embargo • mackaycartoons

Saturday, February 20, 2016

February 19, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, February 20, 2016

Obama to visit Cuba: Two views

As the Toronto Star has argued before, efforts by 10 successive U.S. presidents to unseat the regime in Havana have demeaned a superpower, discredited Cuban reformers and impoverished the island. By Cuban reckoning, the embargo has inflicted more than $120 billion in economic losses since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. The U.S. severed diplomatic ties in 1961 and imposed the embargo in 1962.

With every passing year the embargo became more pointlessly vindictive, as the U.S. traded briskly with Communist China, with communist regimes in Vietnam and Laos, even to a limited extent with North Korea.

It’s a point of pride for Canadians that we played a small positive role by hosting the secret talks that led to the U.S. and Cuba breaking the ice in 2014, restoring diplomatic ties and embassies, upgrading trade and air links, and easing aspects of the boycott. Canada never endorsed or joined the boycott, taking the view that Cubans must be free to shape their own political course.

Only Congress can fully lift the embargo. That’s beyond this president’s power. But Obama is right to make good on his promise before he leaves office.

Cuba’s democrats and reformers will be cheered by this visit as they press for credible elections, independent courts and a more open economy. And the government will no longer be able to cite U.S. hostility as a pretext for “defending the revolution” by intimidating critics and suppressing human rights. (Source: Toronto Star Editorial)

Meanwhile, another take on the coming visit, though less earnest: Canadians who want to visit Cuba before an influx of Americans “ruins” it better move fast: President Obama is planning a visit in the next few weeks, and you can bet a lot of others will follow soon. On Tuesday Washington and Havana agreed to re-open commercial air traffic. And Beyoncé’s already been there. Can Havana Disney be far behind? Obama’s visit could could legitimately be termed an historic event. And he doesn’t have a lot of other foreign successes to brag about, so he might as well highlight one of the few achievements he can claim. Enjoy the rum, el presidente.(Source: National Post Editorial)

Published in the Telegram, St. John’s, Newfoundland, March 1, 2016

Thursday December 18, 2014

December 17, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 18, 2014

Canada helps end half-century U.S. embargo against Cuba

The “Government of Canada” and a timely nudge from Pope Francis were crucial ingredients in ending America’s half century of isolation on Cuba, President Barack Obama said Wednesday.

In a 15-minute address from the White House, Obama singled out Canada’s role as a third-party broker, hosting secret talks that led to the historic rapprochement.

Obama said U.S. policy that “aimed to isolate the island” was rooted in events that transpired before most Americans were born. But the 1961 policy “had little effect.

“We will end this outdated approach … and begin a new chapter among the nations of the Americas.”

The new chapter started with the release Wednesday morning of American contractor Alan Gross, 65, from a Cuban prison where he had been held for five years. The U.S. in exchange sent back three Cuban spies in U.S. prison since 2001.

Speaking simultaneously in Havana, Cuban President Raul Castro echoed Obama’s remarks, praising Canada and Pope Francis for their roles as key mediators in the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the U.S.

“We have profound differences on sovereignty, nationhood and democracy,” Castro cautioned in a nationally televised broadcast, the Star’s Oakland Ross reports.

“But we reaffirm our will to dialogue about all of these matters.”

In May 2014, Graeme and other Canadian editorial cartoonists travelled to Cuba

Reading from a sheaf of notes and wearing his army uniform, Raul called on Washington to remove a range of obstacles to better relations, including restrictions on family visits and on direct mail between the two countries.

The Cuban leader acknowledged that his U.S. counterpart cannot unilaterally remove the economic embargo Washington has long imposed on its Cuban neighbour — this would require an act of the U.S. Congress — but he said Obama could adopt measures that would “modify” the embargo’s impact.

While exercising tight political control over Cuba’s 11 million people, Raul Castro has also instituted a wide range of liberal economic reforms since taking over as head of the Cuban government eight years ago.

These include a rapid expansion in private enterprise. By one estimate, the number of privately owned Cuban businesses — including restaurants, beauty parlours, and small taxi services — has soared from 150,000 in 2006, when Raul stepped in, to more than 460,000 today. (Source: Toronto Star)
SOCIAL MEDIA

Today’s great editorial cartoon by @mackaycartoons @TheSpec #Cuba pic.twitter.com/KkJoQkp4Tt

— As It Happens (@cbcasithappens) December 18, 2014

Letter to the editor

The truth behind the new Cuba relationship – letter, December 22, 2014

Normally I’m not much of a fan of political cartoonist Graeme MacKay and his musings, but his recent offering about the new relationship between the U.S. and Cuba is bang on.

However, he should have added a tiny and insignificant billboard in the background expressing human and political rights, because that would most likely be representative of its importance during these talks.

The political talking heads and their media hacks are dutifully parroting the narrative of the importance that Raul Castro moves forward on alleged human rights abuses in Cuba. But in reality, this current round of détente is all about investment and how much each side will receive.

Fidel Castro’s “crimes” have never been about repression, it has always been his committing the cardinal sin of nationalizing foreign assets during his revolution. In Washington’s view that is considered a Crime against Capitalism (the most heinous of them all and worthy of spilling blood and treasure) and they have spent the past 50 years punishing Cuba for it.

So over the coming days and weeks, we will be subjected to a massive propaganda campaign through media editorials regarding Castro’s lack of commitment to reform. This is how the story must be framed so we can sanctimoniously reaffirm our credentials as stalwart defenders of freedom and democracy, not opportunists who value making money over making people’s lives better.

Garry Shaw, Burlington