Flirting Across the Florida Straits
Raul Castro and President Obama are like two teenagers eyeing each other at a party.
They both know they want to get together, but neither wants to be seen to make the first move.
How long until they're hot and heavy in the back seat?
From the Communist Party USA's Political Affairs
Cuba has again urged the new US administration of President Barack Obama to act fast towards improving relations between Washington and Havana according to press reports from Guatemala City at the meeting of Non-Aligned Movement foreign affairs ministers meeting.
"We are ready to sit down at a table and talk in a civilized manner, but it is not up to Cuba to take the first step" Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said at a press conference in Guatemala City, confirming the position of President Raul Castro administration towards President Barack Obama.
"Cuba aspires to having normal and respectful relations with the United States," he said, calling on Obama to carry out "a profound revision" of US policy toward Havana, one that would include putting an end to the economic embargo Washington imposed on the communist-ruled island in 1962.
The minister also praised Obama for signing executive orders to close the detention centre for suspected terrorists located on the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay.
"The Guantanamo naval base remains against the will and desire of the people and the government of Cuba" said Roque.
The two countries have had no diplomatic ties since shortly after the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959, though each maintains an interests sections in the other's capital.
Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro and his brother, President Raul Castro, had recently expressed warm words for Obama, which were in sharp contrast with decades of anti-US rhetoric.
Fidel, retired and still convalescing from the serious illness that forced him to effectively step down in July 2006, has called Obama a honest man and praised his inaugural address.
In an article titled "Reflection" the Cuban revolution leader said he "did not harbor the slightest doubt about the honesty with which Obama".
Raul has said more than once that he was prepared to meet with Obama at a time and place of the US leader's choosing.
They both know they want to get together, but neither wants to be seen to make the first move.
How long until they're hot and heavy in the back seat?
From the Communist Party USA's Political Affairs
Cuba has again urged the new US administration of President Barack Obama to act fast towards improving relations between Washington and Havana according to press reports from Guatemala City at the meeting of Non-Aligned Movement foreign affairs ministers meeting.
"We are ready to sit down at a table and talk in a civilized manner, but it is not up to Cuba to take the first step" Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said at a press conference in Guatemala City, confirming the position of President Raul Castro administration towards President Barack Obama.
"Cuba aspires to having normal and respectful relations with the United States," he said, calling on Obama to carry out "a profound revision" of US policy toward Havana, one that would include putting an end to the economic embargo Washington imposed on the communist-ruled island in 1962.
The minister also praised Obama for signing executive orders to close the detention centre for suspected terrorists located on the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay.
"The Guantanamo naval base remains against the will and desire of the people and the government of Cuba" said Roque.
The two countries have had no diplomatic ties since shortly after the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959, though each maintains an interests sections in the other's capital.
Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro and his brother, President Raul Castro, had recently expressed warm words for Obama, which were in sharp contrast with decades of anti-US rhetoric.
Fidel, retired and still convalescing from the serious illness that forced him to effectively step down in July 2006, has called Obama a honest man and praised his inaugural address.
In an article titled "Reflection" the Cuban revolution leader said he "did not harbor the slightest doubt about the honesty with which Obama".
Raul has said more than once that he was prepared to meet with Obama at a time and place of the US leader's choosing.
posted by Trevor Loudon at
1/27/2009 08:24:00 AM
4 Comments:
My opinion of Obama would improve if he ended the US blockade of Cuba.
wouldn't you want to end the embargo and let Americans fly into Cuba to see the supposed horrors of socialism firsthand or are you just going to sacrifice your libertarian "principles" on the alter of McCarthyist hysteria again, as is the case with China?
MZL-loosening the embargo will strengthen the Cuban Communist Party's hold on power and weaken US security.
What libertarian would want that?
well, it doesn't seem that the Party has been hurt by the embargo and is still in power, whereas, there are a lot of people (left and right) who feel that it would be a good thing to lift the embargo. after all, the Party looks like a victim of US imperialism now and gets quite a bit of sympathy
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