Obama’s Cuba Policy: Speak Softly, Carry No Stick
The United States has not had formal diplomatic relations with Cuba for more than four and a half decades, however since the Carter administration the U.S. has maintained an “Interests Section” in Havana.
Ambassador James Cason (retired) is the former head of the U.S. Interests Section (USINT) in Cuba, and in 2006 he had an electronic news ticker installed across the windows of the top floor of the building. In June of this year the sign went dim, along with any hope that the Obama administration would take a stand in favor of liberty for the Cuban people who have been ruled by a Stalinist dictatorship for half a century.
I expected as much from Obama, who seems to have a knack for picking the wrong side — as witnessed by his insistence on the return of Manuel Zelaya to power in Honduras despite the fact that he was deposed by the other two branches of government for attempting an unconstitutional power grab, complete with pre-rigged election results. Still, I had hoped that Obama might use his popularity with the international left to demythologize the dictatorship in Cuba and rally the world to the cause of freedom for that country’s citizens.
Turning off the electronic news ticker billboard is just the latest sign that Obama has no such intentions.
I asked Ambassador Cason about the billboard. He said that he “arranged financing and construction of the billboard because the government of Cuba refused to allow us to talk to the Cuban people and did everything, and still does, to block outside information from arriving in Cuba.”
Cason also noted that such actions by the Castro regime are in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Cuba is a signatory. In an email to me, Cason explained: “Whereas the government of Cuba can lobby and otherwise gain access to the U.S. media and public, we cannot [do the same in Cuba].”
It’s an important point, because Fidel Castro famously launched a “battle of ideas” featuring anti-American billboards posted throughout the island. But as Cason explains, “You can’t have a battle without the other side participating.”
“The billboard was an attempt to level the playing field, to participate in the so-called battle of ideas.”
Shortly after the ticker went into operation, Castro ordered the installation of dozens of tall flagpoles in the vacant lot across from USINT in an attempt to obscure its viewing. Cason says the electronic ticker was supposed to be used “to send messages regarding news, human rights, sports, and other info of interest to ordinary Cubans.”
Cason goes on, stating that the regime “blocked it because it cannot allow alternative sources of information.”
It’s a matter of priorities.
And we all know what the Mohammedan BOGUS POTUS’s priorities are don’t we Vivo lick Mohammedan ars*s and spit on your allies and act like a Black RACIST. But then ‘libtards’ like you agree with those policies don’t you.
“I’m not so optimistic. Liberty for Cubans seems to be the last thing on the mind of President Obama despite his claims to the contrary during the campaign.”
One thing we are sure is not on his mind, and that is liberty for Americans.
vivo ..good morning,
…how is it a matter of prioities?
wasn’t this the great multi-tasking president ?
did the sign use that much electricity …maybe Al Gore is behind this.
Hollywood stars visit Cuba amid U.S.-Cuba thaw ….
What thaw ?
Venezuela: ‘Freedom of expression must be limited’.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – Venezuela’s top prosecutor insisted Thursday that freedom of expression in Venezuela “must be limited” and proposed legislation that would slap additional restrictions on the country’s news media.
The new law would punish the owners of radio stations, television channels and newspapers that have attempted to “cause panic” and “disturb social peace,” Attorney General Luisa Ortega said.
It also would punish media owners who “manipulate the news with the purpose of transmitting a false perception of the facts.”
“Freedom of expression must be limited,” Ortega said.
Ortega urged lawmakers to consider her suggestions as they debate a bill that would punish as-yet-undefined “media crimes.” The National Assembly, which is controlled by allies of President Hugo Chavez, is expected to approve the measure in coming months.
Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch, warned the proposed legislation “would be a terrible regression for freedom of expression.”
“They are trying to increase the penalties for expressions that could be considered offensive for authorities,” Vivanco said in an interview broadcast by RCN Radio in Colombia.
I am all sure they will all visit and hang out with Hugo Chevez as well now who will have the same FREEDOM LESS RESTRICTIONS as does Castro in Cuba .
