Collapse Advantage

Collapse Coming Now Venezuelan Oil

A Venezuelan cut off would be devastating
JUAN O. TAMAYO, former Foreign Editor and Chief of Correspondents at The Miami
Herald and for many years the newspapers lead person in its coverage of Cuban
affairs, a Research Associate, 3/5/13 [How will the Venezuela-Cuba link fare after
Chvezs death?, Miami Herald,
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/05/3268483/how-will-the-venezuela-cubalink.html] JH
The death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez has given free rein to
fears that Cuba will plunge into an economic abyss again if Caracas halts
its subsidies, estimated at well above the massive aid that the Soviet Union once provided to Havana.
The impact of a cutoff will be that the crisis we now have will turn into
chaos, because the Cuban government has no other source of financing ,
said Miriam Leiva, a Havana dissident and former Cuban diplomat. Havana now gets two-thirds of
its domestic oil consumption from Caracas about 96,000 barrels per day
and pays part of the bill with the vastly overpriced labor of 35,000 Cuban medical personnel, teachers and others

The rest of the bill is chalked up as a debt, mostly to

Venezuelas PDVSA oil monopoly, which now stands at more than $8
billion, said Jorge Pion, a Cubaborn oil expert at the University of Texas in Austin. If Cuba had to pay $96 to
working in Venezuela.

$98 per barrel, that would mean a gigantic negative impact on its cash register, Pion said. A July report by the
London-based Economist Intelligence Unit noted that an oil cutoff could plunge the islands import-export balance
into the red and lead to the possible imposition of restrictions on energy consumption outside key industries.

Venezuela also is now by far the islands single-largest commercial

partner, with bilateral trade officially pegged at $6 billion in 2010 more
than Cubas trade with the next five countries together and likely one of its largest
sources of hard currency. Carmelo Mesa-Lago, an economist and professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh,
has estimated that Venezuela in fact accounted for more than 20 percent of the countrys overall economic activity
in 2010. Cuban officials have not commented on a post-Chavez future, but highlighted his importance to the island
when they interrupted TV programs Dec. 8 to announce that the president would return to Havana for another
surgery of his battle with cancer.

AT: No Impact to Bioterrorism

Bioterrorism is second most dangerous threat; harms
thousands
Stephen Recca, M.A., is Program Director for Homeland Security at Colorado

Technical University. His background includes assignments with the Central

Intelligence Agency, State Department and Department of Defense, 4/25/ 13 [Is
the U.S. Prepared for a Bioterrorism Threat?, Colorado Technical University,
http://www.coloradotech.edu/Student-Life/CTU-Blog/April-2013/Bioterrorism] JH

Additionally, the federal government has taken an active role in attempting to understand the nature of the broad
bio-threat challenge. Theyre seeking to identify and place appropriate public and private sector resources to meet
the threats. In 2002, after the attacks of 9/11 and the subsequent anthrax attacks, Congress passed the Public
Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act. Subsequent homeland and national security
strategies continued to refine the governments approach to bioterrorism and public health threats. President

biological threats, ostensibly

as the nations number two security concern, after nuclear weapons: The effective
dissemination of a lethal biological agent within a population center would
endanger the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and have
unprecedented economic, societal and political consequences. We must
continue to work at home with first responders and health officials to
reduce the risk associated with unintentional or deliberate outbreaks of infectious disease and to
strengthen our resilience across the spectrum of high-consequence
biological threats. We will work with domestic and international partners to protect against biological
Obamas 2010 National Security Strategy addresses the need to counter

threats by promoting global health security and reinforcing norms of safe and responsible conduct; obtaining timely
and accurate insight on current and emerging risks; taking reasonable steps to reduce the potential for exploitation;
expanding our capability to prevent, attribute and apprehend those who carry out attacks; communicating
effectively with all stakeholders; and helping to transform the international dialogue on biological threats.

Underestimating threat would be dangerous

Larry Bell, Contributor of Forbes, 7/21/13 [Bioterrorism: A Dirty Little Threat With

Huge Potential Consequences, Forbes,

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2013/07/21/bioterrorism-a-dirty-little-threatwith-huge-potential-consequences/] JH
Following the anthrax letter incidents in 2001 in the United States, a flurry of books,
internet articles, and mostly clueless "talking heads" on international television,
openly described the necessary characteristics of a successful biological aerosol,
and one former FBI agent even went so far as to actually name one of the classified
additives used for dry biological agent preparation. If the terrorists of the world
did not previously know the potential of biological weapons for their cause
before, the U.S. media made sure that now they would. Although federal
efforts involving numerous agencies to combat the threat of bioterrorism
expanded rapidly following the 2011 anthrax letter attacks, which killed
five people and infected 17 others, various congressional commissions,
nongovernmental organizations, industry representatives and other
experts have highlighted flaws in these activities. It went on to say "The
Commission further believes that terrorists are more likely to be able to obtain and
use a biological weapon than a nuclear weapon." Making matters worse, unlike most
other terrorist attacks, a biological attack could infect victims without their
knowledge, and days could pass before victims develop deadly symptoms.
To address this problem, the U.S. has been forced to implement air quality monitors

throughout the country and stockpile antibiotics for emergency use. A 2011 study
conducted by the Congressional Research Service observes that:
"Unfortunately, the nature of the bioterrorism threat, with its high
consequences and low frequency, makes determining the bioterrorism risk
difficult. To believe otherwise could potentially be a deadly mistake.

Bioterr is a continuing threat

Mike Walter, manager for House Committee on Energy and Commerce, 6/18/13
[Written testimony of OHA BioWatch Program Manager Dr. Mike Walter for a House
Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Oversight and
Investigations hearing titled Continuing Concerns Over BioWatch and the
Surveillance of Bioterrorism, Homeland Security,
http://www.dhs.gov/news/2013/06/18/written-testimony-oha-house-energy-andcommerce-subcommittee-oversight-and] JH
Chairman Murphy, Ranking Member DeGette, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, thank you for
inviting me to speak with you today. I appreciate the opportunity to testify on the Office of Health Affairs (OHA)
BioWatch Program and Im honored to testify alongside my distinguished colleague from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Toby Merlin.

