Tear Down This Wall

I am certain that something like this cannot be as simple as it sounds ... can it? Yet, looking it over and thinking to myself again, why not. This is one of the most ingenious ideas ideas I have heard in a while. It is a win-win scenario. If the Cuban regime tries to block access, then they reveal themselves for who they really are to their own people. If they allow them in, not only commerce will flow, but ideas and information. No totalitarian regime can survive the free flow of ideas ... that is one fact that has been proven for centuries. Best of all .. what better way to remove the stain of our embarrassing activities there, than to make this a doorway to Liberty.

Ludicrous? Probably. But what would happen if we allowed Cuban Americans to set-up shop at Gitmo? The place has no real military use. We open the gate an invite the Cuban's to come shopping. This is a crazy world. Stranger things have happened. Other than stopping their citizens, what can the Cuban government really do?

Ludicrous. How can we give Cuban soil to Cuban-Americans? We don't have a legitimate right even to our own lease. We forced the 1903 lease on Cuba and "renegotiated" with our lackey Batista in 1934. Castro is right to refuse the $5,000 annual lease payments and is right to refuse to recognize the Gitmo lease agreement. Stick to travel writing, Symmes.

Ludicrous. How can we give Cuban soil to Cuban-Americans? We don't have a legitimate right even to our own lease. We forced the 1903 lease on Cuba and "renegotiated" with our lackey Batista in 1934. Castro is right to refuse the $5,000 annual lease payments and is right to refuse to recognize the Gitmo lease agreement. Stick to travel writing, Symmes.

We get cigars. They get bourbon. Perfect.

I have advocated for many years that our constipated manner of dealing with Cuba is gross error. Opening all business doors to that place, two way, not one way, allows us to do what we do best. Buying and selling has always been the solution to the dilemma. The overwhelming weight of all the money involved in a full and free trade would put the government there in the shade. Commerce would free the people from the bonds of poverty. Our policy with that country has been foolishly subservient to a few former Cubans mostly in Southern Florida who wish to continue to punish all of Cuba because of the revolution that took place there long ago. It is simply an old and idiotic revenge that we continue to help them take out on those who do not deserve it, both here and in Cuba. We deal with Russia and China openly and then use the thin excuse not to deal with Cuba because their government is Communist. We are the laughingstock of the world with this folly. Open the door and let some fresh air in.

To submicrontech:
With all due respect, you do not know what you are talking about. There is nothing that the US can sell to Cuba that Cuba cannot buy from any European or Asian country. The embargo is mostly symbolic. True, Cuba cannot sell goods in the huge US market, but that does justify the level of poverty on the island. The main reason for the poverty is that the Cuban government utilized most of the money it receives from foreign trade to supply it's hugely oversized army (3rd largest in the western hemisphere) and to create an internal security apparatus second only to the East German Stasi.
The embargo was established because the Cuban government illegally seized American business and property in Cuba without the reparations established by international law.
I do believe the embargo should be lifted and travel restrictions for all American lifted but only because I believe that the Castros have been using the embargo as a justification of their failures to deliver a better life for Cubans. I also believe that just like in Eastern Europe, once the flood of western tourists arrived, the Communists could no longer control the flow of information between people and their "House of Lies" came crumbling down.

The US is largely to blame for the economic woes of Cuba. Clearly, the author of this article is blind to that fact. Our economic embargo has crippled that nations economy, all because of conflicting political ideologies. The Cubam American's who support that embargo, in order to further their own interests, should be ashamed of themselves. Castro brought universal education, and universal healthcare to the Cubam people, regardless f their income or place in society. batista was an American schill dictator. Let's get to the truth behind "let's get rich' characters like the author of this article.

This is a great Idea for any Cuban American living in this free Nation and having families in Cuba begging us for food,
Not money.America, The world have changed and we must change with it. A new understanding and attitude is now
Past due, We are loosing every friend in Lating America; Forcing them to turn to our enemies for help, We cannot help
Them but we can help each other, Let us ask the congress to tear down this wall around Guantanamo Base.

It is time to take the high road with the Cuban Government. Lift the embargo, close Gitmo (turn it into an agribusiness )so these people can have something other than "beans and rice"after 40+ years.

President Obama is the "breath of fresh air" the Cuban people have been waiting for..

chip

THE OBAMA PLAN FOR 2009!! The dems have a love fest for one of the most brutal dictators of all-time. heaping praise on him like he was the Pope. He has murdered tortured and impisoned thousands upon thousands for the crime of speaking out against the govt. This will soon be our fate too if we leave the dems in control. They want to regulate speech and silence the right.