Lugar Blasts Cuba Embargo, and He's Right; But Will Obama, Congress Follow?

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richellhum of IA 7:39PM March 04, 2010

+1

soundtracks of AL 5:09AM July 17, 2009

Even some of the Cuban Political Prisoners are asking that the Embargo be lifted. As a Cuban American I say enough is enough and lift the Embargo, and give the Cuban People a taste of American ideals.

Secondly, I can visit North Korea, Iran, Libya, China, Viet Nam, but not Cuba (legally). Come on Americans, having our Democratic Government prevent its Citizens to travel to another country seems contrary to our core values of freedom, justice and the pursuit of happiness!!!

Angel Trejo of FL 11:30AM March 16, 2009

Cuban Americans are finding ways of visiting their families by way of third countries (Grand Cayman, Mexico and Canada) Cuban Americans travel to these countries and take flights directly to Cuba from there. If you want to see your family and take supplies and money, just go through these countries first. Even Americans are vacationing in Cuba this way. So if the Embargo has not worked, bomb the Cuban Government with Western influences. People in Cuba get satellite tv and have cell phones. Food and shelter is what they need the most. If these people have money to by these products they can. So what embargo? Get real. It has not worked and will not work. That has been proven. It is all politics with no results.

IMD of FL 12:49PM February 25, 2009

The only embargo that hurts the Cuban people, is the internal embargo of the Castro brothers against 11 million Cubans.

Useful idiots refer to the US embargo as a "blockade," parroting what the Cuban dictator says. But how can you have a blockade when sales from the US to Cuba reached $710 million dollars last year, a 61% increase over the previous year.

However, the Cuban people haven't benefited one iota from this increase.

That is because the Castro regime has used food as one of its main tools to keep control of the population.

What the US embargo has done is to save US taxpayers billions of dollars. The Castro gang owes more than $27 billion to the Paris Club. Castro is forced to pay the US in advance for what he buy., He owes money to every country stupid enough to sell him on credit.

And now, after US taxpayers had to bail out the banks, the auto industry and the insurance industry Sen. Lugar wants us to bail the Castro brothers!

If you want to know the truth about Cuba, I suggest that you visit www.therealcuba.com

George of FL 6:35AM February 24, 2009

We as Americans cannot expect to export our greatest ideals-freedom, justice, the belief that anything is possible-if the best ambassadors of our ideals are not allowed to visit places such as Cuba-the American people.

Dan of PA 11:05PM February 23, 2009

the sadness in this new is that we avoid the real problem the embargo to free ideas that only allows the cuban gov to restrain our freedom to travel and speak freely, education only to read what is allowed by the goverment and do what ever is consider good for the goverment and not for the people for 50 yrs of state monopoly for the life of every cuban, this point is not discussed in forums elsewhere.

la verdad os hara libres of FL 10:12PM February 23, 2009

Now in its ninth year, the CubaNews list, a free Yahoo news group, has collected, shared, discussed and debated about Cuba, its people, culture and politics. Going on 100,000 articles are available for free in its easy-to-use archives. Many articles which have otherwise vanished from the Internet can still be found in CubaNews archives.

Walter Lippmann (that's me!), is the principal editor and contributor. My father and his parents lived here in Cuba for several years before coming to the United States in 1942 where he met my mother and, etc...

By travelling to Cuba regularly, staying for long periods of time, and producing original translations from the Cuban media of items the Cubans themselves don't translate, CubaNews tries to present a richer and more nuanced look at Cuba, its people and politics, Cubans living outside of the island, and much more. I do not hide my sympathy for Cuba and its struggles, but CubaNews provides a wide range of materials from different and divergent points of view.

Please check it out:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/

Walter Lippmann

Havana, Cuba

(when not in Los Angeles, California)

Walter Lippmann of CA 3:45PM February 23, 2009

Yes Sen. Lugar is right to criticize the Cuba blockade. Yes a lot of other Congress people have criticized it over the years. Yes President Obama talked about change in his campaign. But seeing will be believing. It's not easy to reverse something that's been going on for 50 years. A lot of people, especially in Miami, have made a fortune off the blockade and they will fight tooth and nail to keep it. Many Republicans and Democrats alike have benefitted from campaign donations from Cuban-exile Miami money. Will these politicians do the right thing and risk losing the money? If you'd like an open-minded look at Cuba check out this website: www.havanatimes.org

Circles Robinson of AZ 2:10PM February 23, 2009

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Robert Schlesinger

Robert Schlesinger

Robert Schlesinger is managing editor for opinion at U.S. News and World Report, overseeing all opinion editorial content. He is the author of White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters. E-mail him at rschlesinger@usnews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @rschles.

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