Tournament: LAMDL 4 | Round: 2 | Opponent: LA Leadership Academy | Judge: Jesus Moran
Cuban Democracy CP 1NC (1/2)
Text: The United States federal government should offer to implement the affirmative’s plan if and only if the Cuban government agrees to the following democratic reforms:
- Release all political prisoners, without exceptions;
2. Legalize all political parties, labor unions, and maintain freedom of the press, without exceptions; and
3. Schedule and hold free elections.
Observation One: Competition
Our counterplan is competitive with the affirmative plan because they unconditionally and immediately lift the embargo. This is incompatible with our counterplan that conditions the enactment of the plan on democratic reforms.
Observation Two: Solvency
- Unconditional engagement with Cuba will not improve the lives of the Cuban people. We should use conditional aid to induce change.
WERLAU 2009 (MARIA is a consultant in New Jersey and co-founder of the nonprofit project, Cuba Archive. “Toward a New Cuba Policy,” April 13th http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123958449490312295.html)
What is needed is a policy of comprehensive conditional engagement
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tyranny has lasted far too long. It demands a sensible and unified response.
2. The real root cause of Cuban suffering is the Castro regime’s repressive economic policies that they impose on their own people. Unconditional lifting of sanctions causes the Castro regime to reverse reforms and prevents Cuban democracy.
Sanguinetty 13 (An expert on human capital strategies and the political economy of policy reform in developing and transitional economies, Jorge A. Sanguinetty is a former economic planner in Cuba with first-hand knowledge of centrally planned economies and how they can transition to more open, market-based systems. http://devresearchcenter.org/2013/04/08/who-benefits-and-loses-if-the-us-cuba-embargo-is-lifted-by-jorge-a-sanguinetty/ Who benefits and loses if the US-Cuba embargo is lifted?)
The answer depends on the conditions under which the embargo
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lifting of the US embargo is likely to bring about democracy in Cuba.
3. Democracy Promotion prevents multiple scenarios for global war.
Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict 95 (October, "Promoting Democracy in the 1990's," http://wwics.si.edu/subsites/ccpdc/pubs/di/1.htm)
This hardly exhausts the lists of threats to our security
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a new world order of international security and prosperity can be built.
Cuban health care is exceptional – everyone has access to a doctor and coverage is free.
Campion, M.D. and Morrissey, Ph.D., 2013
(Edward and Stephen, “A Different Model — Medical Care in Cuba” New England Journal of Medicine, Online: http://www.sld.cu/galerias/pdf/sitios/santiagodecuba/nejmp1215226_1.pdf)
Internet access is virtually nonexistent. And the Cuban health care system
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surprisingly information-rich and focused on population health.
Lifting the embargo leads to medical tourism which overstretches healthcare system
Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, 2010
(Laurie, “Castrocare in Crisis,” Foreign Affairs, 89:4, July/August, EBSCOhost)
Cuba's economic situation has been dire since 1989, when the country lost its Soviet benefactors
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it may be the better of two bad options.
Economic engagement won’t yield regime change because the wealth from trade won’t trickle down to citizens.
Lopez, former professor of political science at the University of Illinois, 2000
(Juan, “Sanctions on Cuba Are Good, But Not Enough,” Orbis, Volume 44, Issue 3, June,
p. 345-362, EBSCOhost)
The engagement thesis also claims that economic development
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power of the state and makes no contribution to democratization.
All economic benefits of engagement would flow to the government – giving it more power to repress its people.
Radosh, adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute, 2013
(Ron, “Ron Radosh: The Time to Help Cuba’s Brave Dissidents Is Now- Why the Embargo Must Not be Lifted,” March 20th, Online: http://interamericansecuritywatch.com/ron-radosh-the-time-to-help-cubas-brave-dissidents-is-now-why-the-embargo-must-not-be-lifted/)
What these liberals and leftists leave out is that this demand — lifting the embargo
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the majority would be in favor of not lifting the embargo.
Trade won’t promote democracy – Cuba’s regime will crack down on dissent.
Amnesty International, international organization promoting human rights, 2012
(“Routine Repression,” Online: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/007/2012/en/16f0c0fe-c76b-428e-9050-bc9eb2ea95f7/amr250072012en.pdf)
Cuba does not tolerate any criticism of the state outside the official
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are a threat against national security, Cuba’s integrity¶ and the revolution.
Oil Drilling DA-1NC
A. Uniqueness and Link: Oil companies are making plans to drill in Cuba – the embargo is the only obstacle to operations.
Claver-Carone, director of the US-Cuba Democracy PAC, 2008
(Mauricio, “How the Cuban embargo protects the environment,” The New York Times, July 25, Online: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/opinion/25iht-edcarone.1.14793496.html)
For almost a decade now, the Castro regime has been lauding offshore
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assets of these companies, there is no legal recourse in Cuba.
Current drilling operations are extremely small in scale – companies are interested, but the embargo imposes too many hurdles.
New York Times, 2012
(“Cuba’s prospects for an oil-fueled economic jolt falter with departure of rig,” New York Times, November 9, Online: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/10/world/americas/rigs-departure-to-hamper-cubas-oil-prospects.html?_r=0)
The best-case scenario for production, according to some oil experts
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to contract an Italian operator to build a rig in China to drill exploration wells.
B. Internal Link: offshore drilling is inherently dangerous – it creates pollution and risks massive oil spills.
Gravitz, director of policy and legislation at the Marine Conservation Institute, 2009
(Michael, Statement at the Department of Interior Hearing On Offshore Ocean Energy Development in Atlantic City, New Jersey, April 6, Online: http://www.environmentamerica.org/reports/ame/department-interior-hearing-offshore-ocean-energy-development-atlantic-city-new-jersey)
Based on the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) and a crude measure of marine
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productive commercial and recreational fisheries would make no sense.¶
C. Impact: The costs of oil spills on the environment irreparable and impossible to quantify – they must be avoided at all costs.
Malik, Masters in Philosophy at Oxford University, 2010
(Stephanie, “Ethical Questions Surrounding the BP Oil Spill,” Practical Ethics, June 29, Online: http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2010/06/ethical-questions-surrounding-the-bp-oil-spill/)
Conspicuously absent from Obama’s address was genuine acknowledgment
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suffocating them with oil, destroying their habitats and otherwise harming them,” said Justin Goodman, a representative of PETA.
Cuba’s environment is very healthy – it’s been protected from pollution by the embargo.
Lovgren, winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Award, 2006
(Stefan, “Castro the Conservationist? By Default or Design, Cuba Largely Pristine,” National Geographic, August 4, Online: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060804-castro-legacy.html)
Isolated in part because of the U.S. trade embargo against the island
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with many Cubans fleeing the country for economic and political reasons.
Lifting the embargo would turn Cuba into a target for tourists and business exploitation – this would destroy its environment.
Lovgren, winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Award, 2006
(Stefan, “Castro the Conservationist? By Default or Design, Cuba Largely Pristine,” National Geographic, August 4, Online: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060804-castro-legacy.html)
So what will happen if Castro's regime falls and a new, democratic
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the beginning of the end for some of the last pristine territories in the Caribbean."
Cuba’s tourism industry caters to racial divisions and promotes ethnics tensions.
Sanchez and Adams, professors of political science and anthropology at Loyal University, 2008
(Peter and Kathleen, “Janus Faced Character of Tourism in Cuba,” Annals of Tourism Research, Volume 35 Number 1, Online – Free)
In the course of three trips to Cuba, spanning nine years, the¶ authors found
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it has done the opposite in¶ Cuba: yielding more social division and tension.