Carlos Beruff Quotes

It’s about time we talked to Cuba instead of fighting a war that is 40 years old.

For more than fifty years, our policy towards Cuba was not making life better for Cubans. In many ways, it was making it worse.

For some reason, we can't go to Cuba, businesses in American can't do business in Cuba. I think that that is stupid. So I hope very much and applaud the president for his efforts in that direction and hope that in the not-too-distant future, that if I have anything to say about it as president, we will work aggressively to develop normal relations in every respect with the people of Cuba.

I think a policy of isolationism toward Cuba is misplaced and hasn't worked.

I think our Cuban policy is insane…. I guess it’s the politics of Florida. The Cold War is long since over. Our embargo just lets Castro blame his troubles on us.. Just lift the embargo and let people do as they wish.

Sending $300 to your grandma in Cuba doesn't change the dynamic with Castro.

One of the most depressing things about President Donald Trump's decision to roll back elements of the Cuba opening is how predictable it was.

Unilateral sanctions on Cuba have been oppressive and largely ineffective, and that's why the public largely supports lifting them.

I lived in Cuba - I was there for one year in the 1950s. We built the famous nightclub, which is still there, Tropicana, and a restaurant, Montecatini, that I opened is still there. I was there when the U.S. ambassador said everyone must leave because Castro was arriving the next morning.

A very large majority of the U.S. population is in favor of establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba and has been for a long time with some fluctuations. And even part of the business world is in favor of it, too. But the government won't allow it.

Hostility toward Iran may not be the silliest of all American foreign policies - that would probably be the continuing trade embargo of Cuba - but it is undoubtedly the most self-defeating.

One of the achievements of which I am most proud was the codification, the writing into U.S. law, of the U.S. embargo on the Castro dictatorship.

[The Cuban embargo is:] … not just a policy tool [but] a moral statement.

Ten Presidents have tried to do something about Cuba and the statis is quo.

Thorough consideration should be given to the elimination of Fidel Castro

[Fidel] Castro was gifted leader who engineered social improvements that benefitted most Cubans, a statesman who placed Cuba at the center of world politics, and a masterful tactician who outlasted ten hostile U. S. Presidents…

You have to believe that trade with Cuba is wrong because it is communist, but trading with China and Vietnam is just dandy.

In January 1961, the United States severed diplomatic relations in response to Cuban nationalisation of U.S.-owned sugar plantations, banks and businesses.

In 1962, President Kennedy expanded an earlier trade embargo put in place by a predecessor, President Eisenhower, to a total economic blockade, which pushed the Cubans further in Moscow's direction.

For more than fifty years, the United States pursued a policy of isolating and pressuring Cuba. While the policy was rooted in the context of the Cold War, our efforts continued long after the rest of the world had changed.

The U.S. trade embargo on Cuba is almost completely ineffective, as many other countries, including the European Union, do not honor it.

Our Cuba policy was a major obstacle to getting things done in the hemisphere and a source of tension around the world.

The U.S. is re-establishing relations with Cuba. But before President Obama can lift the embargo, it will need approval from the Republican-controlled Congress - or as Republicans who called Obama said, 'Close, but no cigar.'

[Cuba's goverment] is an anti-American government.

In terms of the nature of the continuation of the Cold War, which has gone on so long between Cuba and the United States, I applaud the president for aggressively trying to end it and I hope we will have not only full diplomatic relations, but that the trade embargo will end.