Easing of Restraints in Cuba Renews Debate on U.S. Embargo

The New York Times
A pre-embargo car in Havana. With some new leeway for capitalism, more Cubans are asking that the United States encourage it. More Photos »
By DAMIEN CAVE

HAVANA — “If I could just get a lift,” said Francisco López, imagining the addition of a hydraulic elevator as he stood by a rusted Russian sedan in his mechanic’s workshop here. All he needed was an investment from his brother in Miami or from a Cuban friend there who already sneaks in brake pads and other parts for him.
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The problem: Washington’s 50-year-old trade embargo, which prohibits even the most basic business dealings across the 90 miles separating Cuba from the United States. Indeed, every time Mr. López’s friend in Florida accepts payment for a car part destined for Cuba, he puts himself at risk of a fine of up to $65,000.

With Cuba cautiously introducing free-market changes that have legalized hundreds of thousands of small private businesses over the past two years, new economic bonds between Cuba and the United States have formed, creating new challenges, new possibilities — and a more complicated debate over the embargo.

The longstanding logic has been that broad sanctions are necessary to suffocate the totalitarian government of Fidel and Raúl Castro. Now, especially for many Cubans who had previously stayed on the sidelines in the battle over Cuba policy, a new argument against the embargo is gaining currency — that the tentative move toward capitalism by the Cuban government could be sped up with more assistance from Americans.

Even as defenders of the embargo warn against providing the Cuban government with “economic lifelines,” some Cubans and exiles are advocating a fresh approach. The Obama administration already showed an openness to engagement with Cuba in 2009 by removing restrictions on travel and remittances for Cuban Americans. But with Fidel Castro, 86, retired and President Raúl Castro, 81, leading a bureaucracy that is divided on the pace and scope of change, many have begun urging President Obama to go further and update American policy by putting a priority on assistance for Cubans seeking more economic independence from the government.

“Maintaining this embargo, maintaining this hostility, all it does is strengthen and embolden the hard-liners,” said Carlos Saladrigas, a Cuban exile and co-chairman of the Cuba Study Group in Washington, which advocates engagement with Cuba. “What we should be doing is helping the reformers.”

Any easing would be a gamble. Free enterprise may not necessarily lead to the embargo’s goal of free elections, especially because Cuba has said it wants to replicate the paths of Vietnam and China, where the loosening of economic restrictions has not led to political change. Indeed, Cuban officials have become adept at using previous American efforts to soften the embargo to their advantage, taking a cut of dollars converted into pesos and marking up the prices at state-owned stores.

And Cuba has a long history of tossing ice on warming relations. The latest example is the jailing of Alan Gross, a State Department contractor who has spent nearly three years behind bars for distributing satellite telephone equipment to Jewish groups in Havana.

In Washington, Mr. Gross is seen as the main impediment to an easing of the embargo, but there are also limits to what the president could do without Congressional action. The 1992 Cuban Democracy Act conditioned the waiving of sanctions on the introduction of democratic changes inside Cuba. The 1996 Helms-Burton Act also requires that the embargo remain until Cuba has a transitional or democratically elected government. Obama administration officials say they have not given up, and could move if the president decides to act on his own. Officials say that under the Treasury Department’s licensing and regulation-writing authority, there is room for significant modification. Following the legal logic of Mr. Obama’s changes in 2009, further expansions in travel are possible along with new allowances for investment or imports and exports, especially if narrowly applied to Cuban businesses.

Even these adjustments — which could also include travel for all Americans and looser rules for ships engaged in trade with Cuba, according to a legal analysis commissioned by the Cuba Study Group — would probably mean a fierce political fight. The handful of Cuban-Americans in Congress for whom the embargo is sacred oppose looser rules.

When asked about Cuban entrepreneurs who are seeking more American support, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Florida Republican who is chairwoman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, proposed an even tighter embargo.

“The sanctions on the regime must remain in place and, in fact, should be strengthened, and not be altered,” she wrote in an e-mail. “Responsible nations must not buy into the facade the dictatorship is trying to create by announcing ‘reforms’ while, in reality, it’s tightening its grip on its people.”

Many Cubans agree that their government cares more about control than economic growth. Business owners complain that inspectors pounce when they see signs of success and demand receipts to prove that supplies were not stolen from the government, a common practice here. One restaurant owner in Havana said he received a large fine for failing to produce a receipt for plastic wrap.

Cuban officials say the shortages fueling the black market are caused by the embargo. But mostly they prefer to discuss the policy in familiar terms. They take reporter after reporter to hospitals of frail infants, where American medical exports are allowed under a humanitarian exception. Few companies bother, however, largely because of a rule, unique to Cuba, requiring that the American companies do on-site monitoring to make sure products are not used for weapons.

“The Treasury Department is asking me, in a children’s hospital, if I use, for example, catheters for military uses — chemical, nuclear or biological,” said Dr. Eugenio Selman, director of the William Soler Pediatric Cardiology Center.

As for the embargo’s restriction on investment, Cuban officials have expressed feelings that are more mixed. At a meeting in New York in September with a group called Cuban Americans for Engagement, Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, said business investment was not a priority.

“Today the economic development of Cuba does not demand investments of $100,000, $200,000, $300,000,” he said, according to the group’s account of the meeting. Rather, he called for hundreds of millions of dollars to expand a local port.

Owners of Cuba’s small businesses, mostly one-person operations at this point, say they know that the government would most likely find ways to profit from wider economic relations with the United States. The response to the informal imports that come from Miami in the suitcases of relatives, for instance, has been higher customs duties.

Still, in a country where Cubans “resolve” their way around government restrictions every day (private deals with customs agents are common), many Cubans anticipate real benefits should the United States change course. Mr. López, a meticulous mechanic who wears plastic gloves to avoid dirtying his fingers, said legalizing imports and investment would create a flood of the supplies that businesses needed, overwhelming the government’s controls while lowering prices and creating more work apart from the state.

Other Cubans, including political dissidents, say softening the embargo would increase the pressure for more rapid change by undermining one of the government’s main excuses for failing to provide freedom, economic opportunity or just basic supplies.

“Last month, someone asked me to redo their kitchen, but I told them I couldn’t do it because I didn’t have the materials,” said Pedro José, 49, a licensed carpenter in Havana who did not want his last name published to avoid government pressure.

“Look around — Cuba is destroyed,” he added, waving a hand toward a colonial building blushing with circles of faded pink paint from the 1950s. “There is a lot of work to be done.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/world/americas/changes-in-cuba-create-support-for-easing-embargo.html?pagewanted=all

A version of this article appeared in print

Man seeking divorce from wife alleges lack of care & maltreatment… Says ‘SHE BEATS ME’

This is a role reversal putting it mildly. It is not everyday we hear husbands seeking dissolution of their marriages on reason of domestic violence and maltreatment from their wives. It is a rare happenstance especially in this part of the world.

However, on Monday 19th November 2012, a 32-year-old trader, Sunday Olagoke, pleaded with the Grade ‘B’ Customary Court, Orile- Agege , Lagos to dissolve his 16-year-old marriage, alleging maltreatment by his wife. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that he told the court he wanted dissolution based on “threat to life, constant fighting, lack of care and absence of love”.

The report further stated that he testified in tears that his wife, Christianah, treated him like a slave, ruined his business and did not respect his family.

“My wife does not cook for me, the worst is that she beats me whenever I confront her. She behaves like a man and I was scared of her all through the period we were together. We had no issue together, we lived like cat and mouse and she eventually left the house a year ago without telling me. I really suffered in her hands; I was the wife while she was the husband. But I thank God it is now over,” he said.

The trader, told the court that his wife ruined his business before she left him.

“I taught her how to trade, I made her my accountant and she ruined my business. I do not know where she took my money to, she owed many people money in my name. I heard she is now married to another man and I want the court to dissolve the marriage so that I will be free from her bondage.”

The Court President, Mr. Joseph Adewusi, while urging the petitioner to maintain the peace, adjourned the case till November 29 for ruling.

Taking Hold Of God’s Willingness

Pray, pray, pray! Why prayer is important / Is God in Control of Everything?

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[This article was taken from our book Don’t Blame God! A Biblical Answer to the Problem of Evil, Sin and Suffering.]

We do not believe that faith is the only variable in the “equation” of life. A study of the Word of God shows that prayer, the intensity of the spiritual battle and the help of other believers are also variables that affect what happens in our lives. The prayers of God’s people play an important part in the will of God coming to pass, because prayer is a catalyst for change — in people and in circumstances. No one knows how much sin and suffering could be avoided if Christians everywhere developed strong prayer lives. It seems that the power of prayer has been vastly underestimated. Prayer is not just reciting what someone else wrote; it is communion with God and the Lord Jesus Christ. [1]

Jesus himself had an extremely powerful prayer life. He spent hours alone in prayer to God. Surely that shows the value and importance of prayer. Commands (not suggestions) to pray are found all over the Bible. “Devote yourselves to prayer” (Col. 4:2), “pray continually” (1 Thess. 5:17), “be…faithful in prayer” (Rom. 12:12), “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” (Eph. 6:18). And these are just a few. Paul knew that our prayers make a difference between success and failure in one another’s lives: “On him [God] we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers” (2 Cor. 1:10 and 11).

