Top Senate Democrat slams US crackdown on Cuba

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Senate's top Democrat rejected White House moves to tighten sanctions on Cuba, calling instead for a policy on engagement with the Communist island.

"I think that it's important for us to recognize that as we trade with China, with Vietnam, with countries around the world with whom we have disagreements, that it's equally as important for us to find ways with which to do it with a country 90 miles (145 kilometers) off our shore," Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said at a press conference.

"Obviously we all recognize the incredible difficulties that Fidel Castro (news - web sites) has caused for his own people and for the region, but there are millions of people that don't share the view of their imposed leader and would like better relations with us," the South Dakota Democrat said.

His remarks come one month after the House of Representatives voted to end decades-old US restrictions on travel to Cuba, and as top Democrats in the Senate mull similar legislation -- which US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) has already indicated he would veto.

<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20031014/pl_afp/us_cuba_politics_031014183756>

another sane Democratic voice. Dems, the party of sanity.

have to say about keeping the embargo?

If we can trade with China, we can trade with Cuba. There's no credible reason for the different approaches, other than crude electoral politics in Florida.

:kick:

Way to go Tom. I would travel to Cuba in a New York (Yankees) minute. An infusion of tourist $$$ would allow the Cubans a glimpse of the advantages of becoming a little more free.

China should be getting some sanctions instead ...

Perhaps we should send them a mixed delegation of the castoffs --the mad, the poor, the illiterate, the jobless, the sick, and the imprisoned-- so they can see the downside too?

to listen to rush or watch fox?

like the kind we imposed on the Cubans for more than 50 years until they revolted and threw the last of the US succession of puppet dictators--one more cruel than the next--out?? The Cubans DECIDED they didn't want any part of US democracy--they said it then and they say it today. One of the leading dissidents (read: not the US paid seditionists) told Powell that in Washington a year or so ago--that the changes would come from INSIDE Cuba.

How 'bout those Dem presidential candidates who pandered to the same group that Bush just pacified? Haven't heard word one out of them. At a time when they should be REPRESENTING American citizens, they pander to the same dispicable group of anti-Cuba fanatics as the Repukes.

"We must impose a harsh blockade so that hunger and its constant companion, disease, undermine the peaceful population and decimate the Cuban army." J.C. Breckenridge, U.S. Undersecretary of War in "The Breckenridge Memorandum," 1897

Equating socialism with the old Soviet Union is a mistake - that
was not what Marx ever intended. The U.S.S.R. from Stalin onwards
was no better than a dictatorship, and the system had nothing to
do with the will of the people prevailing. In countries such as
Cuba prior to Castro where a series of dictators gathered all the
wealth into their own hands and let the majority of people suffer
while they lived it up, often the only way to even things out is
to create a socialistic society with a level playing field that
gives the majority a chance at a half-way decent life. If left
alone and not threatened from outside, these countries are far more
likely to evolve into a social democracy. Forming a socialist
government in most instances doesn't mean the leaders want to pull
up the drawbridge - of course they want to continue trading and
keep their borders open, it's in their countries' best interests
to do that. Just because they believe that internally socialism
will work better than capitalism doesn't mean they're declaring war.
And if they want to nationalise industries, so what? This is often
the real cause of capitalist paranoia - colonial-minded countries -
in particular the U.S. and the U.K. - have never taken kindly to
small countries wanting to control their own resources, but I think
the tide is turning, and we're going to see more often people
demanding control of their own countries. This is in part the
message of anti-globalisation, and I can't see that it's in any
way wrong.

Did you respond to the wrong post?

I didn't equate socialism with the USSR. I simply said that the US imposed their brand of *freedom* and *democracy* on the Cuban nation for more than 50 years until the Cuban Revolution threw their a$$es out and took back their own country.

Despite the world's longest embargo, the Cubans have achieved much. People have been their priority. Uncle Sam however, has never been able to leave them alone. There's been a bottomless pit of money to terrorize the island and attempt to strangle the Cuban economy, which has been sanctioned for 40+ years by Dems and Repukes alike--the most devastating of the anti-Cuba laws, the Helms-Burton, was passed by CLINTON--and who was it that released millions in frozen Cuban funds to appease the Gusanos? That was another Clinton debacle. Far as I can see nothing much has changed in the US political arena regarding Cuba since 1897 when Breckenridge wrote:

"We must impose a harsh blockade so that hunger and its constant companion, disease, undermine the peaceful population and decimate the Cuban army." J.C. Breckenridge, U.S. Undersecretary of War in "The Breckenridge Memorandum," 1897

The US is still up its dirty tricks in Cuba, Venezuela, and a slew of other places.

Sorry if I didn't make that clear. Socialist - commie - pinko -
are very emotive words, especially I think in the U.S., and I've read
some comments in DU that reflect something of that feeling. Many
people seem to believe that Americans should be able to travel
freely to Cuba, but still seem to feel that Castro is bad and should
be removed. I was picking up on your thoughts, and trying to say
that if Castro is paranoid, he has good reason to be.

would make anyone paranoid.

Check what's happened in the US since 9/11--loss of civil rights, draconian laws ala the Patriot Act, witch hunts for middle easterners, holding those in the witch hunt without charges, access to family or lawyers, prison camps where those held have NO rights. Multiply that times 40 years and what do you get? A place far scarier than the little island of Cuba and Fidel Castro.

Sorry for the confusion, guess it's too early in the morning. ;-)

Maybe it will take a Democrat being in office to accomplish this, but at least we've got to keep Bush at bay for another year.

As the article said:

His remarks come one month after the House of Representatives voted to end decades-old US restrictions on travel to Cuba, and as top Democrats in the Senate mull similar legislation -- which US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) has already indicated he would veto.

Daschle said the embargo has strong opposition in the Senate, especially among lawmakers from farm states like his which would like to sell their produce to Havana.

"The Senate has gone on record on a number of occasions now with the clear expectation that we will begin trading agriculturally ... with Cuba, and I think the Senate was right to speak out and do so. I hope we continue to do that in the future," he said.

(.../snip)

The Senate is expected to vote within the next week or so to lift the travel ban, why wait 2 more years to do it?

go there. spend money, get them used to it, corrupt them, turn them against castro.

it's easy. we've done it a hundred times.

Well said Senator!!!!

It is time to face our consistant policy of hypocracy and paranoia
aside and open up those gates!!!!

:bounce: