Trump Cuba Policy Announcement

[Philc2001]

7 minutes ago, planetary said:

Clearly, people do.  Or they think it doesn't matter, since it's also being marketed as anti-Obama, and that's good enough to avoid tissue rejection for many conservatives.

I will simply point you to an article that I believe sums it up succinctly:

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/06/cuba-trump-obama-opening/530568/

There is a segment of republicans that are anti-Obama no matter what, and that only fuels anti-Trump movement, and the spin continues. This divisive state is destined for some serious problems. The term "govern" in government seems to have gone AWOL.

[Chuckmejia]

11 minutes ago, NYgarman said:

Of course this was inevitable. Trump promised on the campaign trail to reverse all of Obama's executive orders. Like him or not he is a man of his word and is following through. 

I am glad to see him following through on his promises.

[Smallclub]

2 minutes ago, Chuckmejia said:

I am glad to see him following through on his promises.

Wait, Hillary Clinton is in jail?

[BolivarSmoker]

Wait, Hillary Clinton is in jail?

"Lock her up! Lock her up!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Chuckmejia]

12 minutes ago, Smallclub said:

Wait, Hillary Clinton is in jail?

She's still in hiding and crying daily rivers of tears... thats good enough.

[Fosgate]

Patience... in due time. I think they are working certain priorities and still gathering evidence and developing a plan not only to nail her but several others. I think the hammer is going to fall on a couple republicans too. Namely Romney and McCain.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Duxnutz]

In all honesty it (US travel to Cuba) exploded too quickly. My only hope with this is that the next time, it's a gradual tourism increase. When I visited just days before Obama visited it was insanely expensive. 

[Philc2001]

16 minutes ago, Fosgate said:

Patience... in due time. I think they are working certain priorities and still gathering evidence and developing a plan not only to nail her but several others. I think the hammer is going to fall on a couple republicans too. Namely Romney and McCain.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Who get's nailed first... Hilary, Romney, McCain, Trump, Flynn, Mannefort, Kushner - or - this thread? 

It's a race to the bottom and "we the people" are the real losers  

SOMEONE PLEASE LOCK THREAD THIS UP!

[Guest Nekhyludov]

15 minutes ago, Philc2001 said:

SOMEONE PLEASE LOCK THREAD THIS UP!

Agreed. This stopped being about Cuba some time ago. 

[JR Kipling]

Who get's nailed first... Hilary, Romney, McCain, Trump, Flynn, Mannefort, Kushner - or - this thread? 

 

It's a race to the bottom and "we the people" are the real losers  

 

SOMEONE PLEASE LOCK THREAD THIS UP!

 

 

 

Delete - don't wanna add fuel to the fire

[Chuckmejia]

1 hour ago, Philc2001 said:

Who get's nailed first... Hilary, Romney, McCain, Trump, Flynn, Mannefort, Kushner - or - this thread? 

It's a race to the bottom and "we the people" are the real losers  

SOMEONE PLEASE LOCK THREAD THIS UP!

Why ask for a thread to get locked right after trying to add to the fire in the same post? Lol.... 

 

Sure the topic has derailed a little, but still a lot of good conversation to be had.

 

 

[JR Kipling]

I don't recall if I wrote this on another forum or here. This is all about US presidential election politics and the key state of Florida. There's a large block of Cuban-American voters who don't want the embargo lifted. So it hasn't been. Both D and R candidates have made their political calculations with this in mind for over 50 years. - - There isn't a large enough or powerful enough block currently, that wishes to change that. Their interests don't align with such a change.

Americans weren't flocking to travel to Cuba after the change in policy was announced. It seems the infrastructure in Cuba isn't developed well enough to attract American travelers on a large scale. Flight schedules were already being rolled back.
Well, at least Americans will be able to bring more CCs home from their overseas travels. And those of us concerned about the potential impact on CC quality if the U.S. market were fully opened, likely won't need to consider that for awhile.

Since most of us aren't Florida voters, we have little influence on this anyway.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[SCgarman]

Truth is, the average American could care less about travelling to Cuba for vacation. Since most on this forum are Cuban cigar lovers, obviously opinions here will be stronger for or against than the non-cigar smoking US population. There are plenty more better destinations where you will get more bang for your $$ especially when it comes to hotels in the $400 a night range. Travelling there is off my bucket list. My wife has a job with high clearance, and I certainly am not going to jeopardize her career for a selfish trip to the cigar mother-land.

[Ken Gargett]

3 hours ago, CanuckSARTech said:

Ken harping on Andy about textbook fraud...compared to Ken, as a retired/former lawyer, talking about shooting / killing / hanging / mutilating:

1. politicians
2. seal bashers
3. gun nutz
4. Quantas Airlines staff / executives / pilots / flightline staff / etc.
5. Etc.
6. Etc.
7. Etc.

????????

Pot, kettle??!!?!?!?! 

 

there was no harping. i agree with 99% of what he is saying. if you read the post, i was pointing out that doing it that way was possibly going to cause some serious problems.

what the rest of the crap you raised has to do with this, or this thread, is completely beyond me.

[Winchester21]

5 hours ago, BolivarSmoker said:

I watched on Foxnews. The anchor after the Trump speech said this doesn't change the import policy on cigars and rum.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

I heard the same

[semifan1]

2 hours ago, NYgarman said:

Truth is, the average American could care less about travelling to Cuba for vacation. Since most on this forum are Cuban cigar lovers, obviously opinions here will be stronger for or against than the non-cigar smoking US population. There are plenty more better destinations where you will get more bang for your $$ especially when it comes to hotels in the $400 a night range. Travelling there is off my bucket list. My wife has a job with high clearance, and I certainly am not going to jeopardize her career for a selfish trip to the cigar mother-land.

This pretty much sums me up.I have a clearance working in the middle east. I can go into Dubai for $400 a night live it up there and buy all the CC I want. I would like to hit Cuba up one day, but when it is more developed. I've have had my times of going to 3rd world countries.

[CanuckSARTech]

2 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

there was no harping. i agree with 99% of what he is saying. if you read the post, i was pointing out that doing it that way was possibly going to cause some serious problems.

what the rest of the crap you raised has to do with this, or this thread, is completely beyond me.

Oh KG, you slay me.

I was just ribbin' ya, man!!!!  I kinda MISSED YA lately, so I thought I'd catch up with getting ya riled up!

 

[Smallclub]

4 minutes ago, semifan1 said:

I would like to hit Cuba up one day, but when it is more developed. I've have had my times of going to 3rd world countries.

[jwr0201]

Just think...this might just be either a really late or really early April Fools tweet from the Donald, uh, the prez ( not you, Rob),  I mean the US President and twitter in chief.  He's probably a connoisseur of fine cigars and really doesn't mean to sell us down the river just so's those selfish Canucks can get all the CC goodies!   At least we still have a great exchange rate going for us!  

[semifan1]

2 hours ago, Smallclub said:

[BrightonCorgi]

9 hours ago, semifan1 said:

This pretty much sums me up.I have a clearance working in the middle east. I can go into Dubai for $400 a night live it up there and buy all the CC I want. I would like to hit Cuba up one day, but when it is more developed. I've have had my times of going to 3rd world countries.

You could visit Toronto or Montreal and smoke all the CC's you want as well.  Americans don't need a Visa or clearance to visit the UAE.  Cigar prices in UAE are higher than Cuba and are just two different experiences.  You can see plenty of Ferrari's in UAE, but seeing them in Modena is different/special in its own right.

[Nino]

Informative article on GAESA, the military wing that controls business & tourism in Cuba :

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=125750

Cuba’s Largest Company: The Revolutionary Armed Forces

June 16, 2017 |

Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Callejas heads the Army’s GAESA holding company.

HAVANA TIMES – In Cuba, renting a car, sleeping in a hotel, diving or buying in a store has one thing in common: the companies that provide these services belong to the Grupo Empresarial Empresarial S.A. (GAESA) led by the Revolutionary Armed Forces, reported dpa news.

GAESA is the largest Cuban holding company and includes a conglomerate of more than 50 companies, all directed under the laws of the market and chaired by brigadier General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Callejas, ex-son in law of President Raul Castro.

The most well-known company under GAESA is the Gaviota hotel chain, which has more than 29,000 rooms throughout the country, many of them in shared management with foreign companies such as Melia, Iberostar and even Starwood of the US Marriott chain.

The crown jewel of GAESA is the tourism sector, with a market share of 40 percent, but this conglomerate is much broader than many people think, reaching almost all sectors of the economy, as long as they bring benefits.

GAESA owns a shipping company, has its own airline, construction companies, car sales, real estate companies, banks and the company Almacenes Universales SA, which controls the container traffic at the Port of Mariel with its Special Development Zone, the big hope of the Cuban Government to attract foreign investments to the island thanks to the tax benefits.

The most well-known company under GAESA is the Gaviota hotel chain, which has more than 29,000 rooms throughout the country.

At the outset, the Ministry of the Interior and the Revolutionary Armed Forces had their own separate companies separated from each other to self-finance their daily activities. By giving each institution a part of the economic pie ensured a peace between them.

The balance existed until 2010, when CIMEX, the island’s largest commercial conglomerate founded by the Ministry of the Interior, was absorbed by the military (GAESA), increasing their chain stores, but above all in financial services and import-export capacity.

The sending of several billions of dollars per year of remittances to Cuba is monopolized by Financiera Cimex (Fincimex) also under GAESA.

The GAESA Empire increased last year with the acquisition of Habaguanex, the company that manages the tourist businesses in the historic center of Old Havana, formerly in the hands of the powerful Havana City historian Eusebio Leal.

The other takeover was that of Banco Financiero Internacional (BFI), the country’s main entity for currency management.

Both acquisitions made GAESA continue to capture highly profitable economic sectors because of its relationship with the foreign market.

The sending of remittances to Cuba is monopolized by its Financiera Cimex (Fincimex), which has agreements with companies such as Western Union. Fincimex also controls the processing of Visa and Mastercard international cards on the island.

These international financial alliances are also linked to the tourism sector, because it is via Fincimex that companies that send remittances pay in Cuba to the owners of houses and apartments that use the services of the US company Airbnb, specialized in renting rooms.

 

[LLC]

Very interesting article Nino, thanks for posting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LLC]

When I first read Trump would make his announcement in Miami and posted the topic, I thought it was going to be a dramatic change. All in all it wasn't as far reaching as I thought he would go.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[semifan1]

2 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

You could visit Toronto or Montreal and smoke all the CC's you want as well.  Americans don't need a Visa or clearance to visit the UAE.  Cigar prices in UAE are higher than Cuba and are just two different experiences.  You can see plenty of Ferrari's in UAE, but seeing them in Modena is different/special in its own right.

I'm pretty sure prices for CC's are more expensive everyplace, but Cuba. I do need a clearance for work since it's for the government.