{"id":239632,"date":"2021-05-28T16:08:06","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T20:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=239632"},"modified":"2021-05-28T16:08:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T20:08:06","slug":"yea-or-nay-on-the-embargo-which-side-are-you-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba-usa\/yea-or-nay-on-the-embargo-which-side-are-you-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Yea or Nay on the Embargo. Which side are you on?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The French <\/span>philosophe<\/span><\/i> and essayist Michel Montaigne often used the phrase \u201cWhat do I know?\u201d to express the subjective limits of knowledge. What can any individual really know about the world? About others who inhabit it? I pose this question to myself often. It\u2019s part of the job description for being a critical sociologist. I scratch my head in puzzlement each time that I gather data to analyze my compatriots in South Florida. What do I really know about Cuban Americans? Many will jump to answer, \u201cYou know nothing. You are clueless,\u201d and they might be right. But you would think that after nearly thirty years of writing about and studying Cubans in the United States I would know something about what makes our \u201cmoral community\u201d tick.\u00a0 But when faced with the question <\/span>Que sais-je?<\/span><\/i>, which translates into a very Cuban, \u201cQu\u00e9 s\u00e9 yo?\u201d I have to admit that many of the moving parts of the community remain a riddle wrapped in an enigma inside a pastelito.<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Take, for example, the resurgence of pro-embargo sentiments among South Florida Cuban American. It\u2019s a grim turn even if not totally surprising given the Jarabe de Trump that many have savored in recent years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is driving this macabre enthusiasm to endorse an archaic, cold war policy designed in 1962 to isolate Cuba and bring about regime change because, as stated in Kennedy\u2019s infamous <\/span>Proclamation 3447<\/span><\/a>, the country is \u201c<\/span>incompatible with the principles and objectives of the Inter-American system; and, in light of the subversive offensive of Sino-Soviet Communism with which the Government of Cuba is publicly aligned?\u201d Seriously? There is still support for a policy designed to \u201cprotect\u201d the Americas from the threat of \u201cSino-Soviet Communism?\u201d Directed at Cuba? Does this policy remain a vital element in the foreign policy of the United States? <\/span>The world has changed so much but we seem to have changed so little.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe there is more behind this seeming callous attitude of \u201cque se jodan\u201d exhibited by my fellow denizen of the Cuban diaspora than sheer opportunism. After all, we are not all YouTube mavens making a nice living peddling fear and disinformation. Most of us care about our friends and relatives on the island. About half of us send money when we can afford it and sending food via <\/span>Katapulk<\/span><\/a> is becoming a thing. Many on the island depend on us, if not for survival, for support, especially during this horrific pandemic period.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe championing the embargo, in the minds of those who do, is part of a larger plan. Maybe supporters see in the embargo a part of a broader strategy to improve the lives of Cubans throughout the island. Qu\u00e9 s\u00e9 yo?<\/span><\/p>\n

I want to understand why so many of us insist on supporting a foreign policy implemented to punish and isolate when we know that change in this globalized world is brought about by contact and negotiation. Why do people support the embargo? Why do they support lifting the embargo?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With the help of the colleagues at <\/span>OnCuba News<\/b>, I floated a <\/span>questionnaire<\/span><\/a> on their platform and various social media streams (FB, Twitter) to try to understand why Cuban Americans either support or oppose the nearly sixty-year-old sanction. This is not a scientific sample, but the 361 responses (as of May 19) allow us to create broad categories to describe the types of reasons shaping opinions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So while 79% of folks responding to our questionnaire are against the embargo\/bloqueo we can\u2019t say that this percentage is an accurate reflection of attitudes among all Cuban Americans (the <\/span>2020 FIU Cuba Poll<\/span><\/a> reported that 60% of Cuban Americans in South Florida support the continuation of the embargo). We can, however, examine the types of reasons given for supporting or opposing the embargo and create a typology of responses that, in all probability, accurately represents the variety of reasons why most Cuba Americans oppose or support the policy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First, a few details about the sample.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n