Let's go to Cuba

[Skeptic Ginger]

Just read this article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/d...before-the-tourism-revolution-takes-hold.html

Reminded me of this old thread

My first thought reading Cleopatra's posts in this thread was that if she'd traveled to Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, or El Salvador she'd have seen the same poverty. And in the Caribbean there's plenty of poverty in Hispaniola, wonder if she's ever been there?

So, not sure with all those Cuba threads found on a title search with the word Cuba whether to bump one or start a new one about opening the Cuban embassy in DC today.

The same tired talking points are being rehashed, the poverty is all Castro's fault, the Cubans didn't give anything for normalization, only Obama did, yadda yadda. They're like broken records.

It's time to end the embargo, we deal with worse countries than Cuba. It didn't result in a change in their government. Cuban expats (and Israel) have way too much political influence in this country. Hooray for Obama not caving to those lobby groups and taking a fresh look at least at some of our foreign policies.

 

[Frank Newgent]

Treasury retains the right to question travelers and demand documentation for up to five years after a trip, but in reality has rarely done so. “It’s basically the honor system on steroids,” said John Kavulich, head of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, assessing the new regulations. The change was partly driven, he said, by the need to “fill those planes” on the commercial airlines that will now fly into Cuba.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...a225ec-eaaf-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html

I remember US Customs at the Dallas airport scrutinizing my passport after our Cuba trip in '98... had re-entered the US there after a Mexico trip during which the wife and I had the nice cheap package into Havana out of Mexico City, detailed on the first page here.

Though had been assured Cuban customs wouldn't mark my US passport, a small icon resembling a house had been stamped. Didn't ask the US Customs guy if that what was meriting his attention upon our US entry...

He disappeared into the back, reappeared, threw down my passport, and told me to go. I complied