I first learned of America's embargo on Cuba at Berkeley High during aCultural Connectionsworkshop in the 12th grade. Before that moment, my thoughts about Cuba consisted of light skinned actors from New York and Ricky Ricardo fromI Love Lucy. It's been almost five years since I visited Cuba. Officially, I was commissioned to cover the hip hop conference in Havana, unofficially it was my first time out of the country and I was immersed in a geopolitical history lesson I was not at all prepared to handle.

There I was, standing at the front of the line at the bank in Santiago, Cuba, when the rules of the American/Cuban Embargo crippled my American bank account. Except for a few Dominican dollars I exchanged for Cuban pesos, I was completely broke – even though I had almost a thousand dollars on a credit card. At first being broke in Cuba was really scary – I could barley speak Spanish, let alone Cuban Spanish. So, I had to rely on friends – and people I didn't even know – for boarding and food.

But my situation helped to understand more about Cuba, since everything I experienced was not uncommon among Cubans, many of whom lived just above the level of poverty. As the days passed I began to feel a certain sense of solidarity with my Cubanitos, whom I discovered where more like everyday black folks than I could have ever imagined. Lines in Cuba are long for everything you could imagine – from ice cream to beans and rice. Standing in line for some of these items gave me the feeling of standing in the "county line" for your W.I.C vouchers back in the States.

Frequent power outages, deteriorating 50s-era cars and decrepit, dilapidated buildings were all permanent and visible indicators that Cuba lacked outside economic help. What I learned from my trip first hand was that theHelms-Burton Actis wack, and I am looking for some fresh ideas from our political hopefuls on this issue. In the wake of the monumental news of Fidel Castro's resignation as commander and chief, I decided to do a little research to find out what Clinton, Obama and McCain are saying on the issue of diplomacy and the possibility of relinquishing the embargo on Cuba.Clinton released her official stance on Cuba's embargo on Tuesday. It read: “As President, I will engage our partners in Latin America and Europe who have a strong stake in seeing a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba, and who want very much for the United States to play a constructive role to that end.

The United States must pursue an active policy that does everything possible to advance the cause of freedom, democracy and opportunity in Cuba."It looks like she does not favor any major change in Cuban policy until there is democratic change. Clinton has even gone so far as to attack Obama for being willing to meet Cuba's leader/s. But when I looked back into her official stance on Cuba's embargo before today some perplexing contradictions come to light.In late 2003, Hillary was quoted saying she would be in favor of allowing Americans to “visit” Cuba. In late 2005, Hillary also voted in favor of legislation that would allow Cuban Americans to visit their immediate family members.

She then proceeds into a diatribe of rhetoric about how the "American people" are on the side of "Cuban Peoples" struggle for democracy and freedom. The bottom line is that Hillary's answers toward future diplomacy in Cuba sound a little schizophrenic. Does she want to side with liberal Dems who want to open back up the lines of communication between us and Cuba? Or does she want to side with Bush and keep the Cuban Embargo going? Guess it depends on which month you ask her in.

On Obama’s official website, buried beneath a boatload of blogs endorsing Barack’s legitimacy in Texas, there stands a lone but sufficent article about Barack's stance on Cuba. It reads:

"Cuba's future should be determined by the Cuban people and not by an anti-Democratic successor regime. The prompt release of all prisoners of conscience wrongly jailed for standing up for the basic freedoms too long denied to the Cuban people would mark an important break with the past..."

Okay I know this starts off sounding like typical vague political double speak, but hold tight – Barack shows us why he's the front runner ideologically and figurativly.

"If the Cuban leadership begins opening Cuba to meaningful democratic change, the United States must be prepared to begin taking steps to normalize relations and to ease the embargo of the last five decades. The freedom of the Cuban people is a cause that should bring the Americans together."

While it is clear that Obama supports the normalization of relations with Cuba, it’s unclear exactly how far he is willing to go to get there.Senator John McCain doesn’t really beat around the bush when it comes to his stance. His statement reads: "Cuba's transition to democracy is inevitable; it is a matter of when - not if. With the resignation of Fidel Castro, the Cuban people have an opportunity to move forward and continue pushing for the moment that they will truly be free.America can and should help hasten the sparking of freedom in Cuba. The Cuban people have waited long enough."

The fact that McCain does not even have a stance or place dedicated to Foriegn Policy under his list of "Important Issues" on his website is reason enough to believe that he would keep America’s relations with Cuba exactly as they stand. T

he responses of all the candidates leaves one burning question resonating in my mind: What the hell makes Americans politicians think that Cubans even want Democracy?

We took our gun-toting versions of democracy and shoved them right down the throat of the peoples of Afghanistan and Iraq – and what has it really gotten either of these so-called, newly democratic nations? They hate us more now than they ever did. True, Fidel was a dictator – but does that mean that the entire 50 year empire of Communism should come crashing down if he's not at the helm? If anything this could be one of Communism’s brightest hours.

Call me an idealist – but universal literacy within Cuba, free higher education, one of the world's lowest infant-mortality rates and a health care network that treats all Cubans for free and provides relief in the Third World to victims of natural disasters from Pakistan to Haiti? Surely, all of this can’t be bad. If our own presidential hopefuls cannot decide the fate of America’s stance toward Cuba – isn't this justification enough for rethinking the reasons for the embargo in the first place?

-Erricka X

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