Should US citizens be allowed to travel to Cuba?

Yes

7 of 23

by Jim Mcfalls

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China, Russia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia...Want to go to the Olympics in Beijing? How about the museums in St. Petersburg or the Kremlin? Mecca is nice this time of year. How about a scenic cruise of the Mekong Delta or walk the Ho Chi Minh trail? Guess what?...you can. These great enemies of the United States, those who would bury us, the home of the 911 terrorists...we can visit those countries unfettered. We can travel, spend our money, strengthen their economies, see where our fathers and grandfathers fought and died, and learn their version of history.

What about our neighbor Cuba? How about a walk along the sea wall in Havana or a trip into the verdant countryside outside of Guantanamo? A cab ride in a 1950's jerry-rigged Ford? No, sorry, not allowed. The United States will punish Cuba forever for its heinous crimes against the people of America.

Doesn't our government know that the quickest way to overthrow the dictatorship in Cuba (Fidel and now Raoul Castro), is to expose them to our tourists? No Bay of Pigs, no guns, no hand-to-hand combat in the streets of Havana, and no occupying armed forces. It wouldn't take more than a few weeks for our cruise ships to take over Havana and their stores selling crystal, duty-free liquor and all manner of plastic souvenirs. It wouldn't take 6 months more before Starbucks and Walmart were showing the Cubans what they've been missing.
Our priorities, energy and money has flowed make Cuba a non-entity while we ignore rights violations in countries where they real would like to bury us. We were even courting Saddam Hussein with money and weapons at the same time we were putting Cuba on our Do Not Resuscitate list. It just doesn't make sense.

Establishing relations with Cuba would open up instant trade with a country only 90 miles away from our shores. It would bring democracy to a country ripe for it. There would be a true "silent revolution" in which Cuba would just slip slowly under the economic umbrella of the United States. It's a no-brainer. Unfortunately, our government has no brains when it comes to a common sense decision about allowing United States citizens to travel to Cuba.

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