After all many famous Holly weird Stars now Love Hugo Chevez and Castro not mentioned in this article !
To Mention a few but there are many more like Oliver Stone , Danny Glover, Jane Fonda ,Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey jack Nicholson, Kate Moss ,Naomi Campbell, Rosie O’Donnell to name a few Left Wing wackos !
Holly – Weird is insane !
I Pray they don’t easy to influence young minds that copy them quite often in Looks , Clothes and mind sets ,
Hollywood stars visit Cuba amid U.S.-Cuba thaw
Someone needs to sue Santa Monica High School for education malpractice on behalf of the ill-educated Sean Penn. I mean, the man is nearly illiterate and he certainly has no grasp on history, philosophy, or statecraft. But his wacko left-wing
HAVANA, July 30 (Reuters) – Havana’s famous seaside avenue, the Malecon, could be mistaken for Hollywood Boulevard this week as four high profile film stars come to the Cuban capital in the splashiest sign yet of warming U.S.-Cuba relations.
Benicio del Toro, Bill Murray, Robert Duvall and James Caan arrived in Cuba on Wednesday, with del Toro in town to pick up an award and the other three working on a “research project,” a spokesman for the group said on Thursday.
The spokesman, who asked not to be identified, said the stars were accompanied by other people in the movie industry, including producers he would not name.
Because of the long-standing U.S. trade embargo against communist-led Cuba, Americans have been forbidden, with some exceptions, from visiting the island 90 miles (145 km) from Key West, Florida.
Hollywood stars such as Robert Redford, Arnold Schwarzenegger and director Steven Spielberg have come to Cuba in the past but cultural exchanges slowed due to restrictions imposed by former U.S. President George W. Bush.
The spokesman said the group is traveling under a license granted by the U.S. Treasury Department.
U.S. President Barack Obama offered earlier this year to “recast” relations with Cuba, which have been sour since the 1959 revolution that put Fidel Castro in power.
Obama has lifted travel restrictions for Cuban Americans and restarted immigration talks with Cuba that were suspended under Bush.
Last week, the United States said a Bush-era news ticker on the U.S. Interests Section building in Havana, which the Cuban government viewed as an affront, had been turned off.
Del Toro won praise last year for his portrayal of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, an Argentine who fought alongside Castro in the Cuban revolution, in the two-part biopic “Che” directed by American Steven Soderbergh.
The movie was shown to great acclaim in Cuba last December and on Thursday del Toro was given an award by Cuban artists and intellectuals. (Reporting by Esteban Israel; editing by Jeff Franks and Todd Eastham)
“Cason also noted that such actions by the Castro regime are in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Cuba is a signatory.”
Is this guy retarded or something… the universal declaration of human rights only applies when used against the US and only then when approved by the pro-commie/pro-nazi elements of the US government…aka the democrat party. This guy really needs to wake up to the real world.
“I expected as much from Obama, who seems to have a knack for picking the wrong side — as witnessed by his insistence on the return of Manuel Zelaya to power in Honduras despite the fact that he was deposed by the other two branches of government for attempting an unconstitutional power grab, complete with pre-rigged election results.”
Get it through your head, it was a COUP. No government in the world recognizes the new government in Honduras. I am not saying that Zelaya is a good man, but that is irrelevant as to whether he was legally removed from power or not.
And the only evidence there were pre-rigged election results is the evidence supplied by the people behind the coup. So how much credibility does that have, really?
Fidel will go down as the greatest hero of the 20th century.
He won. Gusanos lost.
Venceremos !
Bla,bla,bla,bla. bla,bla,bla.bla,bla.blalu..all that money we loose if this blockade is removed..bla,bla,bla.bla,bla.bla,bla,bla,bla? yes,bla!So,bla,bla bla? if we dont keep up the preasure and make sure this doesnt go father than the visits.Oh,bla,bla,bla then! I dont want to give up my anti-castro,anti-cuba,anti-cubans ATM pin number! No,not the money.But I Henwy(never been to Cuba)will bla,bla,bla all I can on Blablalu in order so that the 11 million in Cuba dont get a penny of our hard earned federaly funded,tax payers enriched accounts..Not you Henry.I know you dont get money for yourself, but the nickels and dimes they donate to the “VAL SQUAD”.Its the old squad.They love what you guys blog vile day after vile day…The ticker? f*ck the ticker! The flags? Stick em up your ass!
