Cuba allows U.S. access to jailed dual citizens (Miami Herald)

[struggle4progress]

While Cuba recently gave a State Department official permission to visit jailed U.S.-Cuban citizens, travel restrictions remain in place.
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
[e-mail]

WASHINGTON -- Cuba recently gave a top State Department official a long-blocked permission to visit dual U.S.-Cuban citizens jailed on the island -- but it did not accept a U.S. offer to relax travel restrictions on each other's diplomats, El Nuevo Herald has confirmed.

The two issues, though relatively minor in the broad sweep of decades of bilateral hostilities, underlined both the opportunities and limits for improved relations facing the new governments of Barack Obama and Raúl Castro.

Havana's decision to allow the prison visits ``reflect the benefits that could accrue to both countries as a result of better communications and, conversely, how our interests are poorly served when we don't communicate,'' said Bob Pastor, the top Cuban expert in Jimmy Carter's administration.

The State Department confirmed Wednesday that acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Bisa Williams visited with jailed dual U.S.-Cuban citizens there during her trip to Cuba last month to discuss a possible resumption of direct mail services between the two nations. No further details on the visits were available ...

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/1283494.html

[struggle4progress]

1. Travel to Cuba gains steam (Philly Inquirer)

Both backers and foes say a move in Congress to lift the U.S. ban will succeed, eventually.

By Juan O. Tamayo

McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - A powerful campaign to allow all Americans to travel to Cuba is rumbling through Congress, with both backers and opponents predicting eventual victory.

Approval of the measures would have a profound impact on U.S.-Cuba relations, unleashing an estimated one million American tourists to visit the island and undermining White House control of policy toward Havana. "There would be an explosion of contacts between Americans and Cubans . . . that would almost overshadow what the two governments are doing," said Phil Peters, a Cuba expert at the Lexington Institute think tank in suburban Washington.

Cuban officials have told recent U.S. visitors that while President Obama's policy changes so far have been too timid to require a Havana reply, ending the U.S. travel ban would be significant enough to require some sort of concession from Havana.

Many on Capitol Hill say the effort to end the ban is not likely to happen anytime soon. But even opponents of the free-travel bills in the House and Senate admit that the campaign for approval is hard to ignore. "I have never seen a stronger effort," said Mauricio Claver-Carone of the U.S.-Cuba Democracy political action committee ...

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20091014_Travel_to_Cuba_gains_steam.html

[Peace Patriot]

2. Aha! This feeds my suspicion that the draconian sentencing of "the Cuban Five"

is in preparation for a prisoner exchange, i.e., the CIA wants to get its Cuban operatives back. Not only are some, if not all, of the "Cuban Five," completely innocent of any real crime, even if they were guilty of spying for Cuba, Cuba poses zero threat to the US. The threat is entirely in the other direction (and you could even argue that these Cubans, if the alleged purpose of their alleged spying is true--to keep tabs on the murderous plots of the Miami mafia--they were doing us a favor!)

Trying them, and sentencing them at first to life in prison--one of them on such trumped up charges and evidence, that it is embarrassing even to read--recently reduced (one of them) to several decades in prison--may have been part of a CIA strategy all along, to retrieve US/CIA operatives in Cuba.

[Billy Burnett]

3. Yes, see my post in the other Cuban 5 thread

here ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x24545#24643

[Bacchus39]

4. seems the jury that convicted them disagreed with you

and I really doubt its a prisnoner exchange. It sounds like another one of your far fetched conspiracy theories.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Why would US envoys be visiting prisoners in Cuba? For "humanitarian reasons"?

:rofl:

Check out the other end of the island on US "humanitarian" compassion for prisoners.