Saving Comrade Castro
CASTRO....3
YANKEES....0
Y EL PUEBLO DE CUBA QUE??? SE IRAN A BENEFICIAR DE ESTE ACONTECIMIENTO???
LAS HUELLAS Y CAPITULOS EN LA VIDA DE UN PILONGO POR LOS CAMINOS DE ESTA MADRE TIERRA NUESTRA o NO DEJES PARA MAñANA LO QUE PUEDAS HACER PASADO MAñANA...
Monday, December 22, 2014
Friday, December 19, 2014
FIRST....SECOND....AND THIRD!!!!
First, let us at least rejoice that Alan Gross has been
released. We can be glad for his sake that
he is back home with his family.
The rest of the news is not so good. Obama traded three Cuban spies for Gross and
a U.S. intelligence agent, and will open up financial and banking relations to
Cuba, besides authorizing travel and reopening a U.S. embassy in Havana:
American officials said the Cuban spies were swapped for a
United States intelligence agent who had been in a Cuban prison for nearly 20
years, and said Mr. Gross was not technically part of the swap, but was
released separately on “humanitarian grounds.”
In addition, the United States will ease restrictions on
remittances, travel and banking relations, and Cuba will release 53 Cuban
prisoners identified as political prisoners by the United States government.
Although the decades-old American embargo on Cuba will remain in place for now,
the president called for an “honest and serious debate about lifting” it.
The concern here is only partly the specific measures taken,
however. The context in which they are
being taken is of even greater concern.
Russian officials made two major announcements in the last
six months: that Moscow would reopen the sprawling Cold War-era listening post
near Havana, at Lourdes; and that Russian forces, now including strategic
bombers (an unprecedented feature), would resume operating from Cuba to conduct
patrols targeting the United States. Russia has, in fact, been operating intelligence collection
ships from Cuba and sending them on patrols off the southeastern U.S. coast. Meanwhile, Cuba continues to engage in an illicit arms trade
with North Korea, which facilitates the proliferation of arms to terrorist
groups and bad regimes round the world.
(See here and here as well.) Cuba also continues to be deeply involved in the repressions
inflicted by Central America’s socialist caudillos on the people of Venezuela,
Bolivia, and Nicaragua. For more than
half a century, Cuba has been one of the chief security problems of Latin
America. In the last five years, the nexus between the Castroites and
the chavistas (Chavez, his successor Maduro, Evo Morales, Daniel Ortega) has
expanded to include – increasingly overtly – Iran. Cuba’s trade relations with Iran – always,
for such nations, largely a cover for arms and intelligence cooperation – have
been growing rapidly in the last several years.
(The more warehouses and heavy machinery are ostensibly involved in the
commercial trade, the more military-strategic import it typically has. The transportation sector is one of the best
covers for military cooperation.)
China, moreover, has been cultivating increased military as
well as trade ties with Cuba in the last few years (see here and here as well),
and is reported to have intelligence operatives manning a Cuban listening post
in Bejucal.
These are some of the big, important things that have been
going on with Cuba in the time period that ought to affect our decisions about
Cuba. If we’re going to go down the path
of normalizing relations with Cuba, each and every one of these things should
be on the table. The payoff from
pursuing this course should be – explicitly, and up front – a set of verifiable
commitments from Cuba to not continue in these activities which are prejudicial
to the United States and the security of the Western hemisphere.
Obama has obtained no such promises, nor has he outlined any
program of pursuing them. Given all that
he should have been concerned about, he has simply caved and made a unilateral
gesture that will benefit Cuba, but not the U.S.
In fact, Obama’s opening of travel and financial relations
to Cuba will actively harm the U.S. The
first people on the plane to the U.S. from Cuba will be spies – and spies not
just for Cuba but for Russia, China, and Iran.
The difference now will be the casual ease with which they can gain
access to the United States by posing as mere Cuban businessmen, tourists, and
workers on visas.
Opening financial relations with Cuba will create an even
bigger vulnerability. Cuba will have her
feet in both worlds: the global
financial network in which the U.S. and our allies set the rules, and – beyond
doubt – the alternative network which Russia is currently laboring to
assemble. (See more about how this fits
in with Russia’s strategic intentions here, from an interview given by Russian
Defense Minister Dmitry Rogozin.)
