Re: <nettime> Choking Fidel and Us

[Ian Dickson <ian@iand.demon.co.uk>]

In message <200406172138.i5HLcBF13113@bbs.thing.net>, John Young 
<jya@pipeline.com> writes
>
>The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued for
>public comment new restrictions on travel to Cuba with increased penalties
>for violations. The proclaimed intent is to harm Cuba's economy by
>reducing income from tourism and educational travel.
>
>  http://cryptome.org/fac061604.htm
>
>It would be helpful if non-US nations increased promotional efforts for
>tourism and educational travel to Cuba. All persons might wish to comment
>on the proposed nastier interference in Cuban sovereignty.

IMO the USA is simply being silly about Cuba.

History shows that economic sanctions do not hurt the leaders, only the 
ordinary people.

If you want to bring stable democracy to a country , the best thing 
seems to be to encourage the growth of a solid middle class.

So, it would be really good if people made a point of going to Cuba, 
trading with Cuba in all areas, but try to stay entirely in the private 
sector when doing so (esp small family companies - guest houses, 
drivers, tradespeople) so that your money goes to the people not to the 
dictatorship.

Friends of mine have been to Cuba. Their advice, (and note that they 
spoke reasonable Spanish) - avoid the resorts, (unless you really do 
want a hermetically sealed beach holiday), go independent with a car, 
pick up hitchhikers, and have some very interesting meetings.

I'd like to think that some Cubans would read this, but I gather that 
Internet access is a tad limited there as the gvt isn't too keen on the 
subversive possibilities that it offers.

So - give Solidarity to Cubans, not Castro. Spend your money wisely.

Cheers
-- 
ian dickson                                  www.commkit.com
phone +44 (0) 1452 862637                    fax +44 (0) 1452 862670
PO Box 240, Gloucester, GL3 4YE, England

           "for building communities that work"

#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net