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A. Interpretation 1. Economic engagement is directly engaging in trade, grants and loans, and investment GAO 13 United States Government Accountability Office, Trends in U.S. and Chinese Economic
Engagement February 2013 http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-199 Since 2001, China has rapidly increased its economic engagement with sub-Saharan African countries. The United States has increased aid to sub-Saharan Africa and in 2010 provided more than a quarter of all U.S.
international economic assistance to the region. According to some observers, Chinas foreign assistance and investments in Africa have been driven in part by the desire for natural resources and stronger diplomatic relations. Some U.S. officials and other stakeholders also have questioned whether Chinas activities affect U.S. interests in the region. GAO

was asked to review the nature of the United States and Chinas engagement in sub-Saharan Africa. This report examines (1) goals and policies in sub-Saharan Africa; (2) trade, grants and loans, and investment activities in the region;
and (3) engagement in three case-study countriesAngola, Ghana, and Kenya. GAO obtained information from, among others, 11 U.S. agencies, U.S. firms, and host-government officials. GAO was not able to meet with Chinese officials. GAO did not include U.S. and Chinese security engagement in the scope of this study

B. Violationthe plan simply lifts an embargo Economic engagement is distinct from sanctions Elik 11 Arda Can Elik, Uppsala University (Department Of Peace and Conflict Research) 2011,
Economic Sanctions and Engagement Policies, p. 14 Therefore economic engagement policies are not only different from economic sanctions but also they design the former ones from early phases. This argument has similarities with the conditionalists in a
sense that economic sanctions are more effective between interdependent countries albeit it is more costly.(Kroll, 1993).

C. Their interpretation is bad for debate Limits are necessary for negative preparation and clash, and the aff makes the topic too big by making all economic relations topical. Only by requiring efforts to change behavior is there a reasonable limit. T is a voter because it necessary for there to be debate At best they are Effects Topical Standards A. Limits allowing affs to claim topicality by the effects of their plan makes the topic broad and impossible to predict B. Evaluate their plan in a Vacuum the actual action fiated is clearly not an investment in transportation infrastructure that justifies having no resolution at all making it impossible for the negative to prepare Its a voter

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Removing the Embargo creates a rush to substantial offshore drilling just exploratory drilling now 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 lease agreements. It has tried Norway's StatoilHydro, India's state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Malaysia's Petronas and Canada's Sherritt International.

Yet, there is no current drilling activity off Cuba's coasts. The Cuban government has announced plans to drill, then followed with postponements in 2006, 2007 and this year. Clearly, foreign oil companies anticipate political changes in Cuba and are trying to position themselves accordingly. It is equally clear they are encountering legal and logistical obstacles preventing oil and gas exploration and development. Among the impediments are well-founded reservations as to how any new discovery can be turned into product. Cuba has very limited refining capacity, and the U.S. embargo prevents sending Cuban crude oil to American refineries. Neither is it financially or logistically viable for partners of the current Cuban regime to undertake deep-water exploration without access to U.S. technology, which the embargo prohibits transferring to Cuba. The prohibitions exist for good reason. Fidel Castro expropriated U.S. oil company assets after taking control of Cuba and has never provided compensation. Equally important, foreign companies trying to do business with Cuba still face a lot of expenses and political risks. If, or when, the Cuban regime decides again to expropriate the assets of these companies, there is no legal recourse in Cuba.

Oil drilling in Cuba would devastate oceans and biodiversity. Kozloff, writer for the Huffington Post and PhD in Latin American History from Oxford, 2010
(Nikolas, Left Must Fine Tune its Position on Cuba Embargo in Light of Oil Spill, Monga Bay, May 26, Online: http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0526-kozloff_cuba.html)
From an environmental point of view, the

prospect of offshore oil development going forward is not something to be taken lightly. Cuba is the most biologically diverse of all Caribbean islands and sports spectacular white sand beaches, vast coral reefs, and a wide range of fish populations. Cubas coastline and mangroves serve as breeding grounds for hundreds of species of fish as well as other marine organisms. Ocean currents carry important fish larvae from Cuba into U.S. waters, which in turn help to replenish ailing American fisheries. The U.S. and Cuba share an ancient deepwater coral system stretching all the way up to North Carolina. In addition, Cuba has more than 4,000 islets which support important reef fish such as grouper. The islets also support sea turtles, dolphins and manatees *the latter already in danger as a result of BPs oil spill as I recently pointed out+. Crucially important, the islets serve as refuges for endangered species.

Ocean biodiversity loss causes extinction Craig 03 (Robin Kundis Craig, Associate Professor of Law at the Indiana University School of Law, 2003,
Taking Steps Toward Marine Wilderness Protection? Fishing and Coral Reef Marine Reserves in Florida and Hawaii http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1289250)
Biodiversity and ecosystem function arguments for conserving marine ecosystems also exist, just as they do for terrestrial ecosystems, but these arguments have thus far rarely been raised in political debates. For example, besides significant tourism

values - the most economically valuable ecosystem service coral reefs provide, worldwide - coral reefs protect against storms and dampen other environmental fluctuations, services worth more than ten times the reefs' value for food production. n856 Waste treatment is another significant, non-extractive ecosystem function that intact coral reef ecosystems provide. n857 More generally, "ocean

ecosystems play a major role in the global geochemical cycling of all the elements that represent the basic building blocks of living organisms, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur, as well as other less abundant but necessary elements." n858 In a very real and direct sense, therefore, human degradation of marine ecosystems impairs the planet's ability to support life. Maintaining biodiversity is often critical to maintaining the functions of marine ecosystems. Current evidence shows that, in general, an ecosystem's ability to keep functioning in the face of disturbance is strongly dependent on its biodiversity, "indicating that more diverse ecosystems are more stable." n859 Coral reef ecosystems are particularly
dependent on their biodiversity. [*265] Most ecologists agree that the complexity of interactions and degree of interrelatedness among component species is higher on coral reefs than in any other marine environment. This implies that the ecosystem functioning that produces the most highly valued components is also complex and that many otherwise insignificant species have strong effects on sustaining the rest of the reef system. n860 Thus, maintaining

and restoring the biodiversity of marine ecosystems is critical to maintaining and restoring the ecosystem services that they provide. Non-use biodiversity values for marine ecosystems have been calculated in the wake of marine disasters, like the Exxon
Valdez oil spill in Alaska. n861 Similar calculations could derive preservation values for marine wilderness. However, economic value, or economic value equivalents, should not be "the sole or even primary justification for conservation of ocean ecosystems. Ethical arguments also have considerable force and merit." n862 At the forefront of such arguments should be a recognition of how little we know about the sea - and about the actual effect of human activities on marine ecosystems. The United States has traditionally failed to protect marine ecosystems because it was difficult to detect anthropogenic harm to the oceans, but we now know that such harm is occurring - even though we are not completely sure about causation or about how to fix every problem. Ecosystems like the NWHI coral reef ecosystem should inspire lawmakers and policymakers to admit that most of the time we really do not know what we are doing to the sea and hence should be preserving marine wilderness whenever we can especially when the United States has within its territory relatively pristine marine ecosystems that may be unique in the world. We may not know much about the sea, but we do know this much: if

we kill the ocean we kill ourselves, and we will take most of the biosphere with us. The Black Sea is almost dead, n863 its once-complex and productive ecosystem almost
entirely replaced by a monoculture of comb jellies, "starving out fish and dolphins, emptying fishermen's nets, and converting the web of life into brainless, wraith-like blobs of jelly." n864 More importantly, the Black Sea is not necessarily unique.

