Quoted Text

U.S. eases Cuba restrictions Travel, money changes fulfill Obama pledge
BY ROBERT BURNS The Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — In a measured break with a half-century of U.S. policy toward communist Cuba, the Obama administration lifted restrictions Monday on Cuban-Americans who want to travel and send money to their island homeland.
    In a further gesture of openness, U.S. telecommunications firms were freed to seek business there, too. But the broader U.S. trade embargo remained in place. The White House portrayed its changes, which fulfilled one of President Barack Obama’s campaign promises, as a path to promoting personal freedom in one of the few remaining communist nations. They also marked another major step away from the foreign policy priorities of the Bush administration.
    But the moves fell far short of the more drastic policy adjustments that some — including Republican Sen. Richard Lugar — have argued are required to promote U.S. interests in Latin America and to bring about change in Cuba. For most Americans, Cuba remains the only country in the world their government prohibits them from visiting — a barrier to potential travelers as well as to the Cuban tourist industry that would like to see them.
    Cubans welcomed the changes but said more should be done.
    “It’s help that the people really need,” Fermina Gonzalez, a 46-year- old housewife in the leafy Havana neighborhood of Vedado, said of the ending of limits on money sent by Cuban-Americans. “Right now, we have to work lots of jobs just to make ends meet.”
    But few Cubans expect Obama to end the trade embargo or allow American tourists to visit the island without limits.
    “He should do more and lift travel restrictions for all Americans,” said Alberto Sal, a 68-year-old retiree. “Until he does that, I don’t think he’s doing much.”
    Lifting or substantially easing the economic embargo, as set forth in the Cuban Assets Control Regulations and administered by the Treasury Department, would require legislative action by Congress. The White House made no mention of any intention to seek such changes; Obama said as a presidential candidate that the embargo was a form of leverage to press for democratic reforms in Cuba.
    Julia Sweig, director of Latin studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, described Obama’s changes as “teensy, weensy” and said they appear to be driven more by domestic political calculations than by foreign policy considerations.
    “This is a cautious first step by a president whose political advisers are looking at the Florida electoral vote,” she said in a telephone interview, “and who are not looking at this as a matter of foreign policy. That’s the big problem with Cuba policy. We have a policy toward Miami and not toward Havana.”
    Sweig added, however, that Obama’s decision to authorize more telecommunications links with Cuba was a “potentially significant opening.”
    Jose Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch welcomed the announcement but said more should be done. “If President Obama is serious about promoting change in Cuba, this executive order must be part of a larger shift away from the U.S.’s unilateral approach toward the Cuban government,” he said.
    Taking the other side, three Democratic lawmakers wrote in a letter to Obama on Monday that his decisions would have “devastating consequences.”
    They said the Cuban government takes 30 cents of every dollar in U.S. remittances that enter the country as a usury fee.
    “This income facilitates the regime’s finance of..............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00100

Amazing how 9 US Presidents, with infinitely more experience than BHO, found Cuba to be "off limits"

       

John F. Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson
Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford
James Carter
Ronald Reagan
George H. W. Bush
William J. Clinton
George W. Bush

They all had it wrong, but BHO is right?

Something doesn't make sense here.

I think this is more for economic reasons. I see it as nothing more than an economic boost. And for globalization.

It's always about money and who you can 'buy' as a friend.....drinks anyone?

Quoted from 147

Amazing how 9 US Presidents, with infinitely more experience than BHO, found Cuba to be "off limits"

       

John F. Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson
Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford
James Carter
Ronald Reagan
George H. W. Bush
William J. Clinton
George W. Bush

They all had it wrong, but BHO is right?

Something doesn't make sense here.

Yep- amazing 15 Presidents before Lincoln thought Slavery was a great idea -

01 Washington, George (1789-1797)
02 Adams, John  (1797-1801)
03 Jefferson, Thomas  (1801-1809)  
04 Madison, James  (1809-1817)
05 Monroe, James  (1817-1825)  
06 Adams, John Quincy (1825-1829)  
07 Jackson, Andrew  (1829-1837)
08 Van Buren, Martin  (1837-1841)
09 Harrison, William Henry  (1841)  
10 Tyler, John  (1841-1845)  
11 Polk, James Knox (1845-1849)  
12 Taylor, Zachary (1849-1850)  
13 Fillmore, Millard  (1850-1853)
14 Pierce, Franklin (1853-1857)
15 Buchanan, James  (1857-1861)  

They had it all wrong- Lincoln had a lot of nerve-

Quoted from Sombody

Yep- amazing 15 Presidents before Lincoln thought Slavery was a great idea -

01 Washington, George (1789-1797)
02 Adams, John  (1797-1801)
03 Jefferson, Thomas  (1801-1809)  
04 Madison, James  (1809-1817)
05 Monroe, James  (1817-1825)  
06 Adams, John Quincy (1825-1829)  
07 Jackson, Andrew  (1829-1837)
08 Van Buren, Martin  (1837-1841)
09 Harrison, William Henry  (1841)  
10 Tyler, John  (1841-1845)  
11 Polk, James Knox (1845-1849)  
12 Taylor, Zachary (1849-1850)  
13 Fillmore, Millard  (1850-1853)
14 Pierce, Franklin (1853-1857)
15 Buchanan, James  (1857-1861)  

They had it all wrong- Lincoln had a lot of nerve-

Slavery was not started in the US. It was 'big business' brought to this country. And yes it was embraced like all other lucrative big business. And thank God, that has all changed.

But let us not forget that this is not the same thing. We are possibly endangering our security by embracing countries that have hated us for decades. And Bush clearly was not the president for all of those decades. Cuba hated us back when Kennedy was pres. And every pres after him knew the dangers associated with that country's leaders.

If you notice, obama never ever defends democracy. He never ever defends the fact that he is the leader of the 'free world'. In stead he apologizes for our behavior. I find this disingenuous and offensive at best.

I stayed here once http://www.hotelhavanariviera.com/hotel_riviera_cuba.asp?ad_code=adGG in the summer of 1969

Cuban Architecture is fantasic-

I think you can still get there if you fly to Cancun first

Quoted from Sombody

I stayed here once http://www.hotelhavanariviera.com/hotel_riviera_cuba.asp?ad_code=adGG in the summer of 1969

Cuban Architecture is fantasic-

I think you can still get there if you fly to Cancun first

Nice! I'm surprised. Only because my nephew said he couldn't wait until he could visit Cuba. He said that he heard that it looks like it is still in the 50's. He said it is still undeveloped, in a sense, and not industrialized with people still driving old cars.

I personally don't know. This is just what my nephew told me.