Cuba is too dependent on Russia to avoid participating in
the alternative financial network, and presumably, as long as the Castroites
are in power, they will want to.
Members of the “BRICS” bloc might or might not be interested
in joining Russia’s network; if some do so, the U.S. and allies like Japan and
the EU will be faced with a serious, high-profile security policy dilemma. When North Korea joins Russia’s network, on
the other hand, we can rejoice that our banking system is not connected to
Pyongyang to begin with.
But it would be easy to minimize the concern Western
observers would feel about little Cuba being a nexus between the two
networks. The New York Times editorial
posture, for example, would no doubt dismiss the obvious concerns as
“conspiracy theory,” at least until some American politician’s family member
got caught with taxpayer-assisted commercial interests that were financing arms
shipments to Hezbollah, ISIS, or Boko Haram through the Cuban financial-network
nexus.
It’s going to be tough enough navigating a world in which
Russia operates a separate international financial network, to which some
nations will have an interest in belonging.
Everywhere there exists a nexus between the networks – a nexus that by
definition is outside the control of the Western allies – the SWIFT
participants will have to worry about vulnerabilities to shenanigans and
skullduggery. (Indeed, the very
survivability of the Russian network is likely to depend at times on exploiting
the opportunities in such a nexus.)
But we already know what the Castros’ Cuba is. We know that the vulnerabilities created by
this nexus in Cuba are inevitable. Now
is the dumbest possible time to fling the door open to networked financial
transactions with Cuba.
What can Congress do about this? Can it rein Obama in, at least on the matter
of opening the banking system to Cuba?
That’s a good question. Congress
might be able to pass veto-proof legislation, but forcing Obama to implement it
is another matter. I don’t see the
courts settling this one; foreign-policy powers are one of the least conclusive
realms of constitutional law.
Obama has laid an egg, on several levels, and we’re going to
see it hatch. The Pandora’s Box his
policies are opening looks minor and unserious only to the complacent eye: the
eye that knows no history, and thinks the halcyon summer of the last 25 years
is the normal state of mankind. It’s
not.
![]() |
| DESDE MIAMI...SIN PATRIA PERO SIN AMO LOS GUSANOS VE HICIERON MARIPOSAS QUE VUELAN LIBRES |
DE LA PLUMA DE YOANI...
prueba de que la pluma vale mas que la espada....
A pesar de la ausencia de compromisos
públicos de la parte cubana, lo de hoy fue una derrota política para el régimen
cubano. Bajo el mandato de Fidel Castro
nunca se hubiera llegado siquiera a perfilar un acuerdo de esta naturaleza.
Porque el sistema cubano se apoya -como un de sus principales pilares- en la
existencia de un contrincante permanente. David no puede vivir sin Goliat y el
aparato ideológico ha descansado demasiado tiempo en ese diferendo.
Despues de la transmisión de los discursos
oficiales, en Cuba a media tarde casi
todo el mundo estaba enterado y el sentimiento compartido era de alegría,
alivio, esperanza. Pero, todavía falta un cronograma público con el que se
logre comprometer al Gobierno cubano a seguir una secuencia de gestos a favor
de la democratización y del respeto a las diferencias
Sin embargo, esto apenas comienza. Falta un
cronograma público con el que se logre comprometer al Gobierno cubano a seguir
una secuencia de gestos a favor de la democratización y del respeto a las
diferencias. Hay que aprovechar esta sinergia que han provocado ambos anuncios
para arrancarle una promesa pública, que debería incluir al menos los cuatro puntos de consenso que la sociedad
civil ha ido madurando en los últimos meses:
1) La liberación de todos los
presos políticos y de conciencia;
2) el fin de la represión política;
3) la
ratificación de los pactos Derechos Civiles, Políticos, Económicos, Sociales y
Culturales, con su consiguiente adecuación de la legalidad interna y
4) el
reconocimiento de la sociedad civil cubana dentro y fuera de la Isla.
Arrancarle esos compromisos sería comenzar a desmontar el totalitarismo. Mientras
no se den pasos de esa envergadura, muchos seguiremos pensando que la fecha
esperada no está cerca. Así que a guardar las banderitas, no se pueden
descorchar la botellas todavía y lo mejor es seguir presionando para que
finalmente llegue el día “D.”