Bioterrorism remains a continuing threat to

the security of our nation . A biological attack could impact any sector of
our society and place enormous burdens on our nations public health,
with a rippling effect on critical infrastructure. Biological attacks are
particularly challenging because they can be difficult to detect. Detecting
a biological attack as soon as it occurs and identifying the biological agent
helps save lives. The early detection, planning, preparedness, exercising and training capabilities provided
by the BioWatch Program are essential parts of a biodefense posture. Early detection is critical to the
successful treatment of affected populations and provides public health decision makers more time and thereby
more options in responding to, mitigating, and recovering from a bioterrorist event. If a bioagent is detected and
assessed to be the result of an act of bioterrorism and/or a threat to public health, prophylactic treatment can be
started prior to the widespread onset of symptoms resulting in more lives saved.

Bioterrorism is real, deadly, and powerful

Dr. Chris Holmes, Director for IDC Manufacturing Insights International, M.D.,
M.S.P.H., a physician epidemiologist. He has authored two books on bioterrorism. His
mystery novel, The Medusa Strain, is being closely followed by his non-fiction
analysis on the subject, Spores, Plagues, and History: The Story of Anthrax, 7/12/ 03
[Why Bioterrorism is Americas Greatest Threat, The Baltimore Chronicle and The
Sentinel, http://baltimorechronicle.com/jul03_bioterrorism.shtml] JH
Bioweapons are relatively easy to produce. Secret labs, say, in North Korea, Libya, Cuba
or Iran could be manufacturing plague, anthrax and maybe smallpox right
now. In 1999, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency gave a paltry $1.6 million to a handful of scientists and
challenged them to set up a secret bioweapons lab. The team ordered equipment and supplies from the internet
and within a year were producing two pounds of an anthrax simulant per week at a site in the Nevada desert. The

Bioweapons are easy to

disperse, cause high numbers of casualties, and have high mortality rates.
In 1970, WHO estimated that 50 kg. of anthrax released upwind of a city of 500,000
could produce 125,000 cases with 95,000 deaths. This is the same lethality
as a nuclear weapon, but at a fraction of the cost. Plague and anthrax could be spread
FBI never detected it. Named Operation Bachus, the results were sobering.

from crop dusters or pilotless drones, or dispersed through subway systems, the winds from the trains scattering

More disruptive than actual casualties from a bioterrorist attack may be the
psychological effects. The worried public would quickly clog the health
care system. Cases of epidemic hysteriawhich mimic the real thing but arentwould add
further to the overload. Travel and commerce would grind to a halt. The fear from those anthrax-bythe agent city wide.

mail cases in 2001 (only 5 deaths from 23 cases) and this years SARS outbreak (zero U.S. deaths from about 300

A greater risk may

be bioweapons created by recombinant DNA technology. Imagine this nightmare
cases) demonstrate how pyschologically unprepared we are to cope with bioterrorism.

scenario: a communicable form of anthraxa germ with the infectiousness of SARS and the killing power of anthrax
is unleashed through infected air travelers. From these few cases, it spreads across the entire country.

Bioterrorism is in top five threats

Stephen Recca, M.A., is Program Director for Homeland Security at Colorado
Technical University. His background includes assignments with the Central
Intelligence Agency, State Department and Department of Defense, 2/5/ 13
[National Securitys Big Five, Colorado Technical University,
http://www.coloradotech.edu/Student-Life/CTU-Blog/February-2013/NationalSecurity-Big-Five] JH
Recently, National Defense Magazine (NDM) published a report on the top
five threats to national security. The threats biological weapons , nuclear
weapons, cyber attacks, climate change and transnational crime/terror may not be surprising. Even
still, its a solid reminder that the world remains a dangerous place. The tools of the trade are available and, in

The United States is neither immune to these

threats nor so technologically superior that overcoming them can be
guaranteed. The report is not comprehensive. Many other likely scenarios and threats exist; however, the
article sheds light on threats with the greatest impact including: Bio-Threats this is where Public
Health meets Homeland and National Security. These entities have a
shared commitment to identifying diseases, tracking their spread and
limiting the impact on communities by containing the disease outbreak.
some cases, relatively unsophisticated.

Toward that end, the National Biosurveillance Integration Center (NBIC) was created in 2007 as an interagency,
federal-level hub focused on coordinating resources and sharing information. According to the report, NBIC and
contributing federal agencies like the Center for Disease Control, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Department of
Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security, still have much work to do.

Bioterr remains a threat

Bokor G., Forensic Pharmacologist Private Practice, Randolph, MA, 10/25/ 12
[Bioterrorism: pathogens as weapons, US National Library of Medicine National
Institutes of Health, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23011963] JH
Biowarfare has been used for centuries . The use of biological weapons in
terrorism remains a threat. Biological weapons include infectious agents
(pathogens) and toxins. The most devastating bioterrorism scenario would be the
airborne dispersal of pathogens over a concentrated population area.
Characteristics that make a specific pathogen a high-risk for bioterrorism include a
low infective dose, ability to be aerosolized, high contagiousness, and survival in a
variety of environmental conditions. The most dangerous potential
bioterrorism agents include the microorganisms that produce anthrax,
plague, tularemia, and smallpox. Other diseases of interest to bioterrorism
include brucellosis, glanders, melioidosis, Q fever, and viral encephalitis. Food
safety and water safety threats are another area of concern.

AT: No Cuban Bioweapons

Cuba bioterrorism is extremely dangerous to US- multiple
reasons
Ernesto F. Betancourt, Contrarrevolucionario de origen cubano, Winter 20 01
[West Nile Virus --- Is Castro's Bioterrorism Threat Being Ignored?, Hacienda
Publishing, http://www.haciendapub.com/medicalsentinel/west-nile-virus-castrosbioterrorism-threat-being-ignored] JH

In the light of the awesome terrorist aggression we suffered on September 11, 2001, shouldn't we, at least,
undertake some investigation of this hypothesis? Particularly, since the colossal breach in our security resulting
from the arrest of Ana Belen Montes, the top intelligence analyst on Cuba at the Pentagon, as a Castro spy. Is it
possible that previous categoric rejections of such hypotheses were tainted by opinions uttered or influenced by this
Castro agent? True, we have to learn to live normal lives under the most absurd threats, but we must also stop
rejecting these threats as hypotheses because they do not fit preconceived notions of what may or may not
happen, or our ideological inclinations. This tragedy shows that anything is possible and, therefore, all hypotheses
should be validated or rejected. That is why the above hypothesis should be open for investigation. This suggestion
is based on the fact that this was not so farfetched. And that there is enough circumstantial evidence to justify its

If Saddam was using another country as a surrogate

in his efforts to develop biological weapons, the most logical one was
being investigated. Here is why.