There is a reason the Castros control Cuba. It is because Cuba needs them.
Countries get the governments they need and deserve. Castro is not the problem, he is only a symptom.
Just like Val Prieto’s gout.
Appeasement.
That’s a one-word description of Obama’s self-defeating foreign policy, whereby we are supposed to make peace with our enemies by sacrificing our friends.
Obama will engage Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba, with hardly a precondition. He won’t mention their atrocious human rights records, as such an annoying, arrogant American intrusion would diminish chances for “dialogue.” “Engagement” affords no room for supporting those yearning for freedom, either Iran, or just 90 miles away, in Cuba. How sad, that some will defend the indefensible, asserting that not confronting Cuba’s brutally repressive government is merely a question of “priorities.” It reminds me how Hillary Clinton stated that human rights “can’t interfere” with Chinese-American relations. If Bush had ever said that, the media would’ve roasted him.
On the other hand, for Obama, our Israeli or Honduran allies’ internal affairs are fair game. Here he can safely demand his wishes -which align with those of our enemies- be fulfilled. Does Obama not realize the irony, when his voice joins the chorus formed by Chavez, Castro, and Daniel Ortega, in demanding the reinstatement of Honduras’ reckless President?
Meanwhile, leftist Hollywood actors, whose status is largely due to our consumerist, capitalist society, make movies glorifying murderous rebels like Che Guevara and flock to the impoverished island prison that is Cuba – a nation they would never dare live in, and where their liberal yet consumerist attitudes would never be tolerated.
Obama could take a lesson from how Reagan supported the Solidarity uprising in Poland. At the time of their greatest need, while the Left wing and all the pusillanimous European liberals had abandoned the Poles in the name of detente, Reagan stood by them, supporting the Solidarity protesters publicly, and covertly funneling funds to help their cause. Today, a thankful Poland is one of Americas’ closest European allies. People in Iran and Cuba face a similar situation, but Obama cannot bring himself to support them, blinded by his appeasement philosophy.
Obama’s general doctrine of bowing to our enemies and castigating our friends merely echoes the long line of left-wing delusional thinkers that believe we can achieve “peace in our times” through appeasement.
Engagement with no preconditions? That’s appeasement.
4. homero:
“…how is it a matter of prioities?
wasn’t this the great multi-tasking president ?”
Multitasking is way overrated. Maybe you can bathe, shave, eat breakfast, text and read the paper all at the same time, but I couldn’t do that. Besides, not hearing about something doesn’t mean things are not happening. President Obama has hundreds of people working on dozens of ‘projects’. After waiting 50 years to deal with Cuba, now you can’t wait . . .
@7
“Get it through your head, it was a COUP”
Before spewing any more one-sided rants, I challenge you to read Micheletti’s own defense for what really happened in Honduras: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204886304574311083177158174.html
The military does not rule Honduras. It was simply the instrument which the congress/supreme court (with the support of a majority of Zelaya’s own party members) used to remove him from office.
Don’t confuse the two events that unfolded in Honduras: removal of the president, and expelling him from the country. Removing Zelaya from office was constitutional. Expelling from the country was not. Those committing illegal acts (like Zelaya) are usually arrested/jailed/put on trial; they are not handed one-way tickets to Costa Rica.
Micheletti argues that Zelaya’s penchant to cause mischief made it too dangerous to keep him in Honduras. He may have a point, given that Zelaya had personally led a mob to storm the military base holding the Venezuelan-printed referendum ballots, and had allegedly already rigged a referendum “victory.” But still, I’d agree that it doesn’t quite legally jive to have him expelled. Article 239 of the Honduran constitution states that any president attempting to extend their term in office must be disqualified. But it says nothing about forcing them into exile.
