May 19, 2014
The Constitution of the United States vests the President with Executive Power. But not just any power, but very specific powers. It vests the power to execute the instructions of Congress, which has the exclusive power to make laws.
An open letter to President Obama signed by 43 individuals is asking the President of the United States to put aside the Constitution and tell Congress be damned. Hurry up, Mr Obama, the window of opportunity may no remain open indefinitely. Your political party may lose the next Congress elections. Timing matters.
Give our private organizations the freedom to serve as catalyst for change in Cuba.
Let's forget for the time being the people of Cuba has no right of expression; no right of peaceful assembly and association; no right to be recognized as a person before the law; no right to equality before the law; no right by competent tribunal; no right to a fair public hearing; no right to be considered innocent until proved guilty; no right of free movement; no right to own property; no right to freedom of opinion or information; no right to desirable work and to join trade unions; no right to adequate living standard and not even right to participate in free elections.
As we said, we’ll serve as catalysts for meaningful changes in Cuba and all that will be taken care of later.
We’ll sell telecommunications hardware, cell towers, satellite dishes and handsets to the people of Cuba. We are good at it; we have done it in the United States and Central America. All you need to do is authorize licenses for the research, marketing and sale of equipment. True, the Cuban people will have no use for any of these for now, but if we build it, they will come.
Authorize the import and export of certain goods and services between the U.S. private sector and independent Cuban entrepreneurs. We know there is not such a thing as a true independent Cuban entrepreneurs except for government officials, but all this is temporary. And while you are it, let’s have an exchange program by professional organizations like the ones we represent, specializing in real estate and land titling and worry about the real owners later. It'll be taken care of, really.
All you need to do Mr. President is put the Constitution aside and raise your middle finger to Congress. We’ll do the rest. We'll transform social unrest into the "Cuban business model". After all if Putin has one why not Castro.
Hurry, Mr. President. You are the Man! Use your executive authority and issue an executive order. It does not matter there is no constitutional provision nor statue that explicitly permits executive orders or whether they are basically used to help officers and agencies of the executive federal agency . We'll provide you with a new agency, Cuba: Now or Never, and help the Cuban people determine their own destiny and never again, allow anyone trample over our Constitution. History will absolve us.
PS. Please forget about promoting agricultural exchange studies between U.S.-based NGOs and private cooperative farms in Cuba. There is nothing private in Cuba. We'll fix that later. Cross our hearts.
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