Cuba . There are several reasons: 1) Cuba has been developing biological weapons
since the 1980s and has thousands of scientists and technicians working
in its bioengineering and genetic industry, which is attached to Castro's
office; 2) Castro is an ally of Saddam Hussein and shares with him a
pathological hatred of the U.S.; 3) Cuba is not subject to UN inspection; 4) it
is a Stalinist society where there is no freedom of the press and an
overwhelming repressive apparatus allows the regime to work in utmost
secrecy; and, 5) it is very close to the U.S. mainland, allowing the use of
migratory birds as "hosts" for viruses. Additionally, in a 1998 book, Natumaleza Cubana, the
author, Carlos Wotzkow, narrates how he was fired from his work as an
ornithologist at the Institute of Zoology in the early 1980s. The reason, among others, his objection
to a Castro order creating the Biological Front, an effort to develop viruses
that could be carried by "host" birds or other means into the U.S . This work was
assigned to the Institute of Zoology, and its institutional derivatives, in collaboration with the Pedro Kouri Tropical
Medicine Institute. The question that comes to mind is why would Castro do that?

Cuba has been developing bioterror weapons for ages

Agustn Blzquez, Director, Cinematographer, Producer who tried to correct
American perception of Cuba, Winter 2001, [ Cuba, Castro and Bioterrorism,

Hacienda Publishing, http://www.haciendapub.com/medicalsentinel/cuba-castro-andbioterrorism] JH

There are many academic studies, articles and books in public records
exposing Castro's long term involvement with bacteriological and chemical
weapons. The information has been presented in public forums. The U.S. media has been invited but they
systematically choose to be absent. Perhaps so that by being absent they can claim, "but I didn't know." This
information will also clash with the heavily orchestrated campaign to present Castro as non-threatening in order to
normalize relations with Cuba. This collaboration of the U.S. media with the Castro regime is reprehensible.

I first

learned pertinent details about Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and his
bacteriological warfare after attending a discussion on Capitol Hill on
October 28, 1997. As usual, the U.S. media did not show up . I also read the October
1997 paper titled "Castro: A Threat to the Security of the United States" by Dr. Manuel Cereijo, a professor at Florida
International University who has written over 500 articles published in national and international journals. The paper

And the
"several centers and institutes that do research and development," and
that "there are special groups, working on projects to develop chemical,
biological and bacteriological warfare." It listed the names of these centers and institutes:
details Cuba's work in the fields of bacteriological and chemical warfare "since the mid-eighties."

"the Biotechnology Center, the Immunology Center, the Genetic Engineering Center, the Tropical Medicine Institute,
the Findlay Institute, the Biocen, the Academy of Sciences, the Oceanographic Institute, the Biological Preparations
Center, the Center for the Breeding of Laboratory Animals, the National Center for Animal and Plant Health, the
Neuroscience Center and La Fabriquita or 'Little Factory.' These centers are spread around Havana ." Dr. Cereijo's
paper specifies their addresses and says, "Many Cuban engineers and scientists have been trained by former East

Over the years, Castro's

Cuba has developed very ingenious ways to deliver their deadly materials
to the U.S. As Dr. Cereijo says, "To conduct a bacteriological attack, a
country or a terrorist group does not need to have any sophisticated
means of delivery, such as a missile. A container, the size of a 5 pound of
sugar bag, can bring bacteriological material capable of causing over
50,000 casualties in an urban area depending on the flow of air and
atmospheric conditions."
Germany, the Soviet Union, North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam and China."

Empirics prove Cubas involvement with bioterr weaponry

Humberto Corzo, a Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 6/7/ 04

[WEST NILE VIRUS AND THE DRAGONS TAIL,

http://www.futurodecuba.org/west_nile_virus_and_the_dragon.htm] JH
Since the early nineties Castros tyranny has spent $3.5 billion in the
development of facilities to be used in the Bacteriological Warfare. Castros
regime started its biological program in 1982, and since then has done extensive
research and development in the field of bioterrorism. This research is
conducted, among others, in the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
(CIGB), the most important one, created in 1986, La Habana, at a cost of $150
million. The CIA believes that this facility is used for developing biological
weapons. Cuba has been classified by the State Department as a terrorist nation.
Castros hatred and hostility to the United States represents, without any doubt,
a very serious threat due to Cubas proximity, only 90 miles from Key
West. Fidel Castro, on January 28, 1998, in a threat of potential use of germ
warfare against the U.S. said: "This lamb can never be devoured -not with
planes nor smart bombs- because this lamb is smarter than you, and in its
blood there is, and always will be, poison for you." Dr. Luis Roberto
Hernandez, a Cuban entomologist who defected in 1995, in an interview to El Nuevo
Herald on October 18, 1999, asserted that he worked in the Institute of Zoology
where the laboratories for the Biological Front were established and that "those
were laboratories to identify and produce viruses to be used in birds as hosts for
their dissemination." According to Hernandez, the project continued at a farm
outside Havana, where a vast nesting program had been established to study the
routes and habits of migratory birds. These viruses are suitable for inoculating
migratory birds that fly to the U.S. in the spring. Obviously it is possible to
introduce biological agents like the West Nile Virus (WNV) into the U.S. by
way of migratory birds that will transmit it to mosquitoes, and they will
spread it to horses, people and other mammals. According to Carlos Wotzkow,
former researcher and ornithologist at the Cuban Institute of Zoology, in exile in
Switzerland since 1992, the migratory birds project was proposed by Castro himself
and led to the creation of what was called the Biological Front: "An idea to

undertake biological warfare against the United States territory through the
introduction of viruses of infectious diseases inoculated in migratory birds." [1]
Wotzkow claim that the Smithsonian Institution, along with the University of
Pennsylvania and the Canadian Wildlife Service, collaborated with Castro by
providing funds and technology for the study of migratory birds. The WNV first
appears in New York in July 1999, after the birds spring migration. This
virus had never been present in North America. John Roehrig of the CDC said, "It is
not yet clear how the virus got to New York, but it could be from bird migration or
from virus-carrying imported birds that infected the areas mosquito population."
During the year 1999, 7 deaths and 59 severe cases of the WNV disease
were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in
New York State. In the year 2000, only 2 deaths and 19 severe cases of the WNV
disease were reported to the CDC in 3 states.

