Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Rum war?

Curiously, a government handout is causing a stir in the Caribbean,
Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands go head to head on rum, fueling tensions in Congress,

Put simply, the argument involves whether tax dollars can be used to lure a Captain Morgan Rum distillery from Puerto Rico to the Virgin Islands, a project highly coveted for the tax revenue it promises.

The Virgin Islands, a relatively poor, majority-black territory of about 120,000 people, has promised nearly $3 billion in tax subsidies to the owner of Captain Morgan if it moves the rum-making operation to St. Croix, the largest of its three main islands. The money will come from rum taxes the U.S. government gives back to the territories; the Virgin Islands will use the rebates to help build a distillery for the company and provide it cash payments for the next 30 years.

Virgin Islands officials say the deal, along with a similar agreement benefiting the Cruzan rum brand, is an economic development coup that will deliver several hundred jobs and millions of dollars in new rum-tax revenue for roads, schools and other projects. “We are keeping companies in America . . . and strengthening our economy,” said John P. deJongh Jr., governor of the Virgin Islands.

But Puerto Rico, which stands to lose $120 million in annual rum-tax revenue, is pushing Congress to step in. That side portrays the Captain Morgan deal as a U.S. taxpayer bailout for Diageo, the London-based spirits conglomerate that also owns Dom Perignon, Johnnie Walker and other prominent brands.

and look! it’s now become a racial issue

Lawmakers on the side of the Virgin Islands include 18 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who signed a letter last month opposing Puerto Rico’s attempts to undo the agreement.

Who’s winning the rum war so far?
The lobbyists.

Why am I not surprised?

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Kudos to the WaPo

Kudos to the WaPo’s editorial board for asking (emphasis added) Why do the members of Congress rushing to befriend the Castros ignore the island’s pro-democracy movement?

HALF A DOZEN members of the Congressional Black Caucus spent hours huddling with Fidel and Raúl Castro in Havana this week as part of a swelling campaign to normalize relations with Cuba. “It is time to open dialogue and discussion,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) told a news conference in Washington after their return. “Cubans do want dialogue. They do want talks.” Funny, then, that in five days on the island the Congress members found no time for dialogue with Afro-Cuban dissident Jorge Luis García Pérez.

Mr. García, better known as “Antúnez,” is a renowned advocate of human rights who has often been singled out for harsh treatment because of his color. “The authorities in my country,” he has said, “have never tolerated that a black person [could dare to] oppose the regime.” His wife, Iris, is a founder of the Rosa Parks Women’s Civil Rights Movement, named after an American hero whom Afro-Cubans try to emulate. The couple have been on a hunger strike since Feb. 17, to demand justice for an imprisoned family member. They are part of a substantial and steadily growing civil movement advocating democratic change in Cuba — one that U.S. advocates of detente with the Castros appear determined to ignore.

The WaPo points out that the Lugar commission ignored Cuba’s pro-democracy movement.

The Congressional Black Caucus and the Lugar delegation both ought to be ashamed and embarrassed to have ignored the pro-democracy activists.

The WaPo editorial states,

The congressional pressure, and that by leftist Latin American presidents who have been streaming to Cuba in recent months, is very likely to undermine President Obama, who has promised that “liberty” would be at the center of his Cuba policy. Mr. Obama is expected to announce a relaxation on travel and gifts to family members by Cuban Americans before next week’s Summit of the Americas, and he has said he is open to dialogue with the regime. But he has also said that the lifting of what remains of the U.S. trade embargo should be linked to steps by Cuba toward democratic change.

I disagree that this would undermine Obama. The Democrats fully intend to lift the embargo: Obama can not do that on his own since the embargo is law and only Congress can lift the embargo. The Lugar delegation, the CBC delegation, and whatever other delegations to come are simply laying the groundwork for that.

I predict that the Obama administration will lift the embargo by September this year, if not sooner.

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Congressional Black Caucus members – except one – praise Castro

Follow-up post here

The push to end the Cuban embargo is rolling right along. The latest comes from the Congressional Black Caucus members visiting Cuba: make no mistake, the embargo is a law, and as such must be revoked by Congress, not the President.

