By Leyland A.King
June 14, 2017

I do my best to keep up with the mystifying politics and personality of Donald Trump. I have to. The last century is chock full of instructive episodes of human destructiveness. One does not have to look closely to see the lessons which mankind might have to learn all over again.

There is much to worry about, but just for today, I want to focus on one of the issues that have had slight attention. It is the posturing again over Cuba. An independent country situated in the northern Caribbean. It does not threaten any country and for generations live in peace with its neighbors.

Shortly after President Barack Obama and Cuban authorities announced and began normalizing relations, culminating in his productive visit to Cuba, opening ties leading to changes in the status of travel, repatriated funds, diplomatic channels, business investment and much more. There was joy Cuba. And hope for a better life for its eleven million citizens. Quickly, the howling started in America.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_embargo_against_Cuba&oldid=785639229

Governor(R) Cris Cristie bellowed his outrage. He claimed that the agreement should not have been made until after Cuba hands over all Americans asylum there. Something the U.S never considered reciprocally.

Senator(R) Marco Rubio after his recovery from shock piped up with five decades old political rhetoric that he has to know won’t bear fruit. He hopes that his constituents don’t know that.

Governor(R) Rick Scott of Florida, a state hoping to be the major trade hub of America -sea, and land- revealed his indignation and vowed to reinstate the embargo on the people of Cuba.

The hypocrisy would be jarring, were it not originating from Trump’s GOP. With millions of people in American jails and disenfranchisement normalized, that freedom and democracy thing is as hollow as a suit in the Capitol.

But Donald Trump, the granddaddy of political and business disasters, chimed in this week with a statement that has dire consequences for over eleven million people in Cuba. It must be noted that Trump’s companies, like many others, reportedly violated United States law vis-a-vis sanctions against Cuba.

This is wrong. It is morally and ethically wrong. It is incumbent on just citizens of America to speak up, despite the certainty that we’ll be ignored anyway.

The United States put an economic embargo on Cuba 55 to 57 years ago. The international community of nations strenuously objected. It did not matter to us. Cuba was later put on the U.S list as state sponsors of terrorism. The rationale eludes me. There has been no successful lobbying on Cuba’s behalf. Nothing stops the lawless coercion and re-isolation of Cuba, by only the United States.

Today, the European Union are the largest foreign investors in Cuba. Many other countries enjoy opportunities for investment. So what is Trump’s issue? It’s definitely not the stated freedom and democracy for the Cuban people; the nation is no threat to the U.S or the international community. The people who do not have the freedom to travel to Cuba at will are the American people. Over 100 countries do not need a visa to travel to and in Cuba. What is this freedom we boast about then?

Yes, I’ll make a wild, incredible guess. Trump will dialogue with Cuba, the embargo will be lifted and suddenly there are lucrative Trump Towers and Trump entertain venues dominating the beautiful island’s cities and coasts as America brings them democracy and freedom….yet again!

www.masonimmigration.com/cuba_embargo_article.PDF