This Wall Street Journal article details the crack in the door for changes in US-Cuba policy occasioned by Obama's election victory. (The Wall Street Journal? The biggest "champions" of opening trade and relations with Cuba have been agri-business giants like Archer Daniels.) Will Obama follow Clinton's lead and not "upset the (hard-line Miami-Dade Cuban American) applecart"? After all, his plate is pretty full. While Clinton's first missteps (like "don't ask, don't tell") are legion the opportunities he missed (ending the Cuban Blockade is one of those) are also worth scrutinizing.
Obama has several avenues available to him. He can work with Congress to end the travel ban, change some travel regulations to the extent of his executive authority, while engaging diplomatically with Cuba in a way that respects its sovereignty as a nation.
Here is an ARTICLE in which Obama's Latin America foreign policy advisor reiterated the president-elect's Cuba policy: " …as president the candidate will move quickly 'within [the] possible and practical bounds of his authority' to lift the family travel and remittances restrictions. Anything more than that, Sanchez told the Miami Herald, will have to wait."
Cuba could present Obama with a quick opportunity to show that he is serious about trying to right wrongheaded policies and in wanting to doctor up our ailing image abroad. Where better than in our hemisphere? That Latin America is watching and holding its breath is evident in this:
ARTICLE in the British newspaper, The Guardian, on the hope of reconciliation between the United States and Latin America, starting with Cuba. ARTICLE reporting Brazilian President Lula's call to President-elect Obama to end the blockade on Cuba. His voice is part of a growing chorus from Latin America. (WALL STREET JOURNAL, suggested by Latin American Working Group)
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