Cuba won't take steps to improve relations with US

Cuba won't take steps to improve relations with US
AP
Thursday, September 17, 2009

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) - Cuba will not make any political or policy
concessions to improve relations with the US - no matter how small,
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said yesterday, snubbing Washington's
suggestions that some reforms could lead to better ties.
HAVANA, Cuba - Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez speaks about
Cuba's annual report on the effects of the US trade embargo to the
island, during a press conference in Havana, yesterday. (Photo: AP)

He told a news conference that the United States must lift its
47-year-old trade embargo without waiting for anything in return.

Rodriguez said US trade sanctions have cost the island $96 billion in
economic damage since they took their current form in February 1962 as
part of the Trading with the Enemy Act.

"The policy is unilateral and should be lifted unilaterally," Rodriguez
said.

He called President Obama "well intentioned and intelligent" and said
that his administration has adopted a "modern, less aggressive" stance
toward the island.

But Rodriguez shrugged off the White House's April decision to lift
restrictions on Cuban-Americans who want to visit or send money to
relatives in this country, saying those changes simply undid a
tightening of the embargo imposed by President George W Bush.

"Obama was a president elected on a platform of change. Where are the
changes in the blockade against Cuba?" Rodriguez asked. Cuban officials
have for decades characterised American trade sanctions as a blockade.

Obama has suggested it may be time for a new era in relations with Cuba,
but has also said he will not consider lifting the embargo. On Monday,
he signed a measure formally extending the policy for one year.

US officials have said for months that they would like to see the
single-party, communist state accept some political, economic or social
changes before they make further modifications to Cuba policy, but
Rodriguez said it was not up to his country to appease Washington.

The foreign minister also refused to comment on suggestions by New
Mexico Gov Bill Richardson that Cuba take small steps to improve
relations with the US.

The governor, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, suggested
during a recent visit here that Cuba reduce restrictions and fees for
islanders who want to travel overseas and accept a US proposal to let
diplomats from both countries travel more freely in each other's territory.

Cuba won't take steps to improve relations with US - JamaicaObserver.com
(17 September 2009)
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20090916T200000-0500_159802_OBS_CUBA_WON_T_TAKE_STEPS_TO_IMPROVE_RELATIONS_WITH_US.asp