End the Cuban Embargo

IN HIS OWN WORDS: Jesse Ventura explains why the Cuban embargo must be lifted

A few weeks ago, a nonpartisan survey discovered that the majority of Americans nationwide are ready for a policy shift when it comes to the Cuban embargo. Even the majority of Cuban Americas say enough is enough: end the Cuban embargo.

The whole notion of passing a law to ban all forms of commerce, tourism, and communication with one country is like saying if we ignore them then they don't exist. What kind of foreign policy is that? 

Cuba is not the only socialist country in the world. And here's the hypocrisy: We're allies with many socialist and communist countries.

Whether a country has a form of socialized healthcare like Canada or whether a communist party rules the government like China - it doesn't matter. We import goods from them, we borrow money from them, we are free to vacation there, and in China's case, they manufacture a majority of the products we own.

As of  October 2013, our total outstanding debt with China is $1.3 trillion (our total national debt is about $17 trillion). That's right - we borrowed $1.3 trillion dollars from a country that doesn't abide by our democratic beliefs. 

So what does our government have against the Cubans?

When I was governor, I made it a point to visit Cuba. Let me tell you - the Cuban people are wonderful people. The embargo only hurts them. It hurts their economy, and it hurts our economy.

The embargo is doing nothing to remove President Castro. The embargo is doing nothing to change the government. And we gave it a fair shot: the embargo has been in place for over 40 years! We the People know it's time to call it quits, now it's up to Washington.

Peace,

Gov. Jesse Ventura #StayVigilant