Hollywood stars visit Cuba amid U.S.-Cuba thaw

[BloodEclipse]

Thu Jul 30, 2009 6:09pm EDT
HAVANA, July 30 (Reuters) - Havana's famous seaside avenue, the Malecon, could be mistaken for Hollywood Boulevard this week as four high profile film stars come to the Cuban capital in the splashiest sign yet of warming U.S.-Cuba relations.
Benicio del Toro, Bill Murray, Robert Duvall and James Caan arrived in Cuba on Wednesday, with del Toro in town to pick up an award and the other three working on a "research project," a spokesman for the group said on Thursday.
The spokesman, who asked not to be identified, said the stars were accompanied by other people in the movie industry, including producers he would not name.
Because of the long-standing U.S. trade embargo against communist-led Cuba, Americans have been forbidden, with some exceptions, from visiting the island 90 miles (145 km) from Key West, Florida.
Hollywood stars such as Robert Redford, Arnold Schwarzenegger and director Steven Spielberg have come to Cuba in the past but cultural exchanges slowed due to restrictions imposed by former U.S. President George W. Bush.
The spokesman said the group is traveling under a license granted by the U.S. Treasury Department.
U.S. President Barack Obama offered earlier this year to "recast" relations with Cuba, which have been sour since the 1959 revolution that put Fidel Castro in power.
Obama has lifted travel restrictions for Cuban Americans and restarted immigration talks with Cuba that were suspended under Bush.
Last week, the United States said a Bush-era news ticker on the U.S. Interests Section building in Havana, which the Cuban government viewed as an affront, had been turned off.
Del Toro won praise last year for his portrayal of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, an Argentine who fought alongside Castro in the Cuban revolution, in the two-part biopic "Che" directed by American Steven Soderbergh.
The movie was shown to great acclaim in Cuba last December and on Thursday del Toro was given an award by Cuban artists and intellectuals. (Reporting by Esteban Israel; editing by Jeff Franks and Todd Eastham)

It would be nice if they just stayed in Cuba. Amazing how Obama and his boy at the Treasury hand out favors. Again Obama is looking up to Castro and thinking "If I could only be like him".

 

[Denny347]

Cuba is such a "non-issue". If that country made most of our imported products or had oil, we'd learn to be friendly with them. Since they have nothing to offer our country, we embargo them. Frankly it's a waste of time, I do not think we have anything to fear if we just left them alone. Sometimes I think we stick our noses in places they do not belong just because we can.

 

[BloodEclipse]

Cuba is such a "non-issue". If that country made most of our imported products or had oil, we'd learn to be friendly with them. Since they have nothing to offer our country, we embargo them. Frankly it's a waste of time, I do not think we have anything to fear if we just left them alone. Sometimes I think we stick our noses in places they do not belong just because we can.

So exactly how does allowing American tourism there benefit us?
I'm pretty sure the embargo was put into place for some other reason than "you have nothing to offer us".
It seems over the years it has been strengthened, that is until now.

 

[Denny347]

So exactly how does allowing American tourism there benefit us?
I'm pretty sure the embargo was put into place for some other reason than "you have nothing to offer us".
It seems over the years it has been strengthened, that is until now

The embargo was to weaken Castro's rule. It was thought that the people would rise up once they saw that their government was causing the embargo and democracy will prevail. Well, that did not work. Now we keep it because it is there and that we don't agree with the political rulers. You cannot convince me that China or Saudia Arabia are better rulers than Cuba. I'm not talking about allowing the people to spend/buy what they want, I'm talking about fre speech, civil rights, fair criminal trials...etc. Not sure if allowing American tourism will help the US but I'm fairly confident that we will suffer no harm from it. The US is really the only country that restricts movement to Cuba. I have not seen the harm in the rest of the world by allowing their citizens to visit/spend money there.

