Ending the embargo of Cuba.
Ending the Cuban embargo would be a good start.
I’ve been to Cuba twice.
The first time was in 2000. I was part of a delegation of educators.
Cuba was in deep economic trouble following the collapse of the Soviet Union. We would collect our hotel soap to give to folks on the street. We brought school supplies to share with Cuban students who had none.
Nothing about “the Special Period” took anything away from the beauty of the island and the charm of the Cubans who in spite of a decades old U.S. embargo treated us with the greatest kindness and warmth.
And music. And coffee. And my first mojito.
Among my travels in recent years, celebrating May Day in Santiago de Cuba in Oriente province is among my most memorable of memories.
Santiago has the highest percentage of Afro-Cubans in Cuba. Though the traditional architecture is mostly Spanish, the faces are mostly black. Santiago gave birth to the island’s Son music, and the city remains Cuba's most vital center of Afro-Cuban culture.
Santiago de Cuba on May Day, 2000.
We visited Havana again about ten yers later.
Much had improved. Grocery shelves were stocked full again. Restaurants were crowded.
What had not changed was the constant sound of music in the streets and the 50 different ways Cubans make a cup of coffee.
But the U.S. embargo continued to be an undeserved punishment of the average Cuban.
And it still does.
It was my hope that when Joe Biden was elected he might continue Obama’s improvement of relations with Cuba.
A year and a half in, there doesn’t seems to be many signs of an end to the embargo.
It is one more failure of the Biden presidency.
Since 1992, the United Nations General Assembly has voted in overwhelming majorities condemning the U.S. embargo against Cuba as illegal under international law.
The United States and the Biden administration have selective concern about respecting international law.
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My art can be found on Instagram @klonskyart
Very much agree, Fred. Have been to Cuba: wonderful people.
Love the poster about teachers. EVERYONE needs to see the Lawrence O'Donnell show from Thursday night; he's the only broadcast journalist I know who made a reference to all the officers in the halls of Robb Elementary, & making an analogy to armed teachers being there instead. (i.e., they REALLY couldn't have done anything). &, then, the interviews w/the sobbing, surviving teacher, who hopes "the parents will forgive me."
As we dither over Cuba, China moves in. Will not be our decision much longer; may not be now.