A Salable Cuba Policy For John Kerry

[Vogon_Glory]

There was an article on Microsoft's Slate magazine this morning stating that John F. Kerry risks losing the votes of many Cuban exiles in Florida this November if he doesn't come up with a better policy than to cater to the Cuban exile community's right wing. The author stated that the Cuban exile community's right wing is even more barren ground for voters than Al Sharpton would find even the NASCAR dads--the right wing is firmly in George UU Bush's pocket.

I know a lot of us have ideas regarding Cuba. Many of us disagree with each other--often strongly. But I think we can all come up with points that not only we all agree on but also points that even the less extreme elements of the Cuban exile community can agree on.

I think we can all agree that Cuba's economy and political culture is going to change within the next few years. Despite Fidel Castro's family history of longevity, I don't think that he's going to live more than a few years, and that some of his economic policies will change.

A point I would like to make is that Cuba will need tens of billions of dollars to reconstruct after the great socialist experiment ends.
Socialism may serve as a redistributor of goods and services, but a market economy of some sort is better at making and providing those goods to begin with. I don't think that the point has been made strongly enough to the right-wingers that a US hemorrhaging half-trillion dollar deficits is highly unlikely to aid Cuba or even itself as the US federal government slides into bankruptcy.

Another point I'd like to make is that it is folly to exclude Cuba from any environmental monitoring or pollution abatement programs that the US is involved with regarding either the Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico.

In the short term, there is also the matter of remittances to Cuban families. The Boosh regime is reportedly in favor of cutting those remittances; the Kerry campaign to date has said little or nothing.

Over to you all.

[BayCityProgressive]

1. This

and the Israeli position are two things that really bring me down about Kerry. He doesn't have to "side with" the Cuban or Palestinian government, but he can at leats be moderate on the two states. He has nothing to gain except special interest money by taking extreme rightist stances.

[Vogon_Glory]

2. Cuba And The Drug Smuggling Problem

One point that people should begin to discuss concerns the future problem of drug smuggling through Cuba.

In the past, Cuba was a terminus for smuggling alcohol into the US until Prohibition was repealed.

Right now there's no problem with drug smuggling through Cuba. Much of the drug traffic to the US either moves overland through Mexico or by sea and air from Hispaniola (particularly from Haiti) and, to a lesser extent, through Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

A post-Castro Cuba is likely to have far fewer political controls and much more freedom of movement. The smuggling will resume.