The politics and insanity of the Cuba embargo
Monday, Dec. 3, 2012
The politics and insanity of the Cuba embargo
By CESAR CHELALA
NEW YORK — An open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama:
Dear President Obama:
Like many people around the world, I am heartened by your re-election, which I see as an opportunity to continue and improve on your social policies.
As you know, relations among nations many times have a psychological connection, aside from their obvious historical one. Because of that, relations among or between nations can contribute to the creation either of a climate of antagonism and war or of cooperation and peace. Nowhere is this truer than in the relationship between the United States and Cuba.
Mainly because of internal political considerations, both countries have chosen the path of antagonism. While the influence of the Cuban lobby in Florida dictates U.S. policy toward the island country, keeping alive the antagonism with the U.S. agglutinates the Cuban people's support for the Castro brothers.
The commercial, economic and financial embargo imposed by the U.S. on Cuba has been the U.S. response to Cuba's nationalization of U.S. citizens and corporations' properties in that country. The U.S., which now holds $6 billion worth of financial claims against the Cuban Government, states that this is the appropriate response to these claims. This is a position that is not universally accepted.
More:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/eo20121203cc.html