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The embargo prevents US citizens from traveling to Cuba. Rep. Ron Paul, former Congressional representative, 2013
(Ron, Why cant we all travel to Cuba?, AntiWar.com, April 16, Online: http://original.antiwar.com/paul/2013/04/15/why-cant-we-all-travel-to-cuba/)
The Obama administration has

lifted some of the most onerous restrictions on travel to Cuba imposed for the average American, travel to the island is still difficult if not impossible. However, even those who are permitted to go to Cuba are not allowed to simply engage in tourist activities to spend their money as they wish or relax on a beach. The US government demands that the few Americans it allows to travel to Cuba only engage in what it deems purposeful travel, to support civil society in Cuba; enhance the free flow of information to, from, and among the Cuban people; and help promote their independence from Cuban authorities. They must prove that they maintain a full-time schedule of educational activities, according to Treasury guidelines for people-topeople travel. Leave it to the federal government to make the prospect of visiting that sunny Caribbean island sound so miserable. The reason the US so severely restricts and scripts the activities of the few Americans allowed to travel to Cuba is that it believes travel must promote the goal of
under the previous Bush administration, but taking important steps in reaching the widely shared goal of a Cuba that respects the basic rights of all its citizens.

Lifting the embargo would more than double the number of tourists in Cuba. Dean, Lecturer in Environmental Studies at Brown University, 2007
(Cornelia, Conserving Cuba, After the Embargo, New York Times, December 25, Online: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/25/science/25cuba.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&)
But, he said in an interview, an

invasion of U.S. consumerism, a U.S.-dominated future, could roll over it like a bulldozer when the embargo ends. By some estimates, tourism in Cuba is increasing 10 percent
annually. At a minimum, Orlando Rey Santos, the Cuban lawyer who led the law-writing effort, said in an interview at the conference,

we can guess that tourism is going to increase in a very fast way when the embargo ends. It is estimated we could double tourism in one year, said Mr. Rey, who heads environmental efforts at the
Cuban ministry of science, technology and environment.

Tourism in Cuba promotes economic inequality, ethnic tensions, and corruption. 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) Tourism in Cuba has, to some extent, helped to save the economy by providing much needed hard currency. The Castro government in the early 90s experienced a serious crisis that had grave political repercussions. It
introduced major economic changes in order to survive but, despite such efforts, in fall 1994 alone, roughly 30,000 fled the island and clashes with the police occurred near the Malecon. The government, nevertheless, survived that crisis. The economy has grown and, while life is still challenging, some degree of normalcy has emerged, as hard currency continues to enter the economy via tourism. On

the other hand, the industry has created serious contradictions that have not been

ameliorated and threaten to undermine the governments most important national goals, mainly the preservation of socialism.

Continuing inequality, racism, prostitution, and corruption threaten the survival of the Castro government. The government has attempted to deal with the contradictions by using tourism as a vehicle for support. But its attempts to lasso the industry to highlight the values of the revolution and to foster international support may be nothing more than window-dressing when compared with the deleterious effects of tourism on the government, national goals, and socialist ideology. More
broadly, the Cuban case illustrates some of the potential contradictions that can arise in the uneasy marriage between tourism and nation-building for developing countries and socialist societies in transition. While

it can certainly contribute to a countrys coffers and enhance pride in citizenship, tourism can also fuel or regenerate ethnic divisions, prostitution, economic inequalities, and corruption, all of which may undermine the authority of the state. Under such a scenario, the Janus-faced character of tourism may well prevent many states from achieving their nation-building goals. Further, nation-states that pursue social justice as one of their chief goals may want to more carefully weigh the decision to embrace tourism as a vehicle for fueling development, fostering international sympathy, and fomenting a loyal citizenry.

And that outweighs you should place a disproportionately high value on structural violence. Scheper-Hughes and Bourgois, Professors of Anthropology @ Berkeley & UPenn, 2004
(Nancy and Philippe, Making Sense of Violence, in Violence in War and Peace, pg. 19-22)
This large and at first sight "messy" Part VII is central to (his anthology's thesis. It encom- passes everything from the (outinized, burcaucrattzed, and utterly banal violence of children dying of hunger and maternal despair in Northeast Brazil {Schcper-Hughcs, Chapter 33) ro elderly African Americans dying of heat stroke in Mayor Daly's version of US apartheid in Chicago's South Side I'Klincnberg, Chapter 38) to the racializcd class hatred expressed by British Victorians in their olfactory disgust of the "smelly" working classes (Orwell, Chapter 36). In these readings violence is located in the symbolic and social structures that overdctcr- mine and allow the criminalized drug addictions, interpersonal bloodshed, and racially patterned incarcerations that characterize the US "inner city" to be normalized iBourgois, Chapter 37 and Wacquant, Chapter 39). Violence also takes the form of class, racial, political self-hatred and adolescent self-destruction (Quesada. Chapter 35), as well as of useless (i.e. preventable), rawly embodied physical suffering, and death (Farmer, Chapter 34). Absolutely central to our approach is a blurring of categories and distinctions between wartime and peacetime violence. Close habituscs, and mentalites of

attention to the "little" violences produced in the structures, everyday life shifts our attention to pathologies of class, race, and gender inequalities. More important, it interrupts the voyeuristic tendencies of "violence studies" that risk publicly humiliating the powerless who are often forced into complicity with social and individual pathologies of power because suffering is often a solvent of human integrity and dignity. Thus, in this anthology we are positing a violence continuum comprised of a multitude of "small wars and invisible
genocides" (see also Schcpcr- Hughes 1996; 1997; 2000b) conducted in the normative social spaces of public schools, clinics, emergency rooms, hospital wards, nursing homes, courtrooms, public registry offices, prisons, detention centers, and public morgues.