 

[femurphy77]

The embargo is still in place because of the strong Cuban (American) population in south Florida. They are politically savvy and "think" they are doing it for the motherland and won't give in until castro is dead and gone. As we've seen with Viet Nam, the worst thing you can do to a communist country is open your borders with them. I lived in Key West for several years and the Cuban nationalist rhetoric down there was very strong even among 2nd generation children, you should have heard them talk about "their" country. Dude you were born in the Monroe county hospital, your mom was born in Hialeah! The biggest reason the embargo stands, besides the strong political base in south Florida, that I see is that Castro has been thumbing his nose at Washington all these years and it pisses them off. Personally I can't wait for the opportunity to visit Cuba, I hear the diving is fantastic and all those cool old '50's cars cruising around would be neat to see. You will never change the fierce loyalty that the Cubans have for their country but you can help them to change the face of their government by showing them what they are truly missing, it won't happen overnight but it will eventually happen.

Most "political" refugees in this country aren't truly here because of national poilicy back home, they are here to live the American dream. In my last job I worked with a kid whose parents were Cuban, straight off the boat during the Mariel boat lift, fiercely loyal to Cuba but would not return even if everything changed down there in the blink of an eye.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

I honestly haven't given much though to it...

But if the US is going to restrict travel to Cuba due to it's communist dictator... Then why not to other communist countries (China?) as well?

One day, I hope that Cuba is free.

MAYBE more US dollars in Cuba will assist that. I don't know.

I do know that one day, I'd love to visit. Some beautiful country there, from what I've seen in photos.

-J-

 

[Denny347]

I honestly haven't given much though to it...

But if the US is going to restrict travel to Cuba due to it's communist dictator... Then why not to other communist countries (China?) as well?

One day, I hope that Cuba is free.

MAYBE more US dollars in Cuba will assist that. I don't know.

I do know that one day, I'd love to visit. Some beautiful country there, from what I've seen in photos.

-J-

I would like to visit Cuba. There are lots of placed I'd like to visit though...maybe someday.

 

[mrjarrell]

The embargo has been an utter failure, like most of them. We didn't embargo the USSR. One of the reasons that they fell was that the people there wanted what we had to sell. Levis, music, electronics and the like. The same would happen to Cuba if we were to start trading with them. Capitalism always causes communism to recede into the background, just look at China. They are nothing like they were in the late 70's, when we normalised relations with them. They are nothing like they were under severe communist party rule. Capitalism works when government gets out of the way. Embargo's never work. All they do is cause misery, something that government and its supporters seem to relish. Then again, sadists seem to go hand in hand.

 

[BloodEclipse]

Capitalism always causes communism to recede into the background, just look at China. They are nothing like they were in the late 70's, when we normalised relations with them. They are nothing like they were under severe communist party rule..

Gee your right. They are flush with cash, advanced in technology, building a larger more capable military, have missile technology, and the majority of it came from good Ole US dollars. Oh did I mention we are in major debt to them? Nothing to worry about huh?

 

[mrjarrell]

Gee your right. They are flush with cash, advanced in technology, building a larger more capable military, have missile technology, and the majority of it came from good Ole US dollars. Oh did I mention we are in major debt to them? Nothing to worry about huh?

Never said that. What I sadi is that their communist government has receded into the background from where it was 30 or even 20 years ago. Capitalism has driven communism into the ground there. I lived there when everyone was in the party and dressed and sounded alike. Today's China doesn't even remotely resemble the China that I knew. The same will happen to Cuba. Communism will decline and, eventually disappear when faced with true freedom and capitalism. Embargoes don't work.

 

[rambone]

For those of you who wish we'd befriend Cuba, you will definitely get your wish under Democratic rule. Do you remember in April when some Democratic congressmen went to meet the Castro brothers and Cuba, and their glowing reports of the dictator when they returned?

JFK Democrats no more :: Jeff Jacoby


President Obama last week relaxed US policy toward Cuba, making it easier for Cuban-Americans to travel and send money to relatives living there. The president's order was titled "Promoting Democracy and Human Rights in Cuba," but in fact it said nothing at all about democracy and human rights in Cuba. Nowhere did it mention the Communist tyranny of the last 50 years -- there was nothing about the denial of free speech; the abuse and murder of political dissidents; the persecution of journalists, librarians, and human-rights activists; the relentless surveillance and secret police; the regime's stranglehold on property and employment. This time, at least, Hillary Clinton didn't give human rights the brush-off. "We would like to see Cuba open up its society, release political prisoners, open up to outside opinions and media," she said on Thursday.

