Ex-US officials urge easing Cuba embargo

[Judi Lynn]

Ex-US officials urge easing Cuba embargo

A group of former high-ranking US officials has called on President Obama to loosen the decades-old embargo on Cuba, saying more travel to the Communist-led island could promote economic activity there.

19.05.2014

The US should loosen its embargo on Cuba to facilitate independent economic activity on the Communist-led island, an unprecedented number of former US officials and business executives wrote on Monday in an open letter to President Barack Obama.

The 44 signatories, which included former Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte and retired Admiral James Stavridis, a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, urged Obama to seize a "window of opportunity" opened by reforms underway in Cuba that restrict state control over some economic sectors and permit entrepreneurs to found small businesses.

The letter was the latest sign that a growing number of Americans support a change in policy with regards to Cuba, but it stopped short of calling for actual legislation.

The punitive sanctions and embargo imposed on Cuba were passed by Congress five decades ago, but the letter specified a number of steps Obama could take that are within the executive authority and do not require Congressional approval.

More:
http://www.dw.de/ex-us-officials-urge-easing-cuba-embargo/a-17646787?maca=en-rss-en-bus-2091-rdf

[Judi Lynn]

1. Open letter to Obama calls for greater engagement with Cuba

Open letter to Obama calls for greater engagement with Cuba
By Reuters
Monday, May 19, 2014 9:19 EDT

By David Adams

MIAMI (Reuters) – The White House should expand licensed travel for all Americans to Cuba and increase support for civil society on the communist-ruled island, according to an open letter to President Barack Obama that was signed by an unprecedented group of 44 former top U.S. government officials and advocates of policy reform and released on Monday.

The letter, which lists a series of policy recommendations, was signed by John Negroponte, the former Director of National Intelligence under president George W Bush, retired Admiral James Stavridis, who stepped down last year as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, as well as several former senior State Department officials and a dozen prominent Cuban American advocates of greater engagement with Cuba.

The letter, which also called on the White House to engage in “serious discussions” with the Cuban government on security and humanitarian issues, is the latest sign of increased pressure on the Obama administration to soften the U.S. Cold War-era policy on Cuba. It comes in the wake of a February poll that found a strong majority of Americans favor further loosening the five-decades old punitive policy of Cuba sanctions.

While the letter stops short of calling for legislation to end the 52-year-old economic embargo, it lists measures that the signers say are within the executive authority of the president and do not require congressional approval.

More:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/19/open-letter-to-obama-calls-for-greater-engagement-with-cuba/

[Louisiana1976]

2. Good for them. Except they should have gone so far as to say in their letter

that the economic embargo against Cuba should be lifted. It is a relic of the Cold War.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Truly! Nothing could improve this grotesque situation more than to remove the criminal embargo. n/t

[flamingdem]

3. Negroponte? What on earth

is this all about..

[Judi Lynn]

5. No kidding! What does an Iran/Contra Reagan Bushie have to do with anything?

The less anyone hears from him the better.

So weird, isn't it?

Last we heard from him, other than his time working for Dubya in Iraq, and at the UN, he was maneuvering death squads around in Honduras.

[flamingdem]

6. He is respected by the Miami Mafia, etc. so this must have been worked out

behind the scenes. Or we'll hear from La Loba and minute.

Will have to check babalu and capitol hill to see what the right wing blogs are saying. They did not comment on the meeting between Josephina Vidal and Roberta Jacobson last week. Maybe the nutters have been told to cool it. At least I imagine that Alan Gross will be eating a Big Mac by the end of the year.

[flamingdem]

7. The letter is from Council of the Americas

I think. But they have a website here:

http://www.supportcubancivilsociety.org/