The Candidate submitted statement and answers to questionnaire.1. Do you support sending direct U.S. government aid to Cuban dissidents?
Yes___X__ No______
2. Do you support the ability to send direct private aid to Cuban dissidents?
Yes___X__ No______
3. Do you support Radio and Television Marti as a vehicle for providing objective news and information to Cuba?
Yes_____ No______
Comment on No. 3: I support Radio Martí but have voted against Television Martí. The U.S. government funded Television Martí tries to broadcast TV news and cultural programs to Cuba, but it is unfortunately jammed by the Cuban government and does not provide objectives news and information to Cuba.
4. Do you support restrictions on American tourist travel to Cuba?
Yes___X__ No______
5. Do you support restrictions on Cuban-American family, humanitarian related travel to Cuba?
Yes_____ No___X___
6. Do you believe that the United States should negotiate with Raul Castro once it is announced that Fidel Castro has died?
Yes__X__ No______
Comments on No. 6: A crucial component of the Obama plan to promote freedom and democratic change in Cuba will be aggressive and principled bilateral diplomacy. I will send an important message: if a post-Fidel government begins opening Cuba to democratic change, the United States is prepared to take steps to normalize relations and ease the embargo that has governed relations between our countries for the last five decades. That would be the best means of promoting Cuban freedom.
7. Should the United States require a new Cuban government to make concessions such as freeing political prisoners or allowing a free press before the United States moves to negotiate with them?
Yes_____ No___X__
8. Do you support maintaining current restrictions on trade with Cuba until there is a transition to democracy? ¿Apoya usted mantener las presentes restricciones comerciales hasta que tome lugar una transición a la democracia en Cuba?
Yes__X__ No______
9. Do you believe the wet-foot/dry-foot policy should be reverted back to the original policy of accepting Cuban refugees into the United States for processing regardless of whether they reach dry land or are intercepted at sea?
Yes_____ No__X___
10. Should United States policy provide for increased assistance for independent Cuban civil society, i.e. independent entrepreneurs, medical clinics, libraries, etc.?
Yes__X__ No______
11. Do you believe in supporting the growth of independent micro-enterprises in Cuba with the goal of helping promote independent Cuban civil society?
Yes__X__ No______
12. Do you believe the United States should negotiate direct mail service to Cuba?
Yes__X__ No______
13. Do you believe U.S. policy should allow for the upgrade of telecommunications equipment in order to facilitate communication between the people of Cuba and their relatives abroad?
Yes__X__ No______
14. Which statement most closely reflects your views on current U.S.-Cuba policy? (you may choose more than one)
I believe current policy is effective and does not need any change___
I believe current policy is effective but is missing a proactive element in support of Cuba’s dissidents___
I believe U.S. policy is not restrictive enough and should be toughened___
I believe U.S. policy is too restrictive and some elements of it should be relaxed___
I believe U.S. policy towards Cuba is a failure and should be completely revised___
Commentary on No. 14: I believe U.S. policy has failed. That’s why I have called for a new policy that would permit unlimited family travel and cash remittances, but maintain the embargo as an inducement for democratic change on the Island.
15. Do you believe it is important to establish an International Democracy Fund for Cuba through an international or regional body like the U.N. or the O.A.S. in order to provide incentives for democratic change?
Yes__X___ No________
16. Please summarize (1-2 paragraphs) your vision for a U.S. Cuba policy under your administration:
After nearly 50 years of failure, we must turn the page and begin to write a new chapter in U.S.-Cuba policy to help advance the cause of freedom and democracy in Cuba. To write this new chapter, I will keep U.S. national interests, and not partisan or electoral interests, at the forefront. I will strive to empower the Cuban people and aim to position the United States to help foster a stable and peaceful transition in Cuba to avoid potential disasters that could result in mass migration, internal violence, or the perpetuation of the Cuban dictatorship. A democratic opening in Cuba is, and should be, the foremost objective of our policy. I believe we need a clear strategy to achieve this objective—one that takes some limited steps now to spread the message of freedom on the island, but preserves our ability to bargain on behalf of democracy with a post-Fidel government. The primary means we have of encouraging positive change in Cuba today is to help the Cuban people become less dependent on the Castro regime in fundamental ways.