By contrast, when a delegation of congressional Democrats returned from a trip to Cuba a few days earlier, it was to gush about how "very engaging" Fidel and Raul Castro are, and to insist that improvement in human rights not be made a condition of better relations with Washington.

Thus at a press conference on April 7, Illinois Representative Bobby Rush extolled Raul Castro -- a man with the blood of hundreds on his hands -- for his "sense of humor" and the way he "laughed at himself" and how "down-to-earth" and "kind" he was. Why, said Rush, being with Castro was "almost like visiting an old friend." When a reporter asked about Cuba's human rights record, Rush snapped that he was engaging in a "double standard" and called it "good business sense" not to let human rights get in the way of increased trade.

Another member of the delegation, Cleveland congresswoman Marcia Fudge, went even further, resolutely defending the Castro brothers' right to "run a nation the way they believe is best." After all, she said, "there is no one way that people should live."

But Fudge was wrong -- profoundly wrong. All people should live in freedom. No one has the right to "run a nation" like a prison camp. Every human being is entitled to be treated with dignity and equal justice. Those are core American truths -- truths most Democrats once understood in their bones. Do they still?

Che & Fidel, BFF's 4 Life
(and Communist thugs who enslaved and killed their own people)

Gateway Pundit: Castro Tells Far Left Democrats That US Owes Cuba an Apology


Former Cuban President Fidel Castro was "very engaging, very energetic," U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, said following a congressional delegation's meeting with the ailing revolutionary.

The delegation that traveled to Cuba featured six members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., and they returned to Washington late Tuesday afternoon and urged the United States government to begin steps to alter its relationship with Cuba.

"For the past 50 years, the United States has been swimming in the Caribbean Sea of delusion," said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., who described the United States as "the isolated nation" compared to European countries which have diplomatic ties with Havana.

"This is the dawning of a new day," Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., declared. "Fifty years of foolishness is over. It's time for the children to sit in the corner and the adults to take over."

Tuesday afternoon, the Cuban government released a statement that it indicated was Fidel Castro's assessment of a session he had with the lawmakers. In the statement, Castro said that one of the Members of Congress told him that the United States should "apologize" to Cuba. And another lawmaker told the former leader that despite the victory by President Obama, U.S. society is still "racist."

 

[Denny347]

I'm not sure WHY WE CARE who wants to travel to Cuba? We need to worry about the US and less about other countries. We spend a bit too much time telling other people what to do. I don't think the US is at any risk of harm from Cuba.

 

[rambone]

To me, it was, and is more about standing up to communism and totalitarian dictators. If we don't trade with a nation because of the way they treat their people, I'm fine with that. The goal of the Communists is to spread communism across the world. We've been fighting to stop it for several generations. But nowadays, people don't know or care enough about their country to understand why. Soon they will know why so many patriots have fought to keep our country free of communism/socialism.

 

[Denny347]

Our country was never under threat of becoming a communist state. It was the goal of the USSR to spread communism as they were the only country strong enough to do so. People's Republic of China, Republic of Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos), and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam are the only one-party communist countries left and China owns half of us anyway. We have no travel restrictions with any of these but Cuba. Because they made us mad years ago...time to move on,

 

[rambone]

If it were my call, I'd restrict travel and trade with all communist countries. Our leadership has sold half of the country to the Chinese Communists, because the leadership, especially the democrats, have been infiltrated by socialists and communists for the last 60 years. We have been sold out.

There have been open communists in America, called the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). They no longer feel the need to run their own candidates for office, since the democratic party has sufficiently been infiltrated by socialist. Obama's policy agenda and that of the CPUSA are in perfect alignment.

Capitalism is being overthrown before our eyes and you believe there is no threat?

The 10 Planks of the Communist Manifesto

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
   
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
   
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
   
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.
   
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state.
   
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
   
8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
   
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.
   
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc., etc.

​