Obama expresses sentiments of majority of Americans on Cuba, Minister says

[ariesgem]

BRASILIA, Brazil: U.S. Presidential candidate Barack Obama's criticisms of Washington's restrictions on travel and sending money to Cuba echo the sentiments of the majority of the Americans, Cuba's foreign minister said Wednesday.

Felipe Perez Roque said Obama's "declarations express a sentiment shared by the majority of people in the United States, that the draconian measures adopted by the government of President Bush violated the constitutional rights of North Americans and constitute an anachronism and barbaric act."

Perez Roque made his comments upon arriving at the Brazilian Foreign Ministry for a meeting of Latin American and East Asian officials.

In an article published Tuesday in The Miami Herald, Obama said criticized tighter U.S. restrictions on travel to the island by relatives of Cubans and on their shipment of money to family members. He said he would reverse the measures.

"The primary means we have of encouraging positive change in Cuba today is to help the Cuban people become less dependent on the Castro regime in fundamental ways," the Illinois senator wrote.

"Unfortunately, the Bush administration has made grand gestures to that end while strategically blundering when it comes to actually advancing the cause of freedom and democracy in Cuba," he added.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/22/america/LA-GEN-Brazil-Cuba-Obama.php

[David Zephyr]

1. Obama is correct on Cuba. And the whole world knows it.

Good for Barack!

[Colobo]

2. For the first time in my life, I'm in agreement with Felipe Perez Roque.