![]() |
| LOS GUSANOS SE VOLVIERON MARIPOSAS QUE VUELAN LIBRES EN MIAMI...SIN PATRIA PERO SIN AMOS |
Thursday, December 18, 2014
CUBA....3 y YANKEES....0 | HUSSEIN DOES IT AGAIN
U.S. President Barack Obama negotiated with Cuba to restore diplomatic relations “behind everyone’s back,” lawmakers charged Wednesday night after he announced the restoration of full diplomatic ties with the island nation.
News agencies in the United States buzzed on Thursday with the details of how Obama accomplished that task in a personal 45-minute telephone call on Tuesday with President Raul Castro. The call followed 18 months of secret talks between the White House and Cuban officials that also involved the highest levels of the Vatican – and Pope Francis himself. As part of the deal, USAID worker Alan Gross returned from Cuba on a U.S. government 757 aircraft after five years in custody, along with a U.S. intelligence agent who had spent the last 20 years of a life term in prison.
The move, which was carried out without any knowledge of Congressional lawmakers on either side of the aisle, inflamed already hot tempers about Obama’s penchant for doing things on his own. Media commentators and some legislators on Thursday referred to the president as “King Obama.” Democratic lawmakers also expressed shock and disappointment that the president had spent 18 months negotiating with an “enemy, Communist regime” without even consulting with any other legislator from his own party.
Members of the Cuban immigrant community were incensed that Obama had cut through more than half a century of sanctions and provided a “shot in the arm” to the repressive regime they fled for its brutality.
Castro said the 52-year embargo had caused enormous human and economic damage. He added there was still disagreement on many issues, including that of foreign policy.
Following the announcement, however, the Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped, possibly in response. Media commentators began discussing what the economic implications would be if Congress could not control corporate financial and production flow in and out of Cuba.
MY PS.-
A LAS ESPALDAS DE TODO EL MUNDO, EL QUE-SE-CREE-CZAR PRES. HUSSEIN OBAMA HA LLAMADO A LOS CASTRO PARA HACERSE AMIGUITO DE ELLOS. COMO ES QUE EL PRESIDENTE-ELECTO-DEMOCRATICAMENTE DE LOS EEUU VA A NEGOCIAR CON USURPADORES DE PODER, COMUNISTAS QUE HASTA AYER LE PEDIAN LA CABEZA AL "IMPERIALISMO YANKEE."
LOS CASTROS SE HAN SALIDO CON LA SUYA Y HAN TRAPEADO CON LOS EEUU LOS PISOS SUCIOS DE SUS PALACIOS EN CUBA. HAN PUESTO A LOS EEUU EN LAS SUELAS DE SUS ZAPATOS, COMO UN CHICLET INOPORTUNO...HAN UTILIZADO A LOS EEUU DE PAPEL DE BAñO...DE KLEENEX PARA SOPLARSE LA NARIZ.
A LO MEJOR OBAMA VA A LA HABANA....Y DE AHI A VENEZUELA A VER A MADURO Y TAL VEZ OTRO VIAJECITO A TEHERAN A VER A SUS MENTORES RELIGIOSOS, LOS AYATOLLAH. Y PORQUE NO A KOREA DEL NORTE...ASI ACABARA SUS DIAS EN LA CASA BLANCA TERMINANDO DE HACER DE ESTE, EN OTRORA UN GRAN PAIS, EL HAZME-REIR DE TODOS LOS SERES HUMANOS QUE AMAMOS LA LIBERTAD Y LA DEMOCRACIA.
NUESTROS MARTIRES, HOY SE REVUELVEN EN SUS TUMBAS. TANTOS Y TANTOS MUERTOS, SUFRIMIENTOS, SANGRE-SUDOR-LAGRIMAS...COMO DIRIA UNA AMIGA: "TANTO NADAR, PARA MORIR EN LA ORILLA."
PERO A MI QUE NO ME DIGAN NADA...YO SIEMPRE VOTO REPUBLICANO...Y TODAVIA CONSERVO EN MIS BUMPERS, LOS STICKERS DE McCAIN Y ROMNEY...YO NO SOY RESPONSABLE POR ESTA VERGUENZA DE PRESIDENTE QUE CON SU MENTALIDAD DE EX-ESCLAVO-UNCLE-TOM TIENE QUE HACERNOS PASAR VENGUENZA A PESAR DE LA MARAVILLA DE NACION QUE SE GASTABA...PERO QUE AHORA, CON EL, VA EN FRANCO DETRIMENTO...
