Fw: [Peace-discuss] Admin's real position on Cuba

[unionyes]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "unionyes" <unionyes at ameritech.net>
To: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at illinois.edu>
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 3:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Admin's real position on Cuba


> What a bunch of hypocritical crap.
>
> Yeah, the talk about political prisoners, democracy, freedom of speech 
> could equally be applied to the U.S.... Leonard Paltier, Mumi Abu Jamahl, 
> and HUNDREDS of others. Also the U.S. harboring the terrorist Luis Posada. 
> Then there is the Patriot Act, the Minneapolis 8, the STOLEN elections of 
> 2000 and 2004, torture and illegal wiretapping, the list goes on.
>
> David J.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at illinois.edu>
> To: "peace-discuss" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
> Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 2:15 PM
> Subject: [Peace-discuss] Admin's real position on Cuba
>
>
>> [Doesn't this look like the usual, predictable Obama: fake left, go 
>> right?]
>>
>> Hopes dim for US-Cuba thaw
>> by Marc Burleigh – Mon Apr 20, 4:01 am ET
>>
>> PORT OF SPAIN (AFP) – President Barack Obama dampened hopes of a quick 
>> end to a long-standing US trade embargo on Cuba as Havana's exclusion 
>> from a regional summit scuppered agreement on a joint declaration.
>> Although Obama made the historic acknowledgement that Washington's 
>> half-century policy towards Cuba "hasn't worked," he told the Americas 
>> summit in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday that it would not be modified any 
>> time soon and urged Cuba to give its people more freedoms.
>> "We're not going to change that policy overnight," Obama told a news 
>> conference at the end of the gathering, which brought together 34 heads 
>> of state.
>> "Issues of political prisoners, freedom of speech and democracy are 
>> important, and can't simply be brushed aside," Obama said.
>> Those remarks doused hopes built up last week that led many to believe 
>> Washington and Havana might be on course to negotiate an end to the 
>> 47-year-old US embargo on Cuba.
>> Optimism was stoked when Obama lifted curbs on Cuban-Americans visiting 
>> and sending money to Cuba.
>> It took on momentum when Cuban President Raul Castro said he was willing 
>> to talk to the US about "everything" -- including the previously 
>> off-limits topics of political prisoners, freedom of the press and human 
>> rights.
>> But by the end of the summit, Obama and his administration were 
>> cautioning that any further US compromises would only follow concrete 
>> signs from Cuba that it was serious in engaging them.
>> "The test for all of us is not simply words, but also deeds," Obama said.
>> The summit itself became a showcase for Obama's popularity with leaders 
>> who have previously been cool towards the US, including Venezuela's 
>> President Hugo Chavez, jockeying to be captured in photos with the US 
>> president.
>> But Obama's charm offensive was not enough to persuade all the leaders to 
>> put their names to a final joint declaration, with several sticking to an 
>> earlier vow that they would not endorse the document in solidarity with 
>> Cuba, which was excluded from the meeting.
>> Several nations, including Bolivia, Venezuela, Honduras and Nicaragua, 
>> agreed ahead of time not to sign the final declaration to show 
>> displeasure that Cuba was not invited to the summit.
>> The gesture also was taken to protest Havana's continued exclusion from 
>> hemispheric groups like the Organization of American States, from which 
>> Cuba was barred in 1962 at Washington's insistence.
>> While Obama did attract some criticism back home for shaking hands with 
>> Chavez and accepting a book from him as a gift, he made clear that -- as 
>> with Cuba -- 
>> major obstacles remained towards better ties despite "positive signs".
>> "I have great differences with Hugo Chavez on matters of economic policy 
>> and matters of foreign policy," Obama said.
>> "There have been instances in which we've seen Venezuela interfere with 
>> some of the countries that surround Venezuela in ways that I think are a 
>> source of concern," he added.
>> Almost all the leaders said Obama was a genial, open counterpart who 
>> seemed genuine in wanting to open a "new era" with them based on standing 
>> toe-to-toe.
>> Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Obama was helping 
>> build "a new dynamic" in the region.
>> But a few others were more skeptical.
>> "He is the chief of an empire hemmed in by its own rules who will never 
>> change," Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said.
>> The United States and other countries in the Americas are to consider the 
>> Cuba issue again June 2-3 in Honduras, when the Organization of American 
>> States will mull dropping a 1962 resolution barring the island from the 
>> group.
>> Although the final declaration document lacked the signatures of several 
>> leaders, those who did sign agreed to combat "all forms of organized 
>> crime".
>> The language was pushed by Mexico where more than 7,000 people have been 
>> killed since the beginning of last year in clashes between Mexican drug 
>> cartels and security forces.
>>
>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090420/pl_afp/americassummittrinidad_20090420080215
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>>
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