Us-cuba-relations

Dear Sirs,
In the last few months the interest for the transforming processes within the Cuban society and the role of the Cuban organizations in foreign countries has increased in the Research Institute for Political Science and International Relations in Europe concerning a possible promotion of the establishment of a civil society. This way and in the course of the research projects of the department for Political Science and International Relations of the Cologne University we would like to ask you for your collaboration by answering the following questionnaire. We are especially interested in the participation of all Cubans living in foreign countries and the members of the organization they represent. All answers will be handled anonymously and with discretion. Thank you in advance for your valuable cooperation.

www.onlineumfragen.com/login.cfm?umfrage=2958

Wilson Cardozo (M.A.)
Research Institute for Political Science
Cologne University
Gottfried-Keller-Straße 6
50931 Köln
Germany
wcardozo@uni-koeln.de
www.uni-koeln.de

 

I see you are making your rounds this morning unigermany.

Too many personal questions for me.

 

The works get over and it already spring to mind.

If you don't like Cuba you don't have to live there, but it is not for anyone other than the Cuban people to decide their fate. If the Americans end their embargo, and allow westernisiation to happen, Castro will be faced with a far bigger threat to his power base than the do gooders who meddle from afar.

 

Doesn't Castro stop the residents from leaving?

 

Actually, it is up to Castro (or I guess his Brother now...their family is a monarchy in all but name). The Cuban People dont get a vote.

No. But there is a quota (US-imposed) as to how many people are allowed to leave each year. Castro decides who wins the lottery.

It is US imposed because of the massive flood of people who would all leave at once if there was no quota.

 

Cuba is a one-party republic. Seeing the dismal difference between our two parties in the U.S., I sometimes wonder if we aren't in the same shoes.

 

Same here in Britain, the Labour party are less liberal than the Conservatives now.

 

Not to change subjects, but Bush's Daddy CIA connections must have dug up something on Tony to have him do such an about face in 2001. I just hope his retirement payoff was worth selling his nation down the creek.

 

Tony Blair was a fantastic speaker, a great actor. That is how he got his job, and that is how he maintained it. He gave people home because of what he promised to do and they way he said it. Now people have realised thats all he did, and he only had the balls to follow America, not break away from them.

It wasn't our war, it wasn't our fault, and America has enough military to do the job of the UK's troops. Our military is nothing compared to yours, but it doesn't bother me because we don't need a big one as long as we don't go bombing everyone. Iceland has no proper military, but nobody goes after it.

 

Considering that in cuba you can be charged, judged and executed on any given day before lunch, I am surprised that you would make any comparison between cuba and the US. But then, you were apologizing for the soviet union also. Your affinity for socialism is somewhat surprising since it has failed everywhere it has been tried.

 

I have an affinity to leave others alone and butt out. I don't believe it is worth one drop of our blood casting stones at others (when ...), or pissing away our treasury on such folly. We could have been a friend to Cuba if it weren't for the fact that the ultra-weathy in this country didn't want the workers to get silly ideas like free health care and other public conveyances.

 

You dont have to vote for either major party in the US. You can vote for whoever you want. Even yourself.

The major parties are major for a reason; they represent the views of most Americans.

So, had Hitler not attacked you, you would have been ok with letting him stuff half his population into ovens. Is that what you're saying?

Yeah, I am sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the Cuban People are not allowed a voice in their own government, or that the government in control of them likes to cuddle up with our enemies.

 

Free health care? Practically everyone on that pathetic island lives like a pauper, taxed and impressed into abject poverty so that a few can live like kings and they can get free health care?

I would rather pay for my own thank you.

 

Seems to me that most Americans these days have grown very weary of the two-party system; finding an advocate of partisan politics is a tough job. I'm not saying I favor a one-party system so don't even go there; I'm just saying that the two-party system is inciting the ire of most Americans these days (myself included).

If the parties no longer represent the feelings of most Americans on their own existence than any representation of other ideals gets lost in the hypocrisy. In that sense we are growing more and more like Cuba - the people don't want the parties advocating what the people want, even if the parties are correct in their representations of their constituents' opinions. Basically, the people are saying to the parties, "You guys may be saying the right stuff...but we don't want you saying it."

 

If that were true, they would not insist on voting for the same two parties. Obviously they are not tired enough to actually vote for someone else.

I wouldnt dream of it. But the fact remains that they do have choices. For whatever reason, they are choosing to vote for the two main parties anyway. No one is forcing them to vote Republican or Democrat.

How did you determine that the vast majority of Americans do not really agree with Democrat or Republican ideology?

We are not even in the same universe as Cuba. Americans have a choice. Lots of choices actually. Cubans have none.

You have no way of knowing what the people want beyond how they choose to vote. Even commercial polls like CNN and Fox and Pew are only a pale shadow; they go off a small sample. But an actual election polls the entire voting population.

Democracy is based on compromise...it is unlikely you will ever get someone into office that you agree with on every issue. You dont always get your way. But even so, no one is forcing you to compromise...you can still vote for whoever you want. The fact that the majority doesnt agree with you does not mean that you do not have freedom to choose. It just means you were overruled.