MY PS.-
A LAS ESPALDAS DE TODO EL MUNDO, EL QUE-SE-CREE-CZAR PRES. HUSSEIN OBAMA HA LLAMADO A LOS CASTRO PARA HACERSE AMIGUITO DE ELLOS. COMO ES QUE EL PRESIDENTE-ELECTO-DEMOCRATICAMENTE DE LOS EEUU VA A NEGOCIAR CON USURPADORES DE PODER, COMUNISTAS QUE HASTA AYER LE PEDIAN LA CABEZA AL "IMPERIALISMO YANKEE."
LOS CASTROS SE HAN SALIDO CON LA SUYA Y HAN TRAPEADO CON LOS EEUU LOS PISOS SUCIOS DE SUS PALACIOS EN CUBA. HAN PUESTO A LOS EEUU EN LAS SUELAS DE SUS ZAPATOS, COMO UN CHICLET INOPORTUNO...HAN UTILIZADO A LOS EEUU DE PAPEL DE BAñO...DE KLEENEX PARA SOPLARSE LA NARIZ.
A LO MEJOR OBAMA VA A LA HABANA....Y DE AHI A VENEZUELA A VER A MADURO Y TAL VEZ OTRO VIAJECITO A TEHERAN A VER A SUS MENTORES RELIGIOSOS, LOS AYATOLLAH. Y PORQUE NO A KOREA DEL NORTE...ASI ACABARA SUS DIAS EN LA CASA BLANCA TERMINANDO DE HACER DE ESTE, EN OTRORA UN GRAN PAIS, EL HAZME-REIR DE TODOS LOS SERES HUMANOS QUE AMAMOS LA LIBERTAD Y LA DEMOCRACIA.
NUESTROS MARTIRES, HOY SE REVUELVEN EN SUS TUMBAS. TANTOS Y TANTOS MUERTOS, SUFRIMIENTOS, SANGRE-SUDOR-LAGRIMAS...COMO DIRIA UNA AMIGA: "TANTO NADAR, PARA MORIR EN LA ORILLA."
PERO A MI QUE NO ME DIGAN NADA...YO SIEMPRE VOTO REPUBLICANO...Y TODAVIA CONSERVO EN MIS BUMPERS, LOS STICKERS DE McCAIN Y ROMNEY...YO NO SOY RESPONSABLE POR ESTA VERGUENZA DE PRESIDENTE QUE CON SU MENTALIDAD DE EX-ESCLAVO-UNCLE-TOM TIENE QUE HACERNOS PASAR VENGUENZA A PESAR DE LA MARAVILLA DE NACION QUE SE GASTABA...PERO QUE AHORA, CON EL, VA EN FRANCO DETRIMENTO...
Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Establishing ties with Cuba has been on President Obama’s bucket list for some time. Health care -- done. Amnesty for illegal immigrants -- done. Cuba -- next. This last one also has the added bonus point that it puts him right with the international left, which lionizes Castro. And the president will go on picking off the next items on the bucket list for the next two years of his term unless Congress decides to stop him. Should they work up the gumption, lawmakers will find they can do many things to stand up for the prerogatives of the legislative branch.
Obviously, the release of the 65-year-old American hostage Alan Gross should be welcome. His “crime” was to bring computers to Jews on the island. For the last five years, he has been a victim of Cuba’s state terrorism, just as 11 million Cubans have been held hostage by their government for the past five decades.
Not only does President Obama’s action fail to advance freedom in Cuba, it throws a lifeline to Cuba’s dictators.
Exchanging three hardened Cuban spies for Gross, however, establishes an insulting moral and legal equivalency. The spies actions led to the death of an American in the 1990s, and they were duly convicted. Their release in exchange for Gross creates an incentive for rogue regimes and individual actors to kidnap Americans all over the world. Not only does President Obama’s action fail to advance freedom in Cuba, it throws a lifeline to Cuba’s dictators, whose current supplier of funds, Venezuela, is on the ropes because of plunging oil prices. It surrenders to the demands for normalization that the Castros have been making for decades.
