Ordie
03-06-2009, 09:34 AM
This good news and long over due. It may give a boost to South Florida's economy in terms of the movement of goods and servcies.
U.S. shows signs of opening toward Havana
By Ginger Thompson
Thursday, March 5, 2009
WASHINGTON: The $410 billion spending bill that is working its way through Congress has become an unlikely platform for debate about U.S. policy toward Cuba.
The bill, which will come up for a vote in the Senate this week, includes provisions that would ease some restrictions on travel and trade enacted under the Bush administration. The changes would effectively allow Americans with relatives in Cuba to visit more frequently and would no longer require cash in advance when agricultural goods are shipped to Cuba.
Supporters hailed the measure as a small but significant first step in changing the relationship between Washington and Havana.
Opponents, who threatened to hold up several presidential nominations unless the provisions were removed, criticized the policy changes, saying they would extend a friendly hand to a government that rules Cuba with an iron fist.
"The Cuban regime's long record of expropriation, oppression, anti-Americanism and human rights abuses should be enough to give any reasonable person pause before stripping off the sanctions in place," said Senator Mel Martinez, Republican of Florida, in an angry speech on the Senate floor Tuesday. "I think we should support those who adhere to the rule of law, not those who flout it."
In an interview, Martinez said: "A massive appropriations bill is not the appropriate place to make foreign policy decisions. We shouldn't unilaterally, without asking for anything in return, make these kinds of concessions to an authoritarian government."
The House approved the bill last week.
In past years Republicans, with White House support, stripped similar provisions from spending packages. But President Barack Obama has made clear his intention to review policies that tried to bring down the only Communist regime in the hemisphere by cutting off money and communication. He has not spoken specifically about the provisions in the spending bill.
During the presidential campaign, aides to Obama called President George W. Bush's policy toward Cuba a "humanitarian and strategic blunder." Obama promised changes, including a lifting of all travel restrictions for those with relatives in Cuba and an end to limits on the money Americans could send to their families on the island.
There has been increasing support for such changes in the United States and across Latin America. A new generation of Cuban-American leaders has rejected hard-line positions in favor of greater engagement. Latin American leaders have expressed almost unanimous support for an end to the U.S. trade embargo, which dates from the early 1960s.
And in recent weeks, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar of Indiana, issued a report calling for a re-evaluation of American policy toward Cuba, saying it had failed to achieve the goals of fostering democracy.
"The current U.S. policy has many passionate defenders, and their criticism of the Castro regime is justified," the report said. "Nevertheless, we must recognize the ineffectiveness of our current policy and deal with the Cuban regime in a way that enhances U.S. interests."
Source:http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=20612890
U.S. shows signs of opening toward Havana
By Ginger Thompson
Thursday, March 5, 2009
WASHINGTON: The $410 billion spending bill that is working its way through Congress has become an unlikely platform for debate about U.S. policy toward Cuba.
The bill, which will come up for a vote in the Senate this week, includes provisions that would ease some restrictions on travel and trade enacted under the Bush administration. The changes would effectively allow Americans with relatives in Cuba to visit more frequently and would no longer require cash in advance when agricultural goods are shipped to Cuba.
Supporters hailed the measure as a small but significant first step in changing the relationship between Washington and Havana.
Opponents, who threatened to hold up several presidential nominations unless the provisions were removed, criticized the policy changes, saying they would extend a friendly hand to a government that rules Cuba with an iron fist.
"The Cuban regime's long record of expropriation, oppression, anti-Americanism and human rights abuses should be enough to give any reasonable person pause before stripping off the sanctions in place," said Senator Mel Martinez, Republican of Florida, in an angry speech on the Senate floor Tuesday. "I think we should support those who adhere to the rule of law, not those who flout it."
In an interview, Martinez said: "A massive appropriations bill is not the appropriate place to make foreign policy decisions. We shouldn't unilaterally, without asking for anything in return, make these kinds of concessions to an authoritarian government."
The House approved the bill last week.
In past years Republicans, with White House support, stripped similar provisions from spending packages. But President Barack Obama has made clear his intention to review policies that tried to bring down the only Communist regime in the hemisphere by cutting off money and communication. He has not spoken specifically about the provisions in the spending bill.
During the presidential campaign, aides to Obama called President George W. Bush's policy toward Cuba a "humanitarian and strategic blunder." Obama promised changes, including a lifting of all travel restrictions for those with relatives in Cuba and an end to limits on the money Americans could send to their families on the island.
There has been increasing support for such changes in the United States and across Latin America. A new generation of Cuban-American leaders has rejected hard-line positions in favor of greater engagement. Latin American leaders have expressed almost unanimous support for an end to the U.S. trade embargo, which dates from the early 1960s.
And in recent weeks, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar of Indiana, issued a report calling for a re-evaluation of American policy toward Cuba, saying it had failed to achieve the goals of fostering democracy.
"The current U.S. policy has many passionate defenders, and their criticism of the Castro regime is justified," the report said. "Nevertheless, we must recognize the ineffectiveness of our current policy and deal with the Cuban regime in a way that enhances U.S. interests."
Source:http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=20612890