The violence continuum also refers to the ease with which humans are capable of reducing the socially vulnerable into expendable nonpersons and assuming the license - even the duty - to kill, maim, or soul-murder. We realize that in referring to a \ iolenci* and a genocide continuum we arc flying in the face of a
tradition of genocide studies that argues for the absolute uniqueness of the Jewish Holocaust and for vigilance with respect to restricted purist use of the term genocide itself (seeKuper l985;Chaulk 1999; Fein 1990; Chorbajian 1999). But we hold an opposing and alternative view that, to the contrary, it

is absolutely necessary to make just such existential leaps in purposefully linking violent acts in normal times to those of abnormal times. Hence the title of our
volume: Violence in War and in Peace. If (as we concede) there is a moral risk in ovcrextending the concept of "genocide" into spaces and corners of everyday life where we might noc ordinarily think to find it (and there is), an even greater risk lies in failing to sensitize ourselves, in misrecognizing practices and sentiments daily enacted as norma- tive behavior by "ordinary" good-enough citizens. Peacetime crimes, such as prison construction sold as economic development to impover- ished communities in the mountains and deserts of California, or the evolution of the criminal industrial complex into the latest peculiar institution for managing race relations in the United States (Waquant, Chapter 39), constitute the "small wars and invisible genocides" to which we refer. This applies to African American and Latino youth mortality statistics in Oakland, California, Baltimore, Washington DC, and New York City. These are "invisible" genocides not because they are secreted away or hidden from view, but quite the opposite. As Wittgenstein observed, the things that are hardest to perceive are those which are right before our eyes and therefore taken for granted. In this regard, Bourdieu's partial and unfinished theory of violence (see Chapters 32 and 42) as well as his concept of misrecognition is crucial to our task. By

including the normative everyday forms of violence hidden in the minutiae of

"normal" social practices - in the architecture of homes, in gender relations, in communal work, in the exchange of gifts, and so forth - Bourdieu forces us to reconsider the broader meanings and status of violence, especially the links between the violence of everyday life and explicit political terror and state repression. Similarly, Basaglia's notion of "peacetime crimes" - crimini di pace - imagines a direct relationship between
wartime and peacetime violence. Peacetime crimes suggests the possibil- ity that war crimes are merely ordinary, everyday crimes of public consent applied systematic- ally and dramatically in the extreme context of war. Consider the parallel uses of rape during peacetime and wartime, or the family resemblances between the legalized violence of US immigration and naturalization border raids on "illegal aliens" versus the US government- engineered genocide in 1938, known as the Cherokee "Trail of Tears." Peacetime crimes suggests that everyday forms of state violence make a certain kind of domestic peace possible. Internal "stability" is purchased with the currency of peacetime crimes, many of which take the form of professionally applied "strangle-holds." Everyday forms of state violence during peacetime make a certain kind of domestic "peace" possible. It is an easy-to-identify peacetime crime that is usually maintained as a public secret by the government and by a scared or apathetic populace. Most subtly, but no less politically or structurally, the phenomenal growth in the United States of a new military, postindusrrial prison industrial complex has taken place in the absence of broad-based opposition, let alone collective acts of civil disobedience. The public consensus is based primarily on a new mobilization of an old fear of the mob, the mugger, the rapist, the Black man. the undeserving poor. How many public executions of mentally deficient prisoners in the United States are needed to make life feel more secure for the affluent? What can it possibly mean when incarceration becomes the "normative" socializing experience for ethnic minority youth in a society, i.e., over 33 percent of young African American men (Prison Watch 2002). In the end it

is essential that we recognize the existence of a genocidal capacity among Otherwise good-enough humans and that we need to exercise a defensive hypervigilance to the less dramatic, permitted, and even rewarded everyday acts of violence that render participa- tion in genocidal acts and policies possible {under adverse political or economic
conditions). perhaps more easily than we would like to recognize. Under the violence continuum we include, therefore, all expressions of radical social exclusion, dchumamzjtion. depersonal- ization, pseudospeciation, and rcification which normalize atrocious behavior and violence toward others. A constant self-mobilization for alarm, a state of constant hyperarousal is, perhaps, a reasonable response to Benjamin's view of late modem history as a chronic "state of emergency" (Taussig, Chapter 31). We arc trying to recover here the classic anagogic thinking that enabled Krving Goffman, Jules Henry, C. Wright Mills, and Franco Basaglia among other midtwcnricth-ccntury radically critical thinkers, to perceive the symbolic and structural relations, i.e., between inmates and patients, between concentration camps, prisons, mental hospitals, nursing homes, and other "total institutions." Making that decisive move to recognize the continuum of violence allows us to see the capacity and the willingness - if not enthusiasm - of ordinary people, the practical technicians of the social consensus, to enforce gcnocidal-likc crimes against categories of rubbish people. There is no primary impulse out of which mass violence and genocide are born, it is ingrained in the common sense of everyday social life. The mad, the differently abled, the mentally vulnerable have often fallen into this category of the unworthy living, as have the very old and infirm, the sick-poor, and, of course, the despised racial, religious, sexual, and ethnic groups of the moment. Erik Erikson referred to "pseudo- speciation" as the human tendency to classify some individuals or social groups as less than fully human-a prerequisite to genocide and one that is carefully honed during the unremark- able peacetimes thai precede the sudden, "seemingly unintelligible" outbreaks of mass violence. Collective

denial and misrecognition are prerequisites for mass violence

and genocide. But so are formal bureaucratic structures and professional roles. The practical technicians of everyday violence in
the backlands of Northeast Brazil (Schcper-Hughes Chapter 33), for example, include the clinic doctors who prescribe powerful tranquilizers to fretful and frightfully hungry babies, the Catholic priests who celebrate the death of "angel-babies,"' and the municipal bureaucrats who dispense free baby coffins but no food to hungry families. Everyday violence encompasses the implicit, legitimate, and routinized forms of violence inherent in particular social, economic, and political formations. It is close to what Bourdieu (1977, 1996) means by "symbolic violence," the violence that is often "mis-recognized" for something else, usually something good. Everyday violence is similar to what Taussig (1989) calls "terror as usual." All these terms are meant to reveal a public secret - the hidden links between violence in war and violence in peace, and between war crimes and "peace-time crimes." Bourdieu (1977) finds domination and violence in the least likely places - in courtship and marriage, in the exchange of gifts, in systems of classification, in style, art, and culinary taste- the various uses of culture. Violence, Bourdieu insists, is

everywhere in social practice. It is misrecognized because its very everydayness and its familiarity render it invisible. Lacan
identifies "mcconnaissancc" as the prerequisite of the social. The exploitation of bachelor sons, robbing them of autonomy, independence, and progeny, within the structures of family- farming in the European countryside that Bourdieu escaped is a case in point (Bourdieu, Chapter 42: see also Schcper Hughes, 2000b; Favrct-Saada, 1989). Following Gramsci, Foucault, Sartre, Arendt, and other modern theorists of power-vio- lence, Bourdieu treats direct aggression and physical violence as a crude, uneconomical mode of domination; it is less efficient and, according to Arendt (1969), it is certainly less legitimate. While power and symbolic domination are not to be equated with violence - and Arendt argues persuasively that violence is to be understood as a failure of power - violence, as we are presenting it here, is more than simply the expression of illegitimate physical force against a person or group of persons. Rather, we

need to understand violence as encompassing all forms of "controlling processes"