So what can Congress do?
Right off the bat, Congress must make it crystal clear to President Obama that he lacks the authority to lift the embargo on Cuba, allow trade to take place between the two nations, let tourists to go to Cuba to bail out the regime or give Cuba have access to capital markets. U.S. law—the Helms-Burton Act of 1996—gives the Congress power to override any action taken by the executive to lift the embargo. In order to lift the embargo, the Cuban government would have to give the Cuban people a number of rights—of association, speech, political activity, etc.—that President Obama obviously failed to secure in his 45-minute conversation with Cuban dictator Raul Castro Tuesday.
Congress can also make clear to the president that there are statutory criteria that must be met before his administration can take Cuba off the State Department list of terrorism sponsors. The president must inform Congress that there has been a change of leadership and policies of the Cuban government and that Castro has given assurances that it will no longer support terrorist acts. Can President Obama do any of that?
Senators should also make clear that they will put a hold on any ambassador that Mr. Obama nominates to serve in Cuba unless he can guarantee that the Cuban government is no longer a threat to the United States and has decided to grant freedom to people in Cuba. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has already said he plans to do that. Additionally, Congress can look into the possibility of using policy riders in the upcoming DHS appropriations debate in February and the Fiscal Year 2016 appropriations process to deny the president funds for setting up relations.
Congress must act because President Obama has been completely feckless in his entire approach to Cuba. He received nothing in exchange for many substantial concessions made to the Communist regime. After five years of “negotiations” President Obama ended exactly where Raul Castro’s demands began five years ago. As Senator Marco Rubio said, President “Obama is the worst negotiator since Carter.”
Mr. Obama's statement was filled with Havana’s communist talking points, such as affirming that Cubans are poor and unfree because of the embargo, or that Cuba was a U.S. colony. None of that is true, and yet Mr. Obama said it.
Congress must act to limit the damage inherent in this Havana Giveaway. Left unchecked, Obama will simply move on to the next misguided item on his bucket list.
A native of Cuba, Mike Gonzalez escaped the Castro regime at age 12. He is a senior fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Davis Institute for International Studies and the author of “A Race for the Future” How Conservatives Can Break the Liberal Monopoly on Hispanic Americans.”
MY PS.-
BO AND SUNNY ARE STILL THE ONLY ONES I LIKE IN THE WHITE HOUSE...I THINK THAT PRES. HUSSEIN OBAMA SHOULD GO TO CUBA AND HUG AND KISS OLD FIDEL AND ASK HIM FORGIVENESS FOR ALL THE BAD THINGS THE USA HAD DONE TO CUBA...KISS FIDEL'S HAND LIKE HE [OBAMA] DID IN SAUDI ARABIA AND ALSO KISS RAUL'S HAND AND ASK ALSO HIS FORGIVENESS FOR ALL THE BAD DEEDS THE US DID IN CUBA...SO WHAT...IT IS THE THIRD TIME THAT WE ARE BETRAYED BY THE USA LEADERSHIP...
1) THE BAY OF PIGS'FIASCO, IN WHICH DUE TO BAD PLANNING AND BAD LEADERSHIP BY JFK CAUSED THE INVASION TO GO BAD.
2) THE OCTOBER MISSILE CRISIS, WHEN RAUL CASTRO GOT THE RUSSIANS TO INSTALL MISSILES IN CUBA AND JFK (AGAIN) TRADED CUBA FOR BERLIN AND THE MISSILES IN CUBA FOR THE MISSILES IN TURKEY. NIKITA DID THE USA IN WITH A BEAUTIFUL STRATEGY...
3) THE "ACERCAMIENTO" RECENTLY BETWEEN HUSSEIN OBAMA AND RAULITO CASTRO...BROKERED BY THE "CHE" PAPA FRANCISQUITO...WOW!!! WHAT A TRIO...THAT IS THE THIRD ONE...
