Monday, April 13, 2009

Update: Cuba policy

The Obama administration announced an easing of restrictions on Cuban Americans to travel to Cuba and to send money. In addition, it will seek to make communication easier by allowing U.S. companies to get licenses for Cuba, and to allow Cuban Americans to send cell phones there, among other measures.

Nothing revolutionary here (no pun intended). It is simply the use of executive power to ease back, and is a far cry from some sort of generalized unrestricted travel.

Nonetheless, this type of incremental policy may well be effective. It is not a big enough change to create major ripples, yet potentially sets the stage for members of Congress to become accustomed to policy reform. The major question that still remains unanswered is what the Obama administration's ultimate goal is, or even if it currently has one. Obama and Biden have consistently said they are not pushing for an end to the embargo, but I would not be surprised if the business community changed their minds, particularly since it would receive bipartisan support.

4 comments:

Slave Revolt,  9:17 PM  

Their ultimate goal is regime change. They seem to finally be thinking the right way. I can't think of anything more damaging to Castro's regime than a bunch of exiled Cubans full of dollars, buying up the local black market (which, by the way, is the only market in that island).

The real question is what the Castro's are going to do now. I guarantee you they will look for the first excuse to limit US travelers access to the island, and to pick a fight with Obama. Indeed, it may all happen this coming Friday.

The Castros' can't afford the the opening of the island to US capital inflow, because of the basic formula: money = power. And as you know, in that island power means Castro.

Anonymous,  8:41 AM  

Steve,

Apostrophes are for possessives, not plurals. For a plural possessives you put the apostrophe after the s.

Anonymous,  8:42 AM  

*Slave Revolt*

Apostrophes are for possessives, not plurals. For a plural possessives you put the apostrophe after the s.

Slave Revolt,  7:07 PM  

Their ultimate goal is regime change. They seem to finally be thinking the right way. I can't think of anything more damaging to Castro's regime than a bunch of exiled Cubans full of dollars, buying up the local black market (which, by the way, is the only market in that island).

The real question is what the Castros are going to do now. I guarantee you they will look for the first excuse to limit US travelers access to the island, and to pick a fight with Obama. Indeed, it may all happen this coming Friday.

The Castros can't afford the the opening of the island to US capital inflow, because of the basic formula: money = power. And as you know, in that island power means Castro.

  © Blogger templates The Professional Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP