
Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations - coreymgilmore
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-17/obama-to-announce-u-s-cuba-relations-shift-as-gross-is-released.html
======
hcentelles
I'm from Cuba, living in Spain right now.

The Cuban government is reluctant to open internet access to the people,
despite of they already have the needed bandwith through a submarine cable
from Venezuela. Is really fascinating how the Cubans have developed a higly
optimized offline distribution channel to share dowloaded content like
websites, software, video games, tv shows, movies, with almost the same
comsuption patterns of the connected world.

This is a loable move from Obama admnistration and can have a pontentially
impact on the near future of cuban internet. The White House fact sheet
([http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-
office/2014/12/17/fact-s...](http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-
office/2014/12/17/fact-sheet-charting-new-course-cuba)) said:

"Telecommunications providers will be allowed to establish the necessary
mechanisms, including infrastructure, in Cuba to provide commercial
telecommunications and internet services, which will improve
telecommunications between the United States and Cuba."

If Cuban government allow this kind of companies to do business on or with
Cuba, that could be huge. But if happens, this could be very slow, sadly.

Disclosure: I'm the cofounder of some Cuba related startups, a classifieds ads
site censored by the Cuba government
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUmPkb44n_w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUmPkb44n_w),
they block us by ip and dns, despite of the censorship, revolico is one of the
most visited sites in the country, taking into account that cuba has a 5%
internet penetration. Also a atypical remittances platform
[https://www.fonoma.com](https://www.fonoma.com) and crowfunding site for
cuban artists shutted down by the USA goverment because of the kind of
restriction that they are softening today
[http://www.yagruma.org](http://www.yagruma.org)

~~~
caente
You started revolico!? That's awesome man, I think that project "opened" the
mind of a lot of cuban entrepreneurs. I know a few cool projects over there, I
also know a lot of plastic artists trying to start projects that connect the
"exile" with the people of the island. As you might know, even among those
oppose to the regime, there is a lot of bias against cubans from
America(unless they are family/friends). I'm also cuban, living in NY, I'd
like to help out with whatever I can. You'll find my email on my profile.

~~~
hcentelles
I can't get the email from your profile, but you can ping me on twitter
@hcentelles, it will be nice to be in touch

------
iandanforth
I've visited Cuba on a Canadian passport. Aside from the beautiful beaches the
thing that struck me most was the desperate poverty of people living in shacks
outside the 5 star resorts.

While I hesitate to predict that this change will be all for the good, I do
believe that the poorest in Cuba will benefit significantly from increased
trade.

~~~
mathattack
When you start from such a low base, there is enormous room for growth. The
question is what can they export? Cigars? Medical personnel?

~~~
toomuchtodo
> Medical personnel?

Cuba actually has an incredible socialized medicine healthcare system, and the
US embargo specifically carves out an exception for cancer pharmaceuticals
developed and manufactured there. Its not that far fetched that you would see
medical tourism take off from Florida with its vast retiree population.

If I were in the travel business in Florida, I'd start advertising now to get
your name out there, and fly to Havana to have a conversation with Raúl Castro
about how much yearly revenue you could be bringing in (all in USD I might
add). About $39 billion/year is spent in Florida on Medicare; taking only a
small piece of that is an incredible proposition for a country the size of
Cuba.

~~~
mudil
The greatness of Cuban health care system is an urban myth, just like
Jackalope.

~~~
toomuchtodo
[http://www.wired.com/2010/04/cuban-health-
lessons/](http://www.wired.com/2010/04/cuban-health-lessons/)

"Despite a 50-year trade embargo by the United States and a post-Soviet
collapse in international support, the impoverished nation has developed a
world-class health care system. Average life expectancy is 77.5 years,
compared to 78.1 years in the United States, and infant and child mortality
rates match or beat our own. There’s one doctor for every 170 people, more
than twice the per-capita U.S. average.

Not everything is perfect in Cuba. There are shortages of medicines, and the
best care is reserved for elites. But it’s still a powerful feat. “In Cuba, a
little over $300 per person is spent on health care each year. In the U.S.,
we’re spending over $7,000 per person,” said Drain, co-author of Caring for
the World and an essay published April 29 in Science. “They’re able to achieve
great health outcomes on a modest budget.”"

~~~
mudil
"There are shortages of medicines, and the best care is reserved for elites."

Nice healthcare system!