My approach is built around empowering the Cuban people, who ultimately hold Cuba’s destiny in their hands. There are few better ambassadors for freedom than Cuban Americans. And the money they send to Cuba makes their families less dependent on the Castro regime. Cuban American connections to family in Cuba are not only a basic right in humanitarian terms, but also our best tool for helping to foster the beginnings of grassroots democracy on the island. As President, I will grant Cuban Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island. But as we reach out in some ways, it makes strategic sense to hold on to important inducements we can use in dealing with a post-Fidel government, for it is an unfortunate fact that his departure by no means guarantees the arrival of freedom on the island. I will also do what this President has not done, engage in aggressive and principled bilateral diplomacy.
13 comments:
I'm so glad Obama's got a sensible position! I don't agree with all of it (especially not the negotiate with Raul part) but he seems to know his stuff! I'm pleasantly surprised.
I support Obama’s point of views totally!
Right on Obama! The only rational intelligent candidate!
The Cuban people thank you. If their is any hope of freedom in cuba in the near future, you will help bring that about.
Obama's position is slightly better than Hillary's, but it is basically the same as always. As long as the US Government commits to funding and organizing "dissidents" there will be trouble. It is simply unacceptable to provide millions to buy playstations and chocolate for people who will say bad things about the Cuban Government. We don't allow Cuba to fund any organizations or people in US, why should Cuba allow its arch-enemy to do the same?? An enemy 90 miles away that has a regime change policy, a "Plan for Transformation" (with coordinators) and expanded CIA desk.
But what Obama does thankfully realize is that the way forward with Cuba must involve negotiation. Positive change in Cuba will come faster if the US ends its aggressive policies in favor of neighborliness. Once we end the embargo and payments to dissidents, there will be no excuse for any political prisoners or economic woes. Once we end TV and Radio Marti there will be no excuse for media limits.
I'm also very much impressed by the sensible positions of Obama. By his ability to differentiate and to express openly his viewpoints. He made his homework in a creative way.
America: wake up!!!
Go, Obama, Go!
I think Obama is one of the most realistic candidate to the presidency. He talks about fixing the mess we all have here with the economy, the war situation and besides that he knows how unfair is the situation of all Cubans in the United States and our families in the island. Somebody has to move the lever; Is really evident he's willing to move it forward. I'll vote for him; I won't for Hillary.
Leftside-
Your post reveals quite a few things about you:
1. unlike virtually every country in the international community, you seem to refute the mere existence of dissidents by referring to them in quotes, much like the Cuban government
2. your pollyanna foreign policy solution that ceasing support of dissidents in Cuba will remove the "excuse" for political prisoners doesn't hold water- before the US and the international community ever supported dissidents in the 1990s, what excuse, pray tell, did the Cuban government have for political prisoners ??
3. you have no credibility- what excuse existed for censorship before Radio and TV Marti ?
And, unlike the Cuban people, you have the freedom to blather on with your nonsense on blogs.
Cuba's people demand and deserve freedom and human rights- and despite your myopic political views on the subject, they will achieve their goal
I like you and your style. You appear to be honest unlike the Clintons. But my Mother always told me that she could tell alot about me by who my friends were....
Castro Endorses you and Hillary?
Castro's tip: Clinton-Obama the winning ticket
Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:06am EDT
By Anthony Boadle
HAVANA (Reuters) - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is tipping Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to team up and win the U.S. presidential election.
Clinton leads Obama in the race to be the Democratic nominee for the November 2008 election, and Castro said they would make a winning combination.
"The word today is that an apparently unbeatable ticket could be Hillary for president and Obama as her running mate," he wrote in an editorial column on U.S. presidents published on Tuesday by Cuba's Communist Party newspaper, Granma.
At 81, Castro has outlasted nine U.S. presidents since his 1959 revolution turned Cuba into a thorn in Washington's side by building a communist society about 90 miles offshore from the United States.
He said all U.S. presidential candidates seeking the "coveted" electoral college votes of Florida have had to demand a democratic government in Cuba to win the backing of the powerful Cuban exile community.
