Re: Cuba travel crackdown

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

They are trying to/hoping to/anxious to
strangle the island economically by
cutting off as much hard currency funds
going into the island by people who are
going there personally. It seems they're
not cutting back on remittances. Indeed,
the newly announced OFAC regulations
are proposing an increase in what can
be sent to Cuba by people from abroad.

You'll have to look at the broader picture
of US-Cuban relations which have been
heating up, both since the Bush team
came into office and more so since 9-11.
Relations between the countries which
weren't good, are substantially worse at
the moment. These are a few of the many
factors to be added to the mix now:

The Iraq war, Bush's West Point speech
last year openly talking about pre-emptive
war, and most recently the hijackings of
planes and the attempted hijacking of a
ferry last week (foiled after a tense time)
help put the dissident trials into contact.
I'm frankly trying to figure out the entire
thing myself and don't claim to have it all
figured out.

There's a lot going on and it's necessary
to try to see the bigger picture to make
sense of any one piece.


Walter