Many Christians have made resolutions to pray, but then quit when they did not see immediate results. Christ addressed this tendency: “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). The parable is about persisting in prayer. Jesus gave us “the Lord’s Prayer” to show us the essential components of proper prayer, and he taught us to be bold, persistent and specific when we pray.

Nothing is more vital to a Christian’s cooperation with God than prayer. He needs us to become fellow laborers with Him in writing “His-story.” Through prayer, we can participate in events that otherwise would not have occurred. In his excellent book on prayer, And God Changed His Mind, Brother Andrew talks about how the false premise that God is in control of everything going on in the world, and its corollary fallacy that whatever happens is God’s will, so dilutes a Christian’s prayer life as to render it useless. He writes:

The fatalist’s attitude seems to reflect tremendous faith: “I refuse to question the will of God,” he will say with pious humility. But does he actually mean that whatever happens in the world is all right with him — including war, famine, oppression, the breakdown of the family and society, the exploitation of the innocent and weak, and the degradation of all that is holy and pure? “If God allows it, there must be a reason,” he will say, “and I can’t hope to understand God’s reasons with my small mind, so I accept what He does by faith and praise the Lord anyway!” And ignorant listeners to this kind of talk will respond admiringly, “What faith!” [2]

The truth is, as he also writes, that:

The boundaries of evil are expanding every day, and fatalistic apathy is enabling those boundaries to grow because it offers no resistance. But Christians must oppose evil [which first requires a recognition of it and that God is not the cause of it]; we were born for battle! Every Christian is a soldier, a “member of the resistance” in God’s army, taking part in spiritual warfare. The moment we lose sight of this, we become aimless in our actions and fuzzy in our focus. We forget why we were born, forget what we have been trained and equipped to do on the battlefield, and we die without knowing why we lived. Most importantly, we never complete the mission we were sent to accomplish. Score one more for the Devil. [3]

Faith in the Word of God is the only firm foundation upon which a Christian can build his prayer life. As Jesus stated in Mark 11:24, “…when you pray, believe [have faith].” Prayer and faith in God’s Word go hand-in-hand. Whatever God has promised in His Word to us as Christians, we can, with faith, pray for. This is yet another reason why it is so vital for each Christian to know the written Word of God, because it is our basis to know what is available through prayer, and what is the right attitude to have when we pray.

Someone once said that “prayer is not forcing God’s reluctance, but rather it is taking hold of His willingness.” God’s posture toward man is clear from Him giving His only begotten Son. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, God is always reaching out to give to His children “every good and perfect gift” (James 1:17). Prayer, based upon a knowledge of God’s Word (which reveals His will and His will-ingness), is a primary way that a son of God can take hold of His many promises.

In this vein, the importance of each Christian’s free will cannot be overemphasized. The biblical truth about the rewards that each of us will receive from the Lord validates God’s appreciation of our individual response to His Word. He gives us credit for doing our part as fellow laborers with Him. Many Christians refuse to take credit for their efforts, and often reject other people’s heartfelt appreciation, saying things like, “Give God all the glory.” Scripture, however, clearly shows us that the way we truly glorify God is by recognizing the power He has given us, and using it to obey Him (see Romans 16; 1 Corinthians 16:17, 18; 2 Timothy 4:7, 8; 3 John 12).

CHECK INA DI COMMENTS OOOOOOOOOOOO RITE NOW VERY QUICK WHAT A PIECE A NASTINESS AND SOFTNESS A GWAAN A JA

From: Royal Rasta
Title: 500,000 signatures NEEDED United States Supreme Court: Review the injustice on Mark Anthony Myrie & overturn it

Message Body:
500,000 signatures NEEDED United States Supreme Court: Review the injustice on Mark Anthony Myrie & overturn it

http://www.change.org/petitions/united-states-supreme-court-review-the-injustice-on-mark-anthony-myrie-buju-banton-and-overturn-it

CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR GO TO CHANGE.ORG TYPE IN MARK MYRIE AND SIGN THE PETITION THANKS #TEAMBUJU

“Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people are convinced that Mark Anthony Myrie was unjustly targeted and convicted in the United States court in Florida,” explains Banton’s new attorney, Chokwe Lumumba “We request that the highest court of the land review this injustice and overturn it.” He adds, “We are determined to fight for Myrie’s freedom until he is vindicated.”

