Carter and Castro discuss US-Cuba relations

[Judi Lynn]

Carter and Castro discuss US-Cuba relations
By Jeff Franks, Reuters
Posted at 03/30/2011 3:27 PM | Updated as of 03/30/2011 3:27 PM

HAVANA, Cuba - Former US President Jimmy Carter and Cuban President Raul Castro discussed U.S.-Cuba relations in a meeting on Tuesday in which Castro repeated an offer to hold talks with the United States on any issue, Cuban state television said.

They met on the second day of Carter's three-day private visit to Cuba after he said he hoped to help smooth over difficulties between the two longtime ideological enemies.

Carter, 86, is on his second diplomatic trip to the communist-led island following a groundbreaking 2002 visit.

The Cuban television report said Carter and Castro spoke about the "international situation, the situation in Cuba and the United States and relations between the two nations."

More:
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/03/30/11/carter-and-castro-discuss-us-cuba-relations

[Billy Burnett]

1. "he said he hoped to help smooth over difficulties between the two longtime ideological enemies."

:rofl:

Rich.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Sure thing! Over 600 separate attempt to assassinate President Castro, as admitted by the CIA.

Maintaining an economic stranglehold on an entire nation over 50 years, trying to make them take back their revolution.

Not a problem.

[dipsydoodle]

3. The Odd Couple

Bless em both.


Former US president Jimmy Carter - on a visit to Cuba - has criticised US policy towards the island.

Mr Carter said the decades-long US trade embargo and travel ban damaged the Cuban people and hindered rather than helped reform.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12913267

[Judi Lynn]

4. It would be great if the current President would discuss his trip with former President Carter.

He needs to hang out with a better kind of people, as he's been getting some nasty advice from the leftover Iran-Contra creeps in the State Department, and the right-wing idiot Cuban reactionary bullies (overthrown in Cuba) in Miami.

Odd couple's a good image. They're from different worlds. Jimmy Carter's never lived under a US-supported murderous, death-squad loving, torture-happy monster like Batista. He has a whole different frame of reference.

[rabs]

5. Hillary/Obama and the rightwing Miami Mafia won't be pleased

(X-post from LBN thread)



At a news conference shortly before leaving, Carter recommended that the United States take Cuba off the list of nations pegged by the State Department as sponsors of terrorist.

Carter said there was "no base whatsoever" for Cuba to be on the list.

There was also this intriguing tidbit -- Carter said "there was very close cooperation, I understand, between the Cuban and U.S. intelligence services to face threats by Al Qaida and other organization around the Gulf."
(Añadió que además "hubo una cooperación muy estrecha, tengo entendido, entre los servicios de inteligencia cubanos y estadounidenses para enfrentar las amenazas de Al Qaida y otras organizaciones alrededor del Golfo".)

First time I hear of Cuban/U.S. intelligence working together against Al Qaida.

Article by French news agency AFP reporting from La Habana, story published (Spanish) in El Tiempo newspaper of Bogota.

http://www.eltiempo.com/mundo/latinoamerica/visita-de-j...

[Judi Lynn]

6. There's probably no way we are going to see that here from our corporate media.

They've been tailoring the "news" for years.

So glad you decided to let D.U. in on what appeared in Colombia's El Tiempo.

Glad to be aware of his wise, and courageous statement.

If I'm not mistaken, he dropped a lot of the conditions of the travel ban which were immediately reinstated by Reagan. No one can ever say he has waffled on this issue.

[dipsydoodle]

7. Just incase

I assume you did realise that was just an affectionate play on words.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Sure did! Those guys were great actors. I was just stunned when I considered

the chasm between the way the two were raised, their life experiences.

Just remembered something: Jimmy Carter did his graduate work in nuclear physics, and Fidel Castro's son, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, is a nuclear physician. That might have given Jimmy Carter and the President something to talk about on his first visit.



The kid, the whipper-snapper.

[dipsydoodle]

9. So like his Dad

:)