Is the Cuba Blockade Ending?
February 19, 2014
Stirrings of Disenchantment Among the Powerful
Is the Cuba Blockade Ending?
by W.T. WHITNEY
The U.S. economic blockade of Cuba, cruel and reviled across the globe, has lasted as long as did the stretch between the U.S. Civil War and World War I. But it may not last forever. Just recently, stirrings of disenchantment among powerful forces have cropped up nationally and in Florida, epicenter of Cuban émigré opposition to Cuba’s revolutionary government.
On February 11 the Atlantic Council released its poll on attitudes toward the blockade expressed during January. The Council surveyed 1000 people nationwide plus 617 Florida residents and 525 Latinos, all by telephone. The report became a main focus of news stories on blockade dissent appearing simultaneously.
Of those surveyed nationally, 56 percent – 62 percent of Latinos, – want normalization of relations, 61 percent oppose travel restrictions, 62 percent OK U.S. business dealings with Cuba, and 61 percent oppose Cuba’s designation as a terrorist nation. Among Floridians offering opinions, 63 percent call for normal relations and 67 percent oppose both travel restrictions and the terrorist label. And 52 percent of Republicans want normalization, as do 64 percent of Miami-Dade County Floridians.
“The majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle are ready for a policy shift,” concludes the Atlantic Council. “Most surprisingly, Floridians are even more supportive …This is a key change from the past.” And “Economic arguments prove to be most convincing for normalization.”
The splash from this survey report coincided with other ripples. The Washington Post interviewed Cuban exile and international sugar magnate Alfonso Fanjul, “one of the principal funders of the U.S. anti-Castro movement” and someone, who with his brother, “amass[ed] one of North America’s great fortunes.” Fanjul discussed trips to Cuba in 2012 and 2013.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/19/is-the-cuba-blockade-ending/