Cuba's oil bid angers U.S.

[Judi Lynn]

Feb. 4, 2006, 12:17AM
Cuba's oil bid angers U.S.
Island nation trying to lure energy partners from America


By ELIZA BARCLAY
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

MEXICO CITY - A move by Cuba to interest American energy companies in investing in the communist nation resulted in a quick rebuke by the U.S. government.

After Friday's meetings between Cuban energy officials and members of the American energy sector at the Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel, the U.S. government informed the hotel's parent company, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, that its Mexican subsidiary was not allowed to have the Cubans as guests.

There is a 45-year-old U.S. embargo designed to undermine Fidel Castro's communist government.

"U.S. law prohibits U.S. persons or entities to supply services to Cuban nationals, persons or entities," said Judith Bryan, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. "The Sheraton (Maria Isabel Hotel) is subject to U.S. law because it is a subsidiary of a U.S. company."
(snip)

This left the conference and the 16 Cubans participating in it scrambling for new accommodations. Late Friday, Alamar Associates, the Washington, D.C.-based conference organizer, announced it would hold the last day's sessions in a Mexican-owned hotel in the city, said Kirby Jones, president of Alamar.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/3635733.html
(Free registration required)

[magellan]

1. Ha ha ha!

Nice to see a US corporation feel the cold, clammy grasp of the Bush** regime.

[MatrixEscape]

2. Okay ...

Just WHO is this U.S. that is angry right now?

Is it We the People or those corporate, power-hungry clowns that now hold our Republic hostage?

I am not starting to totally resent being equated with the current regime. It does not reflect or represent me at all. Am I a part of We the People, or not? Are you?

It seems criminal to hear of policies that are not representational ascribed to us by the people who have usurped our authority and want to ascribe it to us as a whole.

I don't care what party you are talking about, I sincerly OPT-OUT on that one. Let it be known.

[Mika]

4. We the people just don't get heard

Poll: Americans don't support Cuban Sanctions
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=770


There have been numerous resolutions to drop the US sanctions passed in bills in both houses of congress over the last 6 years. Then, in committee, the measures just disappear.

Perpetuating the embargo has a profit motive for US politicians representing both sides of the issue (which is a mixed bag from both parties). No Castro = no anti Castro lobby (read campaign $$). No embargo = no pro trade w/Cuba lobby (read campaign $$). Hence, the embargo stays so the lobbying money pours in to both sides.

[rodeodance]

5. bipartisan does work at times!

[Voltaire99]

19. Well said! (nt)

[zippy890]

22. I would like to visit Cuba

I've read about Cuba's national park areas are among the most pristine
and beautiful in the world, with many exotic & rare species of tropical animals
and plants.

end the embargo I say, and lets share some cultural & environmental experiences
with our neighbors to the south.

[Mika]

23. The Cubans are all for it.

The Cubans have always sought normalization of relations with the US. The Cuban people have no ill will against the American people.

You are correct as to the pristine natural environment in Cuba's parks and wilderness and their coastline and reefs.


I've been there (legally) and have seen much of it.

[bigbrother05]

3. Where's the outrage over US Energy companies

Discussing/negotiating with the Cubans? Kind of like when the foreign subsidiaries of Halliburton, et al traded with Iran & Iraq in the 90s. Recall that Cheney claimed that he had on control over their subs, so the laws didn't apply.

[cornermouse]

6. How dare they....

:eyes:

In the meantime, we continue to do business with China and an assortment of other repressive governments who are much more malignant.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Capitalism will always trump democracy and patriotism.

[0007]

20. Democracy is a tool used to fortify capitalism in the name of God

and the good old red & white & blue that stand for Freedom.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

8. But.... China is Communist? Why do they let us buy from them?

[Vogon_Glory]

9. The True Power of a Boycott

The true power of a boycott, like an unsuccessful embargo, is to watch someone else profit either by your being excluded from playing or by your own blundering. Watching foreign oil companies like Petrobras, and the Russian outfit, and European-based firms make profitable deals off Cuban waters ought to make some big shots in Texas oil companies' executive suites wonder about the "wisdom" of their Republican Party beneficiaries.