NEXT HUSSEIN OBAMA WILL TRAVEL TO HAVANA, THERE WILL BE ALL KINDS OF CELEBRATIONS...BUT DURING ALL OF THESE EVENTS, THE PEOPLE OF CUBA IS STILL OPPRESSED, STEPPED-ON BY CASTRO'S HOODS, HUNGRY, THIRSTY, POORLY CLOTHED, POORLY FED...AND ALL BECAUSE OF THE STUPID BLOCKADE...GUILTY OF BAD THINGS...KISSING OBAMA AND THE CASTROS...WHAT A SIGHT TO SEE...STRAIGHT TO MY TOILET TO VOMIT!!!!!
EL NEGRO SI NO TE LA HACE A LA ENTRADA...TE LA HACE A LA SALIDA...I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT MOTTO BEFORE AND ALWAYS CONSIDERED RACIST...BUT TODAY...I CHANGED MY MIND AND, AT LEAST IN OBAMA'S CASE...I STILL PREFER BO AND SUNNY...
LA TERCERA TRAICION...CUBA 3 vs YANKEES 0
Washington (CNN) -- President
Barack Obama on Wednesday announced plans to normalize diplomatic relations
with Cuba and ease economic restrictions on the nation, an historic shift he
called the end of an "outdated approach" to U.S.-Cuban relations. Obama said he's instructed Secretary of State
John Kerry to immediately begin discussions with Cuba to re-establish
diplomatic relations, and that the U.S. will re-open an embassy in Havana. The
administration will also allow some travel and trade that had been banned under
a decades-long embargo instated during the Kennedy administration. "Neither the American nor Cuban people
are well-served by a rigid policy that's rooted in events that took place
before most of us were born," Obama said.
He later added: "I believe we can do more to support the Cuban
people, and promote our values, through engagements. After all, these 50 years
have shown that isolation has not worked. It's time for a new approach."
Speaking at the same time as
Obama from his own country, Cuban President Raul Castro lauded the move. "This expression by President Barack
Obama deserves the respect and recognition by all the people and I want to
thank and recognize support from the Vatican and especially from Pope Francis
for the improvement of relations between Cuba and the United States," he
said.
Obama's announcement comes as
both nations have released political prisoners in a show of goodwill, with
American Alan Gross headed home on "humanitarian" grounds from Cuba
early Wednesday morning. In a separate swap, a U.S. intelligence source held
for 20 years was released in exchange for three jailed Cuban spies. Obama
said he and Castro spoke Tuesday in a phone call that lasted about an hour and
reflected the first communication at the presidential level with Cuba since the
Cuban revolution.
But some Republicans are warning the move will only strengthen the
Castro regime in Cuba, which has long been accused of human rights abuses and
is listed by the State Department as a state sponsor of terrorism. Obama said Wednesday he has
instructed Kerry, however, to review Cuba's place on the State Sponsors of
Terrorism list.
Wednesday's announcement that the
U.S. will move toward restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba will also make it
easier for Americans to travel to Cuba and do business with the Cuban people by
extending general licenses, officials said. While the more liberal travel
restrictions won't allow for tourism, they will permit greater American travel
to the island. While only Congress can
formally overturn the five decades-long embargo, the White House has some
authorities to liberalize trade and travel to the island. And Obama said he
plans to "engage Congress in an honest and serious conversation" on
lifting it.
In an effort to boost the nascent
Cuban private sector, the President will also allow expanded commercial sales
and exports of goods and services to Cuba, particularly building materials for
entrepreneurs and private residences, and allow greater business training, as
well as permit greater communications hardware and services to go to the
island. Other announced changes permit
U.S. and Cuban banks to build relationships and travelers to use credit and
debit cards. U.S. travelers will be allowed to import up to $400 worth of goods
from Cuba, including $100 in alcohol and tobacco -- even Cuban cigars.
Remittances by Americans to their families back in Cuba will also be increased
to approximately $2,000 per quarter. Senior
administration officials and Cuba observers have said recent reforms on the
island and changing attitudes in the United States have created an opening for
improved relations. U.S. and Cuban officials say Washington and Havana in
recent months have increased official technical-level contacts on a variety of
issues.
While the release of Gross drew widespread bipartisan praise,
Republican lawmakers on Wednesday criticized the overall move to thaw relations
as ill-advised. Sen. Marco Rubio,
R-Florida, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer he would do everything in his power to block
any potential U.S. ambassador to Cuba even receive a vote. He also called the easing of economic
restrictions "inexplicable" in a statement. "Appeasing the Castro brothers will
only cause other tyrants from Caracas to Tehran to Pyongyang to see that they
can take advantage of President Obama's naiveté during his final two years in
office. As a result, America will be less safe as a result of the President's
change in policy," he said.