Agriculture Advantage

AT: Lifting Embargo Hurts Sustainable Ag

No linkLifting the embargo will not cause Cuba to turn away
from sustainable ag
Ellinger & Braley 10

Mickey Ellinger and Scott Braley are a writer/photographer team from Oakland who
often work for social justice and nonprofit organizations, Urban Agriculture in Cuba-http://urbanhabitat.org/17-2/ellinger
The development of urban agriculture is part of a set of innovations in the
Cuban economy to become more decentralized and more varied. Gone are the
days when sugar exports were the biggest item in Cubas balance of
payments. These days Cuba trades its doctors for Venezuelan oil, and imports from
China and Vietnam, as well as Europe and Latin America. It was a founding member
of ALBA, the Latin American common market. So, what would happen if the U.S.
ended its blockade and oil, fertilizers, and pesticides again became
available? Probably nothing . The general opinion is that organic
agriculture gives better food and farming coops are creating hundreds of
thousands of good jobs. Who would want to go back to the old ways?
Como en Havana? By the measures of a consumer society, Cuba is poorhousing
is crowded and consumer goods are scarce and expensive. But to communities
suffering from unemployment, poor health care, poor nutrition, and schools that
track students into prisons or the military, the Cuban lifestyle looks very good.
Everyone in Cuba has access to high quality free education and medical care, cheap
transportation, and a basic food ration supplemented by organic produce grown
wherever people live. Urban agriculture in the U.S.although moving into
mainstream awareness as more and more people renounce the unsustainable U.S.
way of lifeis still largely the province of volunteers and nonprofit
organizations who create community, school, and prison gardens. But an article in
Fortune magazine earlier this year entitled, Can Farming Save Detroit? featured a
money manager who smells profit in growing food on abandoned land in Detroit.
Whether U.S. urban agriculture becomes yet another source of profit for
venture capitalists or a resource for community self-determination remains a
key political question for the coming years. If we believe the slogan at last
summers Social Forum in DetroitAnother world is possible; another U.S. is
necessarywe should take our lessons in sustainability from Cuba .

Solvency

AT: Cuba says no

Cuba will say yes it needs desperately needs new capital to
aid economic reforms
Iglesias, 12 Commander, US Navy. Paper submitted for the Master of Strategic

Studies Degree at the the US Army War College (Carlos, United States Security
Policy Implications of a Post-Fidel Cuba http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?
AD=ADA560408) GOC = Government of Cuba, FAR = Cuban military
For Cuba, the destitute economy can wait no longer. The Cuban Minister of
Economy and Planning, Marino Murillo, candidly admitted as much in 2010, the
gigantic paternalistic state can no longer be, because there is no longer a way to
maintain it.75 This confession that the country is in ruins was confirmed to be
literally true by a University of Miami study which uncovered that in Havana alone
an estimated 300 buildings collapse every year, and that about 100,000 residents
there live in unsafe structures. Highways, utilities and sewage systems, water
mains, and other critical infrastructure are in advanced stages of disrepair.76 This
national disrepair signals an immense latent demand for infrastructure
rehabilitation. The magnitude of the need for public goods developments alone is
staggering. One estimate assessed the requirements at just over $8 billion.77 FDI at
these levels would be most welcomed by U.S. capital and if invested, would help
prime the Cuban economic engine. 24

Raul wants economic engagement with the US

LeoGrande, 13 - professor in the Department of Government, School of Public
Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. (William, The Danger of
Dependence: Cuba's Foreign Policy After Chavez World Politics Review, 4/2,
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/12840/the-danger-of-dependencecubas-foreign-policy-after-chavez)
In Cuba, Ral Castro's historic economic reforms are moving the island toward a mixed socialist

economy, and incipient political decompression is allowing more space for open debate. These changes, undertaken

moving Cuba in directions

long cited by Washington as necessary for better relations . To exert any positive influence on
in response to domestic necessity rather than U.S. demands, are nevertheless

the trajectory of Cuba's evolution, however, Washington has to engage not just with Cuban society but with Cuba's

Eager to put Cuba on a more solid footing before passing the torch to the next
Ral Castro seems genuinely interested in opening talks with
Washington. Unlike his older brother, Ral did not make his political career by
mobilizing nationalist sentiment against the United States. He has a strong incentive to
settle this conflict so he can focus on renovating the Cuban economy and open it up
to U.S. trade and investment.
government.

generation of leaders,

Offcase Answers

AT: Sex Tourism

Sexual exploitation in Cuba is high now because of the
embargo the plan solves by increasing economic
opportunities
Harrison, 02 (Faye V, professor of anthropology at the University of Florida, Global Apartheid, Foreign
Policy, and Human Rights, Summer 2002, Souls: Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society 4(3):
48-68, http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/fayeharr/images/Global.pdf)

Cubas status as a socialist sanctuary is being destabilized under

dollarization and the conditions of economic austerity that led to it. Social
inequalities are re-emerging and becoming conspicuous , and crime is becoming a
problem. A red flag signaling the chang- ing times can perhaps be found in a troubling December 2001 incident in
which five members of a family, including an eight-year-old child and a couple visiting from Florida, were murdered
in a robbery in Matanzas Province. This heinous incident was unusual in that murders are extremely rare in Cuba
and mass murders are unheard of.45 The economic crisis that has brought about this unprecedented crime wave
has caused escalating unemployment and has reduced safety net provisionstrends that have impacted African-

With
less access to kin-mediated remittances from the disproportionately white
emigr communities overseas, there is more pressure on Afro-Cuban
women, who are more likely than white Cubans to live in female-headed
households, to stand in long lines for rations, stretch the devalued peso,
and make ends meet by any means necessary .46 Any means necessary has
come to include doing own-account work trabajo por cuenta propia in
the underground economy aligned with the growing tourist sector. For
younger women, particularly those who fit the culturally constructed
stereotype of la mulata, this is increasingly being translated into working
descended Cubans, and Afro-Cuban women in particular, more than any other segment of the population.

