Castro says end of US 'blockade,' Gitmo return needed to normalize ties
Source: AFP
Havana (AFP) - Cuba's Communist President Raul Castro on Monday stood next to Barack Obama and hailed his opposition to a long-standing economic "blockade," but said it would need to end before ties are fully normalized.
Setting out the conditions for ending long-standing Cold War enmity, Castro said ending the US embargo and returning Guantanamo to Cuba were necessary steps.
"There are profound differences between our countries that will not go away," he said, while vowing to focus on "those things that bring us closer."
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/castro-says-end-us-blockade-gitmo-return-needed-182747287.html;_ylt=AwrC1C4SPvBWZEcA04XQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTByOHZyb21tBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--
hack89
(39,171 posts)I suspect the economic carrot will be sufficient. There is too much pent up demand in Cuba for Castro to turn back the clock - he would trigger a revolution.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)it's such a stain on America, and such a great talking point for the Castros.
hack89
(39,171 posts)have it go back to what it was - a training base.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)required for the base?
Why is the base required?
Note that Cuba says the Platt Amendment deal was signed under duress. That does appear to be the case.
ref: http://www.cubagob.cu/ingles/otras_info/minfar/Base_Gtmo.htm
hack89
(39,171 posts)Obama has the upper hand. He knows Castro has to get the embargo lifted.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)hack89
(39,171 posts)Not worth the hassle considering he has to get Congress to approve it.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)there will be a push for it, at the least, ie. push Clinton, should she be nominated and elected. I doubt Mr. Sanders would need any push.
hack89
(39,171 posts)It will be her choice alone. Besides, nothing wrong with not playing all your cards at once. Let's see what lifting the embargo does first.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)hack89
(39,171 posts)Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)hack89
(39,171 posts)It could also be that the status quo is fine when the other option is an unwinnable fight with a Republican congress looking to give Obama a black eye.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)but there's no hope there?
hack89
(39,171 posts)That means many repukes will fall in line.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Gregorian
(23,867 posts)I'm so frightened of those in Guantanamo, I'd gladly take them all in to my house.
They're probably better company than Dick Cheney.
sinkingfeeling
(51,469 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Xolodno
(6,398 posts)The obvious first issue is Gitmo. The second, its a military base.
No doubt there would be stipulations about handing it back, such as ending permanently its military use. Maybe turn it into a museum, national park, etc.
Last thing the US Government would want if they give it back and then Cuba leases it to Russia or China.
maxsolomon
(33,360 posts)a Democratic House, and a 60-vote Democratic majority in the Senate. Maybe not even that last one.
So, yeah. It'll be a while. Shameful.
TipTok
(2,474 posts)Virtually none for returning the whole base.
Rightfully so...
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)FailureToCommunicate
(14,019 posts)...if indeed he has any say in dealing away Guantanamo Bay.
phazed0
(745 posts)He's been a political puppet this whole time... I guess there is a 2% chance he snorts an 8-ball or goes all Bulworth on us:
hugo_from_TN
(1,069 posts)such as the rights to free speech, assembly, and religion, and the right to form opposition political parties and participate in free elections.
That would be a good start.
Jitter65
(3,089 posts)Democat
(11,617 posts)Are you on the right website?
cstanleytech
(26,312 posts)Now getting the US to agree to let it be turned it into an independent special economic zone and help develop it into a major port for trade? Maybe.
clg311
(119 posts)The US should stop meddling in the affairs of other countries.
former9thward
(32,064 posts)in Central and South America and Africa during the 60s, 70s, and 80s. They sent their military all over to enforce their ideology in those countries. Then Soviet Aid dried up and the Cubans were forced to withdraw.
clg311
(119 posts)While the US was supporting genocide in Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Chile, El Salvador, Iran and others during that time. Americans are the last people to be lecturing other countries.
EX500rider
(10,849 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,596 posts)Fidel Castro And The Cuban Role In Defeating Apartheid
February 26, 2015 by Matt Peppe @PeppeMatt
[font size=1]
In this black and white photo, Nelson Mandela holds up a fist while embracing Fidel Castro with an arm around his shoulder during the celebration of the Day of the Revolution in Matanzas Saturday, July 27, 1991. Cubas intervention was critical to allowing South Africa to overthrow the racist apartheid regime.
