With today's raising of the US Flag at our Embassy in Cuba, I was wondering what is everyone's opinion on normalizing relations with Cuba?

Bye-bye to those expensive Cuban cigars. Why not have diplomatic relations with a country we have a base in, 90 miles off our coast where the government is now US friendly. Havana will once again be a prime resort vacation destination if Michael Corleone has anything to say about it! :-)

SGM Steve Wettstein unfortunately this has been a unilateral attempt at limited reestablishment of relations with Cuba.
Anybody who believes that "free" trade will exist with Cuba is smoking something stronger than Cuban cigars:-) Expect significant import duties because Cuba is still primarily a communist run agrarian economy with a black market and limited internal industrial and re-fabrication capability. Much of there machinery and automobiles are from the 1950's. Cuba may have to do something drastic with its currency to be able to "afford" purchasing infrastructure improvement.
No extradition treaty has been signed and their are at least 70 fugitives from US justice living in Cuba at state expense including cop killer Joanne Chesimard [I understand that negotiations have been started in her extradition which would be a good thing.]
The rights of Cuban emigre's to this nation who are property owners in Cuba have not been advanced by this administration. There are many other aspects of this treaty which need to be modified - in addition to individual property owners, the nationalization of business and foreign-owned agriculture which was owned by US citizens and corporations through the 1950's affected a number of small investors as well as larger ones. Steps should be taken to redress their issues.
My wife escaped from Cuba at age 14 by not looking back at her parents. She was told she would be forbidden from leaving if she glanced back. Her dad had just been released from a concentration/reeducation camp. He had been incarcerated because he could not account for one of the cows that had been his prior to the revolution [everything belonged to the state of Cuba].
Phone calls are still monitored - my wife's family has many members still living there.
COL Mikel J. Burroughs, LTC Stephen C., LTC John Shaw, CW5 Charlie Poulton, GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad, SFC (Join to see), SFC James Sczymanski, SGT Robert Hawks, SGT Randal Groover, SGT Forrest Stewart

SGM Steve Wettstein I think it is a great move. I just hope that the families who have escaped to the United States during this period will be allowed to visit their families without any retribution on the part of Cuba. This would show that relations have gone back to normal.

The cold war ended in the 80's... it's about time.

Long Past Due but I understand waiting until Fidel had Stepped Down for his Brother.

Things change, times change, people change, leaders change - I think it's a good thing - but I also hope they "mind their P's & Q's as my mamma used to say" or we might take it back down... :-)

This is one thing the the Obama administration as done correct. I believe it is about time we get back into Cuba. We can have a much greater impact with our presence as apposed to our absence. It doesn't makes sense to continue to do something that is not working. So lets try getting back in. If this route doesn't work we can always unfreind them on facebook. I'm for a US presence in Cuba. Heck maybe we can start getting Cuban cigars again.

I researched the history of Cuba from preColumbian times through the modern era as I prepared to write my novel Rebels on the Mountain - a story of Castro's revolution. You can find much of my research on my weblog at http://www.jackdurish.com/4/category/cuba/1.html It's best to read it in reverse order if you're interested.

Fundamentally, in normalizing relations with Cuba without concessions by the Cuban government, we have abandoned the political prisoners, the murdered Cuban citizens, and the claims of Cuban refugees for the property stolen from them. For what? Some political points? What a crock.

There was absolutely no need to normalize relationships this quickly, without negotiation, without some modicum of acceptance by the Cuban government for their guilt, their human rights violations.

Do Cubans have a cause to complaint about America and its hand in their past? Of course they do. But abandoning them without hope will not expiate our guilt...

There were many Americans who had their businesses and land taken when Castro nationalized Cuba. No provision was made by the Cuban Government for the payment of compensation for such properties as required under the generally accepted rules of international law. Cuba, however, has paid similar claims by Canada, France, Spain and Switzerland. At the October 2014 session of the U.N. General Assembly, Cuba offered a resolution condemning the U.S. embargo, which overwhelmingly was approved. Speaking for the resolution, Cuba’s Foreign Minister, Bruno Gonzalez Parrilla, alleged that Cuba was damaged by the embargo and that the damages totaled $1.1 trillion. Cuba is still hanging on to this claim.

I do however plan on going to Cuba this December. I hope they don't follow Rallypoint as I might find myself running through old Cuban mind fields running towards Guantanamo - "I'm an American"

As long as Cuba maintains its Communist stance, "normal " anything is not likely.