concomitant increase in power of special interest groups has had a direct effect on what Cuba is up against, remembering that Torricelli and Helms-Burton that codified the blockade into law were not installed until the 90s, 30 years after its imposition.

  As you wrote, “There are millions of well intended and not so well intended proposals on the table.” I would point out it introduces an additional challenge for Cubans – having to sort out the well intended from the not so well intended who disguise their motives and are an incessant presence on this website.

  I don’t place you in this category, but sometimes friends can be your worst enemy as the aphorism goes.

  I am not saying in any way that the Cuban government is perfect, near perfect or even suitable for Cubans. I am a staunch believer in participatory democracy and egalitarianism. As such, I could well be seen as an enemy of the current Cuban government.

  If there was no change in how the Cuban government operated after the US blockade was lifted, I would be the first one to decry it.

  But, there is a war on, instituted by the US. All governments act differently when they are under threat. Canada has a “war measures act” that grants the government dictatorial powers in times of crisis. There is an equivalent in the US, recently ‘enhanced’ which, using “terrorism’ as an excuse, is allowing it to invoke extra-legal procedures in times of peace involving torture, renditions, extra-legal assassinations and suspension of habeas corpus, far out-stripping anything the Cuban government has used.

  Due to the ongoing war, yes I would hope Cubans will ‘stand firm’ and understand what their government is up against. I have hopes that the arrogance the US is currently exhibiting around the world will result in countries insisting on putting some teeth into their annual toothless affirmation at the UN opposing the blockade, but economic forces will no doubt be the major influence, both within and without the US that will be the driving force for change, I think.

  I admit, it’s not a very rosy picture, but surrender is neither. The choices are both difficult, essentially “eventually you will be free of the US Empire” vs “you will never be free but if you behave, you will receive the same benefits trusties get in prisons”.

  It’s a tough choice for Cubans. It’s their decision to make. For my part, I’m trying to offer them a perspective of what it’s really like in capitalist countries and to identify the tainted or ill-advised advice they are getting, exclusively emanating from citizens of the country that is the main source of their misery, whilst, unsurprisingly, putting the blame on the Cuban government.

  We can discuss individual things you feel the Cuban government could do without threatening its existence as an autonomous government of Cuba. I have stated two – opening up travel and making the internet more widely available. Both involve risks but I think they are worth taking.

  I’m not sure what your point was about my car metaphor. All metaphors risk being simplistic but I feel it suited the point I was making that you indicated you are in agreement with – look at the overall cause of a problem before trying to fix ones that may dependent on the overall problem.

• You wrote previously about how lifting the blockade would not “poof”, suddenly improve the Cuban economy. Now you write it would, but not improve the lives of Cubans, confusing, I think, the way things work in your capitalist country with the way it works in Cuba. In your country, ‘improving the economy’ means improving the economy for the elites, typically at the expense of the rest of us.

  ‘Griffin’ now writes that lifting the blockade “would be a large and difficult undertaking” for the US that is, requiring the dismantling of a couple of pieces of US legislation that codified the blockade in the 90’s, 30 years after it began. Various sections have been reversed by executive order since – the US is increasingly giving its president powers that don’t require legislative approval.

  ‘Griffin’ writes, if Cubans kowtowed “to the requirements stipulated” in the US laws, there would be no more ‘difficulties’. The arrogance of yankee imperialism seems to have no bounds. Once you start kowtowing, of course, there’s no easy turning back as countries soon learn – including my own.

  The Americans certainly seem to like to get what they want through torture – torturing Cuban citizens with their economic blockade in this case. The blandishments ‘Griffin’ offers reminds me of an interrogator who, after water-boarding you, tells you how your difficulties’ will end if you just give him what he wants.

  ‘Griffin’ can only imagine the blockade being lifted by ‘magic’, despite the whole world, save Israel and the US, wanting it removed, displaying yet more yankee arrogance. Bertrand Russell, in his book, “Power”, wrote that it is arrogance that inevitably has brought down powerful, seemingly invincible empires throughout history. Arrogance causes this basic fact to be ignored by the powerful – which is what makes it inevitable.