~~~
toomuchtodo
Please explain how that's any different than the US when you can't afford
medicine or care? It makes little difference whether the shortage is due to no
physical supply vs not being able to afford it. If you can't get healthcare,
you can't get it.

[http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/health/2014/03/26/medical-
ban...](http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/health/2014/03/26/medical-bankruptcy/)

“In 2013 over 20% of American adults are struggling to pay their medical
bills, and three in five bankruptcies will be due to medical bills. While we
are quick to blame debt on poor savings and bad spending habits, our study
emphasizes the burden of health costs causing widespread indebtedness. Medical
bills can completely overwhelm a family when illness strikes,” says Christina
LaMontagne, VP of Health at NerdWallet. “Furthermore, 25 million people
hesitate to take their medications in order to control their medical costs.
Unfortunately this can lead to even worse financial outcomes as preventative
treatments are not rendered and patients end up using expensive ambulance and
ER care as their health worsens.”

~~~
mudil
I am an anesthesiologist. I worked in some of the best hospitals in the
country in residency (UCSF and Harvard's BWH), and I worked in Detroit and I
work now in a small Catholic hospital. And I can tell you that quality of care
poor get is the same as rich ones get.

Then I also grew up in Soviet Union, where supposedly great healthcare was
developed. And I can tell you they had a horrible health care like they have
it in Cuba today.

If Cuban health care is so great, where is their great health research and
studies? When did they publish the last time in Lancet on in NEJM? Where is
that?

~~~
mentalhealth
_And I can tell you that quality of care poor get is the same as rich ones
get._

That's because you're an anesthesiologist, and you see the acute cases which
have already been admitted to the hospital. Poor people don't receive
comparable long-term care. They don't receive comparable followup care after
procedures. They can't afford lifesaving medication, they can't afford
physical therapy, and they can't afford psychiatric care. They're denied for
transplants, and many surgeons won't accept them as patients because their
recovery stats are so much lower due to the aforementioned lack of followup.

All of this, without even mentioning the increasing number of specialty
surgeons that operate on a cash-only basis, or the poor who don't go to the
doctor simply because they cannot afford to. There's no comparison between the
care that the rich and poor receive in this country, except possibly once
they're unconscious in the OR.

------
valarauca1
This is actually (amusingly) incredibly unpopular in cigar circles who are
calling this the "end of an era".

Most discussions seems to center around the doom and gloom of quality dropping
and prices increasing as the US/Cuban cigar market opens and the demand for CC
increases.

No discussion on the legality of owning CC changing amusingly. As apparently
everyone forgets that smoking a Cuban Cigar _can_ be considered an act of
treason currently.

~~~
glup
Agriculture, including tobacco production, accounts for only approximately 4%
of Cuban GDP--after heavyweights like tourism (embargo just prevents Americans
from going there), gas export, industrial production, and the medical sector.
Of greater interest to HN readers than the implications for one trivial luxury
good, Cuba has one of the greatest mismatches between literacy (~97%) and
telecom development and accessibility (see
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_Cuba](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_Cuba))
in the world.

~~~
ghayes
Note: Americans could previously go there; you just couldn't go directly from
America.

~~~
wcummings
Americans could previously go there, they just couldn't spend money there and
no airlines offered flights from the US.

~~~
eigenvector
I think you will find US dollars (cash) accepted quite readily in Cuba.

~~~
toyg
Of course, but the problem is that _US authorities_ have a problem with you
giving US dollars to Cuban businesses. You can go there and spend, sure, but
when you go back, somebody will (should) knock at your door. Obviously this
doesn't happen to simple tourists, only to Jay-Z/Beyonce and businessmen.

------
joezydeco
The timing seems really clever here.

The USA and OPEC flood the market with oil (literally), crashing prices and
sending the Ruble into a spiral. Just as Cuba starts to worry about Russian
support going forward, the USA swoops in to provide some economic bracing.

~~~
hughw
Literally?

~~~
eCa
Webster's:

"Since some people take sense 2 to be the opposite of sense 1, it has been
frequently criticized as a misuse. Instead, the use is pure hyperbole intended
to gain emphasis, but it often appears in contexts where no additional
emphasis is necessary." [1]

[1] [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally](http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/literally)

~~~
baddox
Using the word that way, in parentheses, is not something I have ever
encountered when intending to express hyperbole.

------
lumberjack
Since this is HN, does anyone know what the IT sector is like in Cuba?

