bajagrouper
Senior Nomad
Posts: 964
Registered: 8-28-2003
Location: Rincon de Guayabitos, Nayarit, Mexico
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Mood: happy and retired
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JR,did you hear about the new
regulations from the treasuary dept. concerning what Americans can and can't buy from Cuba while in a third country...nothing, not a hat not a bottle
of rum or a Cuban cigar...i'm not talking about buying a Cuban product and bringing back to the states,they don't want you to even smoke a Cuban cigar
in Mexico,Canada or wherever you are...this is from the Office of Foreign Assets Control(OFAC) a branch of the US Treasury Dept..it's on their
website,fines of $250,000 and ten years in jail and a tip line...it's getting scary
www.treas.gov....go to their site,look up OFAC ,then enforcement,then Cuban cigar update...............
I hear the whales song
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MrBillM
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21656
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Out and About
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Mood: It's a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Day
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Big Deal
The Dominican cigars are every bit as good as the Cubans, probably
better than most of the Cuban cigars on sale in the various Liquor
stores. God knows how long they've been sitting on those shelves
drying out.
Better Rum is made in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Why support the Communist economy when you have better choices.
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Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3397
Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
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Mood: Happy!
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While I've smoked a few Dominican cigars, and they can be very good, they still can't beat the very few Cubans I've smoked, IMHO. Of course, the
law is silly anyway--who's going to enforce it--federales?
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jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4863
Registered: 2-2-2003
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Fortunately
I don't smoke cigars, cuban or otherwise. And I have tried many of their rums and my 2nd favorite still is Bacardi A?ejo. My first favorite is called
A?ejo as well but is from the Phillipines.
Damn near halucinogenic when poured into a coconut with fresh pineapple !!!!
And on their most current laws, :moon: to them. Makes me want to take up Cuban cigar smoking.
That makes as much sense and will be as effective as their "war on drugs". Pathetic at best !
[Edited on 10/13/2004 by jrbaja]
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wilderone
Ultra Nomad
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This is the basis of the current embargo, which is not supported by Senate or Congress - only Bush. This followed a restriction on US citizens to
freely travel to Cuba, only to be found unconstitutional, so the govt imposed the embargo which prohibits spending money in Cuba. If you're caught
coming back into the US with any Cuban possessions or hotel receipt or anything else, you can be fined. Ideally, you should have documents which
state you're sponsored and all your expenses paid. Even Cuban citizens are restricted from frequent travel and all persons are limited to 42 lbs. of
luggage. That is to preclude people from bringing in goods to donate or give to their families. Actually, there have been some fines imposed, but
most of the time they just send you a letter asking for the fine, but it is ignored. I have learned that very recently it was supposed to be enforced
more aggressively. Last summer a bicycle tour was canceled once it was determined that they were staying in a hotel. A friend of mine just got back
from Cuba - he flew from Tijuana, which has a flight every Saturday. He had some kind of ID that stated he was a correspondent for some newsletter.
Even with proper credentials, you need a permit, but he refused to get one. If Bush is not re-elected I would hope that the embargo would be lifted
and we could freely travel to Cuba. I'd go in a Mexican minute.
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Hook
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9011
Registered: 3-13-2004
Location: Sonora
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Mood: Inquisitive
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What is the distinction....
..... that gets Bush all in a huff about the communist regime in Cuba and has him ignoring Red China?
Our foreign policy is so hypocritical.
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jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4863
Registered: 2-2-2003
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Many people I know here in Rosarito
travel to Cuba regularly. It looks like an incredible place and if you don't believe me, I think there was an article in Cigar Aficionado magazine a
while back showing some of Cubas "amenities".
Even the Mexicans comment on the friendliness of the Cuban people if that tells you anything!
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4baja
Super Nomad
Posts: 1339
Registered: 9-4-2003
Location: morro bay ca
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i'm with bill, the gars from south america are better and have all the flaver.
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pappy
Senior Nomad
Posts: 679
Registered: 12-10-2003
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i have smoked more than a few with mexitron.one of my favorites is a teamo(from mexico, i believe)yeah, what a stupid law-let's open the way to cuba.
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Nikon
Nomad
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Registered: 12-11-2003
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The Dominican Republic is not in South America, but the Caribbean. And if its cigars are good, they owe their flavor to their Cuban ancestry, but to
say they're better is stretching it.
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synch
Nomad
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On jrbaja's comments on Cuba being beautiful, I've seen SCUBA photos from there and they look wonderful.
On comments about smoking Cuban's - why smoke anything else when you can get Mexican?
Support the local industry!
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David K
Honored Nomad
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Warning: Cuba and politics in this post!
Right, and why knowingly support a dictator who enslaves his people.. who risk (and lose) their lives trying to reach America? Yah, America! IF Cubans
could own guns, Castro would be gone...
Heck, if Castro would trust his people and have some faith that his 'socialist utopia' is really that and what the people want, then Cubans would be
allowed to vote (freely and secretly, that is, for more choices than one party).