  ‘Griffin’s magical thinking imagines a scenario where the dual currency system would cause problems – forgetting, or hoping we will, that it came about because of the blockade and would naturally disappear with it.

  ‘Griffin’ also asks “where would all the resources & supplies come from to service the mushrooming tourism industry?”, again incapable of understanding, or hoping we won’t, what is possible without an economic blockade being in place.

  ‘Griffin’s magical thinking sees Cubans “working effectively as slaves for a tiny wage to serve American tourists”, forgetting that more well-off Cubans at the moment are people who work in the tourist industry.

  Boilerplate propaganda rhetoric follows – “people locked under the heal of the Castro dictatorship”. I’m always reminded of how Communist countries always used repetitive demonizing phrases like. “capitalist imperialist pigs”, for example. Interesting. You wouldn’t think US propagandists would ape that element, would you?

  ‘Griffin’ then presents us with his magical thinking scenario – “the US & Cuba sit down together and negotiate a series of steps by which they would move toward lifting both embargoes.” Translation: Cuba gives its economy over to capitalist neo-liberal ideology – the same ideology that has brought the world to the brink of economic collapse – dominated by the US, and the US will stop torturing the Cuban people with its economic blockade.

  ‘Griffin’s magical thinking continues, becoming a full-blown fantasy – “the US allows more travel of US citizens to Cuba, and Cuba allows freer travel for Cuban citizens. Notice how the US is restricting its citizens from traveling, like Cuba? Once a capitalist-friendly government is in place, they won’t be able to afford to travel having to continue to float across the Straits of Florida just as Mexicans have to swim the Rio Grande.

  The fantasy continues, the US and Cuba will move on “to diplomatic, communications, democracy, financial & trade issues.” Translation: Cuba will become another member of the US Empire, the 51st state?

  ‘Griffin’ finishes with the fantasy suddenly becoming a reality – “This approach has the advantages of avoiding a disastrous shock to the Cuban system” – it’s called graduated imperialism – “while also rewarding mutual trust through a gradual path toward normalized relations” – full membership as a client state of the US Empire, or “b2b” status – back to Batista days.

  ‘Griffin’ ends with, “Certainly, it’s better than the current situation, isn’t it?” There’s that interrogator-torturer role again.

  ‘Griffin’s fantasies are certainly telling. Do you think he might be a “capitalist imperialist pig”? lol.

  And the curtain descends on another fantasy of Walt Disney proportions. Only there is no happy ending in this one.

• There are millions of well intended and not so well intended proposals on the table to end what everyone should agree upon: The imposition of a powerful, foreign country unilateral destructive decisions upon a small, sovereign nation, only because of its inability to strike back, causing unspeakable pain, suffering and deaths, on people who have done no harm to the United States, must end!

  For the handful of faithful, who still attempt to justify the embargo, by alledging US business confiscation in Cuba after 1959, the illiteracy campaign, the defeat in Playa Giron, the Missile Crisis, becoming communist, foreign military itervention, freedom of speech, human rights violations, terrorist nation etc., etc., is nothing more than a smoke screen to justify a shameful crime.

  Anyone interested in a list of countries with which the US has close and friendly ties, that meet and exceed all of the above? Why this personal, selective, congressional decision that applies only to Cuba another 3-4 countries out of 200 in the world?

  Having settled this basic and irrefutable principle, let me take this hopefully fruitful exchange one step further.

  In Lawrence case, who have tried to convince us all, that standing firm, not coming up with innovative, creative ideas, that may alter the status quo, is the way for Cuba to go, even if this leads to the biblical Lot become a pile of salt.

  Cuba have done that with tremendous dignity and at incredible price in human suffering for half a century and we are still debating the cause, effect and consequence?

  Therefore, the idea of replacing an engine of a car that runs out of gas, is nothing more than a typical, dogmatic, self serving proposition, that helps no one, advances no cause, except a partisan, feel-good, self serving speech. Been there, seen that, done that!!

  Logic suggests, that everyone interested in ending the embargo/blockade, should carefully study and come up with creative ideas, methods, devices that are capable of boring holes in it, just as the US Treasury Department spend millions tracking every possible Cuban transactions to confiscate its resources, shut down sources of acquiring raw materials, spare parts etc., in addition to the eonomic, media and bioterror warfare.