(Nader 1997b) that assault basic human freedoms and individual or collective survival. Our task is to recognize these gray zones of violence which are, by definition, not obvious. Once again, the point of bringing into the discourses on genocide everyday, normative experiences of reificarion, depersonalization, institutional confinement, and acceptable death is to help answer the question: What makes mass violence and genocide possible? In this volume we are suggesting that mass

violence is part of a continuum, and that it is socially incremental and often experienced by perpetrators, collaborators,
bystanders - and even by victims themselves - as expected, routine, even justified. The preparations for mass killing can be found in social sentiments and institutions from the family, to schools, churches, hospitals, and the military. They harbor the early "warning signs" (Charncy 1991), the "priming" (as Hinton, ed., 2002 calls it), or the "genocidal continuum" (as we call it) that push social consensus toward devaluing certain forms of human life and lifeways from the refusal of social support and humane care to vulnerable

"social parasites" (the nursing home elderly, "welfare queens," undocumented immigrants, drug addicts) to the militarization of everyday life (super-maximum-security prisons, capital punishment; the technologies of heightened personal security, including the house gun and gated communities; and reversed feelings of victimization).

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CP Text: The United States federal government will remove its economic embargo
against Cuba except its restriction on deep-water oil drilling and tourism.

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Economic engagement is a tool utilized to facilitate economic integration in Latin America it is a policy based on a paternalistic conception of development that culminates in the mass privatization of public goods and social inequality. Jacobs, assistant professor of political science at West Virginia U, 2004
(Jamie, "Neoliberalism and Neopanamericanism: The View from Latin America," Latin American Politics & Society 46:4, Project MUSE)
The advance of neoliberalism suffers no shortage of critics, both from its supporters who seek a greater balance in the interests of North and South, and from its opponents who see it as lacking any real choice for developing states. The

spread of neoliberalism is viewed by its strongest critics as part of the continuing expression of Western power through the mechanisms of globalization, often directly linked to the hegemonic power of the United States. Gary Prevost and
Carlos Oliva Campos have assembled a collection of articles that pushes this debate in a somewhat new direction. This compilation addresses the question from a different perspective, focusing not on the neoliberal process as globalization but on neoliberalism as the new guise of panamericanism, which emphasizes a distinctly political overtone in the discussion. The edited volume argues that neoliberalism

reanimates a system of relations in the hemisphere that reinforces the most negative aspects of the last century's U.S.-dominated panamericanism. The assembled authors offer a critical view that places neoliberalism squarely in the realm of U.S. hegemonic exploitation of interamerican relations. This volume, furthermore, articulates a detailed vision of the potential failures of this approach in terms of culture, politics, security, and
economics for both North and South. Oliva and Prevost present a view from Latin America that differs from that of other works that emphasize globalization as a general or global process. This volume focuses on the implementation of free market capitalism in the Americas as a continuation of the U.S. history of hegemonic control of the hemisphere. While Oliva and Prevost and the other authors featured in this volume point to the changes that have altered global relations since the end of the Cold Waramong them an altered balance of power, shifting U.S. strategy, and evolving interamerican relationsthey essentially as

all view the U.S. foreign policy of neoliberalism and economic integration old wine in new bottles. As such, old enemies (communism) are replaced by new (drugs and terrorism), but the fear of Northern domination of and intervention in Latin America remains. Specifically, Oliva and Prevost identify the process through which "economics had taken center stage in interamerican affairs." They [End Page 149] suggest that the Washington Consensusdiminishing the state's role in the economy, privatizing to reduce public deficits, and shifting more fully to external markets was instead a recipe for weakened governments susceptible to hemispheric domination by the United States (xi). The book is divided into two main sections that emphasize hemispheric and regional issues, respectively. The first
section links more effectively to the overall theme of the volume in its chapters on interamerican relations, culture, governance, trade, and security. In the first of these chapters, Oliva traces the evolution of U.S. influence in Latin America and concludes that, like the Monroe Doctrine and Manifest Destiny in the past, the

prospect of hemispheric economic integration will be marked by a dominant view privileging U.S. security, conceptualized in transnational, hemispheric terms, that is both asymmetrical and not truly integrated
among all members. In this context, Oliva identifies the free trade area of the Americas (FTAA) as "an economic project suited to a hemispheric context that is politically favorable to the United States" (20). The chapters in this section are strongest when they focus on the political aspects of neoliberalism and the possible unintended negative consequences that could arise from the neoliberal program. Carlos Alzugaray Treto draws on the history of political philosophy, traced to Polanyi, identifying ways that social

inequality has the potential to undermine the stable governance that is so crucial a part of the neoliberal plan. He goes on to point out how this potential for instability could also generate a new period of U.S. interventionism in Latin America. Treto also
analyzes how the "liberal peace" could be undermined by the "right of humanitarian intervention" in the Americas if the NATO intervention in Yugoslavia served as a model for U.S. involvement in the hemisphere. Hector Luis Saint-Pierre raises the issue of "democratic neoauthoritarianism," responsible for "restricting citizenship to the exercise of voting, limiting its voice to electoral polls of public opinion, restraining human rights to consumer's rights, [and] shutting down spaces to the citizens' participation" (116). While these critiques are leveled from a structuralist viewpoint, they often highlight concerns expressed from other theoretical perspectives and subfields (such as the literature on citizenship and participation in the context of economic integration). These chapters also emphasize the way inattention to economic, social, and political

crisis could damage attempts at integration and the overall success of the neoliberal paradigm in the Americas. In general, the section on hemispheric issues offers a suspicious view of the U.S. role in promoting integration, arguing that in reality, integration

offers a deepening of historical asymmetries of power, the potential to create new justifications for hegemonic intervention, and the further weakening of state sovereignty in the South.

