Us Citizens Prohibited From Smoking Cuban Cigars

[chanchao]

> The notice also clarifies that Americans are barred from not only

> purchasing Cuban goods in foreign countries, but also from

> consuming them in those countries.

And what has this got to do with Thailand? Nothing, if i had started this thread it would have been locked. reaon? Non Thai related.

Easy: America calls itself "the land of the free". "Thailand" alledgedly also means "land of the free". This post shows which one is true.

Also, it applies to Americans living in Thailand. They can't smoke Cuban cigars anymore.

Cheers,

Chanchao

Edited October 21, 2004 by chanchao

[kat]

What Spurred this On??   Castro must have pissed Bush off for some reason  

There is an impending election and the Florida anti-Castro contingent is a huge electorate for George W.

Hey Does this mean Monica Lewinsky can't have Cigars anymore ????

She can, but they just have to be from Costa Rica, which I hear are better and cheaper anyway

[IamMaiC]

What Spurred this On??   Castro must have pissed Bush off for some reason  

There is an impending election and the Florida anti-Castro contingent is a huge electorate for George W.

Hey Does this mean Monica Lewinsky can't have Cigars anymore ????

She can, but they just have to be from Costa Rica, which I hear are better and cheaper anyway

Ha!!!! Really??

[lingling]

What Spurred this On??   Castro must have pissed Bush off for some reason  

There is an impending election and the Florida anti-Castro contingent is a huge electorate for George W.

Hey Does this mean Monica Lewinsky can't have Cigars anymore ????

I thought it was the tubes the cigars come in that she was familiar with - not the actual cigars...

[IamMaiC]

What Spurred this On??   Castro must have pissed Bush off for some reason  

There is an impending election and the Florida anti-Castro contingent is a huge electorate for George W.

Hey Does this mean Monica Lewinsky can't have Cigars anymore ????

I thought it was the tubes the cigars come in that she was familiar with - not the actual cigars...

You have to ask President Clinton

[RDN]

What Spurred this On??  Castro must have pissed Bush off for some reason 

There is an impending election and the Florida anti-Castro contingent is a huge electorate for George W.

Hey Does this mean Monica Lewinsky can't have Cigars anymore ????

I thought it was the tubes the cigars come in that she was familiar with - not the actual cigars...

You have to ask President Clinton

But surely, he did not have sexual relations with that woman?

[stroll]

What Spurred this On??  Castro must have pissed Bush off for some reason 

There is an impending election and the Florida anti-Castro contingent is a huge electorate for George W.

Hey Does this mean Monica Lewinsky can't have Cigars anymore ????

She can, but they just have to be from Costa Rica, which I hear are better and cheaper anyway

Ha!!!! Really??

Careful what you say, advertising Cuban cigars or showing intend to consume them by implication may be a criminal offense, too!

[Thaiquila]

The link didn't work for me, so here is another one:

http://www.canadiancontent.net/forums/about1994.html

so guess it is true.

It is incredible and indicative of the current culture of the government in the US. What next????

A few points though:

There is no way to enforce this.

I would be surprised if even one person is prosecuted for this, unless they want to make a test case out of it, and I hope someone does

The last I heard the US government has never enforced the huge travel fine against travel by USers to Cuba. It is quite easy to do this, just fly to Cancun, then Havana, and the Cubans will not stamp the passport.

The nature of this ban only serves to increase the perceived values of the stogies, helping Cuba rather than hurting it, and probably hurt the Dominican Republican which also has great cigars without the forbidden fruit appeal.

I was offered Cuban cigars openly for sale in a mainstream tobaccanist in MIAMI of all places, don't know if they were real.

So, in summation, the US government isn't really serious about this, but they certainly are serious about winning obnoxiousness points.

The tie ins to Thailand?

Cubanos are for sale in Thailand:

http://www.siamhavana.com/

They are more expensive than they would be in Mexico or Canada.

What will the US government ban next for USers in Thailand?

Also note prostitution is illegal in Thailand.

PS: I think Fidel Castro is a murderous totalitarian dictator. The guy he defeated to take power there (Bautista) was also despicable. They had good cigars then, they have good cigars now, and they will have good cigars post Castro.

