Cuba Question

[Fawn]

I'll join ya in that rocking chair! My kids take history in school, but they will never understand as well as those of us who lived thru it. There is no cold war in their memory...no Berlin wall...no crouching under your desks in school during drills...nobody chatting about building bomb shelters at dinner.

I'm thankful they don't have those memories. But their generation will remember Desert Storm, the Towers, the Pentagon, and the war we are now living with. Each generation has their burdens.

But hopefully, we will all NEVER forget how incredibly lucky we are to be living in the United States of America!

Wow...cigars to patriotism. How's that for six degrees of separation!

 

[LarryC]

Originally posted by Mjasp
Don't we have a military base of some sort there. I thought we had some Afganistan prisoners there.

Yes, we do. The United States Navy has a base IN CUBA. It is known as Guantanamo Bay, and it where we are currently incarcerating the Afghan prisoners.

U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay is the oldest U.S. base overseas and the only one in a Communist country. Located on the southeast corner of Cuba, in the Oriente Province, the base is about 400 air miles from Miami, Florida.

In December 1903, the United States leased the 45 square miles of land and water for use as a coaling station. A treaty reaffirmed the lease in 1934 granting Cuba and her trading partners free access through the bay, payment of $2,000 in gold per year, equating to $4,085 today, and a requirement that both the U.S. and Cuba must mutually consent to terminate the lease.

Diplomatic relations with Cuba were cut in 1961 by President Dwight Eisenhower. At this time, many Cubans sought refuge on the base. U.S. Marines and Cuban militiamen began patrolling opposite sides of the base's 17.4 mile fenceline. Today, U.S. Marines and Cuba's "Frontier Brigade" still man fenceline posts 24 hours a day.

 

[Mjasp]

Thats it Guantanamo Bay! I knew we did just didn't remember the name. See I guess I'll stop rocking for a while, I'm not that old, I still have memory. LOL

 

[iluvorlando]

My DH and his family (FIL is retired USN) lived in G.B. for 2 years!! Loved that goat milk!

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Originally posted by drdisney

I don't understand why were going to let something that happend almost over 20 years ago stop us from discovering new ways of life.

It was actually over 40 years ago, but there are many, many Cuban exiles living here in the U.S. and to them it was as if only yesterday. They were seperated from families and other loved ones and they had family fortunes seized by the Cuban government. They are now very influential in U.S. politics, particularly in Southern Florida. Anytime the U.S. makes overtures suggesting the normalization of relations with Cuba, you will hear from these folks.

If you're interested in learning more about Cuba, the Miami Herald covers both the country and our relations with Cuba on an ongoing basis.

www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/