as jineteras (sexual jockeys ). This line of work reflects Cubas historical race, gender, and class
Desperate to lure foreigners to the countrys beaches and hotel
resorts, the Cuban government itself has resorted to manipulating prerevolutionary racial clichs by show- casing traditional Afro-Cuban
religious rituals and art, traditional Afro-Cuban mu- sic, and Afro-Cuban
boundaries.47

women, who are foregrounded as performers in these commodified

contexts. 48

The sexual exoticization of African-descended women has a long history in Cuba as well as

throughout the African diaspora and the West, where variations on the theme of Black hypersexuality are rampant

Nadine
Fernandez questions the assumption that Black and mulatto women
predominate in Cubas sex tourism by highlighting the role of a racially
biased gaze in attributing Afro-Cuban womens interactions with male
tourists to prostitution while perceiving white womens interactions in
terms of alternative interpretations, including that of romance . Because
of their greater access to dollars and to jobs in the tourist sector, white
women are more likely to have privileged access to tourists in restricted
venues (shops, restaurants, and nightclubs) where Afro-Cubans are not
generally permitted to enter. Consequently, Afro-Cubans interact with
tourists out- side tourist installations, making their meetings much more
visible and scrutinized by the public eye .49 In the context of Cubas current crisis,
as either a positively valued essentialism or a fertility- or health- related social problem.

traditional racial narratives of gender, race, and sexuality are being reasserted and rewritten to fit with recent

The U.S. embargo is a flagrant form of foreign intervention.

Like official structural adjustment policies, it has been premised on an
restructuring.50

ideology of power, recolonization, and ranked capitals that assumes that

Cubans are expendable troublemakersperhaps even harborers of
terrorismwho deserve to be starved out of their defiant opposition to
U.S. dominance. The same ideology that rationalizes the unregulated
spread of commodification into all spheres of social life implies that Cuban
womens bodies, especially Afro-Cubanas hypersexualized bodies, can be
bought and sold on the auction block of imposed economic austerity
without any accountability on the part of the papiriquis, or sugardaddies,
of global capital. The implication of these policies is that Afro-Cuban
families and communities can be sacrificed so that northerners can enjoy
privileges including that of living in a good and free societythat
southern work- ers and peasants subsidize. Cubas current crisis is being
negotiated over the bodies of its women, with African-descended women,
las negras y mulatas, las chicas calientes (Black and mulatto women, hot
sexy chicks), expected to bear the worst assaults against what remains in
many ways a defiant socialist sanctuary.

Sex tourism is a result of economic hardship imposed by the

embargo
Jennifer Karsseboom, Contributor at AIM Magazine and Digital Freedom Network,
3/26/03
[Poverty Pushes Cuban Women into Sex Tourism, Global Policy Forum,
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/211/44367.html] JH

From north to south, Havana to Santiago de Cuba, amidst the decaying buildings, propagandizing billboards and
food stores with empty shelves there are two things in Cuba which are always in full supply: prostitutes and sex
tourists. In a country with few employment options that offer enough upon which to subsist and an embargo that
contributes to substandard living conditions for the majority of the population, women and girls flock to densely
populated Havana in search of sexual employment in hotels, bars, restaurants and on the streets. Sex tourists flock
to Havana and other cities in search of a form of escapism that is cheap, safe and exotic. In Cuba, foreign men can
command Cuban women and girls with the same ease used to order cocktails. Cuba's current tourism boom is one
not seen since the 1950s, when under former dictator Fulgencio Batista, the island lured tourists with promises of
cheap cigars, rum, casinos and prostitutes. Cuba's current leader, Fidel Castro, led the Cuban Revolution in 1959,
promising to free Cuba of its servitude to the rich and famous Americans and Europeans. The post-1959 Cuban
state tried to outlaw prostitution and attempted to remedy the conditions which created a supply of sex workers.

Objectives of Castro's revolution included initiatives aimed at opening

doors to women's reintegration into the country's socioeconomic life in
terms of education, healthcare, employment and attaining overall full
gender equality. His attempts in achieving these goals had been
somewhat successful until the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. With the
demise of the Soviet Union, Cuba lost much of its aid and investment as well
as its ability to survive without compromising some of its revolutionary ideals. Trade relationships with the USSR

The country was

forced to develop a new economic strategy and as a result adopted
tourism as a basic pillar. In the meantime, the U.S. placed an embargo on Cuba aimed at bringing
down its political structure. The embargo greatly weakened, and continues to
weaken, the Cuban economy by banning trade and investment in Cuba.
Consequently, the Cuban government strengthened its attempts to lure
tourists to Cuba in order to promote revenue. As a result of its dependence
on tourism, Cuba has once again turned into a playground for those in
search of cheap cigars, rum and prostitutes.
and Eastern Europe had accounted for over two-thirds of Cuba's foreign commerce.

Women turn to prostitution because of shortages

Jennifer Karsseboom, Contributor at AIM Magazine and Digital Freedom Network,
3/26/03 [
Poverty Pushes Cuban Women into Sex Tourism, Global Policy Forum,
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/211/44367.html] JH
Lucy's comments are echoed by other "jineteras" throughout Cuba: Women work for sex tourists
because they feel they are responsible for taking care of the children and making
sure that they can maintain the household economy. During shortages of soap, food,
clothing and other basic necessities, they have to carefully strategize so
they can provide for their families. If a woman is unable to provide her
family with the basic necessities, she is considered a failure and bad mother or
wife. She is left to deal with the guilt and scorn within a society that has created these terms. Unfortunately, for
women working in the Cuban sex industry who find a way to provide, they are also left to deal with the guilt and

In any case, it is the women who must

either make do with less, or find ways to earn more. In the struggle to
survive as well as keep culture and family alive, many women will turn to
whatever means are available in order to persevere. And as men leave
their families and flee Cuba in search of work and better lives in richer
nations, women are left with the burden of providing for themselves and
their families in a society that pushes them into a way of life that it shuns.
shame associated with terms such as "jineterismo."