@ 8
You’re joking, aren’t you? If not, you are a sad excuse for a human being.
@ 9
Come back to PJM when you’ve actually grown a brain and learned how to use it.
@ 10
“Countries get the governments they need and deserve”
That would make some sense if people actually had a CHOICE to make about their government (like us here in America). But in nations like Cuba, North Korea, Burma, Iran, or Zimbabwe, most people were simply born into a repressive system, and are powerless to stop it.
According to you, we should’ve done nothing in the face of brutal repression, in places like Nazi Germany or Haiti, given as those poor souls were really simply getting what they “deserve.” Nobody needs or “deserves” such cruel, or tyrannical rule. That’s simply a poor excuse to ignore the suffering of millions.
8 papito
obviously you are not in Cuba. and know little about it or you are in Cuba and are one of the jailers of its’ citizens.
cuidate tonto
vivo …you are right again.
o-bimb-o’s priority is wrecking the american economy and installing a marxist (chicago style) government so that the USA will mirror the prison that is Cuba.
..have you been to Cuba ? did you carry some movie stars luggage?
Henry, I’ve sat on the malecon and watched the ticker while having a few cigars
with my Uncle Mel and some random Cubans and I can say that perhaps for once in
a very long time I agree with you that Obama shouldn’t have let it go dim. There
was a place for the ticker and people do in fact watch it and comment on it and
quite honestly it adds a bit of much needed innovative diversion in a country
where too often people rely on sex and getting drunk for entertainment.
Now in regards to this being an indication that Obama is weak on Cuba, I
couldn’t disagree with you more. In a little over 6 months Obama has done more
to advance the cause of freedom in Cuba than Bush managed to do in 8 fruitless
years save the aforementioned ticker which was a good thing. The cause of
freedom in Cuba starts with freedom from the hunger and basic economic misery
that exists in Cuba and for which the Castro regime is no doubt responsible. By
allowing Cubans to travel to Cuba as often as we want and send as much as we
want without having to waste millions traveling and sending remittances through
third countries, which is what we’ve been doing for decades, means that more
money gets to our Cuban families who need these resources for basic economic
survival. As such they now have more time available to organize and work towards
achieving higher needs such as the need for free expression. What you and many
of your friends at Babalu Blog have failed to realize even now is that helping the
regime keep its people in poverty with a failed embargo which we Cubans are the
first ones to violate only perpetuates the Castro regime. You’ve become
accomplices to the very criminal regime which we all detest and that’s not only
unfortunate but sad. I don’t question your motives brother but I do continue to
question your judgement.
As chileno mentioned, citizens should have the right to choose the politic system that governs their country. In cuba unfortunately people is forced to accept the regime…sad.
16. homero:
“o-bimb-o’s priority is wrecking the american economy and installing a marxist (chicago style) government so that the USA will mirror the prison that is Cuba.”
I hope that was a joke; otherwise, you are totally delusional.
The Economy is getting better, not out of the hole, but in the right direction. Read some decent websites if you can understand economics statistics.
A Marxist gov’t? Do you just repeat the Repugs lexicology like a parrot?
Tell that to Wall Street, GM, AT&T, McDonald’s, Walmart, Costco, Apple, Microsoft, BestBuy, Amazon, and the tens of thousands of medium and small business owners. We are not in your crazed country.
VIVO: 10% unemployment and rising and the economy is getting better? Have you gone insane?
#8,#15 PAPITO&HOMERO: Tell me,PAPITO, who really won? The gusanos in the USA,who live in freedom and prosperity,or the nongusanos”winners” in Cuba,who starve in a putrescent,econonomically disastrous police state? As for saying that Castro “Is the greatest hero of the Twentieth century”,well, that just confirms my suspicions that you are suffering from tertiary syphillis,with milions of spyrochetic gusanos ravaging your tiny brain.
the only one that hasnt sat on the malecon has been henry…hes been sitting on his fat ass at home fighting from behind the screens…kinda like reporters without balls…thats the name of the group over at blablalu..fat ass reporters without balls.