Chilli



The epitome of the word....WANNABEE!!!!

Evan Perez reports on Cuba.

Could the timing of Cuban leader Raul Castro’s purge of senior level officials in his government have something to do with expectations of a relaxation in U.S. sanctions by President Barack Obama?

Vicki Huddleston, former head of the U.S. interests section in Havana, says the “Soviet-style” government shakeup appears to be a signal, coming just as Obama is expected to make good on campaign promises to order an easing of sanctions put in place by former President George W. Bush.

“The Cuban government doesn’t want the Obama administration to go too far” in relaxing sanctions, said Huddleston, who served as the head of the U.S. diplomatic mission from 1999 to 2002. Huddleston spoke at a luncheon hosted by the National Foreign Trade Council, a Washington trade group.

The Castro government shake-up earlier this week ousted prominent officials who were seen as possible successors to the current regime.

Obama has said he wants to ease restrictions on remittances and family travel by Cuban Americans. Some administration advisers also raised the prospect of easier licensing requirements for some commercial ties between the U.S. and Cuba. The president has said he supports keeping the decades-old trade embargo policy, which is codified in law. The Obama changes are widely expected to be announced near the end of the month, timed ahead of a regional summit the president is expected to attend in April in Trinidad and Tobago.

The current omnibus appropriations bill under consideration in Congress contains changes to sanctions policy that would accomplish similar goals as the White House is expected to make, by withholding funds for enforcement of the Bush sanctions.

During her time in Havana at the start of the Bush administration, Huddleston rankled the Cuban government by distributing transistor radios to Cubans. She is among several prominent Cuba experts who support wider diplomatic engagement with Cuba.

Huddleston said the Castro government “hates surprises,” and appears to be nervous about how far Obama would go. The Communist government, she says, finds the U.S. sanctions useful for domestic purposes, blaming the economic hardships suffered by Cuban citizens on U.S. bullying instead of on the Cuban government’s own failed policies and mismanagement.

Some critics in the Cuban-American community oppose relaxing sanctions until Cuba releases political prisoners. Some of the Bush sanctions were put in place following a Cuban government crackdown on dissidents in 2003. With worsening U.S. relations in recent years, Cuba has drawn closer to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who provides billions of dollars in subsidies to Cuba.

Huddleston says the Obama administration should not condition its policy changes to Cuban actions because “Raul Castro should not have a veto on our policies toward Cuba.” She says the Castro government purge may cause the White House to pull back on some of its plans, but she believes dropping some of the sanctions is in U.S.’s interests.

“It would improve the U.S. ability to influence Cuba,” she said.

I know all to well it's about the $$$ but why do we trade with China and not Cuba, The regime would have long ago succmed to freedom if we would have been allowed to exert our cultural influence. While cuba may be the nut job next door, Red China ia\s a very real threat growing stronger every day and plotting our demise behind a smile.

"I know all to well it's about the $$$ but why do we trade with China and not Cuba,"?

That's a question many have been asking for quite some time, bowie. The hypocrisy in policy is evident to anyone with more than one brain cell who takes just a minute to think about it.