Girls are forced into prostitution in order to feed their familieslack of economic opportunities force girls to sell themselves to
supplement income
Charles Trumbull, law student at Vanderbilt University, 2001 [PROSTITUTION
AND SEX TOURISM IN CUBA, Dickey Center at Dartmouth College,
http://www.estig.ipbeja.pt/~ac_direito/trumbull2.pdf] BM
Cuban
prostitutes, or jineteras as they are called, cater primarily to foreign tourists. Julia
The focus of prostitution in Cuba is somewhat different now than it was before the Revolution. Today,

OConnell Davidson notes in her article Sex Tourism in Cuba, that in Cuba there is no network of brothels, no
organized system of bar prostitution: in fact third party involvement in the organization of prostitution is rare
(Davidson, 1996). Prostitutes are not sold into prostitution by their families and do not work in oppressive conditions
as they do in other countries. They do not prostitute themselves because they are alcoholics or drug addicts (The

Most of the prostitutes interviewed for this paper

decided to go into the business on their own accord, driven by economic
need. As was the case before the Revolution, many women come to Havana from the
interior of the island to earn money for their families. Residents in Havana
have easier access to dollars because of tourism. It is much more difficult
for residents from other provinces to earn the dollars that they need to
survive. The money that a woman sends back every month can feed the
entire family for several weeks. This puts enormous pressure on them to remain in the business.
Economist, August 24, 2000).

Julia, a twenty-year-old mulatta from Camagey said, Every month I send $50 back to my mother. Ive never told

There are three main reasons that Cuban

women turn to prostitution. The first and main reason is economic
necessity. Many women turn to prostitution because they see no other way
to survive. Once they turn to prostitution, they become trapped because
they are away from home and have no other way to pay for their living
expenses. (They cannot legally obtain a job in the city, because of the internal migration laws, so the only way
they can support themselves is through prostitution.) Esperanza is a 23-year-old single
mother from Camagey. She has a twenty-month-old baby and works in a
her what I do, but she doesnt ask either.

state-owned drug store for 200 pesos/ month. I cant pay for him to go to
daycare and I dont even have enough money to buy him shoes. The author met
her on her second night in Havana. A few days before, she had spent her vacation money on a bus ticket to Havana.
I have some friends here who are helping me with a place to stay. I am going to do this for two weeks and then

The second
reason that women go into prostitution is so they can finance their studies
or work in a chosen profession. Salaries are extremely low in Cuba . The
average salary is around 250 pesos ($12) per month, and even a doctor or
lawyer would not make more than 600 pesos (Granma, December 23, 2000). Even
highly educated Cuban workers must find an alternative or additional
source of income. In many families, one of the professional workers will
quit his/ her job in order to obtain a self-employed license. This self-employment
return to Camagey with enough money to help us out. I am ashamed, but what else can I do?

often times provides enough income for the entire family. Other professionals quit their state jobs to work in the

Some professionals and

students turn to prostitution instead. Professional women normally
engage in prostitution only part time, as a way to supplement their
income. They do not work the streets every night, and sometimes will only accept clients a couple times a
tourism sector as taxi drivers, waiters, bartenders, or doormen.10

month. As Davidson points out, those (women) that are legitimate residents of a tourist center can often elect to
supply their sexual labor on a casual, infrequent basis and/or for very specific and focused ends(Davidson, 1996).
These women do not have heavy overhead costs; they live at home and do not have the transportation costs that
many women from the interior incur

Prostitution is singular way to gain economical prosperity in

Cuba-Girls sell themselves for luxuries
Charles Trumbull, law student at Vanderbilt University, 2001 [PROSTITUTION

AND SEX TOURISM IN CUBA, Dickey Center at Dartmouth College,

http://www.estig.ipbeja.pt/~ac_direito/trumbull2.pdf] BM
The third reason for going into prostitution is that some prostitutes see prostitution as a
means to live a better life. Prostitution allows them to go to clubs, eat at
good restaurants, and buy nice clothes. A friend remarked as we passed a
fashionable clothes store on Obispo Avenue, the main shopping district in
Havana Vieja, those stores were opened to sell clothes to prostitutes.
Who else besides tourists has enough money to shop there? The concierge at the
five-star Meli Varadero agrees that prostitution can give girls an easier life. About 90% of the girls
that came (to Varadero) did so because that is the life that they wanted to
lead. They wanted to go out to eat, party, and sleep with different men.
Only a small percentage of women did it from extreme economic necessity. 11 Prostitution in Cuba is
a lucrative business. Most prostitutes charge $25-$40 a night. In the
fancier clubs, such as the Palacio de la Salsa or El Comodoro, they charge
$80-$100. It is not uncommon for a man to leave a woman several hundred
dollars for spending a couple days with him . Judy is a 24-yearold ex-prostitute who came to
Havana six years ago. She graduated from high school but did not go to college
because she knew she could make much more money sleeping with men.
She never works the streets, but meets men through friends, at bars, or
by chance as she walks in her tourist-heavy neighborhood. I always make it clear
that they have to pay. Many times they want to spend the whole week with me. They buy me clothes and take me
out to eat as if I was their girlfriend. One man left me $600 dollars after I spent four days with him. Another man,
who I was engaged to marry, sent me $1000 in the mail! In the past two years, working only several times a

She recently gave up prostitution and currently dates

a 40-year-old German. He comes to Havana several months a year on
business and provides for her financially. The type of prostitution that
Judy practiced, referred to as open ended prostitution, is generally accepted by
month, she made $3000-$5000.

many governments and is practiced around the world. Ed Cohen remarks in a study of Thai prostitutes that,

although the relationship might commence as a neutral service, it could be readily extended into a more
protracted, diffused, and personalized liaison, involving both emotional attachment and economic interest(Cohen,

These relationships are viewed as authentic and, in many cases, even

lead to marriage. A Cuban policeman told me that this was not illegal. If
you pay a girl for sex, that is prostitution. But, if you like a girl and take
her out to eat, go dancing, and then maybe later have sex.That is
natural.
1982).

