Question for the British: Why does England support the Dictatorship in Cuba?

Question

Why doesn't Tony Blair do more to distance England from Cuba? As I understand it England can sell goods to Cuba. Also, they allow their people to spend money there and prop up the Govt. Fidel castro has killed thousands of his own people so this is absolutely unacceptable for you people to support the guy.

Here in the USA, we have a sanction against cuba because we know if the rest of the world did the same, Castro's government would collapse.

Answer 1

1. The UK does not support the Dictatorship in Cuba

The current policy of the UK government regarding Cuba is in line with that of the European Union, which states:-

"The UK, along with EU partners, shares the goal of a peaceful transition to a pluralist democracy in Cuba, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, via constructive engagement with the Cuban Government."

That statement can hardly be described as support for Dictatorship. Rather it is a policy of seeking progress towards democracy in Cuba by diplomatic means.

2. Tony Blair is the United Nations Envoy to the Middle East, and has no say whatsoever in the UK's foreign policy regarding Cuba or any other country.

The Prime Minister of the UK is Gordon Brown and the Foreign Secretary is currently David Miliband.

3. England does not have it's own devolved legislative body (although it perhaps should), it is simply one of the four constituent nations of the UK - the others: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have their own legislative bodies. In any case, foreign policy is not a devolved power for any individual nation of the UK and is decided by the UK government at Westminster.

Answer 2

I'm surprised the US haven't succesfully invaded yet if conditions are that bad in Cuba. Haven't seen too many reports in the media of the Cuban population taking to the streets of Havana lately either. Haven't heard of any sanctions against China being introduced - is that because the American economy needs to ignore China's human rights violations??

Sanctions don't work. All they achieve is wide spread suffering amongst the population and a feeling of animosity towards those imposing the sanctions.

The Cuban Government is no worse than many of the dictatorships that the US have backed over the last 60 years, for example the Taliban in Afghanistan. The fact that Castro has refused to pay lip service to the US has not endeared him to the American Administration.

If sanctions were imposed on every country that America didn't get on with world trade would cease overnight.

Answer 3

I seem to remember, not all that many years ago, the British fought a short war in the Falkland Islands. Argentina had invaded the Falkand Islands, you may remember. The Falkland Islands are a British protectorate which means if they are invaded we will help them. Where was the American help?
Your argument has always been with Fidel Castro. Long before he bacame communist.
QUOTE "Castro flew to Washington, DC in April 1959, but was not met by President Eisenhower, who decided to attend a golf tournament rather than meet with the Cuban leader".
QUOTE "In October 1959, Castro openly declared himself to be friendly towards Communism".
QUOTE "The Kennedy administration authorized plans for an invasion of Cuba by Florida-based exiles, taking advantage of anti-Castro uprisings which were repressed. The result was the disastrous Bay of Pigs Invasion of April 1961. President John F. Kennedy withdrew promised US air support for the invading force at the last minute and the populist anti-Castro uprising failed to materialize. Kennedy refused to provide direct US military intervention and the invasion force was routed.
Your argument about England or more correctly Britain supporting Castro is unfounded. We are doing exactly what most other countries are doing. We are treating Cuba as a country. Yes, we tradewith them, so do Canada, Mexico and many other counrties.
Who do you think your embargo on Cuba hurts, Fidel Castro? It hurts the everage Joe on the streets. It certainly hasn't done Fidel Castro any harm. There was a period when Fidel Castro was more respected than G W Bush. Don't you think it is about time you accepted Cuba as your nieghbour again? I know several English people who have holidayed in Cuba and they think it is a lovely country with lovely people. They tell me this from their first hand knowledge of what they have seen. Have you been to Cuba or do you get all your knowledge from newspapers?
Britain is not and will never be a state of America. Please do not tell us what we should and should not be doing.

Answer 4

Just because America has sanctions against cuba. Why should england cut ties. You make it sound like a case of copy us and do as we do, other wise we look down our noses at you. America is not England. And cuba has not over stepped the mark even if the Americans believe they have. And until they over step the mark with the UK, then its people will go to cuba etc. as much as they want. And that is without Americas permission or blessings.

Answer 5

What business is it of Britain what the situation is in Cuba. It would help if USA kept its nose out of other countries all round the world, What about Chad, Zimbabwe, Darfur, you do not mention these other countries also controlled by armed forces, or Burma for example. So why just concentrate on Cuba.. The Cuban people would be worse off if they did not trade with the rest of the world, or have a tourist industry.

Answer 6

Why does the US government trade or interact with the Chinese. A communist government in name alone. They are a dictatorship. They use slave labour, arrest political disent, persecute Christian and other religious groups, are involved in currency manipulation, fund North Korea, etc. Dón't act like America is so great and everyone else is so flawed or weak. If you object to Britian trading with Cuba why not America's trading with China? Whatever Cuba does wrong and they do many things wrong multiply that by 100 times and for over a billion people and put that into perspective. Read and don't just follow everything you hear sheepishly.

Answer 7

What is wrong with Cuba? The Castro regime is infinitely preferable to the corrupt one it replaced. The US has a thing about Cuba; seeing it as "theirs" because of the Spanish-American war. Although rather brutal, it is sometimes justifiable to kill off your opponants if you can get good results by doing so.

Answer 8

Perhaps you should ask yourself the question why the USA supports far more troubling dictatorships than Cuba. Why does the USA allow us to do business with Burma, China, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea and many more.
What makes Cuba the stand out?

Answer 9

The USA is against the Castro regime for more reasons than human rights violations. The US paranoia about Communism for one, having a potential launch pad for Soviet missiles (Cuban missile crisis) was another. The US hated having a save haven for their enemies so close to their shores.
That's the main reason they have tried to bring down the Castro regime. Now the cold war is over, maybe they can say it's something different, but is it really?

Answer 10

Lets face it the reason America hates Cuba is because they closed down your rich mans playground, Fidel is on his way out as is the rest of Communism the greatest threat to world peace now is bush, the Antichrist, warmonger and profiteer.

How dare you comment on England's foreign policy when you don't know tony Blair stepped down weeks ago.

Our prime minister now is ........er...gor.....alis....min...Gordon Brown that's it Gorden Brown the one who......who......who....oh i don't know I'm sure he will do something soon maybe have another baby or sack the cat.