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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Cuba demands US return Guantanamo |
| 2009-01-31 |
| Line forms on the right, El Jefe. And it's a long one so expect to wait... Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro demanded on Thursday that President Barack Obama return the US naval base at Guantanamo to Cuba without conditions, and he accused the new US leader of supporting "Israeli genocide" against Palestinians. Castro, who had recently praised Obama as "honest" and "noble", lashed out at his administration for stating that Washington will not return Guantanamo if it has any military use for the United States and without concessions in return. "Maintaining a military base in Cuba against the will of the people violates the most elemental principles of international law," Castro wrote in a column posted on the government-run website. Ah, the old Good Commie-Bad Commie game... And trotting out 'international law', no less ... "Not respecting Cuba's will is an arrogant act and an abuse of immense power against a little country," Castro said, resorting to a charge he has leveled against the 10 previous US presidents since he came to power in a 1959 revolution. Cuba indefinitely leased Guantanamo to the United States in 1903 after the United States occupied the country during the 1898 Spanish-American War. Castro charges that the base at the south-eastern tip of Cuba was taken over illegally. Maybe we'll break his balls and give it back to Spain... |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #12 Olde Dr. White is know his history. Normalization of commercial affairs with Cuba would be more stimula than you could shake a fly-rod at. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2009-01-31 18:47 |
| #11 Oh, and leave there all the terrorists we can't figure out what to do with. Only if you cut their hamstrings first. Never leave a "live" weapon behind, or it'll be used against you. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2009-01-31 13:39 |
| #10 "Oh, and leave there all the terrorists we can't figure out what to do with." Unfortunately, Glenmore, Castro would know exactly what to do with them. It would involve a 90-mile trip.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-01-31 10:51 |
| #9 If we're going to give it back, we should move all the criminals and other refuse Castro has sent us over the years, and move them to Gitmo first. Oh, and leave there all the terrorists we can't figure out what to do with. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2009-01-31 10:45 |
| #8 all true, but as long as there is a Castro-style dictatorship, we should keep Gitmo open and defended. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-31 10:23 |
| #7 One of the issues here is the long-term resentment some Cubans have over the Spanish-American war. To wit: they believe that their ancestors were in the process of chasing the Spanish off the island and didn't need our help. We Americans barged in at the last minute, took all the credit, and then arranged affairs on the island to suit our purposes. We should also recall that many Americans at the time wanted to annex Cuba outright and prepare it to be a state (in retrospect, a great idea). President McKinley was afraid of European opinion (nothing new there) and declined to do that. The result was that we installed (and periodically re-installed) a tame government that did as it was told. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-01-31 10:16 |
| #6 No! It was never really part of any nation in Cuba. It has been under US control since we took Cuba from Spain. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-01-31 09:39 |
| #5 The MSM of the time, the detestable "Yellow Press" of Pulitzer and Hearst, incited the Spanish-American War as part of their white-hot circulation wars. It was perhaps the earliest example of feckless and amoral activist media actually influencing world events. Fidel should therefore blame their latter-day successors, rather than William McKinley's, for the loss of Guantanamo. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2009-01-31 09:19 |
| #4 Cuba indefinitely leased Guantanamo to the United States in 1903 after the United States occupied the country during the 1898 Spanish-American War. ...with the United States granting Cuba its independence that Spain never did nor intended to do at the time. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-01-31 08:31 |
| #3 You may well be right. I don't think we'll recognize our country at all in 4 years, and I think that's quite intentional on their part. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-01-31 08:25 |
| #2 Now watch Obama give it to him. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-31 07:08 |
| #1 Yada yada. Get in the box already, puerco. |
| Posted by: mojo 2009-01-31 00:29 |