Mort Zuckerman: Time for U.S. to Review Its Cuba Policy

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I'm Canadian & vacation in Varadero, Cuba every year.
The people of Cuba are hard working, honest people and they want the same things
that Canadian & American people want. This is to live in peace, make a decent living and enjoy the freedoms that we do. The U.S embargo does nothing other than hurt the average Cuban. Considering the poor economic situation is the U.S. I wonder why the American government does not drop the stupid embargo and open up trade with Cuba.
Cuba needs building materials, medical supplies and food, all of which could benefit
the USA. Cuba is no threat to the U.S or anyone else for that matter. The cold war has
long been over so I really hope that the American goverment opens their minds and hearts and do the right thing. Help the Cuban people & make peace once and for all.
This great little country could be a good friend to the U.S if allowed to be.
Remember it was Cuba who offered to send doctors to help the victims of huricane Catrina, to which the U.S replied " stuff it ". Too bad really as this was an olive branch
from Cuba.
Bruce.
Toronto. Canada.

Bruce 12:19PM February 04, 2012

It is very bizarre how such a good observer of development around Israel as Mr. Zuckerman can let his mind be so corrupted by proximity to a relatively intelligent murderer, dictator and oppressor, that disgusting Castro. I hope Mr. Zuckerman will not have a drink with Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal. If he does, we can sure expect from him (MZ) a flurry of "reasonable" arrangements and proposals, like dissolving Israeli Defense Force, letting all refugees come back to flood Israel, and maybe even transporting the future Iranian nuclear weaponry to Gaza. Where else would it be safe than under close watch near Israeli border?
Don't you understand, Mr. Zuckerman, that nobody in Cuba dares to say anything against their own terrorist government because they would be imprisoned immediately? Have you ever heard about Vaclav Havel? Don't you know that the Cubans live like a flock of sheep in constant fear that they would be thrown in prison inside the big prison of Cuba?
Although Mr. Zuckerman's blindness to terror is totally shocking, surprising and pathetic, it is not new. Plenty of intellectuals went to Russia to admire Stalin's "progress" while he was in the middle of killing first 10 million of Russians.
Shame, shame shame.

Pavel of AZ 1:09AM January 31, 2012

This is a very good analysis of the Cuban situation but unfortunately it's very one-sided. While Raul Castro has indeed spearheaded economic reforms that have been embraced by many in Cuba but he remains inhumanely stubborn on the issue of fundamental human rights. Last year close to 4000 peaceful demonstrators were arrested and just last week a political prisoner died in jail after a 50-day hunger strike. I am a Cuban-American and I too remain optimistic about the future of Cuba. I've even traveled to Cuba a few times and agree that the embargo should end. But have no doubt, Mr. Zuckermann, that the Castro brothers are ruthless and narcissistic dictators that will do whatever they can to remain in power even if that means suppressing and humiliating the Cuban people. You flaunt that you're Castro's friend how about advising him to unleash the Cuban people and restore their civil liberties.

Alfredo Duran of FL 3:34PM January 26, 2012

'Admittedly, it's hard to forget the memories of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.'. What if you weren't even born in those days, old man, and you had your right to travel there taken away because of the sins of our fathers and grandfathers?? Wouldn't you agree that the travel restrictions are un-American and are the kind of policy characteristic of totalitarian regimes we routinely criticize? How is it that we couldn't go to Cuba during the Cold War, but we could buy a plane ticket to Moscow any day of the week? This policy has been ridiculous, although even now you can be punished for drinking a monitor in Havana or diving in Varadero.

TravelrestrictionsareunAmerican of VA 1:30PM January 25, 2012

Soy cubano, tengo 23 años y siempre he vivido en Cuba. Esta tierra, para mi la más bonita del mundo tiene sus problemas, como los tiene cualquier sociedad del mundo. Desearía que ciertas cosas cambiaran... ¿No te gustaría a ti que ciertas cosas fueran de otra manera en le país donde vives? Somos nosotros los cubanos los que tenemos derecho por nuestro propio juicio, de decidir lo que queremos. Dejarías que una persona que ajena a tu hogar, que no conoce ni las penas, ni las alegrías vividas con tu seres queridos te diga que es lo que tienes que hacer y como hacerlas. ¿Dejarías hacer eso a un extraño?. Quién quiere ayudar ofrece la mano de buena voluntad y sin imponer nada y respeta la decisión de la otra persona. Dejen de decir que en Cuba hay dictadura, que Fidel Castro es un dictador. A Fidel lo quiere la mayoría del pueblo cubano. ¿Por qué?, pregúntenle a los jóvenes de esta isla, que sabiendo sus defectos y virtudes se sienten orgullosos de ella.
¨Él amor madre a la Patria, no es el amor ridículo a la tierra ni a las yerbas que pisan nuestras plantas, es el odio invencible a quién la oprime, es el rencor eterno a quien la ataca¨

Rolando 12:07PM January 25, 2012

Please substitute "paid" for payed" on the 1st line of the fifth paragraph of my previous comment. Sorry to bother you but I do not see how to edit my comment.
Please do not print this.