This imposed model of economic interaction causes poverty, military interventions, and environmental degradation culminates in extinction. Szentesa, Professor Emeritus at the Corvinus University of Budapest, 2008
(Tams, Globalisation and prospects of the world society, 4/22 http://www.eadi.org/fileadmin/Documents/-Events/exco/Glob.___prospects_-_jav..pdf)
It s a common place that human society can survive and develop only in a lasting real peace. Without peace countries cannot develop. Although since 1945 there has been no world war, but --numerous local wars took place, --terrorism has spread all over the world, undermining security even in the most developed and powerful countries, --arms

race and militarisation have not ended with the collapse of the Soviet bloc, but escalated and continued, extending also to weapons of mass destruction and misusing enormous resources badly needed for development, --many invisible wars are suffered by the poor and oppressed people, manifested in mass misery, poverty, unemployment, homelessness, starvation and malnutrition, epidemics and poor health conditions, exploitation and oppression, racial and other discrimination, physical terror, organised injustice, disguised forms of violence, the denial or regular infringement of the democratic rights of citizens, women, youth, ethnic or religious minorities, etc., and last but not least, in the degradation of human environment, which means that --the war against Nature, i.e. the disturbance of
ecological balance, wasteful management of natural resources, and large-scale pollution of our environment, is still going on, causing also losses and fatal dangers for human life. Behind global terrorism and

invisible wars we find striking international and intrasociety inequities and distorted development patterns , which tend to generate social as well as international tensions, thus paving the way for unrest and visible wars. It is a commonplace now
that peace is not merely the absence of war. The prerequisites of a lasting peace between and within societies involve not only - though, of course, necessarily - demilitarisation, but also a systematic and gradual elimination of the roots of violence, of the causes of invisible wars, of the structural and institutional bases of large-scale international and intra-society inequalities, exploitation and oppression. Peace requires a process of social and national emancipation, a progressive, democratic transformation of societies and the world bringing about equal rights and opportunities for all people, sovereign participation and mutually advantageous co-operation among nations. It further requires a pluralistic democracy on global level with an appropriate system of proportional representation of the world society, articulation of diverse interests and their peaceful reconciliation, by nonviolent conflict management, and thus also a global governance with a really global institutional system. Under the contemporary conditions of accelerating globalisation and deepening global interdependencies in our world, peace is indivisible in both time and space. It cannot exist if

cannot be safeguarded in one part of the world when some others suffer visible or invisible wars. Thus, peace requires, indeed, a new, demilitarised and democratic world order, which can
reduced to a period only after or before war, and provide equal opportunities for sustainable development. Sustainability of development (both on national and world level) is often interpreted as an issue of environmental protection only and reduced to the need for preserving the ecological balance and delivering the next generations not a

no ecological balance can be ensured, unless the deep international development gap and intra-society inequalities are substantially reduced. Owing to global interdependencies there may exist hardly any zero-sum-games, in which one can gain at the expense of others, but,
destroyed Nature with overexhausted resources and polluted environment. However, instead, the negative-sum-games tend to predominate, in which everybody must suffer, later or sooner, directly or indire ctly, losses. Therefore, the actual question is not about sustainability of development but rather about the sustainability of human life, i.e. surviv al of mankind because of ecological imbalance and globalised terrorism. When Professor Louk de la Rive Box was the president of EADI, one day we had an exchange of views on the state and future of development studies. We agreed that development studies are not any more restricted to the case of underdeveloped countries, as the developed ones (as well as the former socialist countries) are also facing development problems, such as those of structural and institutional (and even system-) transformation, requirements of changes in development patterns, and concerns about natural environment. While all these are true, today I would dare say that besides (or even instead of) development studies we must speak about and make survival studies. While the monetary, financial, and debt crises are cyclical, we live in an almost permanent crisis of the world society, which is multidimensional in nature, involving not only economic but also socio-psychological, behavioural, cultural and political aspects. The narrow-minded, election-oriented,

selfish behaviour motivated by thirst for power and wealth, which still characterise the political leadership almost all over the world, paves the way for the final, last catastrophe. One cannot doubt, of course, that great many positive
historical changes have also taken place in the world in the last century. Such as decolonisation, transformation of socio-economic systems, democratisation of political life in some former fascist or authoritarian states, institutionalisation of welfare policies in several countries, rise of international organisations and new forums for negotiations, conflict management and cooperation, institutionalisation of international assistance programmes by multilateral agencies, codification of human rights, and rights of sovereignty and democracy also on international level, collapse of the militarised Soviet bloc and system-change3 in the countries concerned, the end of cold war, etc., to mention only a few. Nevertheless, the crisis of the world society has extended and deepened, approaching to a point of bifurcation that necessarily puts an end to the present tendencies, either by the

final catastrophe or a common solution. Under the circumstances provided by rapidly progressing science and technological revolutions,

human society cannot survive unless such profound intra-society and international inequalities prevailing today are soon eliminated. Like a single spacecraft, the Earth can no longer afford to have a 'crew' divided into two
parts: the rich, privileged, wellfed, well-educated, on the one hand, and the poor, deprived, starving, sick and uneducated, on the other. Dangerous 'zero-sum-games' (which mostly prove to be negative-sum-games) can hardly be played any more by visible or invisible wars in the world society. Because of global interdependencies, the apparent winner becomes also a loser. The real choice for the world society is between negative- and positive-sum-games: i.e. between, on the one hand, continuation of visible and invisible wars, as long as this is possible at all, and, on the other, transformation of the world order by demilitarisation and democratization. No ideological or terminological camouflage can conceal this real dilemma any more, which is to be faced not in the distant future, by the next generations, but in the coming years, because of global terrorism soon having nuclear and other mass destructive weapons, and also due to irreversible changes in natural environment.

The alternative is reject the affirmatives imperialist model of development. Global social movements are possible and effective only if they arise from the global South first. Wise, Director of Doctoral Program in Migration Studies & Prof of Development Studies; Universidad Autnoma de Zacatecas, Mexico, 2009
(Ral Delgado, Forced Migration and US Imperialism: The Dialectic of Migration and Development, Crit Sociol, 35: 767, ProQuest)
The promotion of development as social transformation could curtail forced migration. Globalization depicts migration as inevitable; we

