Breaking News Thread

[Krandall]

Fidel Castro asks US lawmakers how to improve ties
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090408/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_us

HAVANA – A "very healthy, very energetic" Fidel Castro asked visiting Congressional Black Caucus members what Cuba could do to help President Barack Obama improve bilateral relations during his first meeting with U.S. officials since falling ill in 2006.

Caucus leader Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California, said the ailing former Cuban president talked for nearly two hours with her and two other delegation members on Tuesday in a meeting seen as signaling Cuba's willingness to discuss better relations with the United States.

"We believe it is time to open dialogue and discussion with Cuba," Lee told a news conference in Washington upon the caucus members' return. "Cubans do want dialogue. They do want talks. They do want normal relations."

Lee said the group would present its findings to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a fellow Democrat from California, and White House and State Department officials.

California Democratic Rep. Laura Richardson, who also met Fidel with Illinois Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush, said Castro "looked directly into our eyes" and asked how Cuba could help Obama in his efforts to change the course of U.S. foreign policy.

Richardson said she had the impression that 82-year-old Fidel wants to see changes in U.S.-Cuba relations in his lifetime.

Lee said she found Castro "very healthy, very energetic, very clear thinking."

The surprise encounter came a day after the full delegation of six representatives spent more than four hours talking privately with Cuban President Raul Castro, his first encounter with U.S. officials since formally replacing his brother as head of state nearly 14 months ago.

And it comes as Washington discusses whether to warm up long-chilly relations with Cuba. Obama has ordered an assessment of U.S. policy toward the communist nation and some members of Congress are pushing to lift a ban on Americans visiting the island.

Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006 and it was his first meeting in several years with American officials. Although he gave up his presidential duties after becoming ill, he remains an influential force in Cuba.

In a column posted on a government Web site late Tuesday night, Castro wrote about his meeting with the three U.S. representatives, saying Cuban leaders "weren't aggressors, nor did we threaten the United States."

"Cuba did not have any alternative but to take the initiative," he said in explaining why he sought the lawmakers' advice on what his country could do to help Obama improve bilateral relations.

He did not spell out exactly what they recommended, but applauded "the interest and depth with which they expounded on their points of view and the quality of their simple and profound words."

"The three reflected transparency, pride in their work, their organization and the fight for their country," Castro wrote. "It's evident that they know Obama and have confidence and security in, and sympathy for him."

Among the last U.S. officials to see him face-to-face were state governors visiting the island separately on farm trade missions in 2005: Dave Heineman of Nebraska and Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana.

Lee's group was in Cuba five days on a trip meant to encourage dialogue between the United States and Cuba.

Jeffrey Davidow, the White House adviser for this month's Summit of the Americas, which Obama will attend, says the U.S. president has no plans to lift the 47-year-old trade embargo against Cuba. But he says Obama will soon ease travel and financial restrictions affecting the island as his administration reviews its Cuban policy.

Lee's delegation is sympathetic to Cuba, with most of its members openly praising the country's communist government while decrying U.S. policy.

Before the meeting with Fidel Castro was revealed, Lee said her group's talks with Raul Castro left lawmakers "convinced that President Castro sees normalization of relations and an end to the embargo as a benefit to both countries."

Bills in both houses of the U.S. Congress would effectively bar any president from prohibiting Americans from traveling to Cuba except in extreme cases such as war.

Lee predicted the measures will be approved, but said that will not spell the end of the embargo.

"This would be a wonderful step, allowing American citizens the right to travel to Cuba, but much would follow after that," she said in an interview.

The lawmakers' meeting with Raul Castro touched on few specific issues, especially thorny ones like Cuba's checkered human rights record.

"We did not come to negotiate, we came to associate and cultivate," said Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, another delegation member.

Asked about the lawmakers' trip, U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said members of Congress are free to go where they want and to discuss issues with world leaders.

"And I'm sure that the members of that delegation will be raising some of the concerns that the U.S. government has with Cuba in terms of allowing Cubans to have the same rights and freedoms as (citizens of) other countries in the hemisphere," Wood said.

[Flynbyu]

I read that.

Looks like I'll be vacationing in Cuba soon.

Sweeeeeet.

~Brian

[Krandall]

That would be AWEEESSOME!!!!

[Flynbyu]

Cuba is a popular destination with Europeans and Canadians.

~Brian

[Peelz]

Can't pay me enough to go to Cuba.

[Krandall]

why?

[Peelz]

why?

People are leaving there in droves, why would I go there? Crowding onto homemade rafts to get here. I will never understand that vacation mentality. If I go on Vacation, it has to be better than where I am. You will probably never see me in a third world country-but more exactly asian ones.

[Krandall]

But, if trade AND travel were allowed to Cuba again. I would bet everything I have on it that it wouldn't be what it is now.

I've seen pictures of the city there, it's amazing and beautiful!

[Flynbyu]

Cuba is a beautiful island.

The average Cuban lives on less than $20 per month....they leave for many reasons. If the US embargo would be lifted, Cuba would prosper. More so than when Russia was lending a helping hand in the late 80's. Read about Cuba before Fidel when Batista was in control. It was once the Las Vegas of the Caribbean. Batista was overthrown due to political unrest of the Cuban people, even after he held an election and was elected President in 1954. Cuba became a gangster's paradise....Al Capone even had a home there. Organized crime skyrocketed, and Batista suspended constitutional guarantees and established tighter censorship of the media. He had grown more prone to violent acts of brutality and torture, with no fear of legal repercussions.

Fidel won the people over with the promise of changes in government, and ongoing implementation of social and economic programs. This promise unfortunately had many Marxist ideas, that were opposed by the United States. When Castro nationalized many factories owned by US citizens, all hell broke loose.

There is poverty everywhere, regardless of where you travel. Parts of Hawaii even look like third world countries.

~Brian

[Peelz]

But, if trade AND travel were allowed to Cuba again. I would bet everything I have on it that it wouldn't be what it is now.

I've seen pictures of the city there, it's amazing and beautiful!

I am sure there are metropolitan areas that are nice. But the countless people living in squalor is not my cup of tea. Cuba is a $hithole.

Read your post as well Brian. It is a beautiful island. But I will not go there. Not interested in the culture. There IS poverty everywhere, but you don't see 100 people clinging for their lives onto a piece of shipwreck just to go to Cuba. I take this as a sign.

[Krandall]

that's because we HAVE stuff to lose though if we try going to Cuba.. They have nothing to lose trying to come here

[Colorado700R]

Somali's took a US ship, but CNN is reporting that the crew retook control, but nothing offical yet. 

[Peelz]

that's because we HAVE stuff to lose though if we try going to Cuba.. They have nothing to lose trying to come here

Exactly, why would I want to experience the "nothing" are escaping?  

I just don't share alot of people's desire to experience alternative cultures. No offense, just not interested. Especially if it is filthy like Cuba. Definitely no Asian countries. Overpopulation is not what I consider a relaxing vacation. Just a personal opinion, guys. Hats off to those that enjoy the bizarre cultures. I am not one of them.

[Colorado700R]

that's because we HAVE stuff to lose though if we try going to Cuba.. They have nothing to lose trying to come here

Exactly, why would I want to experience the "nothing" are escaping?  

I just don't share alot of people's desire to experience alternative cultures. No offense, just not interested. Especially if it is filthy like Cuba. Definitely no Asian countries. Overpopulation is not what I consider a relaxing vacation. Just a personal opinion, guys. Hats off to those that enjoy the bizarre cultures. I am not one of them.

Visiting and expeirencing other cultures is the key to understanding and peaceful co-existance......something this world could use allot more of IMO.  And since I love history, there's always something to learn for me 

Aaron

[Flynbyu]

Somali's took a US ship, but CNN is reporting that the crew retook control, but nothing offical yet. 

I've been watching that on TV. Fox news is reporting one thing, and CNN is reporting another. Fox NEws has changed their story twice now.

~Brian