The talented Grammy Award winning reggae super star and philanthropist Mark Myrie, aka Buju Banton, currently languishes in Miami Correctional federal prison in Florida serving the second of a ten year sentence while awaiting ruling on his pending appeal for a re-trial–for allegedly conspiring to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms of cocaine. In June 2009 while on a trans-Atlantic flight returning from a European concert tour, Buju was befriended by a Colombian man seated next to him, “Alexander Johnson”–a career criminal turned paid US government informant– who spent the next 6 months calling and trying to convince Buju to purchase cocaine. Johnson eventually wore him down and persuaded Buju to come see his boat in Sarasota, where, instead Buju and his driver, Ian Thomas were flashed cocaine in a DEA undercover warehouse. Two days later, Ian Thomas facilitated a drug deal with James Mack, a third party from Atlanta, with Alexander Johns on and on Dec. 10, 2009, Buju was arrested across the State at his home in Tamarac. He thought he was being arrested for “parking tickets” when police entered his home. Alexander Johnson received $50,000 cash payment for setting up this drug deal. Alexander Johnson was convicted in 1993 for bringing thousands of kilograms of cocaine and marijuana into the United States, Johnson was able to negotiate his life sentence down to 21 years in exchange for turning in his drug affiliates, then down to 10 years, and after only 2 years in jail, Johnson worked out a deal in which the Government asked a judge to further reduce his sentence and he was released with 5 years of probation. After two months, at the Governments request, Johnson’s probation was terminated. Despite being a convicted felon who was not a US citizen, Johnson was not deported to his native Colombia. Rather he successfully parlayed his life of crime into a lucrative 16 year career as a confidential informant f or which he has been paid over $3.3 million by the US government. Mark Myrie is beloved to millions across the globe as the Grammy award winning reggae artist called “the voice of Jamaica.” He has no previous criminal record and neither uses nor distributes cocaine. Raised by a single mother of 15 children in substantial poverty, he worked diligently to achieve a successful music career and fulfill his role as the primary provider for a large family.

Mark Myrie was convicted last year for “conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute” and “using the wires to facilitate a drug trafficking offense,” federal offenses that together carry a 10-year penalty. A third conviction, “knowing and intentionally carrying a firearm to further a drug offense” (5 year minimum), was thrown out at his sentencing hearing, however upon appeal by the Prosecution, the charge was reinstated.

On October 30th, Banton was scheduled to face a re-sentencing hearing at the US Sam Gibbons Court in Tampa, Florida following an Atlanta-based Appeals Court ruling that he should be convicted for a gun possession offense. The ruling was made after the artiste lost an appeal bid against his 10-year conviction on a drug-smuggling charge.
He faced an additional five years on that conviction.

However, the re-sentencing was postponed after his attorney Chokwe Lumumba filed two motions before Judge Moody. ”We filed two motions. The first motion was for the judge to reconsider his prior sentence and reduce it. The second motion was for a new trial based on jury misconduct. The judge decided that notice for the new trial took precedence over re-sentencing and decided to research whether he is allowed to grant a new trial under the law,” stated Banton’s co-counsel, Ihmotep Alkebu-lan.
”We are hoping that he is granted a new trial to hear from jurors and elicit testimony about their misconduct, and therefore he be granted a new trail,” he said.
The juror, Terri Wright, revealed to a Florida media house that she had secretly researched the Pinkerton Law which was used by the prosecution to connect Banton to an illegal firearm that was found in the possession of a co-conspirator, James Mack, during a cocaine transaction in a police-controlled warehouse in Tampa.
Mack and another man, Ian Thomas, were both arrested during that sting operation and copped guilty pleas. They both received 51-month sentences.
Banton is likely to face stern opposition from the prosecutors to the motion for a new trial or a reduced sentence.

Buju has consistently maintained his innocence and claimed he was entrapped by Drug Enforcement Agent informant Alexander Johnson, who he said enticed him with promises of huge record deals.

We encourage you to sign this on line petition to the Supreme Court requesting the charges against Mark Myrie aka Buju Banton be overturned.

United States Supreme Court
C/O Attorney Chokwe Lumumba
440 N. Mill St.
Jackson, Mississippi 39202

Hon. Supreme Court Justices:

I am writing this letter in support of Mark Anthony Myrie (Buju Banton).

Mr. Myrie has filed a petition in this court seeking review and reversal of drug, conspiracy, weapons possession and phone facilitation convictions occurring in the U.S.District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division.

The convictions of Mr. Myrie are outrageous and unjust. Mr. Myrie was the victim of a concerted U.S. government effort to entrap, conducted by a corrupt informant who was paid 3.5 million dollars by the government for his services in various cases over the years.

Mark Myrie is a Grammy Award winning reggae artiste from Jamaica. He has never been convicted of a crime prior to the present case. He has helped feed numerous hungry children in his country and otherwise contributed to worthy causes in Jamaica and elsewhere. He is supported by hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions worldwide.

I ask this honorable court to review his case and grant Mark Myrie the relief he deserves.

Sincerely,