must endorse, both in theory and practice, the viability of alternative processes of development and do so on different levels. We must first redefine the asymmetrical terms that developed countries, aided by principles that have by now turned into fetishes (e.g. democracy, liberty, and free trade), used for imperialist domination. This involves an expos of imperialist practices, which have created oceans of inequality and condemned vast regions of the world to marginalization, poverty, social exclusion, and unfettered migration. Foreign investment (FI) has been a fundamental driving force in this regard. A genuine process of social transformation involving the migrant and non-migrant sectors of society would not only seek to contain the overwhelming flow of forced migration but also revert the ongoing processes of social degradation that characterize underdevelopment and even pose a threat to human existence (Bello,
2006; Harvey, 2007). As an alternative to the current phase of imperialist domination, Petras argues in favor of what he defines as a WorkerEngineer Public Control model (WEPC) based on six main principles: tax revenues versus tax evasions; profit remittances and privileged salaries versus social investment; high reinvestment ratios versus capital flight; long term invest- ment in research and development versus speculative investment; social welfare versus capitalist privileges; and fixed capital/mobile labor versus mobile capital/fixed labor (Petras, 2007: 2345). This model provides an alternative approach that maximizes national and working- class interests: it has pote ntial drawbacks and internal contradictions, which require con- stant reflection, deliberation, debate and reforms (2007: 237). Nonetheless, the model provides the surest and most direct road to development with democracy, social justice and national independence. The success of the WEPC model, its introduction and sus- tainability, does not depend merely on its socioeconomic viability but also on appropri- ate and supporting national security and cultural policies and institutions (2007: 2378). Following the above considerations, an approach based on a Marxist critique of the World Banks views regarding the migration-development nexus, would posit that international

migration is an element of the current imperialist project led by the USA and that the migration phenomenon has to be examined in this context in order to reveal its root causes and effects. In order to approach
migrations cause-and-effect relationships with development and examine specific moments in the dialectic interaction between development and migration, the following two issues must be addressed:3 Strategic practices. These refer to the confrontation between different projects that espouse diverging class interests, which in turn underlie the structures of contemporary capitalism and its inherent development problems.

There are currently two major projects. The hegemonic one is promoted by the large MNCs, the governments of developed countries led by US imperialism, and allied elites in underdeveloped nations, all under the umbrella of international organizations commanded by the US government, like the IMF and the World Bank. The projects loss of legitimacy under the aegis of neoliberal globalization means that, nowadays, rather than writing of hegemony we can use the term domination. The implementation of this imperialist
project is not the result of consensus but rather military force and the financial imposition of macroeconomic structural reform along the lines of

The second alternative project consists of the sociopolitical actions of a range of social classes and movements as well as collective subjects and agents, including migrant asso- ciations that endorse a political project
the Washington or Post-Washington Consensus.

designed to transform the structural dynamics and political and institutional environments which bar the implementation of alternative development strategies on the global, regional, national and local levels. Structural dynamics. These refer to the uneven development processes driven by the dynamics of US imperialism on several planes and levels. This includes the financial, commercial, productive, and labor market spheres, as well as technological innovation (a strategic form of control) and the use and allotment of natural resources and
environ- mental impacts. These factors condition the ways in which developed, developed and underdeveloped (including people -importing and people exporting nations), and underdeveloped, peripheral or postcolonial ountries relate to each other. They also determine the fields in which interactions between sectors, groups, movements, and social classes take place, within and across national borders. All of this entails different albeit interrelated dynamics at the global, regional, national and local levels.

Case: Heg
1. Proliferation will be slow and non-threatening their predictions have no empirical validity. Mueller 9, Chair of National Secuirty Studies and Prof of Poli Sci at Ohio State, Winner of the Lepgold Prize for the best book
on International Relations in 2004 awarded by Gtown, (John, Atomic Obsession: Nuclear Alarmism From Hiroshima To Al-Qaeda, p. xii-xiii) The second part of the book assesses the

effects of the spread of nuclear weapons within and to states. A prevailing technological fixation has inspired a concomitant assumption, or assertion, that because the weapons exist, war must inevitably follow, that it is weapons and arms races, not people, that principally and inexorably cause war. This perspective has led to decades of intense, and mostly futile and unnecessary, anguish over arms control and disarmament issuesor gimmicks. Moreover, despite endlessly repeated predictions, remarkably few countries have taken advantage of the opportunity to develop nuclear weapons, and the sporadic proliferation that has taken place has, contrary to urgent forecasts, been of very little consequence. A key reason for this is that the possession of such expensive armaments actually conveys in almost all cases rather little advantage to the possessor. In the main, they are difficult to obtain, militarily useless, and a spectacular waste of money and scientific talent. Because of this, and contrary to the policy consensus, diffusion of the weapons is by no means inevitable, and nuclear proliferation, while not necessarily desirable, is unlikely to accelerate or prove to be a major danger. At the same time, anxious and ill-advised antiproliferation efforts have actually enhanced the appeal ofor the desperate desire fornuclear weapons for some regimes, and the wars and extreme sanctions they have inspired have been a necessary cause of far more deaths than have been inflicted by all nuclear detonations in all of history.

2. No reason Latin America would cooperate on issues like prolif 3. US relations to Latin America are resilient and high now we still have significant economic as well as cultural influence in the region. Duddy, former US ambassador to Venezuela and Mora, former Assistant Secretary of Defense, 2013
(Patrick and Frank, Latin America: Is US Influence Waning?, Miami Herald, May 1st, Online: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/01/3375160/latin-america-is-us-influence.html)
While it is true that other countries are important to the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean, it is also still true that the

United States is by far the largest and most important economic partner of the region and trade is growing even with those countries with which we do not have free trade agreements. An area of immense importance to regional economies that we often overlook is the exponential growth in
travel, tourism and migration. It is commonplace to note the enormous presence of foreign students in the United States but in 2011, according to the Institute of International Education, after Europe, Latin America was the second most popular destination for U.S. university students. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. tourists travel every year to Latin America and the Caribbean helping to support thousands of jobs. From

2006-2011 U.S. non-government organizations, such as churches, think tanks and universities increased the number of partnerships with their regional cohorts by a factor of four. Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean from the United States totaled $64 billion in 2012. Particularly for the smaller economies of Central America and the Caribbean these flows can sometimes constitute more than 10 percent of gross domestic

product. Finally, one should not underestimate the resiliency of U.S. soft power in the region. The power of national reputation, popular culture, values and institutions continues to contribute to U.S. influence in ways that are difficult to measure and impossible to quantify. Example: Despite 14 years of strident anti-American rhetoric during the Chvez government, tens of thousand of Venezuelans apply for U.S. nonimmigrant visas every year, including many thousands of Chvez loyalists. Does this mean we can feel comfortable relegating U.S. relations with the hemisphere to
the second or third tier of our international concerns? Certainly not. We have real and proliferating interests in the region. As the president and his team head to Mexico and Costa Rica, it is important to recognize the importance of our ties to the region. We have many individual national partners in the Americas. We

dont need a new template for relations with the hemisphere as a whole or another grand U.S.-Latin America strategy. A greater commitment to work more intensely with the individual countries on the issues most relevant to them would be appropriate. The United States still has the economic and cultural heft in the region to play a fundamental role and to advance its own interests.