  Let’s stop the hypotethics of what will happen when the embargo is lifted and Cuba is flooded with tourists. This is just another form of scare tactics, that have not happened since its inception. When that day arrive, the Cuban people will cross that bridge. In the meantime, all efforts should be to expedite the day, when decency, morality and justice will return to our hemisphere on behalf of the victims.

  Many predicts the Cuban government will do nothing if the American government changes its abusive behaviour against Cuba, that have earned it much animosity around the world. Why not do it and end the speculation and see what happens?

  If Cuba took a carefully pro-active stance with similar views, there are hundreds of things that Cuba can do, without having to resort to Think Tank analyses, that the United States illegal embargo could not stop and by spontaneous generation, would demolish this half a century war of attrition, which have began to bear its fruits, through a worsening of the economy, loss of hope, joblessness, collapsing buildings and endless debate by those leading the country.

  Any doubts, ask any old untrained, hungry, sich Cuban for ideas?

  Cuba’s worst enemy at this time, is a lack of action, that have supplanted thoughtful thinking, creativity, the ingenuity of the 1960-70, skepticism and fear mongering of regime change by those with vested interest in keeping things in Cuba As IS.

  They will loose, intelligence will prevail and Cuba will be what it is destined to be, for itself and millions in need around the world.

• We already discussed why lifting the embargo without Cuban first meeting the requirements stipulated in the several embargo related laws would be a large and difficult under taking. It can’t be done simply by Obama issuing an executive order, “Lift the embargo!”

  But for this moment, let’s assume the embargo is magically lifted: what next?

  There would be a flood of tourists from the US to Cuba, providing a huge boost the the Cuban economy. But would it improve the lives of all Cubans? Not likely. With the dual currency system still in place, the flood of dollars would set off rapid inflation. The local peso would drop even further in value. Those with access to dollars would prosper, while those stuck in the peso economy will suffer more than ever.

  Where would all the resources & supplies come from to service the mushrooming tourism industry? Remember, the Cuban internal embargo is still in place. Cuba will still have problems importing goods, and they still suffer from low productivity and make very little that other countries want to import. The limited resources would flow to the tourism sector, while other more worthwhile sectors would lose. Consider the ugly irony of it all: Cubans would be working effectively as slaves for a tiny wage to serve American tourists, the people locked under the heal of the Castro dictatorship. Is that the future the Cuban revolutions was fought for?

  Here’s a better scenario: the US & Cuba sit down together and negotiate a series of steps by which they would move toward lifting both embargoes. They identify related issues and commit to resolving them, so that piece by piece, brick by brick, both the internal and external embargoes are removed. For example: the US allows more travel of US citizens to Cuba, and Cuba allows freer travel for Cuban citizens. They move on to diplomatic, communications, democracy, financial & trade issues. This approach has the advantages of avoiding a disastrous shock to the Cuban system, while also rewarding mutual trust through a gradual path toward normalized relations.

  Certainly, it’s better than the current situation, isn’t it?

• Of course ending the US blockade “will not suddenly improve the Cuban economy” but things are going to move pretty damn fast when you look at the myriad of difficulties it is causing that will come to an end. For starters, US businesses are going to fall all over themselves in order to get a piece of the trade action. They are lined up now.

  And from its end, Cuba is ready and waiting as well. Plans for building golf courses all over Cuba – there’s only one, in Varadero at present – and marinas have been drawn up, waiting for tourists from a country with 10 times the population of Canada that currently supplies the most tourists, whose closest border is 90 miles away, not more than 1500.

  It will be pretty close to the “poof’ your buddy ‘Moses’ wrote about.

  You try hard to make the case there is an elite in Cuba equivalent to what exists in your country. You HAVE been to Cuba, haven’t you? Maybe not. There is certainly some wealth and power differentials but compared to capitalism, the privileged in Cuba would be looked on as poor white trash in your country.

  Of course the import tariffs will go into “govt coffers”. That’s how it’s supposed to work, but in your country, the money flows right out again into the hands of bankers and businesses and whatever elites your government chooses to bail out.

