Another good Cuba blog

"The U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, has spent more than $200 million on these programs since 1996. They are explicitly designed to influence internal affairs in Cuba and boost freedom. And no matter how noble the cause might be, the programs are at odds with development work in most parts of the world."

"Into the Cuckoos Nest (May 2, 2013) , from blog "Along the Malecon"

"Douglas Dillon, under secretary of state during the Kennedy administration, helped set the tone in 1960 when he said it was Washington's duty to cause "rising discomfort among hungry Cubans."
The strategy continued in the 1970s, according to "Cuba Under Siege," which quotes a CIA officer as saying:

We wanted to keep bread out of the stores so the people would go hungry."  

[ibid.] 

"Piece by piece, in backpacks and carry-on bags, American aid contractor Alan Gross made sure laptops, smartphones, hard drives and networking equipment were secreted into Cuba. The most sensitive item, according to official trip reports, was the last one: a specialized mobile phone chip that experts say is often used by the Pentagon and the CIA to make satellite signals virtually impossible to track."

"US AID Contractor Work in Cuba Detailed", Desmond Butler, AP.  February 13, 2012

C'mon, Mr. Kerry, c'mon Mr. Obama, do what's sensible.
Allow all Americans to travel to Cuba under the same terms as to any other country.

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