PPI Completes Cuban Tour Local attorney part of delegation
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Cuba is a country of contrasts, according to local attorney David Kolbe.
It's beautiful in some places and shabby in others. It allows for capitalist foreign investors and teaches socialism.
Kolbe visited the communist country from Nov. 29 until Dec. 10 as a member of People to People International. PPI was started in 1954 by President Dwight Eisenhower. The concept of the group was for peace ambassador missions to visit other countries with the idea being that if "we can learn about one another through friendship, that can lead to peace," Kolbe said.
The group flew to Havana, Cuba, after a briefing in Miami, Fla. "I've just always had an interest in going to Cuba," Kolbe said. Members of the 100-strong group to Cuba included attorneys, judges, politicians, former politicians and some of their spouses.
It was not a vacation by any means, Kolbe said. "We had a lot of work" to do.
On the first Monday, the they met with Cuban constitutional lawyers at the Convention Palace. There, the PPI representatives listened to government lawyers on Cuba's government structure. Tuesday, they attended the Third Annual Latin American Conference on Penal Sciences. Representatives of 15- to 20 nations were there and the discussion centered around how to deal with those who violate the law.
Kolbe said all the speakers did not speak highly of the United States. The three themes included: the United States says it's against terrorists while it harbors terrorists opposed to the Cuban government; the U.S. government imprisoned five Cuban agents who infiltrated the southern Florida Cubans who are trying to overthrow the Cuban government; and the "spectacle" known as American justice.
"It was really just a taunting event," said Kolbe. He said the group wanted to rebut the statements but there was no place on the conference agenda to do so. They issued a press release later in the day disagreeing with the statements made at the conference.
Later that day, the group met with Cuban Foreign Affairs officials including Rafael Dausa Cespedes, who Kolbe said spoke very articulately in English and Spanish. Dausa's theme was that the United States needs to end the blockade - what the U.S. calls an embargo - and that friendly relations between the two countries should be established. On the embargo, Kolbe said, Dausa had a point.
The only condition Dausa said Cuba wants to end the embargo, Kolbe said, is that there are no conditions.
Cuba can work with the U.S. on effectively fighting the drug trade war and terrorism, and working on environmental issues and human traffic issues. And the U.S. and Cuba can share in tourism. Approximately 500,000 Americans illegally visit Cuba annually. Without the blockade, Kolbe said, that could be more than 5 million American visitors to Cuba.
"The economics was the primary point," said Kolbe of Dausa's comments. Cuba purchases U.S. products but usually through a middle man or through exemptions to the embargo made by Congress, such as Washington apples. The stipulation to the exemptions is that Cuba must pay for the goods in cash and in advance. Cuba wants those conditions to end.
Dausa also told Kolbe that foreign investments are now allowed to operate on the capitalist idea of a free market and are exempt from socialism. Cuba, Kolbe said he noticed, is beginning to shows signs of capitalism, too.
Along with the conferences, meetings and other items on the peace mission agenda, Kolbe and the group got to see the "Tropicana," an outdoor stage production in song and dance of Cuba's history, and they stood in Revolution Square. They stayed at Los Americanos in Varadero, which has a golf course, shopping center, beach and five-star hotel.
"My impression was socialism raised the level up somewhat for the people and brought down the wealthier somewhat," Kolbe said of the country.
He said with all the police around, "it is clearly a police state." However, he said, the officers were very friendly and the crime rate is low.
As for the people, he said, "They're in good physical shape. That's what I noticed about Cubans." He said they seem fit, eat right and are a very proud people. Having now been to Cuba, he said, he could see why they would be very proud people.
Kolbe said he learned a lot from the Cuban culture, and from the Americans, he said, he thought the Cubans got from them a sense that now is the right time to end the embargo. Secondly, Cubans they met probably understand American businesses and tourists are ready to return to Cuba and the U.S. churches are very interested in being part of the Cuban culture again.
Asked what he thought the next step should be in normalizing relationships between the U.S. and Cuba, Kolbe said there needs to be mediation between the 1.2 million south Florida Cubans and Cuba itself. The dispute between the U.S. and Cuba lies between those two groups, not between the U.S. itself and Cuba.
