cuba

Cuban Embargo: Nothing Succeeds Like Failure

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:15:54 -0400

by Saul Landau

Once again, Cuba has asked the United Nations to help end the U.S. economic, financial and trade embargo. Havana says this blockade cost it more than $242 million last year. The embargo also stymies Cuban access to foreign capital from other nations, because investors face possible U.S. sanctions for doing business with Cuba.

US Activists Challenge Obama on Cuba

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:23:09 -0400

by JoJo Farrell

During last year's presidential campaign, Barack Obama said he was willing to sit down with Cuban leaders without preconditions. Hopes were high for the change that Obama had promised during his campaign for the White House. Obama, however, has been slow to implement any significant policy shift towards Cuba since taking office, raising concerns among those eager to see a new relationship with the island nation. This week two groups of Americans, over 250 people in all, are traveling to Cuba to challenge the travel restrictions and protest the slow pace of change.

End an Irrelevant Era: Lift the Cuba Travel Ban

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:06:57 -0400

by JoJo Farrell

The Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The Soviet Union collapsed shortly thereafter. The Central American Civil wars are over. The cold war is long dead, yet the United States still enforces a relic of that cold war with an economic embargo against Cuba. With a new administration in the White House ushering in a era of renewed diplomacy and international cooperation, isn’t it about time for the U.S. to do what most other countries around the world have done and normalize relations with its largest Caribbean neighbor?

OAS Opens Doors to Cuba Without Conditions

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:27:40 -0400

by Thelma Mejía

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras - After heated debate, the 39th General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS) decided Wednesday to lift its 47-year suspension of Cuba, without conditions.

At its meeting in Honduras, the OAS sought to "fix an historic error" committed when socialist Cuba was expelled in 1962 from the main forum for political cooperation in the hemisphere as a result of pressure from the United States.

Castro Says US Wants Cuba to Be Slave

Fri, 01 May 2009 10:06:25 -0400

HAVANA - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Thursday derided U.S. steps towards improving relations with the communist island, saying the United States wants Cuba to act like a slave willing to "accept again the whip and the yoke."

The 82-year-old Castro, writing in a column published on the Internet, said "the adversary should never be under the illusion that Cuba will surrender."

Barack Obama Shakes Hands with Hugo Chavez

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 08:32:27 -0400

by Philip Sherwell in New York

The surprise encounter came at the opening ceremony of the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, where Mr Obama has made Cuba a key priority.

After several days of the US and Cuba trading warm words that have hinted at a détente after a half century of hostility, Mr Obama said that he was seeking "a new beginning" with Havana.

But it was his unexpected handshake and the smiles he exchanged with Mr Chavez that caught many at the summit by surprise.

Americas: Create Unified, Effective Approach to Cuba

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:58:06 -0400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17, 2009

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

Heads of state gathered at the Summit of the Americas should work together to create a new, unified approach to Cuba that will be more effective toward dismantling Cuba's repressive machinery, Human Rights Watch said today.

Several of the participating leaders have pledged to raise the issue of relations with Cuba at the summit, from April 17 to April 19, 2009, in Trinidad and Tobago. Human Rights Watch called on the leaders to find a targeted, multilateral approach toward Cuba, with human rights at its core, to take the place of the failed policies of the past several decades.

NGOs Hail Congressional Moves to Ease Cuba Embargo

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:17:39 -0400

by Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON - Leading advocates for lifting the nearly 50-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba are hailing Congress's approval Tuesday of a general appropriations bill that eases - albeit in a mostly symbolic way - several restrictions on travel and sales to the Caribbean nation.

The bill, which was signed by President Barack Obama Wednesday, denies funding to the U.S. Treasury Department to enforce two restrictions, including travel to Cuba by Cuban-Americans, imposed by former President George W. Bush.

Obama Will Use Spring Summit to Bring Cuba in from the Cold

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 09:38:30 -0400

by Rory Carroll

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 Costs of the Embargo

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 09:15:39 -0500

by Margot Pepper

On January 1, Cuba celebrated the 50th anniversary of the revolution against the U.S.-backed Batista regime. For 47 of those years, Cuba has suffered under what U.S. officials call an “embargo” against the Caribbean nation. Cubans’ name for the embargo—el bloqueo (the blockade)—is arguably more apt, given that the U.S. policy also aims to restrict other countries from engaging in business with Cuba.