Exiles Cheer Obama

[magbana]

MIAMI HERALD
May 23, 2008

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2008/05/exiles-cheer-ob.html

Exiles cheer Obama at Cuban American National Foundation luncheon in Miami

When Barack Obama on Friday addressed the annual Cuban American National
Foundation Cuban Independence Day luncheon he probably expected his audience
to consist largely of longtime Cuban exiles who fled after Fidel Castro's
revolution triumphed 49 years ago. (The photo shows Obama with Cuban
American National Foundation chairman Jorge Mas Santos before the senator's
speech).

But among the estimated 900 guests at the cavernous soft-lit ballroom of
the downtown Miami hotel where Obama spoke were about a dozen
recently-released political prisoners or recently-arrived former Cuban
dissidents.

They are examples of the very people on the island who are now at the
center of exile debate about possible change in Cuba and the ones who would
be affected the most by any change of American policy toward the island.

Among the newly-arrived Cubans who sat at the "dissidents'' table was
former political prisoner Hector Palacios who arrived in Miami only last
month for a short stay.

Palacios has said he plans to return to Cuba in a few weeks to rejoin the
dissident movement that peacefully seeks democracy on the island. (Photo
shows Palacios meeting with Obama after the speech in Miami Friday).

Palacios, 64, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being arrested
during a government crackdown against dissidents in 2003. He was released
from prison on Dec. 6, 2006 for medical reasons. He was allowed to travel to
Madrid, Spain, and then Miami in October.

In an interview with The Miami Herald seconds after Obama finished
speaking at the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Miami, Palacios said he
welcomed the Democratic Party presidential candidate's remarks on Cuba.

"He spoke about Cuba and that for me has been very important,'' Palacios
said, adding: "And what Obama intends to do about Cuba includes many things
that I share. This is not the moment to fence in the people of Cuba. This is
the moment to open the doors so Cubans and Americans can go there. We cannot
subject the people of Cuba, after 50 years of war, to one more war and we
cannot continue killing each other. Changes in Cuba are taking place and
people have not realized this. Fidel Castro is no longer there but the
people are and the people are stronger than ever.''

Many Cuban exiles are critical of Obama because they reject his prior
statements that he would meet with Raul Castro.

In his speech, Obama said he would not meet Castro "for tea'' but to
discuss substantive policy differences between the two countries.

"There will be careful preparation,'' Obama said. "We will set a clear
agenda. And as president, I would be willing to lead that diplomacy at a
time and place of my choosing, but only when we have an opportunity to
advance the interests of the United States, and to advance the cause of
freedom for the Cuban people.''

When he arrived and left, Obama received a standing ovation and was
repeatedly interrupted by applause and cheers.

-- Alfonso Chardy

[Mika]

1. Wasn't the United Fruit company advancing "the interests of the United States".

What are these "interests of the United States" in Cuba? It is code for privatized insurance based health care. It is code for privatized education. It is code for privatization of food supply. It is code for privatization of energy supplies. It is code for ending unionized labor and low wages. It is code for cutting social infrastructure. It is code for privatization of government.

Cubans ought to be VERY wary of these "interests of the United States" in Cuba. Historically, and currently, it has been proven that they rightly should be diligent at retaining their sovereignty.

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"We must impose a harsh blockade so that hunger and its constant companion, disease, undermine the peaceful population and decimate the Cuban army." J.C. Breckenridge, U.S. Undersecretary of War in "The Breckenridge Memorandum," 1897

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[EFerrari]

2. I finally figured out what bothers me the most about Obama speaking

to CANF.

I'm still reading Brothers (about Jack and Bobby Kennedy) and just read the chapter about assassination theories. And, both the Church Committee and the House Select Committee on Assassinations found evidence implicating anti-Castro Cuban exiles, their CIA handlers and to a lesser degree, the Mob. These groups aren't as distinct as all that -- there were people that went back and forth between them.

So, why is Obama pandering to a group of terrorist sponsors who probably cost us a president and a Senator? That's just nuts.