Apparently they have a university dedicated to IT stuff[1] but I don't read
Spanish and I couldn't really find any projects/research page on there. The
only thing that seems to be portrayed is a Linux distro called Nova.[2]

[1] [http://www.uci.cu/](http://www.uci.cu/) [2]
[http://www.nova.cu/](http://www.nova.cu/)

~~~
arenaninja
On your second link, there's a great pun on "HumanOS", which in Spanish simply
means "Humans".

On the university site, there's a few hidden links to Cuban Mozilla fans[1], a
digital publication for open source software [2], a youth-targeted site for
open-source users[3] (seems down), and a women-targeted site for IT [4]. Note
that there's more, but everything seems to be down at the moment, it might be
the HN effect

[1] [http://firefoxmania.uci.cu/](http://firefoxmania.uci.cu/) [2]
[http://swlx.cubava.cu/](http://swlx.cubava.cu/) [3] gutl.jovenclub.cu [4]
[http://haciendoweb.upr.edu.cu/](http://haciendoweb.upr.edu.cu/)

------
jmr0
My parents and I left Cuba when I was a child and proceeded to live in various
parts of the world before eventually settling in the US. I would like to go
back and visit some relatives there at some point, and as a Cuban-born
naturalized American citizen I know it is legal for me to do so even
currently, but I was informed that I couldn't actually enter Cuba with only an
American passport. The Cuban govt requires that I enter as a Cuban citizen,
which means obtaining a Cuban passport that costs $200 to renew every 2 years
[0]. I'm sure this is mostly just an easy way of extracting money, but I sure
look forward to official diplomatic relations being established and hope some
of these requirements change -- I don't feel very comfortable entering Cuba as
a Cuban citizen and not knowing where my rights end or begin.

[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_passport](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_passport)

~~~
jpatokal
The passport you use is irrelevant: if Cuban still considers you a citizen,
and decides it wants you to do military service or something, you're screwed
even if you entered on a US passport.

I'd recommend formally renouncing your Cuban citizenship (and getting the
documentation to certify this) if you want to be 100% sure there are no
hassles.

------
skywhopper
I'm thrilled to see this. This is the sort of hopey changey I was looking for
from Obama. Maintaining the status quo in re Cuba is just mindless
stubbornness at this point.

~~~
Someone1234
Agreed.

It seems like people commonly raise the fact that Cuba still jails political
dissidents. However, while accurate, it ignores the many MANY countries the US
hasn't embargoed which do similar or worse.

For one example, the US and Saudi Arabia are "best buddies" but yet the Saudi
government is often doing extremely anti-freedom stuff. I mean this is the
only country on earth where women are forbidden from driving.

So my point is less "Cuba is the good guy" and more "if they're going to
continue the embargo then keep it consistent, hit Egypt, Pakistan, China,
Yemen, and so on" for it also.

------
sremani
In 2008 G W Bush has removed North Korea from Embargo list, and embargo has to
be renewed every year based on "some" Enemy Act of 1917. Cuba is the only
country in US embargo list, I understand it is personal as Cuba is just few
miles away from US, but still the embargo is inhumane and people are
suffering. John Oliver has a very interesting piece on his HBO show.

~~~
refurb
The one thing I don't understand is how the US embargo is to blame for the
lackluster Cuban economy. Cuba is free to trade with most Western countries
including the EU and Canada.

How much of the economic misery is due to the Castro government and how much
is due to the US embargo?

~~~
tormeh
The Helms–Burton Act dictates that any firm that does trade with Cuba can't
trade with the US. So no trade for Cuba, then.

~~~
NoPiece
Presidents Clinton and Bush both waived that part law, and Canada, Mexico, and
the EU all don't recognize it. So I'm not sure it has had any real impact
other than antagonizing US allies, and generating some private lawsuits.

~~~
dragonwriter
> Presidents Clinton and Bush both waived that part law

Part of the issue with Helms-Burton is that the retaliatory provisions include
a private cause of action for any expatriates whose (former) property is
impacted, so that it is impossible for the executive branch to control the
application of the law.

> and Canada, Mexico, and the EU all don't recognize it.

Whether foreign countries recognize it has no impact on a anyone subject to it
if they have assets that become subject to the jurisdiction of US courts.

> So I'm not sure it has had any real impact other than antagonizing US
> allies, and generating some private lawsuits.

Those private lawsuits are an additional risk, which is taken into account
when firms decide whether or not to do business in or with Cuba -- and which
are a negative factor in those decisions. Which illustrates how the embargo's
impacts extend beyond just US-Cuba trade.

