Shift in Cuba policy anticipated under Obama

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Sunday, 12.14.08
Shift in Cuba policy anticipated under Obama
By JACK CHANG
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- Throughout his campaign, President-elect Barack Obama said that he'd loosen some restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba and rebuild the already slight ties to the communist nation cut by the Bush administration. With an Obama government soon to become reality, many in the U.S. capital are pushing for much more.

The question of what U.S. Cuban policy will look like under Obama has fed one of the moment's biggest foreign-policy debates, and a loose coalition of legislators, free-trade advocates and leftist groups thinks that it has an ally in the president-elect.

Legislators such as Reps. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., and Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., want to pass legislation that would allow all U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba, which would undo prohibitions that the U.S. government has imposed almost continuously since 1962. That embargo prohibits nearly all trade, travel or other types of exchanges with Cuba.

~snip~
Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., said that about 50 legislators from both parties supported canceling the travel ban.

~snip~
"There will be major changes, there's no doubt," Delahunt said. "President Obama was clear. We want to move in a different direction."



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/812398.html

[Mudoria]

1. Maybe we can get some cigars finally..

[TomClash]

3. They are wicked good nt

[Hulk]

5. And maybe we can start laying our hands on some of those antique autos...

Just kidding, but it is all they have to drive.

I'm hoping we can loosen up the restrictions on Cuba. Fidel is no longer in power, even though his brother, Raul, is; and there will be virtually no difference in rule.

Cuba needs our support. They have a lot to offer, and we have a lot to offer. We BOTH have a lot to gain.

It's time to stop acting like silly school girls and put our differences aside for the good of all the people of the two nations. It's time to heal.

[Billy Burnett]

7. BS. Cubans are replacing their old US cars with more efficient Asian and Euro cars

Cuba would like our support, and that starts with learning some of the truth and dispelling the myths (such as, old US cars are all they have to drive).

Traveling to Cuba would help dispel the heaps of anti Cuba myths and piled on bullshit.

For now, you could do a five second google search ...

[Judi Lynn]

9. Love your photos! Looks as if we had the same idea.

This mystery about Cuba, as well as all the lies will be cleared up in the twinkling of an eye if they EVER remove that incredibly stupid travel ban.

A whole lot of right-wingers are going to be exposed for their phenomenal whoppers they've been spewing all these years about the real Cubans, as well.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Just spending some time looking around on the internet will bring you some views of Cuba

which haven't been available through corporate media sources, you'll come across photos taken by people who've gone there for one reason or another. Photos taken by European tourists, or Americans who got there for one reason or another, or any of the Latin American, Asian, Australian, Canadian tourists, etc., etc. will provide some insights which have been denied conventional American citizens which will serve as a nudge to you to start thinking maybe we haven't been given the whole picture, after all.

I just ran across this website, recalling I've heard from frequent Cuba travelers that Cuba actually has a lot of OTHER kinds of cars beyond the American models which broke off at 1959. This is a website I've never seen, but it shows a completely different look at Havana streets:

http://www.tony-d.com.nyud.net:8090/photos/havana/Cuba%20street%20429.jpg

http://www.tony-d.com.nyud.net:8090/photos/havana/Cuba%20street%20428.jpg

http://www.tony-d.com.nyud.net:8090/photos/havana/hospital.JPG

From this website:
http://www.tony-d.com.nyud.net:8090/html/photo.htm

http://www.cuba-junky.com.nyud.net:8090/foto-c/calle.jpg

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1053243808040227267FEOtht

Camaguey, Cuba

http://lh6.ggpht.com.nyud.net:8090/_hXOTYaC4Wv8/SFlyJL_Q_lI/AAAAAAAAAww/ch1zMI_wL28/s720/dsc_4281.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com.nyud.net:8090/_hXOTYaC4Wv8/SFlyJL_Q_kI/AAAAAAAAAwo/GfkUP1m8QCQ/s720/dsc_4282.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com.nyud.net:8090/_hXOTYaC4Wv8/SFlxZ7_Q_UI/AAAAAAAAAuk/_mVNn48QtOg/s720/dsc_4416.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com.nyud.net:8090/_hXOTYaC4Wv8/SFlxVb_Q-zI/AAAAAAAAAqc/e5OwRl6zMls/s720/dsc_5145.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/Guardian/travel/gallery/2008/feb/22/cuba/42-17150811-6849.jpg

Havana

[babylonsister]

2. I can't wait. About time. nt

[TomClash]

4. Finally

One of this country's most outmoded policies.

[murray hill farm]

6. Finially!!

Some basic and balanced common sense.

[Judi Lynn]

10. US elections 2008: Obama urges thaw in US-Cuba relations

5.45pm BST / 12.45pm ET
US elections 2008: Obama urges thaw in US-Cuba relations
Elana Schor in Washington guardian.co.uk,
Friday 23 May 2008 17.41 BST

In an appeal to historically conservative Cuban Americans, Barack Obama today urged a thaw in the US embargo on the island nation and released an ambitious plan for Latin America.

Obama threw a confident jab at Republican rival John McCain, who visited south Florida last week to accuse the likely Democratic presidential nominee of being too cosy with the Cuban government.

"Now let me be clear: John McCain's been going around the country talking about how much I want to meet with Raul Castro, as if I'm looking for a social gathering," Obama told members of the Cuban-American national foundation in Miami.

"That's never what I've said, and John McCain knows it."

What Obama has suggested is engagement with Castro, who took over for brother Fidel earlier this year and has allowed a few democratic reforms to Cuba's oppressive social framework.

Obama vowed today to allow Cuban-Americans unlimited rights to travel and send money to the island as president, loosening Bush administration restrictions that are increasingly unpopular.

While Cubans in the US have largely voted Republican in the past, a Florida International University poll taken last year found that 65% support Obama's call for dialogue with Castro, 64% support allowing money transfers and 55% support allowing travel.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/23/barackobama.uselections20081?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront