Obama says may visit Cuba in 2016 if citizens enjoy more freedoms
WASHINGTON
U.S. President Barack Obama is open to visiting to Cuba in 2016 but
first wants to see ordinary citizens there enjoy more personal freedoms,
he said in an interview released on Monday.
In an interview with Yahoo! News, Obama said he has told Havana that
without such progress, he is unlikely to visit the Communist island
nation before he leaves office, despite the historic re-establishment of
diplomatic ties between the two countries earlier this year.
"I am very much interested in going to Cuba, but I think the conditions
have to be right," Obama said. "And what I've said to the Cuban
government is 'If, in fact I with confidence can say that we're seeing
some progress in the liberty and freedom and possibilities of ordinary
Cubans, I'd love to use a visit as a way of highlighting that progress.'"
"If I go on a visit, then part of the deal is that I get to talk to
everybody," Obama said. "I've made very clear in my conversations
directly with President [Raul] Castro that we would continue to reach
out to those who want to broaden the scope for, you know, free
expression inside of Cuba."
In the interview, which coincided with the anniversary of the
announcement that Havana and Washington would restore relations, Obama
also defended his aim to close the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, but acknowledged that it was unlikely to be handed back to
Havana any time soon.
Asked if he would return the facility to Cuba if it does close, Obama
said that decision would likely be made by a future president.
Despite a campaign pledge to close the prison established to hold
terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Obama has faced
resistance in Congress to transferring the inmates, especially to U.S.
prisons. There are 107 inmates left at Guantanamo, which once held more
than 600.
Obama has said he can still close Guantanamo before he leaves office in
January 2017, but he has not sent Congress a promised plan on how the
facility would be closed.
Some 2016 Republican presidential candidates have said they would keep
the prison open.
In the interview, Obama defended his administration's vetting and
release of prisoners held there and said there would be strategic gains
in closing Guantanamo.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Bernadette Baum)
Source: Obama says may visit Cuba in 2016 if citizens enjoy more
freedoms | Reuters -
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-usa-obama-idUSKBN0TX1O020151214
1 comment:
Since when is the US interested in civil or human rights?
Click on the following link to watch a short video about this topic: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offbeat/obama-visit-to-cuba-hinges-on-more-civil-liberties/vp-BBnxJIt
How many innocent people have died in United States wars and interventions? The fact of the matter is that this government is only interested in making more money for the 1% of its citizens. And that is what’s behind “normalization of US – Cuban diplomatic relations”. The more than 50 year blockade against Cuba should never have happened, if the US were a country that believed in the rule of law. Click on the following link for the information concerning this: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-war-on-democracy/
But to continue with the pretense that the US government cares about civil rights, President Obama has conditioned a visit to Cuba on whether he would be allowed to meet with Cuban dissidents. President Raul Castro should consent to it with his own condition that he would also be allowed to meet with US dissidents. I would put Oscar López Rivera on the very top of Raul’s list.
Oscar López Rivera has been incarcerated by the US government for 34 years for his struggle to free Puerto Rico from colonialism. Colonialism became a crime against humanity in 1960, when the United Nations (UN) decided that it represents a threat to world peace. Didn’t President Obama win a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009?
The US government, which was a major player in the creation of the UN, has ignored 34 UN resolutions asking it to immediately decolonize Puerto Rico. With that action, the US government, according to Noam Chomsky, has shown itself to be a failed state. Failed states do not protect their own citizens. The US government is not protecting its citizens, by choosing to continue with a threat to world peace. And by ignoring international law, the US government is demonstrating that it is above the law. So in essence, failed states make the law for everybody, but themselves!
We will continue to protest peacefully and permanently for the decolonization of Puerto Rico, because those who believe that the law does not apply them, don’t believe in JUSTICE FOR ALL! www.TodosUnidosDescolonizarPR.blogspot.com
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