Miami Herald headline: Castros tell lawmakers they want talks with U.S.
Returning from meetings with both Fidel and Raúl Castro, members of the Congressional Black Caucus said Cuba would welcome talks with the United States.

CBC members praise Castro

Key members of the Congressional Black Caucus are calling for an end to U.S. prohibition on travel to Cuba, just hours after a meeting with former Cuban president Fidel Castro in Havana.

“The fifty-year embargo just hasn’t worked,” CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Ca.) told reporters this evening at a Capitol press conference after returning from a congressional delegation visit to Cuba. “The bottom line is that we believe its time to open dialogue with Cuba.”

Lee and others heaped praise on Castro, calling him warm and receptive during their discussion. But the lawmakers disputed Castro’s later statement that members of the congressional delegation said American society is still racist.

“It was quite a moment to behold,” Lee said, recalling her moments with Castro.

“It was almost like listening to an old friend,” said Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Il.), adding that he found Castro’s home to be modest and Castro’s wife to be particularly hospitable.

“In my household I told Castro he is known as the ultimate survivor,” Rush said.

Castro, in turn (link in Spanish), was lavish in his florid praise of the CBC members who visited him (my translation):

Barbara is proud of heading the Black Caucus, of actively participating in her country with new energy and optimism, of her male son who was far from being born when the revolution triumphed in Cuba, and of her five grandchildren. She had been the lone vote against Bush’s genocidal war in Iraq. That was irrefutable proof of her political courage. She deserves every honor.

Barbara, as Fidel refers to Congresswoman Lee, was not alone: U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver turned a blind eye to the absence of any members of the Cuban pro-democracy movement and stated,

“We’ve been led to believe that the Cuban people are not free, and they are repressed by a vicious dictator, and I saw nothing to match what we’ve been told.”

One CBC member stands apart from the rest: Congressman Kendrick Meek (Dem, FL 17th Dist.), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, stayed in Florida, where he stated,

Rep. Kendrick Meek, who was traveling the Panhandle Tuesday in his U.S. Senate bid, offered this wise analysis of his Black Caucus colleagues’ ”fact-finding” mission:…
”Political prisoners jailed in Cuba are held for peacefully expressing their rights and freedoms, like Dr. Oscar Biscet and Antúnez,” he said. “The Cuban spies held in the U.S. federal prisons were a threat to our national security. That’s the difference between night and day.”

I wish he had said that in Cuba, but I’m grateful that he did.

Others blogging on the subject
The Cuban situation about to get depressingly worse?
Black Caucus Gives Castro Attention, Ammunition
Since When Does Congress Make Foreign Policy?
Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) Has No Problems With Repressive, Murderous Dictatorships
Why are Congressional Black Caucus members in such a rush to befriend a repressive regime that hates freedom, unless they too have no problem with repressing freedom?
Congressional Black Caucus Urged to Visit Afro-Cuban Political Prisoners and Democracy Activist
‘My Darling Comrade Leader’: Barbara Lee & friends coddling dictators
Fidel Castro to Congressional Black Caucus members: ‘How can we help President Obama?’

More
Congressional Black Caucus hearts Castros
CBC spits on the graves of murdered Castro opponents
U.S. lawmakers rate high in Havana
I do not understand how a congresswoman of any color can say, “The fifty-year embargo just hasn’t worked.”
Dem Bobby Rush: Meeting Castro Was Like Talking With Old Family Members (Audio)
Language alert: NSFW Why Don’t They Stay There?
Useful idiots
Congressional Black Caucus funds ACORN
Castro, Wagner, &c.
Rep Barbara Lee On Why Congressional Black Caucus Visited Cuba

And more
Love is in the air

However, the American group disputed one statement made by Castro after the meeting: “Castro said that the delegation had expressed to him that a segment of American society ‘continues to be racist’…’That did not happen,’ Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), told reporters.” Sometimes it’s hard to know whom to believe.

UPDATE, Thursday 9 April
Commentary: A Plate Of Black Beans And Rice Makes More Sense Than The Congressional Black Caucus

Special thanks to Maria and the Baron, and Larwyn

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