~~~
NoPiece
Yes, I agree there is private lawsuit risk, and noted it. I was responding to
the parent saying "So no trade for Cuba, then." There is trade, there are some
lawsuits, and the US Govt. policy is to ignore the law.

> Whether foreign countries recognize it has no impact on a anyone subject to
> it if they have assets that become subject to the jurisdiction of US courts.

I disagree, but regardless, the fear of private lawsuits hasn't kept large
European, canadian, and Mexican companies from doing business and trading with
Cuba.

[http://www.cubatrade.org/nonus.html](http://www.cubatrade.org/nonus.html)

------
JSeymourATL
> The changes follow a rare private intercession by Pope Francis, the Catholic
> Church’s first Latin-American pontiff, secret meetings between Cuban and
> American delegations at the Vatican. *Hit-tip to Pope Francis...bien hecho.

~~~
MichaelGG
I found that the most odd thing here. Obama personally needed a Pope to remind
him about Cuba? I mean, it's good a church is doing something beneficial but
it sounds strange.

~~~
Shivetya
as with the phrase, only Nixon could go to China, only the Pope could go to
Cuba, if not the US. Pope Francis's reputation is nearly unassailable
currently. Cuba being predominantly Catholic gave him an edge no one else
would have, him being the first Latin American Pope is icing on the cake

------
beloch
First, it's important to note that the economic sanctions on Cuba require the
action of the Senate to be lifted. That's virtually a foregone conclusion
however.

U.S. policy usually tends to favour business. That's why the economic
sanctions on Cuba were bound to be removed sooner or later. At present, there
are some products (e.g. compressors and other items requiring a large foundry
to produce) that are very difficult and expensive to get in Cuba because most
companies that produce them are either American or owned by American
companies. Smaller companies from countries such as Canada have made a
practice of "bootlegging" for the Cubans. In recent years it has not been
uncommon for a compressor skid to be produced in Texas, shipped to Alberta via
rail, shipped to the East coast through Canada via rail, and finally shipped
to Cuba.

The reason sanctions against Cuba are finally being dropped is probably
related to the death or extreme old age of most everyone who can remember
having property snatched away from them when the Cubans nationalized
everything after the revolution. Subsequent generations of Cubans and
americans have been brought up to distrust each other though. It won't be as
easy as some think for U.S. companies to march back into Cuba and set up shop
again. Companies that have been quietly running mines and building power
plants for the Cubans over the last few decades will likely have the edge.
It's going to take time and patience for trust to be restored.

------
arenaninja
I hope this doesn't out me as short-sighted, but I'm looking forward to a
vacation there in the near future!

~~~
Vaskerville
Me too. And, more coincidental, I'm moving to Port au Prince in just a couple
months!

~~~
brandon272
Out of curiosity, what is taking you there?

------
xyahoo
There's more to the Cuban embargo than meets the eye. It is true that the
Southern Florida Cuban exile community wields a disproportional amount of
influence. Florida is almost equally divided between Democrats and
Republicans, and is a big state in terms of electoral votes; so when a
sizeable block like the Cuban exiles votes a certain way, it can tip the
balance.

However, that is not the entire story. If we (US) were really that concerned
about the lost property of the Cubans expelled by Castro, we would also look
inward and ponder the fate of the British supporters kicked out in 1776; the
KMT supporters kicked out by Mao; etc.

