London Journal: Viva Cuba, Viva Fidel!
 

Just heard on NPR (Nt'l Pubic Radio) in US that London's Mayor 'Red' Ken Livingston is organizing a 'huge festival' in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, which put Fidel Castro in power. This could mean that Ken, once a blatant Socialist and firebrand protestor from the 70s - Old Labour to the hilt, returning to his roots.
Anyway i wonder if anyone knows when the festival will be held, where, etc.

http://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_...eleaseid=10289

'In the run up to Olympic games in 2012 it is planned to invite countries participating in the games to stage events in London - some will doubtless be very large as with the US or France and some will be small. Cuba, as a leading Olympic country, will naturally be one of the countries asked to participate.'

Which is the nuttier: inviting (hopefully at their expense) a small, harmless monument to the follies of communism to show off its rum and cigars?

Or to show such contempt for the people who voted for you that you ban them from travelling to, or buying anything from, a small, harmless monument to the follies of communism?

Even if Ken is (unforgiveably) squandering our money, I'll bet he's squandering less than the US government spends on policing its preposterous anti-Cuba sanctions.

Or for sure the money U.S. corporations are losing by not being in the Cuban market. Some, however, like sugar producers may not like that. funny thing - even buying a Cuban cigar at the Cuban festival in London or anywhere outside the U.S. is illegal for American citizens...that's daft.

Bob we can buy them as long as we do not try to bring them back into the US. Stupid rule but that is the way things are and have been for years. Buy 'em and smoke 'em!

No - this has been determined in past Fodors postings where the exact language of the Treasury department or whatever aegis controls the policy - American citizens can not buy or smoke Cuban cigars or other products abroad - it is illegal - enforcement obviously hard but it is illegal to possess anywhere in the world, even in Cuba probably.

VIVA CUBA LIBRE!!!

Suffice to say that this story originated in the Evening Standard and was picked up by the Daily Mail, both of them rags I wouldn't even wrap up fish & chips in.

Isn't it illegal to wrap fish and chips in the daily fish wrap?

So you don't believe the Mail's revelation of the Stephen Lawrence killers' names? And you reject the paper's consistent opposition to the Iraq war?

Or do you just display your bigotry when the Mail comes out with something you disagree with?

Which means in this case you believe Ken ("I'll never run for London Mayor": 2000; "I'll never try to overthrow the GLC leader": 1981) Livingstone's account of his intentions. Which is even dafter than believing Bush or Blair.

Believe it or not this is a true story. There is in Lisbon a bar called Cuba Libre in former expo98 grounds. When President Clinton was in Lisbon a few years ago, the comitive passed through an area with line of sight to Cuba Libre and the protocol (I don't know which one or both) required the name of the bar to be covered. Only after the comitive left the place, the bar was allowed to show up it's name again.

Just that the DM / ES have had a long campaign against Ken, much of which has lacked accuracy, so when they come out with another Ken story it's best to take it with a pince of salt until other evidence shows up.

As for Stephen Lawrence - it's probably the only decent thing they've done in the paper's history

What's a comitive ?

Given Mr. Castro's somewhat less than stellar human rights record, I am a bit confused as to whether "Vive Cuba Libre" is in support of or in opposition to this decidedly non-democratic leader.

There are good arguments, even very good arguments, to be made that Cuba is decidedly better off as a result of Castro's overthrow of Juan Batista et al. I am also grateful to Mr. Castro (no doubt grace a his friendship with the late Mr. Trudeau) for 'rewarding' the kidnappers of British diplomat James Cross by giving them a little honest work to do in Cuba for 10 years or so.

That said, I still think the argument that Cuba is 'free' is a hard one to make.

"Viva Cuba Libre" is in support to a cocktail most known as "Rum & Coke"

I always get a chuckle when someone says it's "illegal" for Americans to buy a Cuban cigar or travel to Cuba.

Please give me the name of one -- just one -- American who's been prosecuted for buying a Cuban cigar or for traveling to Cuba. Or how about this: I'll give you $1,000 for every such American you can name, and you give me $1,000 for every American who's been to Cuba or bought a Cuban cigar. Deal?

Fact is, thousands of Americans go to Cuba every year. Any "ban" on Cuba has to do with businesses, not individuals.

>I always get a chuckle when someone says it's "illegal" for Americans to buy a Cuban cigar or travel to Cuba.

Please give me the name of one -- just one -- American who's been prosecuted for buying a Cuban cigar or for traveling to Cuba.<

Violating the law and being prosecuted for same are two different things.

((I))

Carol, replace by "entourage" if you prefer an English word :-)

When I was in cuba a few years ago some of our party were flyimg back via Miami somehow. they were told that they couldn't bring anything back eg cigars as they would be confiscated in the USA.

Appropos of nothing much....the nicest smelling place in the world is a havana cigar factory in havana.

Also for those non-Americans....Visit Cuba now 'cos when Castro dies (which will be soon) and the US boycott ends then the place will be over-run with Americans. This isn't anti-Americanism but a realisation that being only 90 miles away the USA will so completely dominate the tourist trade that the current ambience will change forever (not that the current ambience couldn't do with improving - I have never been propositioned by so many prostitutes anywhere else in the world).

j 999 9

Yes i chuckle too when i think of it being illegal to buy or possess Cuban goods for Americans anywhere in the universe. Yet it's still illegal, that's all i said.

And sadly there have been harassments of people traveling to Cuba - threats of prosecution or taking away your passport - i don't have names but there are many who have been contacted after returning. As for prosecution of cigar smokers outside the US - yes that's a ludicrous law, a knee-jerk law but still a law. the ban on travel to Cuba is not only ludicrous but un-american in my opinion - same for bans on travel to North Korea.