CANTACLARO of NY 10:07PM January 21, 2012

Dear Mr. Zuckerman,
I frankly do not think that it makes any sense for the US to allow Cuban Americans to send around 1,000 million dollars a year in remittances to the island plus all the dollar earnings from their visits to Cuba and then to place restrictions on exports to that country.
I do not believe in lifting the embargo unconditionally. It should be lifted gradually and in exchange for Cuban government measures in favor of a democratic transition and a return to a market economy.
However, restricting US exports to Cuba only causes a lot of those dollars to be spent in third countries . I do not believe that it is in the US interests to continue embargo measures that only aggravate the US balance of payments.
All US exports to Cuba should be allowed, except those that could have a military or a repressive significance. Parallel measures to facilitate US exports to that country should be also permitted such as allowing US ships, ferries and airlines to visit Cuba and offices of US commercial banks to operate in Cuba to facilitate the payments of US exports and to provide ATM services for visiting Cuban Americans and legal US visitors.
All US exports to Cuba should be sold CIF at Cuban destinations and payed while in transit from the US to Cuba through US commercial banks allowed to operate in the island.
The embargo would be sufficiently enforced by maintaining existing restrictions on Cuban exports to the US, bank credits and investments in the country.
Cuban American investments in the private sector should also be encouraged provided that the private firms created hire and pay their employees directly without establishing any link with Cuban government employment agencies that incurr in political discrimination in hiring practices and practice slave labor by confiscating more than 90% of the salaries of the workers they provide.
Future steps to allow non Cuban origin American private investment in other sectors of the Cuban economy should be negotiated on an ad hoc basis and require not only the former conditions but also long range agreements to repay nationalized US properties.
Normal visits of US tourists should be permitted by granting the Executive branch the right to set annual quotas that would depend on progress that would be made on human rights and political freedoms.
But all this should come after progress is made on political prisoners. Before the November presidential elections, the five Cuban spies in US jails should be amnistied and exchanged for Alan Gross and all the remaining political prisoners in Cuban jails.
The US should also try to get the Cuban government to agree to amnesty all political crimes committed in the past, & to eliminate political crimes from the Cuban Penal Code so that in the future no other Cubans should be imprisoned for those reasons.
Significant progress could thus be achieved in the future on a Cuban democratic transition, the conditional lifting of the embargo and better relations.

CANTACLARO of NY 2:56PM January 21, 2012

Mort, Cuba does not have "excellent" "free healthcare". Nothing is free. That healthcare system was paid for with the liberty and freedom of the Cuban people. Castro is a dictator and a pig. Why don't you get out of your private jet and spend your remaining years in a Cuban prison for the "crime" of speaking? Then tell hoe excellent and free Cuba's social medicine is.

Whitey Ford of AL 8:05PM January 17, 2012

Cuban immigrants, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen have done a great injustice to the people of Cuba who could have a better quality of live if they had not prevented it. The were fortunate enough to immigrate to America to enjoy the freedoms for which we sacrificed, but they have worked their Cuban hearts out to make sure the people in Cuba don't enjoy access to just the basic. They feel superior, but they are inferior to the people living in Cuba. They have betrayed the people of Cuba and have used America to advance their pernicious cause and America is profoundly ashamed for allowing this un-American behavior. They are a disgrace to my country and to Cuba! Obviously, America has become home to the undesirable Cubans while the more desirable still live in Cuba. Castro is a very savvy person. He inflicted the worst of Cuba on America - Diaz-Balart and Ros-Lehtinen along with so many other Cubans who are an insult to our Democracy!
An insidious Cuban ingrate, Lincoln Diaz-Balart stated on NPR several some time ago that there would be a yearly $500 billion dollar business for Cuba if “we” were to let U.S. tourists go there. This ingrate, along with the vile, evil Ileana Ros-Lehtinen should be sent back to Cuba on an inner tube. Bon Voyage and Bon Appetite to the Sharks!

M. Delphia Block of CA 5:39PM January 15, 2012

Excellent, intelligent, and rational article Mort! It is time to end this policy failure, end our foreign policy hypocrisy, and try engagement and removing barriers. If Cuba's political is going to collapse, it will be because of the Cuban people on the island, and not our interference in their affairs or from the brethren Castro's revolution ousted. Hatred and revenge are poor agents of change. Our best hope for change is positive American influence as interference does not work and has only helped embolden the authoritarian regime that we complain about. Change does not come from an embargo or travel restrictions.

usambcuba of NY 9:33PM January 14, 2012