Summit Advocates Lifting Sanctions on Cuba
By Mitch Stacy Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 8, 2004
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Lifting trade and travel restrictions on Cuba is the only way to bring about real change in the island nation, panelists said Friday during a national summit largely critical of long-standing U.S. policies. But some speakers at the third National Summit on Cuba showed there is still support for using the 46-year-old trade embargo and travel restrictions to squeeze the island's economy and push leader Fidel Castro out of power. They were supported by a knot of protesters near the event's venue at the University of Tampa,
Wayne Smith, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and former chief of the U.S. interests section in Havana, said the containment policy has made less and less sense as the years have passed, especially after the breakup of the Soviet Union, with which Castro had aligned himself. Today, he said, it is accomplishing little to bring about change in Cuba and causes hardships for Cuban-Americans who are having an increasingly difficult time getting there to visit their families. There is widespread support within Cuba for changing the policies, he said.
"For goodness sake, the Cold War is over," Smith said. "Let's listen to the religious leaders and leading dissidents in Cuba, and listen to our own good sense."
U.S. Reps. Jeff Flake of Arizona and
William D. Delahunt of Massachusetts participated by phone from Washington, saying
there is support in Congress for changing Cuba policy, and they will keep trying regardless of who wins the presidential election. "It's crazy," said Delahunt, a Democrat who serves on the House International Relations Committee. "It's the dumbest policy on the face of the earth." (snip)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/9870942.htm(Free registration required)
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
