U.S. relaxes embargo against Cuba.
- Thread starter Takayuki Yagami
- Start date
-
🏰 The Fediverse is up. If you know, you know.
-
Want to keep track of this thread?
Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
Create account
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2014
Smoke if you got 'em.
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2014
Obama will push it as a goodwill thing but the only reason he's doing this is to fuck with Russia.
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2013
Picklechu
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2014
I'm torn. On one hand, the embargo hasn't worked, and I've always wanted the opportunity to visit Cuba (partly because it was forbidden). On the other, there weren't really any concessions on the democracy/freedom/human rights issues that plague Cuba under the Castro regime.
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2014
A friend of mine went to Cuba as part of a "cultural exchange"; I tried to follow several years later but the Bush Administration had basically nailed shut almost every avenue.
I was in Haiti for awhile after that and met a great many Cubans who were working in a state-sponsored literacy program (which has been astonishingly successful, not to mention cheap compared to how much foreign aid money has been pissed away). I've kept in touch with a few of them via letter but I'm not daft enough to mention politics, and they don't either. But in a very real sense, "Cuban-ness" is wrapped up in being isolated, persecuted, etc. It certainly felt like part of the identity and I really doubt they were playing it up for my benefit. It's probably not that different than what a lot of foreigners have observed in Iran -- yeah, the ayatollahs suck and we're going to subvert the system in small ways because fuck them, but fuck you too.
One thing I learned from them, though: you haven't had rum until you've had authentic, made-in-Cuba rum. Bacardi tastes like aftershave in comparison and Cuba's rum makers were justified when they complained about Bacardi marketing their shit as "authentic Cuban". It's so sweet that even a lightweight could drink it from the bottle. Fucking brilliant.
I was in Haiti for awhile after that and met a great many Cubans who were working in a state-sponsored literacy program (which has been astonishingly successful, not to mention cheap compared to how much foreign aid money has been pissed away). I've kept in touch with a few of them via letter but I'm not daft enough to mention politics, and they don't either. But in a very real sense, "Cuban-ness" is wrapped up in being isolated, persecuted, etc. It certainly felt like part of the identity and I really doubt they were playing it up for my benefit. It's probably not that different than what a lot of foreigners have observed in Iran -- yeah, the ayatollahs suck and we're going to subvert the system in small ways because fuck them, but fuck you too.
One thing I learned from them, though: you haven't had rum until you've had authentic, made-in-Cuba rum. Bacardi tastes like aftershave in comparison and Cuba's rum makers were justified when they complained about Bacardi marketing their shit as "authentic Cuban". It's so sweet that even a lightweight could drink it from the bottle. Fucking brilliant.
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2013
I think this is cool because more cross-cultural exchanges can only benefit both sides. And also, you know, fuck Russia. 
One of the really neat things about this news is how cool it was to have this conversation with my mom, who was there when the embargo began (wikipedia says 1960, my mom was born in 1944) and now she's still alive to see it be lifted, which was especially neat considering she's old enough to remember the previous regime, whose name escapes me at the moment. She visited Cuba with her dad, who was a Lt. Col. in the Army at the time, and she said it was so cool and definitely worth the trip. Since my mom's in favor of lifting the embargo and allowing further tourism and trade between our two countries, I can't help but be interested as well.
One of the really neat things about this news is how cool it was to have this conversation with my mom, who was there when the embargo began (wikipedia says 1960, my mom was born in 1944) and now she's still alive to see it be lifted, which was especially neat considering she's old enough to remember the previous regime, whose name escapes me at the moment. She visited Cuba with her dad, who was a Lt. Col. in the Army at the time, and she said it was so cool and definitely worth the trip. Since my mom's in favor of lifting the embargo and allowing further tourism and trade between our two countries, I can't help but be interested as well.