I love this
idea, It seems that some politicians of Pennsylvania devised an idea using
constitutional law to circumvent the embargo of Cuban Rum. This could be a real boom for the Pennsylvania
liquor business is they are the first and only state to have and sell Cuban Rum
inside the United States.
Pennsylvania
legislators flew to Havana last month with a simple idea for getting around the
55-year-old embargo against Cuba: Trade our agricultural products for rum. Two days in, the plan got even simpler: just
buy a boatload of rum for state liquor stores and forget the embargo. Republican state senate leaders say the 21st
Amendment, which ended Prohibition 30 years before the embargo began, gives
each state absolute control over alcoholic beverages.
"You can't just suspend the federal
constitution," said Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, R-Bucks County and chair of the
Senate Law & Justice Committee. A
Pennsylvania play for Cuban Rum would be an extraordinary move at a time when
eased Cuban-American relations under President Barack Obama have given way to
mostly guesses about President Donald Trump's stance. In the mid-1990s, Mr.
Trump put out feelers for an investment in Cuba once the restrictions were
eased, but while the Pennsylvanians were away on the island, Mr. Trump
announced that he and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, "have very similar
views on Cuba.''
Mr. Rubio has
been a vocal critic of Mr. Obama's Cuba policy. Toss in conservative Keystone
Republicans venturing into one of the last outposts of socialism - and finding
bureaucrats who have their own spin on the art of the deal - and the plot is as
thick as Cuban molasses. If Mr.
McIlhinney is right, and Pennsylvania has a winning constitutional argument to bypass
the embargo, it's one that might have worked years ago. The Liquor Control
Board is consulting its lawyers and planning a strategy that could end with
Pennsylvania being the only place to buy Cuban rums - though likely not before
a court battle.
Federal
impounding of cases of Cuban rum at the Philadelphia docks until the case is
decided in court wouldn't be the worst publicity; that surely would make
national news and increase the appetite for the long-taboo spirits. But it's
doubtful any ship owner would take that risk. Ships docking at Cuban ports
aren't allowed to dock at U.S. ports for six months.
It seems more
likely Pennsylvania would seek a declaratory judgment. A federal judge could
issue a legally binding decision before any rum leaves Cuba. "The Russians are gone,'' he said after
five days and four nights in Cuba. "I didn't see any." If this deal moves on fast-forward, the
multi-day talks Pennsylvania state officials had with a tag team of Cuban
government operatives in around Havana may come to be seen as one uncommonly
quiet revolution.
Read More at http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2017/03/05/Pennsylvanians-make-a-rum-run-to-Cuba/stories/201703050065