[/font]
Until the fall of the Portuguese dictatorship in 1974, apartheid in South Africa was secure. There was no substantial resistance anywhere in southern Africa. Pretorias neighbors comprised a buffer zone that protected the racist regime: Namibia, their immediate neighbor which they had occupied for 60 years; white-ruled Rhodesia; and the Portuguese-ruled colonies of Angola and Mozambique. The rebels who fought against minority rule in each of these countries, operating without any safe haven to organize and train, were powerless to challenge the status quo. South Africas buffer would have remained intact for the foreseeable future, solidifying apartheid and preventing any significant opposition, but for one man: Fidel Castro.
In October of 1975, South Africa invaded Angola at the behest of the U.S. government to overthrow the left-wing Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the soon-to-be independent country. Without Cuban assistance, the apartheid army would have easily cruised into Luanda, crushed the MPLA, and installed a puppet government friendly to the apartheid regime.
Cubas intervention in Angola managed to change the course of that country and reverberate throughout Africa. By ensuring independence from the white supremacists, Angola was able to preserve its own revolution and maintain its role as a base for armed resistance groups fighting for liberation in nearby countries.
In the American version of Cold War history, Cuba was carrying out aggression and acting as proxies of the Soviet Union. Were it not for one persistent and meticulous scholar, we might never have known that these are nothing more than dishonest fabrications. In his monumental books Conflicting Missions and Visions of Freedom, historian Piero Gleijeses uses thousands of documents from Cuban military archives, as well as U.S. and South African archives, to recount a dramatic, historical confrontation between tiny Cuba and Washington and its ally apartheid South Africa. Gleijeses is the only foreign scholar to have gained access to the closed Cuban archives. He obtained thousands of pages of documents, and made them available to the Wilson Center Digital Archive, which has posted the invaluable collection online.
More:
http://www.mintpressnews.com/MyMPN/fidel-castro-and-the-cuban-role-in-defeating-apartheid/
[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
Why South Africa Loves Cuba
The history behind Raul Castro's prominent billing at Mandela's funeral.
Piero Gleijeses
January 14, 2014
While the American news media recently focused on the handshake between President Obama and Raúl Castro, it is worth pondering why the organizers of Nelson Mandelas memorial service invited Raúl Castro to be one of only six foreign leadersof the ninety-one in attendanceto speak at the ceremony. Not only was Raúl Castro accorded that honor, but he also received by far the warmest introduction: "We now will get an address from a tiny island, an island of people who liberated us ... the people of Cuba," the chairperson of the African National Congress (ANC) said. Such words echo what Mandela himself said when he visited Cuba in 1991: We come here with a sense of the great debt that is owed the people of Cuba ... What other country can point to a record of greater selflessness than Cuba has displayed in its relations to Africa?
Many factors led to the demise of apartheid. The white South African government was defeated not just by the power of Mandela, the courage of the South African people, or the worldwide movement to impose sanctions. It was also brought down by the defeat of the South African military in Angola. This explains the prominence of Raúl Castro at the memorial service: it was Cuban troops that humiliated the South African army. In the 1970s and 1980s, Cuba changed the course of history in southern Africa despite the best efforts of the
In October 1975, the South Africans, encouraged by the Gerald Ford administration, invaded Angola to crush the leftwing Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). They would have succeeded had not 36,000 Cuban soldiers suddenly poured into Angola.
. . .
As the CIA noted, Castro had not consulted Moscow before sending his troops (as is clear from later tense meetings with the Soviet leadership in the 1980s.) The Cubans, Kissinger confirmed in his memoirs, had confronted the Soviets with a fait accompli. Fidel Castro understood that the victory of Pretoria (with Washington in the wings) would have tightened the grip of white domination over the people of southern Africa. It was a defining moment: Castro sent troops to Angola because of his commitment to what he has called the most beautiful cause, the struggle against apartheid. As Kissinger observed later, Castro was probably the most genuine revolutionary leader then in power.
More:
http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/why-south-africa-loves-cuba-9705
[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
The Military Defeat of the South Africans in Angola
by Horace Campbell
. . .
Ten years after United Nations Resolution 435 laid the basis for an independent Namibia, the South Africans agreed to withdraw from the territory they still occupied in defiance of international opinion. In a ceremony at UN headquarters in New York on December 22, 1988, an agreement was signed by Angola, Cuba, and South Africa, with the United States ostensibly acting as mediator. This accord was a major step toward self-determination for the peoples of Southern Africa, for it finally gave the United Nations Transitional Group the go-ahead to implement steps for the withdrawal of South African troops from Namibia and the return of refugees, elections, and independence to the former Portuguese colony. This historic agreement came not because of the tenacious negotiating of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker, but because of the decisive military defeat of the South African forces at Cuito Cuanavale in Angola (see map on page 43).
