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Beginning of the end of the embargo?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090413/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_cuba;_ylt=An230x...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is allowing Americans to make unlimited trips and money transfers to family in Cuba and easing other restrictions Monday to usher in a new era of openness toward the island nation ruled by communists for 50 years.
The formal announcement was being made at the White House Monday afternoon, during presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs' daily briefing with reporters, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity before the announcement.
With the changes, Obama aims to lessen Cubans' dependence on the Castro regime, hoping that will lead them to demand progress on political freedoms, the official said. About 1.5 million Americans have relatives on the island nation that turned to communist rule in 1959 when Fidel Castro seized control.
Obama had promised to take these steps as a presidential candidate. It has been known for over a week that he would announce them ahead of his attendance this weekend at a Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.
"There are no better ambassadors for freedom than Cuban Americans," Obama said in a campaign speech last May in Miami, the heart of the U.S. Cuban-American community. "It's time to let Cuban Americans see their mothers and fathers, their sisters and brothers. It's time to let Cuban American money make their families less dependent upon the Castro regime."
Other steps taken Monday include expanding the things allowed in gift parcels being sent to Cuba, such as clothes, personal hygiene items, seeds, fishing gear and other personal necessities.

The administration also will begin issuing licenses to allow telecommunications and other companies to provide cell and television services to people on the island, and to allow family members to pay for relatives on Cuba to get those services, the official said.
Last May, former President George W. Bush announced a new policy that people living in the United States could include cell phones in gift parcels sent to Cubans. At the time, Bush aides said that U.S. residents could pay for the cell service attached to phones they send.
However, though American cell phones with service contracts from the U.S. work on some parts of the island, service is not always reliable and depends on the phones' specifications.
Sending money to senior government officials and Communist Party members remains prohibited under Obama's new policy. Restrictions imposed by the Bush administration had limited Cuban travel by Americans to just two weeks every three years. Visits also were confined to immediate family members.
Francisco Hernandez, head of the exile group the Cuban American National Foundation, was once a staunch supporter of travel restrictions but supported Obama's announcement, saying he hopes it will inspire both sides to reconsider long-held positions.
It will help Cubans become more independent of the state "not only in economic terms but in terms of information, and contacts with the outside world," said Hernandez, who was imprisoned by the Cuban government for nearly two years after participating in the 1961 failed Bay of Pigs invasion.
Miami travel agent Tesie Aral said her phone has been ringing nonstop in anticipation of the announcement, with a tenfold increase last Friday alone.
"People were already planning to travel more based on their ability to go every 12 months," said Aral, owner of ABC Charters. "Whether they can travel more frequently than that depends on the economy."
Also in that Miami speech nearly a year ago, Obama promised to depart from what he said had been the path of previous politicians on Cuba policy — "they come down to Miami, they talk tough, they go back to Washington, and nothing changes in Cuba."
"Never, in my lifetime, have the people of Cuba known freedom. Never, in the lives of two generations of Cubans, have the people of Cuba known democracy," he said then. "This is the terrible and tragic status quo that we have known for half a century — of elections that are anything but free or fair; of dissidents locked away in dark prison cells for the crime of speaking the truth. I won't stand for this injustice, you won't stand for this injustice, and together we will stand up for freedom in Cuba."
He also promised to engage in direct diplomacy with Cuba, "without preconditions" but with "careful preparation" and "a clear agenda."
Some lawmakers, backed by business and farm groups seeing new opportunities in Cuba, are advocating wider revisions in the trade and travel bans imposed after Castro came to power in Havana.
But the official said that Obama is keeping the decades-old U.S. trade embargo, arguing that that policy provides leverage to pressure the regime to free all political prisoners as one step toward normalized relations with the U.S.

By JGD on Apr 13, 2009, 12:07 in Cuba.

romy says on Apr 13, 2009, 15:49:

The embargo is so ridiculous... There's much hope in rationality with the new US administration

http://www.farr.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49...
April 13, 2009 - Farr to Deliver Cuba Letter to Obama

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Sam Farr (D-Calif.) will deliver a letter to President Obama later this week that outlines a 10-step plan to normalize relations with Cuba. Forty-six Members of Congress signed the letter.

Rep. Farr, who will be flying to the Summit of the Americas with the president on Thursday, has long been a proponent of normalizing relations with Cuba.

"It's clear that our policies toward Cuba have failed, so it's time to look in a new direction," Rep. Farr said. "I'm excited by the positive signs that are emerging from the White House and the changes we've seen in Cuba over the past couple years. I look forward to continuing to work with the president to build on this momentum during the Summit of the Americas and as we move forward."

Rep. Farr's letter outlines the following 10 steps:

* Do not oppose Cuba's full participation in the Organization of American States.
* Lift limits on gift parcels regardless of relationship.
* Remove limits on remittances regardless of relationship.
* Reestablish all forms of legal travel; investigate broadening categories.
* For agricultural trade, reinstate payment requirement in advance of delivery, not in advance of shipping.
* Allow direct U.S.-Cuba shipping without intermediate stops.
* Pursue cooperation between U.S. and Cuban security and law enforcement agencies.
* Remove designation as state sponsor of terrorism.
* Remove designation as country not cooperating with antiterrorism efforts.
* Provide aid for disaster relief and health-related assistance.

"Our government has been hostage to policies put in place 50 years ago, and that's not how we reestablish our nation as a leader," Rep. Farr said. "It's time to initiate a complete overhaul of our relationship with Cuba. It will start with reform to family travel and remittances, but it can't end there. We must expand this new policy of diplomatic outreach to our own backyard and restore responsible relations with Cuba."

A copy of the letter can be viewed here: http://www.farr.house.gov/images/stories/Documents/cubaletter.pdf

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topapito says on Aug 25, 2009, 05:08:

Small error in the first article. Obama is NOT allowing Americans to travel to Cuba. Cubans living in the US will be the only ones to benefit from this.

The embargo made sense when it was first put into place, castro had stolen all American owned properties and US businesses had no recourse but to seek political remedies. The Cuban exiles quickly saw this as a way to starve the new government and the embargo grew to a twisted and arcane animal with enough twists and turns to turn itself into a political landmine for any president who would attempt to even read it.

But don't kid yourselves, you will find no bigger supporter for the US embargo than castro himself. Castro needs the embargo because it serves him with too many purposes to list here. His actions with Carter, and Clinton, demonstrate his ability to manipulate politics to his benefit.

But I totally agree, lifting the embargo would destroy him and his government. But why would the US want to adopt 11million welfare recipients?

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