If we can trade with China, Russia, etc. then there's no reason we can't trade
with Cuba. In fact, the opening of the borders with USSR is often listed as
one of the key factors in bringing it down; so why not do the same with Cuba?

~~~
mcantelon
Relations, of course, aren't based on morality, they're based on strategy.
Otherwise the US wouldn't have allies like Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.

------
jstalin
Outstanding. This is long overdue.

------
peterwwillis
It's kind of funny, but this won't actually bring all warm-n-fuzzies from the
people most affected by it. The refugees/dissidents in Miami are saying this
isn't going to change anything because it allows the Castro regime to double
down on economic growth from new business relations with the US. The non-
refugees are saying this will make immigration worse. The people both on the
island and those illegally importing products into the country from Miami may
face higher prices and tighter restrictions. And if political reform comes, it
could be at the cost of dismantling the relatively strong public health and
education systems.

------
flyinghamster
I get the feeling that the embargo will last until Fidel reaches room
temperature.

I do find it interesting that in recent years, Bacardi has been playing up its
Cuban heritage. I suspect that they're itching to get back, but that whole
issue of returning confiscated property stands in the way. Will Cuba end up
with something like the Treuhandanstalt in post-reunification Germany?

------
Shivetya
I figure the last two years of President Obama's term are going to be one wild
ride. He has clearly shown he could not if he harms others in his party
politically and he certainly could care less what the Republicans think.

Freed from any need to cooperate; now that Republicans are in control; with
Congress its going to be fun. Why do I say no need, with Reid in charge of the
Senate he had to play by party rules, he is free of that.

Some moves will definitely be for the good, some may not be. Regardless it
should be chaotic if not fun to watch

------
jpatokal
The line about opening an embassy in Cuba as soon as possible is a bit funny,
since the US has long had an embassy in all but name:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Interests_Sectio...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Interests_Section_in_Havana)

And while that's technically only a "section" of the Swiss embassy, a glance
at a photo of the place makes it pretty clear that there's a bit more going
on.

~~~
jeffwass
I've been to the Cuban interest section in Washington DC several times. It's
not really an embassy in that diplomatic functions and freedoms don't exist
like proper embassies.

The ambassador's freedoms are quite limited. Eg, at some point he was not
allowed to leave the confines of the DC beltway. Diplomatic immunity be
damned. Really sucked for us planning an event in my Baltimore uni for him to
speak at, where the travel restriction came into effect just days before and
we had to resort to video conf.

~~~
jpatokal
Well, that's the thing: since it's not an embassy, it doesn't have an
ambassador with diplomatic privileges, it has a "chief".

But my point is that this is all just paper. Out in the real world, the US can
(and probably will) pretty much just swap out the plaque outside the "US
Interests Section" with one that says "US Embassy", with the chief and their
assistants magically transformed into diplomats.

------
raldi
What are we going to do about all the trademark conflicts? US rum and cigar
companies stole the brand names of famous Cuban companies, because they knew
they could get away with it.

To see what I mean, Ctrl-F dueling on
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cigar_brands](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cigar_brands)

~~~
peterwwillis
??

From the Bacardi wikipedia:

 _" Ospina describes how the Bacardi family and Company left Cuba after the
Castro regime confiscated the Company’s Cuban assets on 15 October 1960; in
particular, in nationalizing and banning all private property on the island as
well as all bank accounts. However, due to concerns over the previous Cuban
leader Fulgencio Batista the company had started foreign branches a few years
prior to the revolution; the Company moved the ownership of the Company's
trademarks, assets and proprietary formulas out of the country to the Bahamas
prior to the revolution as well as constructing plants in Puerto Rico and
Mexico after Prohibition to save import taxes for rum being imported to the
US. This helped the company survive after the communist government confiscated
without compensation all Bacardi assets in the country."_

 _" More recently, Bacardi lawyers were influential in the drafting of the
1996 Helms-Burton Act which sought to extend the scope of the United States
embargo against Cuba. In 1999, Otto Reich, a lobbyist in Washington on behalf
of Bacardi, drafted section 211 of the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency
Appropriations Act, FY1999 (Pub.L. 105–277), a bill that became known as the
Bacardi Act. Section 211 denied trademark protection to products of Cuban
businesses expropriated after the Cuban revolution, a provision keenly sought
by Bacardi. The act was aimed primarily at the Havana Club brand in the US.
The brand was created by the José Arechabala company and confiscated without
compensation in the Cuban revolution. The Havana Club trademark had been
registered by the Cuban government in the United States without permission of
the rightful owners. The new law invalidated the trademark registration.
Section 211 has been challenged unsuccessfully by the Cuban government and the
European Union in US courts; however, the act has been ruled illegal by the
WTO (August 2001). The US Congress has yet to re-examine the matter."_

Basically, Cuba stole some brands after the revolution, so the U.S. said "fuck
you, you can't trademark a brand you stole from its rightful owners". The EU
and WTO have a problem with that, but luckily the U.S. has never given a shit
what the EU or WTO says.

------
Hermel
And as I said a while ago in my most downvoted comment ever
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8442817](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8442817)),
Sherritt stocks will go through the roof in case relations start to normalize.
And they did today, with +25%.

------
Zhenya
Russia gets North Korea - US goes for Cuba in almost the same day.
Interesting.