Between October 1987 and June 1988, in the fiercest conventional battles on African soil since Erwin Rommel was defeated at El Amien, the South African Defence Forces (SADF) fought pitched tank and artillery battles with the Angolan army (FAPLA, the Peoples Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola) and its Cuban supporters at Cuito Cuanavale. This small base located in southeastern Angola became important in the military history of Africa, for there the South African army, supposedly the best on the continent, was trapped with its tanks and artillery and held down more than 300 miles from its bases in Namibia. Failing to take Cuito Cuanavale with over 9,000 soldiers, even after announcing that it had done so, losing air superiority, and faced with mutinies among black troops and a high casualty rate among whites, the South Africans reached such a desperate situation that President Botha had to fly to the war zone when the operational command of the SADF broke down.
With Cuban reinforcements, the Angolans withstood major assaults on January 23, February 25, and March 23. The South Africans were repulsed with heavy losses, and the Angolan/Cuban forces seized the initiative. For the first time since 1981, the Angolan army was able to reoccupy the area adjacent to Namibia. So confident were the Angolans and Cubans, that in the space of less than three months they built two air strips to consolidate their recapture of the southern province of Cunene. Trapped by the rainy season, bogged down by the terrain, and encircled, the South Africans made one desperate attempt to break out on June 27 and were again defeated. One South African newspaper called the defeat a crushing humiliation.
These episodes of war were followed by diplomatic initiatives that the South Africans had previously been able to block. After the March 23 reversals at Cuito Cuanavale, the South Africans started talks that culminated in the December 22 agreement. For the Angolans, who had been fighting continuously since 1961, the war and diplomacy were focused not only on the limited question of the South African withdrawal from Angola, but also on ending South African destabilization of the region and on independence for Namibia. Diplomatic initiatives accelerated after the South Africans failed to break out of their encirclement at Tchipa on June 27. Only then could the frontline combatants and the United States agree on the basis for withdrawal of the South Africans from Angola.
More:
http://monthlyreview.org/2013/04/01/the-military-defeat-of-the-south-africans-in-angola/
[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
Censored: Why the media hides Cuba's role in the end of apartheid
[font size=1]
Fidel Castro peers out of the bars of Nelson Mandela's former cell on Robben Island during a recent visit.
[/font]
By Ian Dunt
Tuesday, 10 December 2013 9:37 AM
Inconvenient figures have been whitewashed from the coverage of Nelson Mandela's death. The photo pull-out sections show the South African leader with Bill Clinton, with Princess Diana and Naomi Campbell and the Spice Girls. But his close friendship with Fidel Castro and the two men's habit of calling each other 'brother' is written out of history.
At his memorial service today, the presence of figures like Cuban leader (and Fidel's brother) Raul Castro is treated as an example of Mandela's ability to straddle political and ideological divides. After all, something has to explain the presence of these evil figures at a service for a saint.
But Castro is not being given pride of place as a sign of Mandela's ability to straddle divides. He is given pride of place because black South Africans, unlike Brits or Americans, recognise Cuba's proud role in the end of apartheid. While Britain was supplying arms and military equipment to the apartheid regime, Cuba was sending its men to fight it, securing key military victories and crippling its room for manoeuvre.
For decades, Cuba supported the armed struggle liberation movements in South Africa, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique. In 1961, when Che Guevara attended a summit in Geneva as industry minister, he attacked "the inhuman and fascist policy of apartheid" and demanded the expulsion of South Africa from the UN, all decades before Britain could bring itself to challenge the racist government.
More:
http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2013/12/10/censored-why-the-media-hides-cuba-s-role-in-the-end-of-apart
Judi Lynn
(160,596 posts)You are entirely right.
Thanks for pointing to the truth.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Cuba's teachers, likewise ignorance.
former9thward
(32,064 posts)Too bad a poor country like Cuba wasted so much of its money on the its military all over the world.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)''Money trumps peace.''
The very words of George W Bush, uttered at a press conference in which not a single of the callow, cowed press corpse saw fit to ask a follow-up. And then he laughs.
Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan tried to bring it to our nation's attention. Few others, if anyone, saw fit to comment.
As for where American's entrepreneurial spirit of war came from, I'd say when Poppy: Bush Sr told the FBI he was in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 would be a clue.
Judi Lynn
(160,596 posts)Thanks for taking the time to share.
former9thward
(32,064 posts)I'm sure you approve of all of these.
