Ann: Quarterly activities summary for period ended 30 Sept 2016-MEO.AX, page-7

Perversely, the strongest voices against re-opening ties between the US and Cuba are the Cuban exiles living in the US who Fidel and co either kicked out or who fled for fear of their lives. These "patriotic countrymen" would rather see their compatriots in Cuba starve than make any concessions towards the socialist regime. I guess now that many of those original exiles would either be dead or too old to care, and that Raul Castro seems to be more focused on what happens after he and Fidel are gone.

I've personally been to Cuba and it was the best travel experience I have ever had - my trip was not without it's problems but the locals have a great saying, "don't worry, we'll work something out" which spoke more about an attitude to problem solve and use the resources on hand to come to a solution. As a Kiwi we used to always speak of a trait in NZers called "Kiwi ingenuity" - something that sprung from being at the bottom of the Pacific when trade was not as free as it is now and solutions had to be made from what you could obtain locally - The Cubans take that same principle and dial it up orders of magnitudes higher.

I'm not blind to the human rights violations that the Castros are responsible for but on the other hand the country is so much more than the Castro family and the continued sanctions by the US against such a tiny county seem perverse to say the least.