Sex tourism is a last resort for Cuban prostitutes to feed their

family
Roman Martinez, December 12, 1999, Roman Martinez was a 1999 Publius
Fellow of The Claremont Institute, The Claremont Institute,
http://www.claremont.org/publications/pubid.562/pub_detail.asp PM)
Most Cubans don't hesitate to talk about their economic woes. Ivan Dominguez, a former professor of mechanical

the
tourist industry the only hope of Cubans hungry for U.S. dollars. He tells of
doctors and lawyers unable to survive on the monthly government
paychecks of $15 or $20. "Now, instead, they're carrying bags, working in
hotels as bellhops and waiting for tips from foreigners ." Furthermore, Cuba has
become the sex-tourism capital of the Western hemisphere. At night, prostitutes can be seen
cruising Havana's Malecn Boulevard; they hang like ornaments on the arms of wealthy Canadians and
Europeans frequenting the city's nightspots. For most of these young jineteras, latching on
to a deep-pocketed tourist is the only way to enjoy their own country 's beaches
and music clubs not to mention their last resort for putting food on the table.
engineering who now drives a taxi cab, points to himself as an example of the shift many have made into

The resurrection of sex tourism is due to the desire for hard,

more valuable, foreign currency
Lisa Shaw and Stephanie Dennison, Jan 1, 2005 (LISA SHAW is a reader in
Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at the University of Liverpool, Dr Stephanie
Dennison - Reader in Brazilian Studies Faculty of Arts at the University of Leeds,
Pop Culture Latin America!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle, P. 143-144 PM)
In the 1950s, prior to
tourism provided the second largest influx of hard currency
to the island, Cuba was termed the "brothel of the Caribbean." The revolution aimed to
eradicate prostitu tion and, along with it, sex tourism-and was largely successful for
many years. But the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resultant loss of
income for Cuba meant that the country had to look for new sources of
foreign currency. From 1989 onward, the Cuban government turned once
again to tourism as a source of income. Tourism has grown by roughly 20
percent per year. Fig ures from 1998 show an estimated 1.4 mil lion tourists, the majority from Europe or
Cuba's relationship to the global sex tourism trade has been ambivalent over the years.
the revolution, when

Canada. However, the revival of tourism in Cuba is not without its problems. In addi tion to intensifying the societal
divisions be tween Cubans and foreign tourists, tourism has led to a resurgence of the sex trade, since

Cubans

desperate for hard currency turn to prostitution to earn dollars. Though exact
data are hard to come by due to the unregulated nature of this busi ness, researchers generally agree
that by the 1990s Cuba had become one of the ma jor sex tourism
destinations, alongside es tablished locations such as Thailand and the Philippines. Most prostitution within
Cuba takes place around the tourist cen ters of Havana, Varadero, Santiago de Cuba, and Santa Lucia. The vast
majority of sex tourists who visit Cuba are men, while the prostitutes are predominantly women or girls, although
there are some male prostitutes.

AT: Condition CP
Cuba will use the condition to veto the plan
Ratliff, 9 - Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and a member of the
Board of Advisors of the Institutes Center on Global Prosperity. He is also a
Research Fellow and Curator of the Americas Collection at the Hoover Institution
(William, Why and How to Lift the U.S. Embargo on Cuba, 5/7,
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2496)
How has the embargo failed? It has not brought down the Castro brothers, advanced
democracy, freedom, human rights or prosperity in Cuba, or gotten compensation
for Americans whose assets Cuba seized decades ago . It largely denies Americans the freedom
to travel to Cuba, or to trade freely and otherwise interact Cubans on the island. And in recent decades it has
given Fidel the scapegoat he needs usto excuse his economic utopianism and brutality. Supporters

of the embargo see it as an expression of Americas moral indignation at Castros brutal policies. By limiting the
flow of dollars to Cuba we deny some funds to Cuban security forces, as they argue, but we simultaneously withhold
support for the daily lives of the Cuban people. For twenty years the embargo placated the very noisy Cuban
American community in Florida, but by late 2008 even a majority of Cuban Americans, according to a Florida
International University poll, had turned against it. It isnt that Cuban Americans are going soft on Fidel, but that a
majority finally see or admit that this policy is more harmful than positive to its own interests. And it is harmful to
U.S. interests as well, which ought to be our primary concern, alienating the Hemisphere and the world as a whole
while having only negative impacts in Cuba. The Cuban American National Foundation, long the epicenter of antiCastroism in the United States, recently admitted that for many years the embargo has been little beyond
posturing for domestic electoral purposes. How can we best end this policy with a minimum of confrontation,
frustration and delay?

The only way we can keep full control of the process is by lifting it

unilaterally . The State Department recently lauded the normalization of relations between Turkey and
Armenia. It has long been and remains the position of the United States that normalization should take place
without preconditions, State said. So why not between the United States and Cuba, where the pain of the past
hardly equals that of Turkey and Armenia? Is Castro a brutal dictator? Sure, but his atrocities are hardly worse than

The United States demands

more concessions from Cuba for recognition than from any other country in history .
those of Robert Mugabe, the thug who rules Zimbabwe, a country we recognize.

In fact, the Helms Burton Act is blatantly imperialistic, in the spirit of the Platt Amendment to the Monroe Doctrine a
century ago, which poisoned U.S. relations with Cuba for decades. Negotiations without preconditions, which
Obama says he supports, are the next best though potentially deeply flawed approach. Informal discussions
between U.S. and Cuban diplomats already are underway. If Cuban pragmatists, including President Raul Castro,
can over-ride Fidels anti-American passions, perhaps the United States, if we are very flexible, and Cuba can work

Obama administration got

off to a positive start by dropping the misguided 2004 Bush administration restrictions
on remittances and travel to Cuba, but then in public statements fell immediately into the
trap of previous administrations by demanding reciprocity. This seems a just and
reasonable demand, but in the propaganda-filled public arena it is a game-stopper. In
practical terms, the public demand for reciprocity hands Cuba a veto over U.S.
out a step-by-step, face-saving plan to reduce tensions and normalize relations. The

policy , which it has used before to short-circuit emerging U.S. moderation. Cuba will
never make tradeoffs on important matters so long as the core of the basically flawed embargo remains in place.

Lifting the embargo would unleash a new dynamic and put full responsibility for
Cuban rights violations and economic failure squarely on Cubas leaders where it
belongs. We can hope, but cant guarantee, that ending the embargo will encourage real domestic reforms in
Cuba. We can guarantee that it will rid us of a demeaning, hypocritical and counterproductive policy.

