Fidel Castro

Fidel's handpicked panel, The Council of State, is scheduled to name Rual as the country's next president next  Sunday.   

In he meantime,  President Bush said he hoped this would be "the beginning of a democratic transition for the people of Cuba . . ."

Reality check!

Interesting that you can buy Communist Chinese cigars...

The most power we ever gave Fidel was the trade embargo....it allowed him to cement his control against the capitalistic enemy....

Your right Adam.

It's Americas fault.

No, but it was some stupid politicians faults....

Just like all the power that Bu$h gave al-Qaeda....

But I am SURE that you have a better explanation...........yeah, right.

The Bush administration today defied calls to acknowledge the end of an era in Cuba with the departure of Fidel Castro and lift its nearly 50-year embargo on the island.

More than 100 Republican and Democratic members of Congress signed a letter to the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, calling for a rethink of policy towards Cuba.

"For five decades, US policy has tried economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation to force changes in Cuba's government," the letter said.

It added that the peaceful transition under way in Havana demonstrated that "the policy has not worked". It added: "A complete review of US policy is clearly in order now."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/19/usa.cuba

I oppose economic sanctions for two very simple reasons. First, they don't work as effective foreign policy. Time after time, from Cuba to China to Iraq, we have failed to unseat despotic leaders by refusing to trade with the people of those nations. If anything, the anti-American sentiment aroused by sanctions often strengthens the popularity of such leaders, who use America as a convenient scapegoat to divert attention from their own tyranny. History clearly shows that free and open trade does far more to liberalize oppressive governments than trade wars. Economic freedom and political freedom are inextricably linked--when people get a taste of goods and information from abroad, they are less likely to tolerate a closed society at home. So while sanctions may serve our patriotic fervor, they mostly harm innocent citizens and do nothing to displace the governments we claim as enemies. - Ron Paul

50 years of a failed policy.....insanity.

The Cuban embargo began officially in 1962 as a means to put pressure on the communist dictatorship to change its ways. After 45 years, the Cuban economy has struggled, but Cuba's dictatorship is no closer to stepping to the beat of our drum. Any ailments have consistently and successfully been blamed on U.S. capitalism instead of Cuban communism. They have substituted trade with others for trade with the U.S., and they are "awash" in development funds from abroad. Our isolationist policies with regard to Cuba, meanwhile, have hardly won the hearts and minds of Cubans or Cuban-Americans, many of whom are isolated from families because this political animosity.

In the name of helping Cubans, the U.S. administration is calling for multibillions of taxpayer dollars in foreign aid and subsidies for Internet access, education, and business development for Cubans under the condition that the Cuban government demonstrates certain changes. In the same breath, they claim lifting the embargo would only help the dictatorship. This is exactly backward. Free trade is the best thing for people in both Cuba and the U.S. Government subsidies would enrich those in power in Cuba at the expense of already overtaxed Americans!

The irony of supposed free-marketeers inducing communists to freedom with government handouts should not be missed. We call for a free and private press in Cuba while our attempts to propagandize Cubans through the U.S.-government-run Radio/TV Marti have wasted $600 million in American taxpayer dollars.

It's time to stop talking solely in terms of what's best for the Cuban people. How about the wishes of the American people, who are consistently in favor of diplomacy with Cuba? Let's stop the hysterics about the freedom of Cubans – which is not our government's responsibility – and consider freedom of the American people, which is. Americans want the freedom to travel and trade with their Cuban neighbors, as they are free to travel and trade with Vietnam and China. Those Americans who do not wish to interact with a country whose model of governance they oppose are free to boycott. The point being: it is Americans who live in a free country, and as free people we should choose whom to buy from or where to travel – not our government.

http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?article

So who has really benefitted from the Embargo?
Besides Castro....and those getting governmental welfare to run uneffective propaganda?