4. No internal link between cooperation and hard power means they cant solve US heg 5. Cuba is only one of many obstacles to US/Latin American cooperation the plan cant solve Lobe, chief of Washington Bureau of the Inter Press Service, 2012
(Jim, U.S., Latin America Growing More Distant, Warns Think Tank, Inter Press Service, April, Online: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/04/us-latin-america-growing-more-distant-warns-thinktank/) Relations between the United States and Latin America have grown more distant in importance part due to the latters persistent disagreement with U.S. policies on immigration, drugs, and Cuba, according to a new report released here Wednesday on the eve of this years Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia. The United States must regain credibility in the region by dealing seriously with an unfinished agenda of problems, including immigration, drugs, and Cuba that stands in the way of a real partnership, according to Michael Shifter, president of the Washingtonbased Inter-American Dialogue (IAD). The 20-page report, entitled Remaking the Relationship, described current inter-American relations as generally cordial but lack(ing) in vigor and purpose. It suggested that Washington, in particular, has

failed to fully come to terms with Latin Americas strong economic and political progress over the past two
decades. It also concluded that the two sides need to do more to exploit the enormous untapped opportunities of their relationship in economics, trade, and energy, as well as to work more closely together on global and regional problems. They need to breathe new life and vigor into hemispheric relations, it stressed. If the United States and Latin America do not make the effort now, the chance may slip away, the report warned. The most likely scenario then would be marked by a continued drift in their relationship, further deterioration of hemispheric-wide institutions, a reduced ability and willingness to deal with a range of common problems, and a spate of missed opportunities for more robust growth and greater social equity.

Case: Cuba Econ

1. No impact to bioweapons Easterbrook, Senior Fellow @ the New Republic, 2003
(Gregg, Were All Gonna Die!, Wired, July, Online: http://www.wi .red.com/wired/archive/11.07/doomsday.html?pg=2&topic=&topic_set=)
Like chemical agents, biological weapons have never lived up to their billing in popular culture. Consider the 1995 medical thriller Outbreak, in which a highly contagious virus takes out entire towns. The reality is quite different.

Weaponized smallpox escaped from a Soviet laboratory in Aralsk, Kazakhstan, in 1971; three people died, no epidemic followed. In 1979, weapons-grade anthrax got out of a Soviet facility in Sverdlovsk (now called Ekaterinburg); 68 died, no epidemic. The loss of life was tragic, but no greater than could have been caused by a single conventional bomb. In 1989, workers at a US government facility near Washington were accidentally exposed to Ebola virus. They walked around the community and hung out with family and friends for several days before the mistake was discovered. No one died. The fact is, evolution has spent millions of years conditioning mammals to resist germs. Consider the Black Plague. It was the worst known pathogen in history, loose in a Middle Ages society of poor public health, awful sanitation, and no antibiotics. Yet it didnt kill off humanity. Most people who were caught in the epidemic survived. Any superbug introduced into todays Western world would encounter top-notch public health, excellent sanitation, and an array of medicines specifically engineered to kill bioagents. Perhaps one day some aspiring Dr. Evil will invent a bug that
bypasses the immune system. Because it is possible some novel superdisease could be invented, or that existing pathogens like smallpox could be genetically altered to make them more virulent (two-thirds of those who contract natural smallpox survive), biological agents are a legitimate concern. They may turn increasingly troublesome as time passes and knowledge of biotechnology becomes harder to control, allowing individuals or small groups to cook up nasty germs as readily as they can buy guns today. But

no superplague has ever come close to wiping out humanity before, and it seems unlikely to happen in the future.

2. No tech or motive for terrorists to attack 3. 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 Cubas Brave Dissidents Is Now- Why the Embargo Must Not be Lifted, March 20th, Online: http://interamericansecuritywatch.com/ron-radosh-thetime-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 is also the number one desire of the Cuban Communists. In making it the key demand, these well-meaning (at least some of them) liberals echo precisely the propaganda of the Cuban government, thereby doing the Castro brothers work for them here in the United States. And, as we know, many of those who call for this actually believe that the Cuban government is on the side of the people, and favor the Cuban Revolution which they see as a positive role model for the region. They have always believed, since the
1960s of their youth, that socialism in Cuba has pointed the way forward to development and liberty based on the kind of socialist society they wish could exist in the United States. Another brave group of Cuban opponents of the regime has actually taped a television interview filmed illegally in Havana. Young Cuban democracy leader Antonio Rodiles, an American support group called Capitol Hill Cubans has reported, has just released the latest episode of his civil society project Estado de Sats (filmed within Cuba), where he discusses the importance U.S. sanctions policy with two of Cubas most renowned opposition activists and former political

prisoners, Guillermo Farias and Jose Daniel Ferrer. The argument they present is aimed directly at those on the

left in the United States, some of whom think they are helping democracy in Cuba by calling for an end to the embargo. In strong and clear language, the two dissidents say the following: If at this time, the [economic] need of the Cuban government is satisfied through financial credits and the lifting of the embargo, repression would increase, it would allow for a continuation of the Castros society, totalitarianism would strengthen its hold and philosophically, it would just be immoral If you did an opinion poll among Cuban opposition activists, the majority would be in favor of not lifting the embargo.

4. Even if US influence declines, China will fill in China and Latin American cooperation solves. Xiaoxia, Professor of Economics at Tsinghua University, 2013
(Wang, IN AMERICA'S BACKYARD: CHINA'S RISING INFLUENCE IN LATIN AMERICA, May 6th, WorldCrunch, Online: http://worldcrunch.com/china-2.0/in-america-039-s-backyard-china-039s-rising-influence-in-latin-america/foreign-policy-trade-economy-investmentsenergy/c9s11647/)
In the opinion of many European and American scholars, China's

current practice isnt much different from that of Western colonizers of the last century. These scholars believe that China doesnt care about local human rights or the state of democracy when dealing with countries. All China is interested in is establishing long-term, stable economic relations. This realistic path is exactly opposite to that of America's newfound idealism. Thus China has
become a close collaborator of certain Latin American countries, such as Venezuela, that are in sharp conflict with the United States. The

global financial crisis of 2008 was a chance for China to become an increasingly important player in Latin American. As Europe and the United States were caught in a financial quagmire, China, with
nearly $3 trillion of foreign exchange reserves as backing, embarked on "funds-for-assets" transactions with Latin American countries. So what does China want exactly in entering Latin American? Is it to obtain a stable supply of energy and resources, and thus inadvertently acquire political influence? Or the other way round? Presumably most U.S. foreign policy-makers are well aware of the answer. China's

involvement in the Latin American continent doesnt constitute a threat to the United States, but brings benefits. It is precisely because China has reached "loans-for-oil" swap agreements with Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and other countries that it brings much-needed funds to these oil-producing countries in South America. Not only have these funds been used in the field of oil production, but they have also safeguarded the energy supply of the United States, as well as stabilized these countries' livelihood -- and to a certain extent reduced the impact of illegal immigration and the drug trade on the U.S. For South America, China and the United States, this is not a zero-sum game, but a multiple choice of mutual benefits and synergies. Even if China has become the Latin American economys new upstart, it is still not in a position to challenge the strong and diverse influence that the United States has accumulated over two centuries in the region.

