Humbert Fontova: A Bailout for Castro Too?
The U.S. taxpayer remains among the few in the industrialized world not screwed and tattooed by Fidel Castro. But fear not! Most "analysts" see Obama moving quickly to rectify this shameful state of affairs, by scrapping his country's obnoxious (to liberals and foreigners) penchant for "unilateralism" in foreign policy.
"Will Obama Shift Policy on Cuba?" pants a recent BBC headline.
After all, as the AP reported from the Latin American summit in Brazil last month: "Latin America leaders demand (italics mine) U.S. end Cuba embargo."
And as the Russian News Agency, Novosti, reported back in October: "UN General Assembly demands (italics mine again) U.S. lift embargo on Cuba."
Needless to say, MSM commentary overwhelmingly supports these "demands." U.S. policymakers must immediately take heed of these "demands," from those more internationally sophisticated parties, who have all been doing business with Cuba for decades.
For those actually aware of Castro's commercial record and the nature of the "Cuban embargo" a much better explanation for these "demands," is that: "misery loves company."To wit:
"Cuba stopped payment on all its foreign commercial and bilateral debt with non-socialist countries in 1986." disclosed U.S. International Trade Commission Report in 2001.
"Debt talks between Cuba and the Paris Club of creditor nations are on hold. On the table was $3.8 billion of official debt to Paris Club members, part of a much larger debt Cuba ran up through the 1980s, until it began to DEFAULT on payments and then stopped talking with creditors." Reuters, from back in June 2001.
And remember, back then Cuba was getting $5 billion a year from the Soviet sugar-daddy.
So what happened to that debt, you ask? Well, Fidel repudiated it too. "Soviet Union?" he frowns. "What Soviet Union?...Where is this Soviet Union?" No country by that name anymore, right? So how can I owe it any money?"
In late 2006 France's version of the U.S. Government's (i.e., us taxpayers) Export-Import Bank, named COFACE, cut off Cuba's credit line. Mexico's Bancomex did likewise. This came about because the Castro regime stuck it to French taxpayers for $175 million and to Mexican taxpayers for $365 million, when these state-run banks had financed sales by some those nations' politically-connected companies' to Stalinist Cuba. Bancomex was forced to impound Cuban assets in three different countries in an attempt to recoup its losses.
Early this year, one of the Cuban regime's best friends, South Africa, was also compelled to bend over for the soap. Here's part of the AFP story: "Given the assessment of Cuba's debt position," Said South African Minister, Themba Maseko, "we are of the view that Cuba was not in a position to meet its obligations in the foreseeable future." Cuba stuck it to the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa (South African taxpayers) for $117 million, dating back to 1996....
Read entire article at American Thinker
"Will Obama Shift Policy on Cuba?" pants a recent BBC headline.
After all, as the AP reported from the Latin American summit in Brazil last month: "Latin America leaders demand (italics mine) U.S. end Cuba embargo."
And as the Russian News Agency, Novosti, reported back in October: "UN General Assembly demands (italics mine again) U.S. lift embargo on Cuba."
Needless to say, MSM commentary overwhelmingly supports these "demands." U.S. policymakers must immediately take heed of these "demands," from those more internationally sophisticated parties, who have all been doing business with Cuba for decades.
For those actually aware of Castro's commercial record and the nature of the "Cuban embargo" a much better explanation for these "demands," is that: "misery loves company."To wit:
"Cuba stopped payment on all its foreign commercial and bilateral debt with non-socialist countries in 1986." disclosed U.S. International Trade Commission Report in 2001.
"Debt talks between Cuba and the Paris Club of creditor nations are on hold. On the table was $3.8 billion of official debt to Paris Club members, part of a much larger debt Cuba ran up through the 1980s, until it began to DEFAULT on payments and then stopped talking with creditors." Reuters, from back in June 2001.
And remember, back then Cuba was getting $5 billion a year from the Soviet sugar-daddy.
So what happened to that debt, you ask? Well, Fidel repudiated it too. "Soviet Union?" he frowns. "What Soviet Union?...Where is this Soviet Union?" No country by that name anymore, right? So how can I owe it any money?"
In late 2006 France's version of the U.S. Government's (i.e., us taxpayers) Export-Import Bank, named COFACE, cut off Cuba's credit line. Mexico's Bancomex did likewise. This came about because the Castro regime stuck it to French taxpayers for $175 million and to Mexican taxpayers for $365 million, when these state-run banks had financed sales by some those nations' politically-connected companies' to Stalinist Cuba. Bancomex was forced to impound Cuban assets in three different countries in an attempt to recoup its losses.
Early this year, one of the Cuban regime's best friends, South Africa, was also compelled to bend over for the soap. Here's part of the AFP story: "Given the assessment of Cuba's debt position," Said South African Minister, Themba Maseko, "we are of the view that Cuba was not in a position to meet its obligations in the foreseeable future." Cuba stuck it to the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa (South African taxpayers) for $117 million, dating back to 1996....