  You must be so accustomed to seeing it happen you think that’s the only way it works. Which is why it’s so valuable to have another working economic model around, don’t you think? And why you are so afraid of letting it succeed I suppose.

  No matter how hard you try to make it seem otherwise, the main problem seems to be, “it’s the blockade, stupid”. Let’s drop it and see if that’s true. What can it hurt? We know what the hurt is with it in place, but that doesn’t seem to be a concern of yours.

• I second everything ‘Luis’ wrote and also noting the insanity of what ‘Moses’ writes, characterizing democracy as something the US ‘gives’ to people instead of it being something people give to themselves – what democracy is all about.

  Even if the US was a neutral player – hardly the case in light of its 50-year history of actively working to bring the Cuban government down – it’s hardly the business of the US to ‘bring’ democracy to Cuba, or anyone else for that matter.

  And as ‘Luis’ wrote, the version of democracy the US has is unrecognizable as democracy – why the elites in his country love it and why ”Moses’ writes, “Once democracy [US style] exists in Cuba there will be economic change.” There sure will be, just as ‘Luis’ describes.

  No one wrote that by eliminating the blockade, “poof! somehow, productivity will increase and buildings will stop falling down.” What WAS written is that the blockade must end before a government that has had to come to terms with it since its beginning can be judged.

  If a car is out of gas, you don’t decide to change the engine in order to get the car moving. At least I wouldn’t. ‘Moses’ seems to want to. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t like the brand of engine that’s installed. Some people do really stupid things like that. Not in Cuba, however.

  Still talking, and my fingers are doing the walking…

• Ending the embargo will not suddenly improve the Cuban economy. Cuba has a serious and growing trade imbalance, rising inflation, low productivity and a crippling dual currency system. They also have a very poor credit rating.

  The import tariffs have been imposed to further the central goal of the limited economic reforms introduced in the last few years: to direct the flow of foreign exchange into the govt coffers and the pockets of the powerful & connected. The excuse of fighting corruption is used to justify the actions, but the result is the further concentration of wealth among the Cuban 1%.

• “he Cuban people (not just the Castros) will determine economic policy ”

  No, the ‘democracy’ the US wants to impose to Cuba is the one that bankers, landlords and corporations will determine the economic policy. It always have and it will always will, not only for Cuba, but for many, many countries where Uncle Sam puts its finger on.

• An economic tool (US embargo) is being used to bring about a political change in Cuba (democracy). Once democracy exists in Cuba there will be economic change. The Cuban people (not just the Castros) will determine economic policy and the most productive strategies will prevail. You seem to suggest the reverse. Eliminate the embargo and poof! somehow, productivity will increase and buildings will stop falling down. If there were no embargo tomorrow, crops will not grow faster and buildings will not magically strengthen themselves. You talk the talk but there is no walk there….

• Let’s see, so you admit the US blockade “has clearly succeeded” in causing suffering for the Cuban people but it continues to be imposed in order to bring down a government whose actions cannot be properly assessed until Cuba’s state of siege ends (see my comment below for the logic of it).

  Eliminate the blockade and we will see of course, but you don’t mind continuing a policy that “has clearly succeeded” in causing suffering, which is a worry.

  If, after eliminating the blockade, Cubans see their economic problems continuing, that will provide plenty of evidence for THEM to come to terms with it. They hardly need an American’s advice on this I think – a citizen of the country that “has clearly succeeded” in causing suffering for the Cuban people has rather tainted credentials in the caring department.

  But you do seem to like to rub salt in Cubans’ wounds by reminding them of their economic burden. Somehow your ‘caring’ seems hollow in light of what your country has “clearly succeeded in doing, as you admit.

• Orlando,

  Your history of supplying humanitarian relief to Cuba is laudable but limited, I feel, to focusing on band-aided solutions, much like the Red Cross and first-responder aid organizations. Whilst providing valuable and needed services, their mission statement clearly declares they address immediate need and not the reasons for the need.

  In your last paragraph you finally acknowledge the “brutal measures” of the US blockade of Cuba, OFAC and the Torricelli and Helms-Burton Acts, designed to strengthen the blockade.

