The American Trade Embargo Against Cuba should be eliminated

C1) Rights of Businesses Terrorism is defined as "the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear" (1). I believe we can safely say the Cuban government fits all aspects of this definition. Furthermore, Cuba sponsors terrorism "Iran and Cuba are both state-sponsors of terrorism, and need to be treated as immediate threats to our national security. Just as the Iranian regime has rejected every overture by the Administration, the Castro regime will never be coddled into changing its ways." (4) We can safely say that through oppression the Cuban government and sponsoring terrorism effectively makes itself a terrorist state. Should we open trade with a terrorist state? No. As for your comparison of Chavez and Hitler, Hitler yes he was elected as Chancellor, and only Chancellor. Later Hitler gained control over the entire state of Germany through the Enabling Act giving Hitler full control over the government. (2) Chavez was elected President...and still is only president. Furthermore, he has been reelected multiple times in landslide victories. He may run an intolerant government but, he has not rounded up 6 million people and killed them simply because of religion. And Venezuela still does not reach the level of oppression of Cuba. As for my opponent states Cuba has not been "starved" but, once again it is not the United States actions that lead to their economic hardships. It is the Cuban governments internal policies. Stating other ways to leverage a country does not mean they are in place to be used as leverage. They are not. Besides if that tactic can be used so easily why did the United States not use it to leverage the USSR? Because in some places it cannot be used. C2) Economy There are actual 10 main tenants of Communism. That is only one of them. Until the other 9 are completely changed it is a Communist country and is completely against all US ideals. And the housing market system is so heavily regulated by the government that it is essentially under governmental control. The embargo should be up kept because there is a reason for the USA to keep it. There is not reason for other countries. The UK is the only country which has an embargo on India should that end even if there is a reason? C3) Castro Considering Iran started the relationship I'd say that Cuba wasn't looking for Iran's help. Cuba supports the Iranian nuclear program also. Iran is allied with Cuba, Iran can harm the United States. (7) C4) The worst case scenario My opponent dropped a very important point here, expect the worst. Therefore, we must expect the worst in this situation.The worse case scenario is as follows: the United States drops the embargo on Cuba. The Cuban's modernize their infrastructure and military. Seeing their advancements, countries that hate the United States such as Iran and N. Korea together approach the Cuban government and ask for a permanent military alliance. The Cuban's accept and allow them to station soldiers and missile defense and attack systems in Cuba, both ballistic and nuclear. All this began at one point. The United States ending the Embargo allowing Cuba to give an incentive to N. Korea and Iran to create a military alliance. (Right now, Iran is in an economic alliance of sorts with Cuba). With Iranian and/or N. Korean support a second Cuban missile crisis could occur. Since my opponent accepts the worst case scenario they mus accept this scenario as valid because of this one point the United States should not end the embargo as doing so could place millions of American lives at risk. Furthermore, the Castro's are not dead yet and when they die we must take the worst-case scenario that they are replaced by a Stalin like figure. The United States government has the sole responsibility of protecting its own citizens. C4) Negotiations Negotiations can also breed mistrust and misunderstanding if handled the wrong way, negotiating is a two edged sword. Negotiations require 4 things (ordering from most important to least important): mutual trust, a positive relationship, shared interests (goals or objectives), Satisfactory zone of possible agreement. It is evident The United States does not have the two most important requirements to negotiate at the present time. (3) C5) Out of Date Embargo A United States embargo on Cuba does not stop other countries from trading with Cuba or sending ambassadors to Cuba. It only stops US relations with Cuba. "The dangerous alliance between Iran and Cuba has only grown stronger since, and today's visit to Cuba by Ahmadinejad illustrates that it continues to expand." (4) There already is an Iranian-Cuban alliance it just is not a military alliance. (4,5) C6) Benefit I say keep the embargo because there is evidence of Cuba supporting anti-western terrorism and evidence of them supporting Iran. It is not the US's fault Cuba is poor. It is because of internal governmental policy that Cuba is poor. C7) Ideas The government would still censor all data going in and out of Cuba. It is called DNS and IP Blocking meaning the Cuban government can block any sites they want through the IP address no matter what they want. Radios are still in Cuba they are just limited "Cuba became the first nation in the Western Hemisphere to jam radio broadcasts". (6) They will do so no matter what. People can only use the internet in Cuba if they have a special permit and even then the general population can only access "a 'national' one that is restricted to a simple e-mail service operated by the government" (6). "To use a computer, Cubans have to give their name and address - and if they write dissent keywords, a popup appears stating that the document has been blocked 'for state security reasons', and the word processor or browser is automatically closed." (6). This kind of censorship will not change. Technology would still be repressed. The Cuban government denies access to the technology. In Egypt, people were not denied access to technology. *Cuba sponsors Iran and terrorism *Opening trade can result in harm to the United States citizens *The embargo influences the Cuban economy many times less than Cuban governmental policy *There is sufficient documentation of a Cuban-Iranian alliance Sources: 1. http://www.thefreedictionary.com... 2. http://en.wikipedia.org... 3. http://www.au.af.mil... 4. http://foreignaffairs.house.gov... 5. http://www.dailymail.co.uk... 6. http://en.wikipedia.org... 7. http://en.wikipedia.org...