------
glup
The title of the Bloomberg article "Cuba’s Half Century of Isolation to End"
perpetuates a major misconception for US citizens. Cuba isn't isolated from
the rest of the world (in the manner that North Korea is) -- it's just the US
and Cuba. The island is fully connected as a tourist destination for
Canadians, Latin Americans, and Europeans and they import consumer goods from
Korea, China, Vietnam, etc. There are major differences (e.g. the military
apparatus has controlling interests in nearly all business ventures, including
those with foreign firms) but "isolation" is a pretty inaccurate
characterization.

~~~
dragonwriter
The retaliatory policy the US has against any entity doing business with Cuba
severely limits business engagement with Cuba, since firms that engage in many
kinds of business with Cuba risk retaliatory asset seizures if assets come
within the jurisdiction of US courts. While foreign trade with Cuba is less
constrained by the embargo than direct US trade, it is inaccurate to say that
the embargo _only_ affects direct trade between US and Cuba.

~~~
glup
Right, that's an important nuance. But that means that a firm in a country
like Spain is only constrained by the embargo if it also does business with US
companies, right?

~~~
krschultz
Which ends up being a very large number of companies, and it can generally be
enforced simply through preventing banks from working with a company.

------
spacefight
Nice. Whats's next? Close Gitmo? Give back the lease?

~~~
kmfrk
Gitmo requires the approval of Congress - guess what blocked it from
happening.

This is an executive action.

~~~
technofire
> This is an executive action.

Not quite; some restrictions have been lifted but this is not yet a done deal:

"Although the decades-old American embargo on Cuba will remain in place for
now, the administration signaled that it would welcome a move by Congress to
ease or lift it should lawmakers choose to."[1]

[1] [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/world/americas/us-cuba-
rel...](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/world/americas/us-cuba-
relations.html)

~~~
kmfrk
Obama calling for Congress to act is what we in this year of our Lord 2014
call "trolling".

~~~
themartorana
Have to agree. What does Obama have to lose by just going out on a limb and
ending a horribly failed policy?

Realizing of course there are so many others he promised to end and hasn't...

~~~
Amezarak
> Have to agree. What does Obama have to lose by just going out on a limb and
> ending a horribly failed policy?

Because "like so many others" he simply doesn't have the power to; it
_requires_ Congressional approval. I suppose he could do what you want and
unilaterally declare it over, but that would be a very clear breach of power
and would result in many moderates and liberals decrying his overreach. It
would end up - at the least - the subject of legal action and an injunction
and perhaps even spur bipartisan support for impeachment proceedings.

The power of the Presidency is in general greatly exaggerated by the media.
The President has broad power to set the agenda (which the rest of the
government and the country is largely free to ignore) and has some power over
policy/legal execution (particularly within foreign affairs), and over the
military, but that's about it. Even within the executive branch the President
is not as all-powerful as the media or even high schools tend to imply: even
excluding agencies that are altogether independent, the President generally
cannot walk in and tell people what to do.

~~~
themartorana
I know this. But I seriously doubt impeachment.

More interesting would be to see who supports a continued embargo and why?
Instead of rubber-stamping it, congressmen would have to take a position one
way or the other, and I doubt there's much good argument for its continuation
en-masse.

Obama could force Congress to have to address Cuba head-on. I don't know if
it's the most important thing or not, but you'd at least get to see why we
continue a useless embargo.

------
unprepare
I have to think this is related to tensions with Russia and avoiding a second
missile crisis. I wonder if there will be a reaction from Russia about this
news.

~~~
ceejayoz
Uh, what? Cuba isn't a Soviet vassal state any more.

~~~
tormeh
Putin seems to like turning back the clock on that kind of thing. Just because
it's irresponsible doesn't mean he won't do it. He's a rational actor in terms
of his own grip on power and nothing else.

~~~
ceejayoz
Again, Cuba's no longer a vassal state. I suspect they have little interest in
hosting Russian nuclear missiles, and I suspect the US would be more than
happy to help them resist a Russian effort to restore the Cold War situation.

~~~
waterlesscloud
They do have an interest in hosting a re-opened Russian spy facility, just
this summer.

[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/16/russia-
reopenin...](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/16/russia-reopening-
spy-base-cuba-us-relations-sour)

~~~
ceejayoz
And it cost them forgiveness of 90% of Cuba's debts. I doubt the other 10%
will cover hosting nuclear missiles, especially if Cuba's at the point where
they're interested in better relations with the US.