  But you seem to acknowledge the reality of the blockade only in order to write that Cuba’s customs regulations would appear “much more serious” if there was no blockade. Your argument begs the question – if there was no blockade, would the regulations be the same? You actually inadvertently indicate they would not by citing a variety of other countries in the region without them, but failing to note these countries are NOT under a US blockade.

  You write that the regulations and the blockade are comparable in brutality, yet you choose to provide a lengthy criticism of the government of the country you are no longer a citizen of and let the government of the one you are currently living in – presumably one you could be directly pressuring as a citizen – off the hook with only a one sentence acknowledgement of the role it plays in equally brutalizing Cuban people.

  We cannot pretend that charity represents coming to terms with the reason why there is need for handouts. Supporters of the US blockade claim it is the fault of Cuba’s government and if Cubans changed their government their economic problems would be solved. My response always is, drop the blockade and we will see.

  You write, “The severe shortages in Cuba over many years are a direct and exclusive responsibility of the entities responsible for the acquisition, distribution and sale of products to the public,” implicitly defining the “entities” as components of the Cuban government, whilst ignoring the US “entity” that has, by your admission, at least equal responsibility for those severe shortages leading to difficulties in acquisition – resulting in nothing to distribute or sell.

  You write, the Cuban government has “abused the revolutionary sentiments of the masses, who have expressed these feelings for decades by accepting – in silence – everything from gross ineptitude to poorly targeted annual production plans.” Cuba has been under siege for those same decades – as long as the Revolution has been governing. We need for the external blockade to end before we can determine what internal blockades exist. It seems only logical.

  You write, “countries don’t punish themselves by preventing the importation of specific products to any of their citizens.” Canada effectively prevents imports by levying high tariffs on products they don’t want brought in. The choice of tariff’ed items is determined by business lobbyists who want to restrict competition. Despite having a so-called free trade agreement – the notorious NAFTA – reality strikes whenever Canadians import anything from cars to DVDs.

  You write, “What are typical are strong family/cultural bonds in our region. Jamaica, Dominica, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico and others are served by dozens of shipping companies dedicated solely to this specialized service. They accept and make door-to-door deliveries of millions of tons in products that provide relief, are vital transfusions for millions of impoverished people, and that strengthen perennial moral and emotional ties.”

  None, of course are under a US blockade. Drop the blockade and we will see what eventuates

  You write, “If, like in other countries in the region, Cuba’s Customs Office applied a procedure that is rational, logical, humane and consistent with the needs and suffering of our people, think how much more food and supplies would enter the country, further mitigating the existing social problems while at least tripling the current imports and increasing the number of travelers and remittances.”

  My response, using your words, if the US government followed a policy that is rational, logical, humane and consistent with the needs and suffering of the Cuban people, “think how much more food and supplies would enter the country, further mitigating the existing social problems while at least tripling the current imports and increasing the number of travelers and remittances.”

  It is only logical. You have stated US policies and Cuba’s customs regulations are comparable in causing suffering.

  In summary, what I am saying is, it is illogical to assume that all of Cuba’s problems are the result of the US blockade. But it is equally illogical to blame the Cuban government when there is a Mammoth-sized elephant stalking the region that needs to be dealt with before we can understand what the internal problems really are.

  Why does the US insist on not allowing Cubans and the rest of the world to know what problems are caused by Cuba’s government by dropping the blockade? I can only speculate on why. Do you know, Orlando, as a former Cuban who has lived in the US for decades, who seems to care for the Cuban people and not one who is focused on bringing about regime change so they can return to their former privileged existence in Cuba?

• While the US embargo against Cuba has clearly succeeded in only half of its original purpose, that is to cause suffering for the Cuban people, it is the self-imposed embargo that has proven to be the most harmful. Customs regulations are just the latest layer. The 240% import tax on foreign-made products, the low salaries, the requirement that Cubans pay 150 cuc (slightly more than a year´s salary in Cuba) for an exit travel permit, and many other Cuban on Cuban restrictions are far worse and impactful on the everyday lives of Cubans.

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