[kat]

Thaiquila:

I agree with most of your sentiment, but I'm sorry to tell you that the travel fine to Cuba was enforced. I went to Cuba legally during the summer of 2001, so I remember distinctly that Bush's administration started fining people that summer. Some fines were US $7,000 or more. What provoked the onslaught? Pressure from the right-wing Cuban American organization called CANF (or something or other). They wanted their payback for helping their boy clear Florida during the, um, election. My guess is that this new onslaught is a reminder to that electorate that he is still their boy.

I guess I'll be renewing my contract or looking for another job out here in SEA.

[Axel]

For many years US-citizens have been prohibited to enter or buy from certain shops in Hong Kong. These shops like 'China Arts and Crafts' were operated by mainland China and therefor off limits, although they operated totally legal in Hong Kong under the laws of the then British Crown Colony. Rumour had it US-agents were reporting any culprits to the consulate or the US-customs.

Seems to me a similar example to the Cuban cigar thing.

These shops still exist with dramatically improved service and even accept now credit cards incl. American Express. US-citizens are free to buy there, now. Im not sure, however, if China Arts & Crafts got Cuban cigars on stock.

[Thaiquila]

I stand corrected. There are now some people who are being fined:

http://www.afrocubaweb.com/travelcuba.htm

However, the travel fine on record is 250,000 dollars; and I don't think anyone has been fined that much.

So, big bark, not much bite, Yanqui pero.

I still don't see how they are going to enforce the cigar rule and I doubt they are serious about doing so. They probably hope to scare some timid types and also of course this is about getting the right wing Cuban vote for Bush in Florida (who you just know are getting their cigars, OK for them, not for anyone else).

What next?

Maybe Californians who aren't allowed to smoke in bars will be subject to 250,000 dollar fines for smoking in bars abroad or in Nevada.

[RDN]

And now you can't spend your dollars in Cuba! And there's a 10% commission for changing dollars into the Cuban Peso:

Oh dear, what a to do!

[brianbrain]

  tortured with hip-hop 'music'.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ba$tards! How can they be so cruel?!

[daveh]

I stand corrected. There are now some people who are being fined:

http://www.afrocubaweb.com/travelcuba.htm

However, the travel fine on record is 250,000 dollars; and I don't think anyone has been fined that much.

So, big bark, not much bite, Yanqui pero.

I still don't see how they are going to enforce the cigar rule and I doubt they are serious about doing so. They probably hope to scare some timid types and also of course this is about getting the right wing Cuban vote for Bush in Florida (who you just know are getting their cigars, OK for them, not for anyone else).

What next?

Maybe Californians who aren't allowed to smoke in bars will be subject to 250,000 dollar fines for smoking in bars abroad or in Nevada.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here is another case from two years ago.

U.S. tourists still drawn to Cuba

...

Technically, it is not illegal to go to Cuba, just to spend money there. Certain Americans can visit Cuba with Treasury Department licenses. In recent years, the number of categories of people allowed to visit has expanded to include journalists, religious figures, business executives, artists, musicians, actors, athletes and researchers.

Cuban-Americans are allowed to visit relatives annually, and others are allowed to travel to the island if they are "fully hosted," which means expenses are paid by someone not subject to U.S. law.

An unlicensed traveler faces a maximum civil fine of $55,000. Criminal penalties can run to $250,000 or 10 years in jail. The average fine is $7,500. That's what the Des Moines women were each assessed. Fines can be negotiated. "They have come down to $5,000," Irvine says. "But that's still a lot of money. Our trip was only $2,200."

...

I don't quite understand the statement that the maximum fine is $55,000, but penalties can run to $250,000.

[mandl]

You want stupid laws, these guys wrote the book on it (literally):

http://www.dumblaws.com/

[sprq]

Somebody said this thread has nothing to do with Thailand, so how's this?

Washington puts the screws on Cuba because it's communist, it doesn't have anything the US needs, it can't fight back, and the policy gets lots of votes in Florida, a swing state. Cuba has a tightly controlled society and there's a great deal of things its citizens cannot do. However they all have good health care and good education opportunities, and there is no slavery.

Thailand is free market and democratic, with major flaws in both areas, but still, when you look around the world it's not that bad. However, only a small minority get a good education and the majority don't get good health care. Worst of all, there is a great deal of human trafficking and enforced prostitution amounting to slavery.

So all in all, Thailand treats its people worse than does Cuba. Isn't it time for the US to arrest every citizen who eats Thai rice?