Congo Crisis
Area of Che Guevara's activity in Congo
The Congo Crisis was a period of turmoil in the Congo that began with national independence from Belgium and ended with the seizing of power by Joseph Mobutu. During the Congo Crisis, Cuban Expedition led by Che Guevara trained Marxist Rebels to fight against the weak central government of Joseph Kasa-Vubu along with the forces of Mobutu Sese Seko. This would be the Cuba's first military action overseas and in Africa.
Bolivia Insurgency
During the 1960s, the National Liberation Army began a Communist insurgency in Bolivia. The National Liberation Army was established and funded by Cuba and led by Che Guevara.
The National Liberation Army was defeated and Che Guevara was captured by the Bolivia government aided by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Bolivian Special Forces were informed of the location of Guevara's guerrilla encampment. On October 8, the encampment was encircled, and Guevara was captured and later executed by Bolivian forces.
Eritrean War
Main article: Eritrean War of Independence
Cubans trained Eritreans but later, in a political reversal, trained Ethiopian Marxist forces who were fighting against Eritreans.
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War was the fifth major conflict between Israel and the neighboring Arab States. Cuba deployed 1,500 troops, including tank and helicopter crews, to support the Arabs during the war. Precise Cuban casualty numbers are unknown.[1]
Ogaden War
The Ogaden War was a conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia between 1977 and 1978. Fighting erupted in the Ogaden region as Somalia attempted to liberate the area. The conflict ended with a Somali retreat.
When the Soviet Union began to support the Ethiopian Derg government instead of the Somali government, other Communist nations followed. The Cuban Military deployed 15,000 combat troops along with aircraft to support the Derg government and the USSR military advisors in the region.
Cuban Military Actions in Angola (19612002)
Main article: Cuban intervention in Angola
Between 1961 until 2002, the Cuban Military provided support for the left wing MPLA movement in a series of civil wars. During these conflicts the MPLA emerged victorious due in part to the substantial aid received from Cuba.
The Angolan War of Independence was a struggle for control of Angola between guerilla movements and Portuguese colonial authority. Cuba supplied the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) rebels with weapons and soldiers to fight. Cuban military would fight alongside the MPLA in major battles.
The Angolan Civil War was a 27-year civil war that devastated Angola following the end of Portuguese colonial rule in 1974. The conflict was fought by the MPLA against UNITA and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). MPLA was aided by Cuba and the Soviet Union, and UNITA and FNLA were supported by South Africa, United States and Zaire. It became Africa's longest running conflict. The conflict was only formally brought to an end in 2002 with the death of UNITA-Leader Jonas Savimbi.
South African Border War
The so-called South African Border War was a conflict that took place in South-West Africa (Today independent nation of Namibia) between the Apartheid-era South African Defence Forces and its allied National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) against the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) and the Angolan MPLA.
During the conflict, Cuba sent soldiers to aid Angola in its own civil war. The Cuban army had a major involvement in some of the most important battles including Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.
Invasion of Grenada
722 Cuban soldiers were deployed in Grenada During the Invasion of Grenada by U.S. troops in 1983. The Cuban government sent these troops there to support the leftist government of the country. Cuban losses during the conflict were 25 killed, 59 wounded, and 638 captured. In 2008, the Government of Grenada announced a move to build a monument to honor the Cubans killed during the invasion by Genelle Figuroa. At the time of the announcement the Cuban and Grenadian government are still seeking to locate a suitable site for the monument.
Salvadoran Civil War
The Salvadoran Civil War was fought by the El Salvador government against various left-wing rebels. Cuba supplied the rebels with weapons and advisors.
Nicaraguan Civil War
During the Sandinista revolution and the following Civil War, Cuba gave aid and support to the Sandinista government of Daniel Ortega. The Sandinista government was fighting the American backed Contras. The conflict ended with the 1990 presidential election where Ortega lost to Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Cuba
Judi Lynn
(160,596 posts)in Bolivia had instructed him to report back to him on names and addresses of ANY Venezuelan or Cuban doctors or other workers in Bolivia. It created a real tiny ruckus, as it wasn't news the US gov't wanted circulating, of course. This was during G.W. Bush's occupation of the Presidency.
[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
Exclusive: Peace Corps, Fulbright Scholar Asked to 'Spy' on Cubans, Venezuelans
By JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY
and Brian Ross
·Feb. 8, 2008
In an apparent violation of U.S. policy, Peace Corps volunteers and a Fulbright scholar were asked by a U.S. Embassy official in Bolivia "to basically spy" on Cubans and Venezuelans in the country, according to Peace Corps personnel and the Fulbright scholar involved.
