Tournament: Emory Barkley Forum | Round: 1 | Opponent: Whitney Young Magnet DS | Judge: NIck Fiori
Plan
The United States federal government should normalize trade relations with the Republic of Cuba.
Advantage 1 is Stability
Cuba’s current reforms are slow, contradictory, and insufficient—the plan is key
Shifter et al 10/15/13 – Michael is an Adjunct Professor of Latin American Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and writes for the Council's journal Foreign Affairs. He serves as the President of Inter-American Dialogue. Matthew Aho is a consultant in the corporate practice group of Akerman Senterfitt in New York. Collin Laverty is the founder and president of Cuba Educational Travel. Kirby Jones is the president of Alamar Associates in Arizona. Carmelo Mesa-Lago is a professor emeritus of economics and Latin American studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Archibald Ritter is a distinguished research professor emeritus of economics and international affairs at Carleton University. (“Are Raul Castro’s Reforms Helping Cuba’s Economy, 10/15/13, Latin America Adviser, pdf)
*This card is from pages 1,3, and 4 of the pdf.  Page two contains a wholly different article.  “Are Raúl Castro's Reforms Helping Cuba's Economy?” is published on pages 1, 3 and 4 of the PDF.  Our evidence is the entirety of the article.
In late September, Cuba's government¶ announced the legalization¶ of 18
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A most welcome surprise would¶ be a normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations¶ during the presidency of Barack Obama."
Lack of foreign investment makes economic and societal collapse inevitable—normalizing relations is key
Ashby 13 – Timothy is a Senior Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. (“Preserving Stability in Cuba After Normalizing Relations with the United States—The Importance of Trading with State-Owned Enterprises”, March 29, 2013, http://www.coha.org/preserving-stability-in-cuba-timothy-ashby/)
Cuba under Raúl Castro has entered a new period of economic, social, and political transformation
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 which could find strong demand in the American market, are barred by short-sighted federal regulations, thus hampering, if not defeating, what could be a major U.S. policy goal.
We access multiple internal links to Cuban economic recovery
CETIM ‘3 (Centre Europe Tiers Monde, independent research and political organization working at the UN, THE EFFECTS OF THE US EMBARGO AGAINST CUBA AND THE REASONS OF THE URGENT NEED TO LIFT IT, http://www.cetim.ch/oldsite/2003/03js04w4.htm)
The harmful economic effects of the embargo
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by the interdiction of access to the fist international stock exchange of raw materials (New York), of nickel, tobacco, rum.
Cuba collapse causes a refugee crisis and becomes the basis for all terror attacks
Gorrell 5 (Tim, Lieutenant Colonel, “CUBA: THE NEXT UNANTICIPATED ANTICIPATED STRATEGIC CRISIS?” 3/18, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA433074)
Regardless of the succession, under the current U.S. policy,
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The President and other government and military leaders have warned that the GWOT will be long and protracted.
Caribbean terrorism leads to attack on the US-~--they’ll use bioweapons and LNG
Bryan 1 (Anthony T. Bryan, director of the North-South Center’s Caribbean Program, 10-21-2001. CFR, Terrorism, Porous Borders, and Homeland Security: The Case for U.S.-Caribbean Cooperation, p.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/4844/terrorism_porous_borders_and20_homeland_20security.html
Terrorist acts can take place anywhere. The Caribbean is no exception.
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to the clandestine manufacture and deployment of biological weapons within national borders.
Cuba bioterrorism is dangerous to US- multiple reasons
Ernesto F. Betancourt,  Contrarrevolucionario de origen cubano, Winter 2001 “West Nile Virus -~-- Is Castro's Bioterrorism Threat Being Ignored?”, Hacienda Publishing, http://www.haciendapub.com/medicalsentinel/west-nile-virus-castros-bioterrorism-threat-being-ignored JH
In the light of the awesome terrorist aggression we suffered on September 11, 2001,
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in collaboration with the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute. The question that comes to mind is why would Castro do that?
Bioterrorism causes extinction
Richard Ochs 2002, president of the Aberdeen Proving Ground Superfund Citizens Coalition, member of the Depleted Uranium Task force of the Military Toxics Project and a member of the Chemical Weapons Working Group. After completing a course in Atomic and Nuclear Physics at Muhlenberg College, he transferred to  the University of Maryland, where he had a split major in history and political science “BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS MUST BE ABOLISHED IMMEDIATELY”, http://www.freefromterror.net/other_articles/abolish.html
Of all the weapons of mass destruction, the genetically engineered
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Can we imagine hundreds of such plagues? HUMAN EXTINCTION IS NOW POSSIBLE.
LNG tanker explosions cause catastrophic damage – outweighs nuclear war
Lovin 1 (Amory B., Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and L. Hunter Lovin, President – National Capitalism and Co-Founder – Rocky Mountain Institute, “Brittle Power: Energy Strategy for National Security”,  http://verdilivorno.it/doc_gnl/198204_Brittle_Power_intro_GNL_note.pdf)
About nine percent of such a tankerload of LNG will
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is equivalent to seven-tenths of a megaton of TNT, or about fifty-five Hiroshima bombs.
Caribbean instability causes global power war- multiple ways
Griffith, 2k (Ivelaw L. Griffith 2k, professor of political science and dean of the honors college at Florida International University, “U.S. Strategic Interests in Caribbean Security”, JFQ: Joint Force Quarterly, Autumn 2000, Issue 26)
The strategic importance of the Caribbean is found in its resources, sea lanes, and security networks.
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to match the national interest in an area that represents a global crossroads and an essential element for regional stability.

Advantage 2 is the ECPA
Plan boosts overall Latin American relations- now is key
Perez 10 J.D. Yale Law School.  Working with Koh former Dean of Yale Law and Legal Advisor to the State Department David A. Perez, America's Cuba Policy: The Way Forward: A Policy Recommendation for the U.S. State Department, Spring, 2010, Harvard Latino Law Review, 13 Harv. Latino L. Rev. 187
One of the lasting legacies of America's Cuba policy is that it isolates the U.S
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one that has been absent for the last fifty years.
Ending the embargo would send a powerful signal to all of Latin America, establishing a better relationship throughout the region.  
White, Senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, 13
(Robert E., New York Times, 3/7/13, “After Chávez, a Chance to Rethink Relations With Cuba,” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/opinion/after-chavez-hope-for-good-neighbors-in-latin-america.html?pagewanted=alland_r=0, accessed 6/24/13, IC)
FOR most of our history, the United States assumed that its security was
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in matters of common concern would be reduced to a historical footnote.
Energy Climate Partnerships of America is at risk
Edwards 11 - Research fellow @ Brown University’s Center for Environmental Studies  Guy Edwards (Researcher for and works with the Latin American Platform on Climate and the Climate and Development Knowledge Network), “Climate, energy to dominate US-Latin American relations,” Thomson Reuters Foundation - Mon, 18 Jul 2011 11:14 AM, pg. http://www.trust.org/item/?map=climate-energy-to-dominate-us-latin-american-relations/
With the challenges of climate change, clean energy, resource scarcity and green growth are
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at the 2012 Summit of the Americas, it is not yet comparable to past initiatives such as the 1960s-era Alliance for Progress.
ECPA facilitates sustainable development. Failure in Latin America will have global ramifications
Kammen and Barido 12 - Professor of Energy @ UC Berkeley and Doctoral student in the Energy and Resources Group @ UC Berkeley who has done research on Latin American water management and ecosystem services  Daniel M. Kammen and Diego Ponce de Leon Barido, “Building Bridges to a Sustainable Energy Future,” National Geographic, December 5, 2012, pg. http://www.greatenergychallengeblog.com/2012/12/05/building-bridges-to-a-sustainable-energy-future/
The Americas are undergoing a transition in the energy sector
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at the institutional level to link industry, university, and civil-society groups in the New World.
Successful ECPA will be the global model
Brune 2k - Researcher on energy security and national security issues @ Sandia National Laboratories Dr. Nancy E. Brune (Truman National Security Fellow), “Latin America: A Blind Spot in US Energy Security Policy,” Journal of Energy Security, Monday, 26 July 2010 00:00, pg. http://tinyurl.com/lrdweto
In their recent piece in Foreign Affairs, David G.  Victor and Linda Yueh conclude that global energy governance
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Our global counterparts recognize that the countries south of the border are critical to their energy security interests.  Will America?
Biosphere collapse will cause extinction
Barry 13 – Political ecologist with expert proficiencies in old forest protection, climate change, and environmental sustainability policy  Dr. Glen Barry (Ph.D. in "Land Resources" and Masters of Science in "Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development” from the University of Wisconsin-Madison), “ECOLOGY SCIENCE: Terrestrial Ecosystem Loss and Biosphere Collapse,” Forests.org, February 4, 2013, pg. http://forests.org/blog/2013/02/ecology-science-terrestrial-ec.asp
Blunt, Biocentric Discussion on Avoiding Global Ecosystem Collapse and Achieving Global Ecological Sustainability- Science needs to do a better job of considering worst-case scenarios regarding continental
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and the tragedy is that across scales when enough life is lost beyond thresholds, living systems die.
Consensus proves warming's anthropogenic—causes extinction
Deibel 7—Terry Deibel – international relations at the Naval War College, Foreign Affairs Strategy: Logic of American Statecraft, Conclusion: American Foreign Affairs Strategy Today, p. 387-390
Finally, there is one major existential threat to American security
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but potentially to the continued existence of life on this planet.  
Air capture's key to solve—removes carbon dioxide and brings emissions below zero
Science Daily 12—Pulling CO2 from Air Vital, but Lower-Cost Technology a Stumbling Block So Far, Experts Say, p. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120724144532.htm)
Emerging techniques to pull carbon dioxide from the air and store it away to stabilize the climate
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the corresponding challenges in other climate mitigation technologies," they say.
We are on the brink and a 2 degree rise would impact Latin America the most
World Bank 12 (November 19, 2012 The World Bank Institute (WBI) is a global connector of knowledge, learning and innovation for poverty reduction. We connect practitioners and institutions to help them find suitable solutions to their development challenges. With a focus on the "how" of reform, we link knowledge from around the world and scale up innovations) http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/11/19/climate-change-4-degrees-latin-america-preparation
Increased flooding due to more frequent storms and higher sea levels is just one of the
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Preparing for the disasters of today is the first step in adapting to the disasters of tomorrow.

Advantage 3 is Solvency

The U.S. must normalize trade relations with Cuba to solve- just lifting the embargo wont work
French  9 – Director for the U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative at the New America Foundation, former Senior Fellow with the Lexington Institute (Anya Landau, “Options for Engagement A Resource Guide for Reforming U.S. Policy toward Cuba”, Lexington Institute, April 2009, http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/library/resources/documents/Cuba/USPolicy/options-for-engagement.pdf)
If the United States were to lift its trade embargo against Cuba
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could potentially take years, as both countries would need to adopt statutory and regulatory changes.  
Only an unconditional normalization of relations will boost relations and allow for a transition
Koenig 10 – US Army Colonel, paper submitted for a Masters in Strategic Studies at the US Army War College (Lance, “Time for a New Cuba Policy” http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA518130)
The option with the greatest possibility of success and reward for the United States is to support the Cuban people, but not the Cuban government
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to create an inflection point for Cuba that guides her onto a path that will benefit the nations of the Americas.