If the Cuban government collapses as a result of the Venezuelan oil embargo

[Vogon_Glory]

and one of the Trump regime’s fondest wet dreams comes to pass, how long do you think it would take for the narco cartels to set up shop on Cuban soil? There’s NO reason to believe that the cartels would stand by and twiddle their thumbs when a large Caribbean island, much closer to the US than either Colombia or Venezuela, emerges as a suitable springboard for shipping drugs and other contraband to the USA.

I suspect within months if not sooner.

I make no secret of the fact that I’m not a big fan of the Havana government. But I do give the Cuban government credit for keeping the Cartels off the island. And neither the emigres in the US or their friends in the Republican Party are going to like what happens when the cartels set up shop south of the Florida straits.

[peppertree]

1. You're not kidding. That's in fact what was happening under the Batista regime

Small wonder that Meyer Lansky immediately got on the horn with his friend-of-a-friend, Richard Nixon, to have Eisenhower reverse his initial support of the Castro revolution (thus ensuring that Castro would run to the Soviets for aid).

"Don't forget who fixed all those horse races for you, Dick..."

[Vogon_Glory]

2. I decided that someone needed to broach the subject

The possibility of the current Cuban government collapsing because of Donald John strangling Venezuelan oil imports is there, and nobody wants to talk about the fallout: neither this board’s starry-eyed lefties still thrilled with Castro-style socialism nor the various right-wing Cuban emigres in the larger world.

And despite the fact that I’m not a Cuban nor a Latino, I think someone should. And someone really needs to get realistic—starting now if they couldn’t do it yesterday.

Personally, I wouldn’t put it past the R’s to make a major botch of things, especially considering who’s in the White House and who’s next in line if 47 goes toes up,.

Governing is not something Republicans can do anymore, as we saw with Dubya and the clown show we have now.

[Vogon_Glory]

3. Another point about the cartels

I think folks need to wise up about the cartels. These guys are NOT the Mob that infiltrated Cuba under Batista and his predecessors. These guys are stateless criminals who seem to be capable of overwhelming the civil and law enforcement structures of whatever states they are based in. That’s something the old Mob was never able to pull off. They’re also better-armed and often better-organized than the civil authorities opposing them. I don’t think that the American left has ever accepted this because it isn’t something either Marx, Engels or Lenin ever thought of. Still, I think it’s very real.