Rubio promised that as incoming
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Western Hemisphere
subcommittee he'll "make every effort to block this dangerous and
desperate attempt by the President to burnish his legacy at the Cuban people's
[sic] expense." Both Obama and
Castro in their Wednesday remarks acknowledged the nations' differences
remain. "I do not expect the
changes I am announcing today to bring about a transformation of Cuban society
overnight," Obama said.
But he argued that "through
a policy of engagement, we can more effectively stand up for our values, and
help the Cuban people help themselves as they move into the 21st
century." Castro said that even as
the two nations "recognize having profound differences — especially in
national sovereignty, democracy, human rights and foreign relations policies —
we reaffirm our willingness to dialogue in all of these area."
To that end, Cuba has agreed to
release 53 political prisoners from a list of names provided by the United
States. At least one of the prisoners has already been released. Havana has
also agreed to permit significant access by its citizens to the Internet and
allow the International Committee of the Red Cross and United Nations human
rights officials back on the island for the first time in years. Talks between the U.S. and Cuba have been
ongoing since June of 2013 and were facilitated by the Canadians and the
Vatican in brokering the deal. Pope Francis — the first pope from Latin America
— encouraged Obama in a letter and in their meeting this year to renew talks
with Cuba on pursuing a closer relationship.
Gross' release was seen as one of
the first clear benefits of those talks.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Gross' Maryland
congressman, left 4 a.m. Wednesday from Washington for Cuba, and returned with
Gross and his wife, Judy, according to government officials. Gross, speaking at a press conference
Wednesday, said he's "very happy" with Obama's moves, and heaped
praise on the people of Cuba, "or at least most of them." "It pains me to see them treated so
unjustly as a consequence of two governments' mutually belligerent
policies," he said. "Five-and-a-half decades of history shows us that
such belligerence inhibits better judgment. Two wrongs don't make a
right."
Gross was arrested after
traveling under a program under the U.S. Agency for International Development
to deliver satellite phones and other communications equipment to the island's
small Jewish population.
Cuban officials charged he was
trying to foment a "Cuban Spring." In 2011, he was convicted and
sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to set up an Internet network
for Cuban dissidents "to promote destabilizing activities and subvert constitutional
order." Gross' lawyer, Scott
Gilbert, told CNN last month the years of confinement have taken their toll on
his client. Gross has lost more than 100 pounds and is losing his teeth. His
hips are so weak that he can barely walk and he has lost vision in one eye. He
has also undertaken hunger strikes and threatened to take his own life.
With Gross' health in decline, a
bipartisan group of 66 senators wrote Obama a letter in November 2013 urging
him to "act expeditiously to take whatever steps are in the national
interest to obtain [Gross's] release."
The three Cubans released as a part of the deal belonged the so-called
Cuban Five, a quintet of Cuban intelligence officers convicted in 2001 for
espionage. They were part of what was called the Wasp Network, which collected
intelligence on prominent Cuban-American exile leaders and U.S. military bases. The leader of the five, Gerardo Hernandez,
was linked to the February 1996 downing of the two civilian planes operated by
the U.S.-based dissident group Brothers to the Rescue, in which four men died.
He is serving a two life sentences. Luis Medina, also known as Ramon Labanino;
and Antonio Guerrero have just a few years left on their sentences. The remaining two — Rene Gonzalez and
Fernando Gonzalez — were released after serving most of their 15-year sentences
and have already returned to Cuba, where they were hailed as heroes.
CUBA "TRES" Y YANKEES "O"
ESTA ROSA Y ESTA VELITA SON A LA MEMORIA DE TODOS LOS MUERTOS POR LA LIBERTAD DE CUBA!!!

CUBA - 3(*) / YANKEES - 0
(*)
CUBA - 3
1)DERROTA INVASION A BAHIA DE COCHINOS - ALZAMIENTOS ESCAMBRAY
2) LA CRISIS DE LOS MISILES
3) LA INICIATIVA DE HUSSEIN OBAMA PARA CON LOS CASTROS
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)

.jpg)