"I was told to provide the names, addresses and activities of any Venezuelan or Cuban doctors or field workers I come across during my time here," Fulbright scholar John Alexander van Schaick told ABCNews.com in an interview in La Paz.
Van Schaick's account matches that of Peace Corps members and staff who claim that last July their entire group of new volunteers was instructed by the same U.S. Embassy official in Bolivia to report on Cuban and Venezuelan nationals.
The State Department says any such request was "in error" and a violation of long-standing U.S. policy which prohibits the use of Peace Corps personnel or Fulbright scholars for intelligence purposes.
More:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4262036&page=1
dembotoz
(16,820 posts)we need to give credit where credit is due
a nice dream would be perhaps next big disaster in latin america perhaps us and cuba working together.
cuban doctors with us food aid and logistical support.....
Judi Lynn
(160,596 posts)and George W Bush blew them off at that time, even though they were ready to go.
[center]
Cuban emergency doctors were summoned and prepared to leave immediately
to the US to assist in procedures wherever they could be used right here in the US.
All dressed up, with nowhere to go.
Their work on Ebola was nothing short of heroic, as acknowledged around the world.
Their work in Haiti was ongoing before the earthquake and cholera,
they were already working when it happened, and stayed afterward. [/center]
Judi Lynn
(160,596 posts)former9thward
(32,064 posts)Defenders of Marxist economics never fail to to find excuses for their failed experiments.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)former9thward
(32,064 posts)Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Bolivia - unsuccesful insurgency. Indeed, had it been succesful, would have qualified as enforced.
Eritrea - training.
Yom Kippur - deployment of troops to local conflict
Ogaden War - deployment of troops to local conflict
Angola - deployment of troops to local conflict
Namibia - same as Angola, but with apartheid South Africa involved.
Grenada - you are not serious. deployment in Grenada during the invasion of Grenada by U.S.
El Salvador - training, assisting local rebels.
Nicaragua - aid and support to the government.
So, only in the case of Che's ill-fated attempted insurgency in Bolivia could it be said, from your list, that Cuban ideology might have been, but was not, "enforced".
former9thward
(32,064 posts)Like the U.S. they were not always successful.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)embargoes nor offers difficult to refuse, the way US does.
Spreading ideas, providing social services, standing up to bullies & sometimes militarily assisting those yearning to be free from their bonds requires no such Machiavellian strategies nor tactics.
former9thward
(32,064 posts)does not surprise me.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)EX500rider
(10,849 posts)There is a US embargo in place, not the same thing, and they still have the other 200+- countries in the world to trade with.
If only command style economies could produce something people wanted.
Judi Lynn
(160,596 posts)How could you have missed?
You have so much research ahead of you to get you focused on why the UN General Assembly ANNUALLY votes to condemn this embargo, or, as Cubans refer to it, "El Bloqueo." (Blockade.)
EX500rider
(10,849 posts)Blockade: an act or means of sealing off a place to prevent goods or people from entering or leaving.
Judi Lynn
(160,596 posts)Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)It is an attempted blocking of international trade with the island. Blockade is strictly-speaking a naval term still, I think.
Judi Lynn
(160,596 posts)Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Apologies for typing Judy!
dubyadiprecession
(5,720 posts)There are hundreds of civilian cuban workers earning a living there because of that base. What are they going to do if the U.S. leaves?
End the blockade because it was always a dumb Idea. Especially since the U.S. has been trading with all the other communist nations for decades and i'm pretty damn sure they have had no regard for human rights.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Something else.
Judi Lynn
(160,596 posts)which has always been fully supported by the US government.
Colombia has had the world's largest displaced population sometimes, and now has one of the largest, still. Their problem is that they are driven off the land their families have lived upon for centuries, in some cases, and re-assigned to multi-corporations for mines, factories, etc., and they become #### out of luck. The thugs approach the campesinos and tell them to sell their land for a tiny, insulting price. When they refuse, the thugs tell them not to worry, they will take it up with their widows. That's the way they do it.
The people who've been displacing them work for government-connected politicians, landowners, etc. They get paid.
The campesinos migrate to the cities where there are no jobs.
In Cuba when people lose their jobs they continue to receive their salaries and they are retrained for other work. They continue to have homes and food.
EX500rider
(10,849 posts)Jitter65
(3,089 posts)So far, Cuba is ISIS free. That might change things dramatically.
Judi Lynn
(160,596 posts)and tries to make it appear Cuba has suddenly started consorting with ISIS, in order to invade Cuba and overthrow the government directly, instead of wasting time with "peace" procedures.