Word: castro
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There is only one reason the Cuban-American community cares about who the head of the Democratic party is. They have just one overriding political interest: the maintenance of the American economic embargo on Cuba and continued American hostility to the Castro regime...
...Cuban-American community is made up largely of those who fled the country in the wake of the communist takeover. Their one goal ever since has been to return to a free Cuba, a Cuba without Castro...
Those who support it argue that continued pressure is necessary to force change by the Castro regime. This is the classic argument behind most economic sanctions. The experience of the last few years, though, has prompted an overdue reconsideration of this theory. More often than not, these sanctions seem to decimate the population while doing little to those in power. It was the sight of starving Haitians still living under the gun of unrepentant (and quite well-off) dictators that sparked the Clinton administration to finally admit that sanctions weren't working. When sanctions do work (South Africa is most...
...even more compelling argument runs along political lines. The embargo may actually be helping Castro remain in power. By keeping the population near the sustenance level, the embargo may very well be draining what political activism might really be there. How can adults who must worry about their children's next meal be expected to demonstrate on the streets? The history of revolutions (from the French to the Iranian) give strong support to the argument that political activism often follows a rise in income. And political activism--in the form of opposition to Castro--is what the Cuban-American community...
...goes, with the U.S. complicit in hurting the Cuban people for at best uncertain gains. By ending the embargo, the U.S. could alleviate a humanitarian situation that has become progressively worse in recent years, and we may even help achieve what everyone wants: the end of Castro's reign...