Obama to Ease Cuba's Struggling Economy

[Dusty]

I hadn't realized Cuba was an ally until this morning.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/1...trictions.html


WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration Friday said it will allow for more U.S. travel to Cuba, making it easier for schools, churches and cultural groups to visit the island.

A senior Obama official told The Miami Herald the much-expected move to expand cultural, religious and educational travel to Cuba is part of the administration's continuing ``effort to support the Cuban people's desire to freely determine their own future.

President Barack Obama is also restoring the amount of money ($2,000) that can be sent to nonfamily members to the level they were at during part of the Clinton and Bush administrations. There will be a quarterly limit on the amount that any American can send: $500 per quarter to ``support private economic activity.''

The administration also will restore the broader ``people-to-people'' category of travel, which allows ``purposeful'' visits to increase contacts between U.S. and Cuban citizens.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, the new chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, assailed the revision, saying they ``will not help foster a pro-democracy environment in Cuba.

``These changes will not aid in ushering in respect for human rights,'' Ros-Lehtinen said. ``And they certainly will not help the Cuban people free themselves from the tyranny that engulfs them. These changes undermine U.S. foreign policy and security objectives and will bring economic benefits to the Cuban regime.''But Tampa Democrat Rep. Kathy Castor hailed the news, and suggested Cuban Americans in her community would soon be able to travel directly from Tampa to Cuba if the airport secures authorization.

``The Tampa Bay region has one of the highest Cuban-American populations in this country, but for too long, families have had to travel to Miami in order to get to Cuba,'' said Castor, who sent a letter to Obama before he took office, ``requesting a fresh look at U.S.-Cuban relations and lifting travel restrictions for families.''

The changes could expand the number of U.S. airports from which charter flights to the island depart.

``We see these changes, in combination with the continuation of the embargo, as a way to enhance civil society in Cuba,'' said the administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, adding that increased contact between Cubans and Americans could ``support the independence of the Cuban people, making them less dependent on the Cuban state and on Cuban authorities.''

The official dismissed speculation that the administration delayed the changes until after the November election because Democrats in Florida feared it would hurt them among Cuban-American voters -- many of whom back tough sanctions against the Cuban regime.

``This package of changes was the result of an interagency process that has concluded only in the last couple of days,'' the administration official said. ``They are rolling out now that they are ready to be rolled out.''

The official underscored that the changes do not lift the economic embargo and that tourist travel to Cuba remains illegal, as does sending remittances to senior government or Communist party officials.

The White House said the changes do not require congressional approval and the changes will be published in the Federal Register.

Under the changes, religious institutions in the U.S. will be able to sponsor trips to Cuba by their members with a general license.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/1...#ixzz1B6JG2frm

[99meters]

This is an honest question .... how is it we have so much beef with Cuba, yet we trade with China?

[dr. mabuse]

*

[Gypsy]

Oh gee, glad to see he's so concerned about Cuba. You know, since the economy of the US is a-okay and the citizenry isn't struggling.

[Sten]

All the political stuff aside, I hope it works out, I really want to dive Cuba before I die.

[Buffalobob]

Fidel is an old and dying man.

Since the old days of Revolution and the missile crises we have begun to have reasonable relationships with many former enemies. It would be a great enhancement of our national security if Cuba could be converted to a friendly ally.

[Red Flag 1]

Always on the hunt for votes; Cuban voter pool in FL. this time.

RF 1

[zauber1]

Originally Posted by Red Flag 1

Always on the hunt for votes; Cuban voter pool in FL. this time.

RF 1

Won't this lose votes considering the virulent anti-Castro Cubans in FL?

On the other hand, I'd like to buy a vintage 1958 Chevy that has been preserved on the island.

[Sigaba]

Originally Posted by 99meters

This is an honest question .... how is it we have so much beef with Cuba, yet we trade with China?

Because of two myths. The first is the "China market." The second is that Chinese food is the better carry out option.

[Dusty]

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/pol...est=latestnews

It never failed. The sound of death came punctually, reliably, at 9 p.m. each night.

It reverberated on the grounds of the notorious La Cabaña prison in Havana, where the men who had dared to defy the rules of the Castro regime, denouncing oppression and calling for liberty, had been hauled. At the same hour, each night, they were forced to hear what happens to people like them.

“Ready, aim, fire!” they’d hear the execution squads bellow from outside, just beyond their barracks, as their fellow political prisoners – some of them their brothers, fathers, sons – cried out “Viva Cuba Libre!” (“Long Live a Free Cuba!”) and “Viva Cristo Rey!” (Long Live Christ the King!”).

Then they heard the firing squad discharge their rifles just as the thunderous 9 p.m. cannon-shot re-enactment rang out and reverberated around Havana, a historical ritual in Cuba that delighted tourists.

“The firing squads did their killing at 9 p.m., so that the cannon shot would mask the noise of their rifles,” recalled Luis Israel Abreu, a 78-year-old exile who spent 14 years as a political prisoner, several of those years at La Cabana.

“Then you’d hear a separate shot, the coup de grace,” said Abreu, whose blue eyes still well with tears at the memory. “They wanted to make sure they were cold dead.”

Snip

[ryno]

Didn't it come out recently that Castro's own sister started spying for the CIA years ago because she was disturbed by the number of executions?

[Dusty]

Originally Posted by ryno

Didn't it come out recently that Castro's own sister started spying for the CIA years ago because she was disturbed by the number of executions?

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE59P0NK20091026

[T-Rock]

All the political stuff aside, I hope it works out, I really want to dive Cuba before I die.

In the mid 80’s, our ship went to Cuba to drill for 30 days. Since we weren’t needed for the drills, our team spent roughly 28 days diving with those stationed at the GiTMO Dive Locker. Throughout my short diving career, it was absolutely some of the best diving I have ever done, the visibility was great.

Untold numbers of Conch and Langusta were taken, and the spear fishing was totally awesome Just about every evening, a low country BBQ was held on the beach.

Upon the return trip, our Master Chief became highly pissed upon entering Port Everglades when he discovered the stench from the hundreds of Conch we salvaged and hung in our Dive Locker storage room

I’ve always wondered if the T-28 Trojan we saw on the ocean floor, presumably from a crash in roughly 80 foot of water, was a relic from the Bay of Pigs invasion