It’s on days like today that one remembers just how dirty and cynical a business politics is. Obama’s visit to Cuba goes against everything good, noble, and worthy, yet it’s unavoidable. This is a moment where we all collectively lay down and roll in the muck to prevent something even worse.
And Cubans are once again sacrificed for somebody else’s greater good.
This is very sad.
Clarissa's Blog 
Didn’t you say most Cubans were black? Black folks will always be sacrificed to the needs of white folks. Nothing new here.
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Yes. This is undeniable.
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How is this visit “unavoidable” at his specific point in time? Obama just wants to make renewing relations with Communist Cuba a part of his supposed “legacy.”
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It hits Putin very hard. He had big plans for Central America. Gave Cubans a ton of money. But the Castros ditched him the moment Americans looked at them kindly.
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If this is accurate, it’s good news — so why aren’t the Democrats pointing this out to counterbalance Republican criticism of the trip?
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Declaring openly that this was done to spite Putin would equal turning victory into defeat.
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Are you for the embargo?
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The embargo is such a non-issue. Let’s not waste our lives discussing it.
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Well. I haven’t a clue about what could be wrong with deciding to talk to neighbors we have shunned for the last half century.
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I’ve been to Cuba on various occasions so I can give an informed answer to the question. The Castro regime is a horrible, inhuman dictatorship that has destroyed the Cuban culture and brutalized the people to the point of no return. In all my trips to Cuba, I didn’t manage to talk to a single person – not a single one – who wouldn’t try to prostitute themselves or their family members to me. Cuba is a place where all pedophiles of the world go to buy lids for sex because it’s so easy. It’s a place where racism is institutionalized in spite of 87% of the population being black. A place where most children haven’t seen a pen. Where people weren’t allowed to keep even the most innocent cultural traditions. Where in the middle of Havana people live 8 persons to a room with a bucket for a toilet. Where a country school looks worse than a pig sty. Where all human relationships have been broken and degraded.
I’ve seen that and I’m horrified at the cynicism of people who call this kind of hell “advances in medicine and education.”
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As I’ve said before, I knew people who lived in Cuba briefly and said something about the “free health care”. But for all of the free health care, they chose to have their second kid in the US, which decidedly did not and does not have “free health care.”
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Oh yes, it’s free. Except for diabetics, asthmatics, and other chronically ill who have to prostitute themselves to tourists for every inhaler and pill.
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Way I see it, acknowledging someone’s presence and communicating with them in a civilized way are the first steps to establishing respect and friendship. What am I missing?
On the other hand, judging the other harshly and turning your back on them accomplishes nothing good and much that is bad. There is much room for improvement in Cuba. But then, there is plenty of room for improvement in my own country and my own house.
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Welcome back, Editor (Retired), we all missed you.
I’ve been checking your website periodically for another update on getting out the Grandpa Sanders vote — do you plan more entertaining posts on his hopeless quest?
Please don’t interpret my friendly comment as hostile. For some reason, I get that erroneous interpretation on a number of my posts. (Ah, it hurts to be so misunderstood!)
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After I was stopped 3 times in one day in the streets of Havana by people showing me collections of photos of small children they want to sell to me for sex, you will excuse me if I find it hard to respect a place where this is normal and acceptable.
Cuba was, in spite of its sad history, a country with a beautiful, vibrant culture. And now it’s dead, it’s completely dead. It has as much room for improvement as any rotting corpse.
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I have not had the advantage of traveling to Cuba. I am shocked and appalled by the conditions you report. I will have to look to other sources to see if I can confirm your observations.
I understand that Cuba is an impoverished country, but what else could you expect after being cut off from any commerce or aid from its nearest wealthy neighbor? I will look for information regarding conditions in Cuba, as well as Haiti and Puerto Rico. The US has a sad record in regard to so many of our southern neighbors.
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This is not about poverty. I’ve been to other Latin American countries and encountered poverty there as well but people there were alive, they could interact with one on a regular human basis.
The affliction that Cubans suffer from cannot be cured by commerce. It’s about something other than money.
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I’m sorry, I’ve not seen this kind of language any place else. The statements that Cuban culture is completely dead, “A rotting corpse,” and that Cuban people are incapable of relating on a human basis, and are all, allegedly, involved in human trafficking, are extreme! I am going on the assumption that such assertions are hyperbole until I see other evidence.
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It’s not just Cubans. It’s the exact same thing in the former USSR and for the exact same reason. The Soviet system aimed very specifically to turn family members into mortal enemies, destroy culture and rob people of their humanity. And it was quite successful. My culture is even more of a putrid corpse than the Cuban. Why do you think I spend my life learning the languages of others? Because my own has been degraded and destroyed.
It’s interesting that 25 years after the collapse of the USSR, people outside of its sphere of influence still find all of this so unbelievable.
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