He concluded by saying of Cuba, "It's definitely a beautiful place." [[In-content Ad]]
Cuba is a country of contrasts, according to local attorney David Kolbe.
It's beautiful in some places and shabby in others. It allows for capitalist foreign investors and teaches socialism.
Kolbe visited the communist country from Nov. 29 until Dec. 10 as a member of People to People International. PPI was started in 1954 by President Dwight Eisenhower. The concept of the group was for peace ambassador missions to visit other countries with the idea being that if "we can learn about one another through friendship, that can lead to peace," Kolbe said.
The group flew to Havana, Cuba, after a briefing in Miami, Fla. "I've just always had an interest in going to Cuba," Kolbe said. Members of the 100-strong group to Cuba included attorneys, judges, politicians, former politicians and some of their spouses.
It was not a vacation by any means, Kolbe said. "We had a lot of work" to do.
On the first Monday, the they met with Cuban constitutional lawyers at the Convention Palace. There, the PPI representatives listened to government lawyers on Cuba's government structure. Tuesday, they attended the Third Annual Latin American Conference on Penal Sciences. Representatives of 15- to 20 nations were there and the discussion centered around how to deal with those who violate the law.
Kolbe said all the speakers did not speak highly of the United States. The three themes included: the United States says it's against terrorists while it harbors terrorists opposed to the Cuban government; the U.S. government imprisoned five Cuban agents who infiltrated the southern Florida Cubans who are trying to overthrow the Cuban government; and the "spectacle" known as American justice.
"It was really just a taunting event," said Kolbe. He said the group wanted to rebut the statements but there was no place on the conference agenda to do so. They issued a press release later in the day disagreeing with the statements made at the conference.
Later that day, the group met with Cuban Foreign Affairs officials including Rafael Dausa Cespedes, who Kolbe said spoke very articulately in English and Spanish. Dausa's theme was that the United States needs to end the blockade - what the U.S. calls an embargo - and that friendly relations between the two countries should be established. On the embargo, Kolbe said, Dausa had a point.
The only condition Dausa said Cuba wants to end the embargo, Kolbe said, is that there are no conditions.
Cuba can work with the U.S. on effectively fighting the drug trade war and terrorism, and working on environmental issues and human traffic issues. And the U.S. and Cuba can share in tourism. Approximately 500,000 Americans illegally visit Cuba annually. Without the blockade, Kolbe said, that could be more than 5 million American visitors to Cuba.
"The economics was the primary point," said Kolbe of Dausa's comments. Cuba purchases U.S. products but usually through a middle man or through exemptions to the embargo made by Congress, such as Washington apples. The stipulation to the exemptions is that Cuba must pay for the goods in cash and in advance. Cuba wants those conditions to end.
Dausa also told Kolbe that foreign investments are now allowed to operate on the capitalist idea of a free market and are exempt from socialism. Cuba, Kolbe said he noticed, is beginning to shows signs of capitalism, too.
Along with the conferences, meetings and other items on the peace mission agenda, Kolbe and the group got to see the "Tropicana," an outdoor stage production in song and dance of Cuba's history, and they stood in Revolution Square. They stayed at Los Americanos in Varadero, which has a golf course, shopping center, beach and five-star hotel.
"My impression was socialism raised the level up somewhat for the people and brought down the wealthier somewhat," Kolbe said of the country.
He said with all the police around, "it is clearly a police state." However, he said, the officers were very friendly and the crime rate is low.
As for the people, he said, "They're in good physical shape. That's what I noticed about Cubans." He said they seem fit, eat right and are a very proud people. Having now been to Cuba, he said, he could see why they would be very proud people.
Kolbe said he learned a lot from the Cuban culture, and from the Americans, he said, he thought the Cubans got from them a sense that now is the right time to end the embargo. Secondly, Cubans they met probably understand American businesses and tourists are ready to return to Cuba and the U.S. churches are very interested in being part of the Cuban culture again.
Asked what he thought the next step should be in normalizing relationships between the U.S. and Cuba, Kolbe said there needs to be mediation between the 1.2 million south Florida Cubans and Cuba itself. The dispute between the U.S. and Cuba lies between those two groups, not between the U.S. itself and Cuba.
He concluded by saying of Cuba, "It's definitely a beautiful place." [[In-content Ad]]