Obama will use spring summit to bring Cuba in from the cold

[cal04]

US companies are queuing up as the president moves to ease restrictions on travel and trade, raising hopes of warmer relations and an end to the embargo
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/08/cuba-obama-administration

President Barack Obama is poised to offer an olive branch to Cuba in an effort to repair the US's tattered reputation in Latin America.

The White House has moved to ease some travel and trade restrictions as a cautious first step towards better ties with Havana, raising hopes of an eventual lifting of the four-decade-old economic embargo. Several Bush-era controls are expected to be relaxed in the run-up to next month's Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago to gild the president's regional debut and signal a new era of "Yankee" cooperation.

The administration has moved to ease draconian travel controls and lift limits on cash remittances that Cuban-Americans can send to the island, a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of families.

"The effect on ordinary Cubans will be fairly significant. It will improve things and be very welcome," said a western diplomat in Havana. The changes would reverse hardline Bush policies but not fundamentally alter relations between the superpower and the island, he added. "It just takes us back to the 1990s."

The provisions are contained in a $410bn (£290bn) spending bill due to be voted on this week. The legislation would allow Americans with immediate family in Cuba to visit annually, instead of once every three years, and broaden the definition of immediate family. It would also drop a requirement that Havana pay cash in advance for US food imports.

[bemildred]

1. Actually, I think the "cash in advance" thing is quite important.

It is good politics domestically in the US in a time of economic trouble too.

[LakeSamish706]

2. I'm really impressed with so many things that this President is accomplishing...

in a very short period of time. I sure hope that he changes his way of thinking with respect to blocking efforts to investigate and charge the previous Administration for wrong doings. The American people want and deserve to know the truth about the Bush Administration wrong deeds, and there needs to be charges brought if applicable.

[aquart]

3. Hallelujah.

But what happens when every American on the Gulf Coast ferries to Cuba for medical care?

[bemildred]

4. Fuck I live in California.

I have no medical "insurance". If a problem comes up, and I can go, I'll do in in a heartbeat.

[MikeNearMcChord]

5. Also President Obama, give Guantamano back to Cuba

It's their land give it back.

[IndianaGreen]

6. This is something that all Cubans would approve of, even the exiles in Miami

Guantanamo and the Platt Amendment were two historical grievances to Cubans when they "won" independence in 1902.