IF Castro gave a damn about anyone other than his clan, then the country would be free and American goods and tourists would FLOW into Cuba, and
cigars and sugar would flow out.
Well, the truth is Castro won't let the Cubans be free, vote or own guns.. because he is a despot. His government is a farse. Communism and socialism
are lies and just a means for the few to control the many!
Castro came to power with the help of his people and then stabbed them in the back when he became a dictator and forced communism onto them... Who was
worse? Bautista for a few years or Castro forever???
FREE TRADE TO A FREE CUBA... and not before!
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Nikon
Nomad
Posts: 143
Registered: 12-11-2003
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Badmouth Castro and you're on pretty safe ground
with third graders, and a large segment of adults in the U.S. population. Knowledge of history is not a really strong suit with many. Bush/Cheney
style simplicity won't work with me. Calling Castro a Communist and thinking that closes the subject only gets me thinking;
When Fidel Castro was a law student in Havana, the hoarhouse of the U.S., Cuba, was in its heyday, having been "stolen from Spain, fair and square" as
T.R. put it, when talking about Panama's "independence" from Colombia. Wage slavery was the order of the day, exemplified by Cuban employees of the
United Fruit Company, existing on subsistence wages; no need to describe further, even third graders know how U.S. corporations overseas treat
employees. The mafia owned several hotels and casinos, important meetings were held in Havana, to discuss mob matters. But the mafia didn't exist
because J. Edgar Hoover said it didn't. Fine American.
Fulgencio Batista, another of U.S.'s puppet dictators, of which practically no Latin American country has not had at least one, when faced with a
threat to his regime by the Castro-led rebels in the Sierra Maestra, received help from Good Ole Uncle Sam in the form of what else? BOMBERS! Drop
bombs on those palm trees, boys! "We'll smoke 'em outta their caves" Forty seven years before your hero uttered the phrase, and the results were
equal; on Jan 1, 1959, Batista gave up the fight and fled the country with his family. His contract with America did not include standing before a
firing squad.
Having a keen sense of self preservation, who else but the Soviets was Castro going to ally himself with? After several assassination attempts by the
intelligence service of the "Land of the Free and The Home of The Brave", Castro persisted in continuing a live existence, though his downfall was
predicted with surety upon the fall of the Soviet Union. Damn, wrong again! How can this be? Fourteen years without the support of Mother Russia, and
surviving even yet!
How come we didn't just go in ourselves and kick his arse? Sadly, G.W. Bush was still in the fifth grade, and false pretexts were far into his future.
Many good books available on this subject, as interesting as any fiction you'll find, fiction doesn't make the gods laugh as this story surely does.
[Edited on 10-15-2004 by Nikon]
[Edited on 10-15-2004 by Nikon]
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David K
Honored Nomad
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Location: San Diego County
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While I do appreciate the additional history, albeit opinionated, I wasn't saying Castro was bad because he became a commie. I am saying he is bad
because he denies the Cubans their God given right to freedom.
How many Americans, Mexicans or even Haitians try to swim or sail TO Cuba for a better life?
Bautista was wrong then and Castro is wrong now. The past is gone, concentrate on today. United Fruit hasn't harvested bananas in Cuba for almost 47
years. Cuba is a dictatorship with the military brainwashed by Castro. Dictatorships are all they have known on that island... that doesn't mean
that's all they should ever have.
Cubans are awesome people, for sure... They deserve an awesome life! That's my opinion!
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jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
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David
Have you ever met any Cubans?
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daveB
Nomad
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Location: B.C. Canada
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Domminca Republica cigars, muy bueno
although cubans have a better following. Sorry some of you folks need to keep bearing the brunt of Washington's fury over Cuba, the largest island in
the Greater Antilles chain. Lucky for the Cuban people that they live in a virtual paradise, hurricanes aside. They have found times tough especially
since their principal benefactor, the Soviet Union, has long been out of business but Havana is headlong into tourist promotion to fill some of the
gap. This embargo has gone on for a some time, nearly three generations and counting. And counting's what it is about. The lost money counted on, that
is. Something to do with the word expropriation. Many laws have been passed that still to this day serve to protect thoses losses. Once Castro falls
off his perch many grandchidren will instantly become richer, or think they will.
Long ago while in grade school we learned of European conflicts such as the Thirty Year's War and thought, how could a war last THAT long? Many
nations, as you know, still carry on some trade with Cuba, and this undermines the ability of America to completely starve them out of their
commitment to carry on as masters of their own island. They are allowed to exist at a certain level only, and set out as an bad example to the rest of
the world.
I remember a large newspaper photograph of Casto throwing out the first ball at a Major League baseball game. He was being counted on to help out
down in Cuba, but somewhere along the way he changed his mind. Batista had been replaced by Uncoperative Castro. What he was being asked to do was
simply not to his likeing (become a more manageable Batista) so he sought help from the Soviets as a last resort which made the example part easy. Of
course that nearly backfired short years later.
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