Clinton and Obama, both senators, called for democratic change in Cuba last week.
Castro has not appeared in public since intestinal illness forced him to hand over power to his brother Raul Castro in July last year.
He has turned to writing dozens of columns and essays, but rumors that his health is worsening or that he may even be dead have swirled through the Cuban exile community in Miami in the last two weeks.
Castro's only reference to U.S. President George W. Bush in his latest essay was to say that he "needed fraud" to win Florida's electoral college votes and the presidency in the fiercely contested election in 2000.
Castro said former President Bill Clinton was "really kind" when he bumped into him and the two men shook hands at a U.N. summit meeting in 2000. He also praised Clinton for sending elite police to "rescue" shipwrecked Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez from the home of his Miami relatives in 2000 to end an international custody battle.
But even Clinton was forced to bow to Miami politics and tighten the U.S. embargo against Cuba in 1996, using as a "pretext" the shooting down of two small planes used by exile groups to overfly Havana, Castro wrote.
He said his favorite U.S. president since 1959 was Jimmy Carter, another Democrat, because he was not an "accomplice" to efforts to violently overthrow the Cuban government.
Sixteen years after Dwight Eisenhower broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba, Carter restored low-level relations in 1977 when interest sections were opened in each country's capital.
Castro made no mention of Republican Cold War victor Ronald Reagan, or of John F. Kennedy, whose Democratic administration launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion by CIA-trained Cuban exiles in 1961.
One of the most dangerous moments of the Cold War came a year later when Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev faced off for 13 days over Soviet missiles that Castro allowed Moscow to place in Cuba.
Exit, 1) If you make a living opposing a government I have another word for you, as do Cubans. 2) Saying the US Govt. and other organizations did not fund dissent in Cuba before the 90s is kinda laughable. We have the documents to know exactly how many Cubans were paid to blow things up and stir up propoganda. 3) I made clear there is no excuse for censorship or political prisoners when there is no active outside subversion. 4) There are more Cubans online debating in blogs every day. (There would be more if the US did not block their internet fiber optic cable access). Raul has called for debate and the governement recently held thousands of meetings across the island asking for criticisms and suggestions. And they wrote it all down and analyzed it, raising the prospect of change.
I support Obama ´s Policy. It is human, realistic and structured. He is a real challenge for the American People, a challenge of change,progress and democracy, for United States and the World.
He´ll know what to do, and is brave enough.
My post is a general idea on what I have seen here. First I believe that if Mr. Mas Canosa Sr. would be alive today his son would not be meeting with Obama and producing this blog, if it's his. He would drop dead immediately out of shame for what his son is doing. Second, I don't like Obama. We have sufficient libero-social-communists in Latin America, following the Cuban example, to be willing to vote for one in the U.S. We need a person as President, that would know international policies, not be a racist like Obama and wife are following the teachings of rev. Wright, and that despise everything good this country has to offer. Also someone that would be accepting the threats of radical muslims, or meeting with the midget heading Iran, who has caused so much harm in the war in Iraq as his sole responsibility. We also need someone that would put chaves in its place and his threats vs. the U.S. Cuba should be free from the tyrannical system it suffers to this date, and Cubans must be allowed to find a way to do it for themselves. The embargo should continue in full force and once the kastro bastards don't get the millions from Exiles it will fall apart even with the support of chaves/venezuela. We have to remember oil is not eaten, and once the food condition is sufficiently bad in Cuba and no "fulas" are received the Cuban population will find a way out of the situation they are in today.
Mas Canosa....think twice before you go ahead with a radical muslim as Obama.
Marianao415...
Marianao's proposal to starve Cuba into democracy makes about as much sense as his assertion that Barack Obama is both a Muslim and a follower of Rev. Wright (a Christian minister).
As long as CANF continues to outrage bigoted fools like Marianao, you can be sure you're on the right track.
Every Cuban voting for Obama will be sorry. Our economic woes are being carried out by enemies outside of the US having control over our finances. Obama is a puppet and you will someday find out. with him as President the chances of Cuba ever being free are below zero.
Someone has put a ring through many cuban exiles noses and they are following a socialist around. Wake up Miami! Have some guts!
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