How important is the lifting of the United States embargo against Cuba in the greater international community?

From the articles I have read, most countries in the world – and in Latin America in particular – thought the US 50-year-obsession with Cuba was bizarre.

So Latin America appears to welcome the changes as getting to a “normal”.

(Remember that 40 years ago, the scare tactic was that we had to “contain” Cuba because they would otherwise spread Communism throughout Central and South America? That was the excuse back then.)

THe only Central/South American country that tried to go this route was Venezuela, and you can see what a success they made of being socialist….

Hardly made a ripple.

Outside of the region, the general response likely will be a shrug. In most other nations, I seriously doubt that the news will make newspaper front pages.

If I thought it would relieve even one comment from a particular jelly ragging on about “the backward colonies” and so forth, then it would probably be worth all the sturm und drang.

But since it won’t accomplish even that low goal, then meh… who cares?

It puts the US on Cuba’s good side, which is opposite of what Russia wants. Now we have nearby a buddy instead of an ally of our enemy.

So far, the reaction I’m hearing in Canada is that the influx of American tourists will “ruin” one of our favourite vacation spots (not speaking for myself; I’ve never been there).

There was a story today on CBC about an importer who will likely lose a lot of his trade, but I doubt there are many stories like that. I imagine it will hit the high-end cigar stores pretty hard.

@elbanditoroso “From the articles I have read, most countries in the world – and in Latin America in particular – thought the US 50-year-obsession with Cuba was bizarre.”

This is certainly true in Canada. I remember when a good friend of mine who moved to Canada from America realized for the first time that Canadians didn’t hate Castro. She was shocked and angry. We were just perplexed at the ridiculous double standard.

@dappled_leaves I remember when Kennedy made the announcement on television. I was young then, and had not yet learned that I could question the actions or motives om the (US) government, and I thought it was a good thing. It probably was appropriate at the time, given the presence of Russian missiles. I have also thought the maintenance of the embargo was unusual (okay, bizarre), along with the maintenance of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (even before it was home to the detention center). It is the only U.S. military installation that I know of that is in a country with whom the United States has no diplomatic relations.

@Yetanotheruser Yeah, the Guantanamo thing alone is very odd!

It’s the US’s oldest foreign base, going back to the Spanish-American War.