Prior bad faith means they wont trust the CP

Landau French, 13 - editor of and a frequent contributor to The Havana Note.
She has led more than two dozen research trips to Cuba. Landau French has

published on U.S.-Cuban relations and Cuban affairs for more than a decade (Anya,
Secretary Kerry: Will He or Won't He Take On Cuba? 2/10, The Havana Note,
http://thehavananote.com/2013/02/secretary_kerry_will_he_or_wont_he_take_cuba)
And, then theres the Cuban government. As much as many in the Cuban government (particularly
the diplomatic corps) want to reduce tensions with the U nited States and finally make real progress on
long-standing grievances held by both sides, they arent desperate for the big thaw . Many U.S.
analysts, including in government, speculate that this is because Cubas leaders dont really want to
change the relationship, that strife serves their needs better than would the
alternative. That could be so, but theres also a hefty amount of skepticism and pride on the Cuban side, as
well. After so many decades and layers of what Cuba calls the U.S. blockade, Cubans
are unwilling to have the terms of any surrender dictated to them. In fact, they are
bound and determined that there will be no surrender . They would argue, what is there to
surrender but their governments very existence, something the leadership obviously isnt going to put on the table.

Many in the Cuban government question whether the U.S. would offer anything that truly
matters to Cuba, or honor any commitments made . Arguably, the last deal the U.S.
made good on was struck during the Missile Crisis of October 1963, and Cuba wasnt even at
the table for that. Its a lesser known fact that the United States never fully implemented the
1994/1995 migration accords, which committed both nations to work to prevent migration by irregular
means. The U.S. did stop accepting illegal migrants from Cuba found at sea, but it still accepts them when they
reach our shores thus dubbed our wet foot, dry foot policy. And with our generous adjustment policy offering a
green card after one year, the incentive to make the illegal trip remains largely in place.

AT: Condition on Democratic/Governmental Reform

CP
Cuba will not bargain over democratic reform only the aff can
promote meaningful change
Sergio Dickerson, Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army, 2010 (UNITED STATES
SECURITY STRATEGY TOWARDS CUBA, www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?
Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA518053)

Experts argue over whos started the dispute between nations: was it the Cuban Agrarian Reform Act in 1959 that
nationalized agrarian land in Cuba to include U.S. owned lands? Could it have been Cubas decision to resume trade
with the Soviet Union that led to a U.S. imposed embargo on Cuba in 1960? Perhaps the bigger issue was how
diplomatic, economic and military efforts by both countries continued to aggravate already strained relations. In

The
Bay of Pigs fiasco sent Cuba a clear signal that the U.S. was not interested
in negotiation. Castro answered immediately by allowing Soviets to position nuclear missiles in Cuba,
threatening U.S. vital security and leading to the Cuban Missile Crises. These intentions have
survived to the present undermining any attempt to pursue common
interest and reduce tensions. The underlying fear that U.S. remains
committed to toppling the Cuban government constitutes the first
diplomatic pitfall in U.S. Cuban relations. For this very reason,
democratic reform will not succeed as a diplomatic bargaining tool with
1961, Cuban exiles supported by the Central Intelligence Agency failed to topple the Castro government.

Cuba . Suspicions run deep among Cuban leaders and any inferences to
government reform , albeit noble, will impede meaningful relations . Human rights
free trade and limited business opportunities in Cuba may be more plausible and
could eventually encourage the long-term changes U.S. wants in Cuba. The
embargo itself remains a perpetual albatross that continues to undermine
any real diplomatic progress between nations. A series of coercive measures designed to
advocacy,

topple the Castro regime began with U.S. led efforts to expel Cuba from the Organization of American States
(OAS) in January 1962 followed by trade prohibitions on imports and exports to Cuba by the U.S. Treasurys Office of
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).17 This was achieved by leveraging an existing 1954 OAS Caracas Resolution
designed to prevent trade with communist countries called Trading with the Enemy.18 After bilateral sanctions are
established, U.S. pursued broader international support by enacting the October 1962 Battle Act prohibiting U.S.
assistance to any country that traded with Cuba. An early attempt to persuade the North American Treaty
Organization (NATO) nations to comply with the embargo yielded limited success.19 However, a new perceived
security threat brought on by the Cuban Missile Crises in late 1962 gave U.S. the leverage it needed in February
1964 to convince NATO nations to effectively cease trade with Cuba. In July 1964, OAS followed NATOs lead; U.S.
had succeeded in isolating Cuba from its western traders.

Cuba will reject all democratic conditions increasing

unconditional ties is more successful at creating reforms
Sergio Dickerson, Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army, 2010 (UNITED STATES

SECURITY STRATEGY TOWARDS CUBA, www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?

Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA518053)
Another important pitfall is to exploit democracy as a precondition for
diplomacy and economic engagement in Cuba. If democracy is virtuous, then
why must we exploit it? It casts a negative shadow on a positive change in
government. There is a common perception that U.S. policy with regards to
security and stability can only exist under the precondition of a Democratic

Cuba. It has prevented any real progress in U.S. Cuba relations because
of well placed fears that we mean to subvert the Cuban government. A
popular Cuban American lobby group, The Cuban American National Foundation
summarizes traditional U.S. beliefs towards Cuba. They suggest, U.S. Cuba policy
should focus on (1) advancing U.S. interests and security in the region and (2)
empowering Cuban people in their quest for democracy and prosperitythat these
are intertwined and one cannot be individually accomplished without the other.28
The recommendation then focuses largely on steps to pursue a democratic Cuba.
To separate security and stability from democratic pursuits in Cuba could
benefit both causes. Focusing on better diplomatic relations could further
democracy as a byproduct of increased exposure to open markets,
businesses and globalization. China is a good example. The U.S. has
diffused tensions with China by exposing them to open markets. Although
they continue to embrace communism, their version of communism has been
somewhat diluted as they modified their business practices, trade and
other aspects to compete in the global marketplace. If you take into account
that Cubas Growth National Product (GDP) decreased by 4% since 2006 while their
debt grew by 16% to almost $20B in 2008, Cuba certainly has incentive to do the
same. By imposing democracy we jeopardize diplomatic avenues to our
principal security and stability pursuits. To assuage the Cuban America
position on this issue may be simpler today than 10 years ago. Todays younger
Cuban-American generation is more
amenable to closer relations with Cuba. The anger carried by their immigrant
forefathers after 50 years may be passing and perhaps the time is right to
leverage this new Cuban American generation to open dialogue with Cuba
without the democratic preconditions tied to negotiations .