Cuba Readies for U.S. Tourists With Luxury Hotels

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by The Poet

Carlos, my brother, I don't think dollars can be used to "compel" political change, but I also do not believe it necessary for it to do so. Commerce tends to have that effect in any case. The Iron Curtain fell from the inside due to this, just as the Bamboo Curtain soon should. I don't believe a stranglehold on the minds and lives of the Cuban people would survive more than a year or two beyond the beginning of an American commercial invasion. Just my , and worth every penny.

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

Do you think open or semi-open travel/trade could be just another means to the same end of reform & change in Cuba? What we have tried for the last 50 years has not worked, why not try something new? We can always have the embargo again.

Personally, cash is king and when people are able to make it, reform happens like in China. Cubans are enslaved because they cannot create enough income on their own. Castro controls the distribution of wealth and open travel train is a deathblow to that. Keep the people poor and content, punish those who want to challenge has been a successful formula for Castro. Money corrupts the vanguard once they see everyone else making it. History has shown this cycle. The last epoch may well be Communism, but isn’t going to be for real long time.

Both of you make very compelling arguments.
As I said, I too believe the embargo is a waste of time and has more than proven itself to be that.

At the same time, I don't see our dollars alone being what will free the people there. Take China as an example. It has grown to be the worlds strongest financial power, all under Communism. Its people too suffer from lack of human rights and freedoms that have yet to be freed by growth and financial explosion.

In my estimation, two things would need to happen in Cuba via the US prior to the doors opening freely for us to share our dollars.
One: Allow the people to have a say in what government they want serving them.
Two: Allow the people the ability to travel abroad freely.

If the aforementioned two things come hand in hand with our dollars, I agree whole heartedly Communism there as it exists today will crumble.