U.S. SHOULD ALLOW CUBA TO RE-ENTER OAS

The other mostly Latin nations in the Americas belonging to the OAS (Organization of American States) want Cuba to be admitted as a full member. Why must Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and the U.S. govt. stonewall admitting Cuba, thus opposing Cuba and the Cuban people? This is U.S. Yankee imperialism in action and at its worst.

Mark Landler writes in today's The New York Times web:

"One after another, the leaders stepped forward to demand that the 47-year-old suspension of Cuba’s membership be lifted immediately. Several condemned it as a relic of the cold war.

"“We cannot leave San Pedro Sula without correcting that other day that will live in infamy,” said President José Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, referring to the organization’s meeting in 1962 at which Cuba was banned.

"“Our brothers and sisters in Cuba,” Mr. Zelaya said, “have been suffering for so long as a result of the blockade that has been imposed by one of the most powerful economies in the world.”"

It has been 47 years since the U.S. drummed Cuba out of the OAS. And what has this gained the U.S.? What it has done is penalize and punish the Cuban people, all in the name of opposing Fidel Castro. This U.S. policy towards Cubans and Cuba has been a failure, a disaster, and disruptive of any meaningful U.S. policy towards Latin America. I say, stop it now, no conditions, no demands.

U.S. POLICY TOWARDS CUBA MAKES NO SENSE

The U.S. policy towards Cuba is a farce, and it has been a joke ever since JFK imposed an embargo on trade with Cuba. The New America Foundation sponsored a seminar on U.S. policy towards Cuba and C-SPAN carried the program yesterday.

Consider that the U.S. treats the government of Afghanistan as an ally, notwithstanding a new Afghani law that Hamid Karzai signed last week, plainly manifesting prejudice against women. The law among other things mandates that a woman be available for sex with her husband every fourth day. Furthermore, the law prohibits a woman leaving her house at any time unless she has permission of her husband or father. In other words, in Afghanistan, women are basically property, having no rights and no self-determination. Afghanistan's society thus illustrates medieval sexism at its worst. Yet the U.S. under Obama is prepared to send up to 20,000 U.S. troops there in the next few months to back up Karzai's government.

So why has Cuba been singled out for American wrath? What has Cuba done to merit 50 years of economic boycott? Americans don't like Fidel or his brother Raul. As a result, American policy has impoverished the lives of ordinary Cubans. The U.S. government is unhappy that the Castros don't toe the American line.

Bottom line: the U.S. punishes Cuba for not believing in free enterprise and unbridled capitalism and tries to force ordinary Cubans to renounce the Castro brothers. How's that for diplomacy?