If the Castro government is shrewd, they will play up how their drilling partners are profiting from the deal.

I can't say I sympathize with the tailored suits. Some of them, like T. Boone Pickens, made big donations to the despicable "Swiftboat" campaign. For some of them, this is karma coming right back at them.

[blindpig]

10. Canny. Bit of the old divide and conquer.

Cuba playing the capitalists like a fine instrument, another major industrial group denied their profits due to ideology. How much weight do the Miami fascists have compared to Big Oil and Big Agriculture?

[donsu]

11. good question - anybody know the answer? who has more power?

"How much weight do the Miami fascists have compared to Big Oil and Big Agriculture?"

[Mika]

12. Its about campaign contributions

There is a vested interest in the status quo. If Cuba trade/diplomatic normalization issues were ever resolved then the campaign platforms for both sides would disappear. 46+ years of the fabricated standoff w/Cuba have proven this to be true.

[Judi Lynn]

13. They used to have Jesse Helms in their pocket, and Robert Torricelli

Tom Delay, and Dan Burton, who gets more campaign money from OUTSIDE Indiana, than from his own constituents (he's for sale, apparently) and that silly Senator Robert Smith from New Hampshire who staggered off to Miami to help the Cuban "exile" relatives try to snatch Elián Gonzalez from his own father, and they've got BOTH _Bush brothers, as well as _Bush father, whose connections with them go back to BEFORE the Bay of Pigs.

Of course _Bush appointed Mel Martinez (Cuban) to H.U.D., then helped him get Senator Bob Graham's Senate seat, so they do have a Senator, also, (they have 3 Representatives, having gerrymandered a sector for the brother of one of their Representatives, Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, nephews by aunt's former marriage to Fidel Castro) as well as a bunch of Cubans _Bush has placed around him in his cabinet, like Otto Reich, Lino Guttierez, etc.

Jeb has been deeply connected to Cuban "exiles" since long before seeking the governor's office, one of his friends, Miguel Recarey, pulled off the largest Mediare scam in U.S. history, and fled to Spain and Venezuela to hide out from the law.

They are also mixed up with the elder _Bush as many of them were involved in the C.I.A., and Iran-Contra, and spooky roles in VietNam.

You recall Richard Nixon was very attached to the right-wing Cubans, as well.

[Mika]

15. Don't forget the pro AG trade reps..

.. both Dems and repugs get a lot of campaign funding from pro Cuba trade AG - they don't want that platform to raise funds to disappear (just like the anti Castro groups need Castro).

That is why they allow the pro trade amendments to be killed off without much of a stink.

This issue cuts to the heart of the US political system.. corruption, payola & campaign funding.

We need publicly funded campaigns.

[Strelnikov_]

14. " . . 45-year-old U.S. Embargo Designed To Undermine . . "

Isn't the definition of insanity continuing to do the . . .

Oh, never mind.

[1932]

16. Yeah. That struck me as Onion-esque.

[Judi Lynn]

18. Never forget the immortal words of U.S. Undersecretary of War

John C. Breckenridge, written in his Breckenridge Memorandum on Christmas Eve, 1897:

....we must clean up the country, even if this means using the methods Divine Providence used on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

We must destroy everything within our cannons’ range of fire. We must impose a harsh blockade so that hunger and its constant companion, disease, undermine the peaceful population and decimate the Cuban army. The allied army must be constantly engaged in reconnaissance and vanguard actions so that the Cuban army is irreparably caught between two fronts and is forced to undertake dangerous and desperate measures.
(snip)

To sum up, our policy must always be to support the weaker against the stronger, until we have obtained the extermination of them both, in order to annex the Pearl of the Antilles.
(snip/...)

http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/bmemo.htm

[intheozone]

17. But, but that law is 45 years old, we today are

in a different world, a post-9/11 world. So we can just ignore that old law, right? :think:

[pinniped]

21. I call BS. The hotel is in a supposed sovereign country.

They should tell * to STFU.