Case: Public Health

1. The Cuban health care industry guarantees basic health coverage it provides exceptional preventative medicine for all citizens. Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, 2010
(Laurie, Castrocare in Crisis, Foreign Affairs, 89:4, July/August, EBSCOhost) The two keys to Cuba's medical and public health achievements are training provided by the state and a community-based approach that requires physicians to live in the neighborhoods they serve and be on call 24 hours a day. In the wake of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, more than one-third of Cuba's
doctors fled, mostly to the United States, leaving the country with just 6,300 physicians and a doctor-patient ratio of 9.2 per 10,000, according to the Cuban Ministry of Public Health. In response, Fidel Castro declared public health and doctor training to be paramount tasks for the new socialist state. By patron, the Soviet Union -- in

the early 1980s, Cuba led the socialist world -- including its all health indicators. Between 1959 and 1989, Cuba's doctor-patient ratio more than tripled, soaring to 33 per 10,000, and health-care expenditures rose by 162 percent. Cuba today has the highest doctor-patient ratio in the entire world, with 59 physicians per 10,000 people -- more than twice the ratio of the United States. Cuba is the world's only poor country that can rightly say that basic health is no longer an existential problem for its people. Its achievement in this respect is unparalleled. Cuba
now boasts more than 73,000 practicing doctors (half of whom work in primary care), 107,761 nurses, and a total health-care work force of 566,365, according to government figures. About 12 percent of Cuba's adult population is employed by the state in the health-care sector. Because

of economic exigencies that have limited Cuba's access to advanced technology for diagnosing and curing ailments, the Cuban health system has focused -successfully -- on prevention. Between 1959 and 2000, Cuba reduced its infant mortality by 90 percent, and the number of mothers who died from pregnancy-related complications dropped from 125 per 100,000 live births to 55 per 100,000.

2. Even with the costs imposed by the embargo, Cubas health system is exceptional now. Barry, Member of the Social Sciences Research Council for the Cuban Working Group of the American Council of Learned Societies, 2010
(Paul Drain & Michele Fifty Years of U.S. Embargo: Cuba's Health Outcomes and Lessons Science Magazine, April, Online: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/328/5978/572.full)
However, impacts of sanctions on Cuba's financial systems, medical supplies, and aggregate health measures appear to be attenuated by their successes in other aspects of health care. Despite

the embargo, Cuba has produced better health outcomes than most Latin American countries, and they are comparable to those of most developed countries. Cuba has the highest average life expectancy (78.6 years) and density of physicians per capita (59 physicians per 10,000 people), and the lowest infant (5.0/1000 live births) and child (7.0/1000 live births) mortality rates among 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries (11, 26).
In 2006, the Cuban government spent about $355 per capita on health, 7.1% of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (11, 26). The annual cost of health care for an American was $6714, 15.3% of total U.S. GDP. Cuba also spent less on health than most European countries. But low health

care costs alone may not fully explain Cuba's successes (27), which may relate more to their emphasis on disease prevention and primary health care, which have been cultivated during the U.S. trade embargo. Cuba has one of the most proactive primary health care systems in the world. By educating their population about disease prevention and

health promotion, the Cubans rely less on medical supplies to maintain a healthy population.
The converse is the United States, which relies heavily on medical supplies and technologies to maintain a healthy population, but at a very high cost.

3. 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 and its economy experienced a 35 percent contraction. Today, Cuba's major industries--tourism, nickel mining, tobacco and rum production, and health care--are fragile. Cubans blame the long-standing U.S. trade embargo for some of these strains and are wildly optimistic about the transformations that will come once the embargo is lifted. Overlooked in these dreamy discussions of lifestyle improvements, however, is that Cuba's health-care industry will likely be radically affected by any serious easing in trade and travel restrictions between the United States and Cuba. If policymakers on both sides of the Florida Straits do not take great care, the tiny Caribbean nation could swiftly be robbed of its greatest triumph. First, its public health network could be devastated by an exodus of thousands of well-trained Cuban physicians and nurses. Second, for-profit U.S. companies could transform the remaining health-care system into a prime destination for medical tourism from abroad. The very strategies that the Cuban government has employed to develop its system into a major success story have rendered it ripe for the plucking by the U.S. medical industry and by foreigners eager for affordable, elective surgeries in a sunny climate. In short, although the U.S. embargo strains Cuba's health-care system and its overall economy, it may be the better of two bad options.

4. Easing the embargo would cause Cuban healthcare professionals to leave the country this would collapse the public 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)
According to Steven Ullmann of the University of Miami's Cuba Transition Project, if

Washington lifts its embargo, Cuba can expect a mass exodus of health-care workers and then the creation of a domestic health system with two tiers, one private and one public. The system's lower, public tier would be at risk of complete collapse. Ullmann therefore suggests "fostering this [public] system through partnerships and
enhanced compensation of personnel." He also argues that officials in both governments should "limit out-migration of scientific brainpower from the country." Properly handled, the transition could leave Cuba with a mixed health-care economy -- part public, part locally owned and private, and part outsourced and private -- that could compensate Cuban physicians, nurses, and other health-care workers enough to keep them in the country and working at least part time in the public sector. The only U.S. policy currently in place, however, encourages Cuban physicians to immigrate to the United States. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security created a special parole program under which health-care workers who defect from Cuba are granted legal residence in the United States while they prepare for U.S. medical licensing examinations. An estimated 2,000 physicians have taken advantage of the program. Although few have managed to gain accreditation as U.S. doctors, largely due to their poor Englishlanguage skills and the stark differences between Cuban and U.S. medical training, many now work as nurses in Florida hospitals.

The Castro government, meanwhile, is in a seemingly untenable position. The two greatest achievements of the Cuban Revolution -- 100 percent literacy and quality universal health care -- depend on huge streams of government spending. If Washington does eventually start to normalize relations,

plugging just a few holes in the embargo wall would require vast additional spending by the Cuban government. The government would have to pay higher salaries to teachers, doctors, nurses, and technicians; strengthen the country's deteriorating infrastructure; and improve working conditions for common workers. To bolster its health-care infrastructure and create incentives for Cuban doctors to stay in the system, Cuba will have to find external support from donors, such as the United Nations and the U.S. Agency for International Development. But few sources will support Havana with funding as long as the regime restricts the
travel of its citizens.