Is Obama contemplating unilateral action on Cuba?

Yahoo News

By Howard LaFranchi

Is President Obama about to take unilateral steps to ease US relations with Cuba?

A number of recent developments – from Mr. Obama’s recourse to executive action on immigration to the Spanish foreign minister’s enigmatic statement that he would be carrying “very concrete messages” from the US government when he visits Havana this week – have some Republicans fretting that the White House aims to move even further from decades-old policy of isolating communist Cuba.

Obama last took action on Cuba in 2011, when he eased travel restrictions on Americans visiting the island. But a year ago in Florida, he raised eyebrows – and the hopes of supporters about a new US direction with Cuba – when he spoke of wanting “to continue to update our policies.”

Recommended: Cuban Missile Crisis: 5 ways leftist ideology lives on in Latin America

It makes no sense, the president said, to continue with policies from 1961 “in the age of the Internet and Google and world travel.”

Some advocates of liberalized relations with Cuba are pressing the administration for concrete steps before April. That’s when Obama is slated to take part in the Summit of the Americas in Panama, which is expected to be the first such hemispheric gathering to include Cuba.

In the past, the United States has vetoed Cuba’s participation on the grounds that the gathering is limited to the hemisphere’s democracies, but a number of countries have said they would not attend next year’s summit if Cuba were once again barred.

But supporters of the status quo on relations with Cuba counter that if the US has stuck with policies from the 1960s – notably an embargo – it’s because the Castro regime that came to power in that era continues today to deny the Cuban people the democratic governance and human rights that most of the rest of the Western Hemisphere enjoys.

Last week Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio used a confirmation hearing for Antony Blinken, Obama’s deputy national security adviser and his choice to become deputy secretary of State, to grill Mr. Blinken about “chatter” in Washington that Obama intends to make “unilateral change” on US-Cuba policy.

Ending the embargo would require congressional action, but there are other steps the president could take to redirect US policy on Cuba.

After several attempts to get Blinken to rule out executive action on Cuba, Senator Rubio said, “The thing that concerns me is that I haven’t heard you say point-blank that, absent democratic openings, we’re not going to see actions on the part of this administration to weaken the current embargo and sanctions on Cuba.”

In response, Blinken said Obama has ideas on how to “help Cuba move in a democratic direction,” and he added, “If [Obama] has an opportunity, I’m sure that’s something he would want to pursue.” But he emphasized that “it depends on Cuba and the actions that they take.”

One action the administration is looking for is the release of US aid worker Alan Gross, who has been imprisoned in Cuba since December 2009 for bringing satellite phones and computer equipment into Cuba without a permit. Mr. Gross was handed a 15-year sentence in 2011 after being found guilty of “acts against the state” for his role in US efforts to set up a communications network in Cuba free of government control.

Speculation has swirled in Washington over the past week that the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, could be delivering to officials in Havana this week a list of actions the US could take if the impediment of Gross’s incarceration were out of the way.  

On Monday at the State Department, spokesman Jeff Rathke was asked at the daily press briefing what Mr. García-Margallo was referring to when he spoke of having “very concrete messages” from the US government to take to Cuban officials.

“I have nothing to confirm about that,” Mr. Rathke responded.

Congresistas envían carta a Obama pidiendo apoyo a política de EEUU hacia Cuba

martinoticias

Un grupo bipartidista de 17 miembros del Congreso de los Estados Unidos envió una carta al presidente Barack Obama en la que le solicitan que reafirme su apoyo a la política de Estados Unidos hacia Cuba, según se estipula en la ley.

La carta, dirigida por el Congresista Albio Sires, demócrata por el estado de New Jersey, está motivada  por el aumento de la represión del régimen cubano, el caso ilegal del tráfico de armas a Corea del Norte, y la prolongación de la prisión del subcontratista Alan Gross y los vínculos de Cuba  con otros estados que patrocinan el terrorismo.

La misiva subraya textualmente: “Esperamos que va a afirmar, en términos muy claros, que mantiene su compromiso con la política de Estados Unidos que apoya al pueblo cubano en su lucha por la libertad al tiempo que niega la pretensión de legitimidad, y el acceso a dólares, a sus opresores.”

Además, los legisladores se refieren al contrabando ilegal de armas a Corea del Norte, el encarcelamiento del contratista estadounidense Alan Gross y los vínculos cubanos con otros estados patrocinadores del terrorismo.

Entre los firmantes se encuentran  todos los cubano-americanos Miembros de la Cámara de Representantres , como son Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL) y Joe García (D-FL); el Presidente del Comité Nacional Demócrata, representante Demócrata Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL); el Presidente del Subcomité del Hemisferio Occidental, el republicano Matt Salmon (R-AZ); y altos funcionarios de Relaciones Exteriores como Ted Deutch (D-FL), Gerald Connolly (D-VA), William Keating (D-MA) y Lois Frankel (D-FL).

La congresista Ileana Ros-Lehtinen conversó con Tv martí y aseguró que no son secretos los programas que implementa Estados Unidos para implementar la democracia en Cuba.

En respuesta al reporte de la agencia AP, el congresista Mario Díaz-Balart, defendió los esfuerzos estadounidenses por la democracia en Cuba.

“Los esfuerzos del Departamento de Estado y USAID para llevar información al pueblo cubano, y encontrar formas creativas para que los cubanos se puedan comunicar entre ellos y el mundo exterior, son precisamente el tipo de actividades que Estados Unidos debe seguir realizando vigorosamente en sociedades cerradas”, puntualiza Diaz-Balart.

From The White House: On Mujica and Castro

capitolhillcubans

Cuba’s continued incarceration of Alan Gross represents a significant impediment to a more constructive bilateral relationship and securing his immediate release remains a top priority of the United States. President Obama asked that President Mujica use any opportunity he might have to convey this same message to President Castro. With respect to Cuba, President Obama urged President Mujica to use his considerable credibility as a regional leader to encourage political and economic reforms in Cuba, noting that such measures would be well received by the United States and other members of the international community.

-- Patrick Ventrell, National Security Council spokesman, The White House, 6/20/14

Confirman que Obama sí envió mensaje a Raúl Castro

martinoticias

El presidente Barack Obama, envió un mensaje a Raúl Castro a través del presidente de Uruguay, José Mujica, en el que pide al gobernante cubano la liberación del contratista estadounidense, Alan Gross  y el fomento de reformas políticas, declaró el portavoz del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional, Patrick Ventrell.

El vocero explicó que con respecto a Cuba, el presidente Obama ha instado a su par uruguayo, durante su visita a los Estados Unidos en mayo pasado,  a que haga uso de su considerable credibilidad como líder regional para fomentar las reformas políticas y económicas en  la isla, señalando que esas medidas serían bien recibidas por los Estados Unidos y otros miembros de la comunidad internacional.

Ventrell añadió que el presidente Obama pidió al presidente Mujica utilizar cualquier oportunidad que pudiera para transmitir ese mismo mensaje a Raúl Castro.

El semanario uruguayo Búsqueda, primero en informar sobre la carta de Obama a Mujica, el jueves, dijo que Mujica transmitió el mensaje del presidente estadounidense a Castro el pasado fin de semana, cuando Mujica y Castro asistieron a la cumbre del G-77 en Bolivia.

Medio uruguayo: 'Mujica dio a Raúl Castro un mensaje de Obama sobre el levantamiento del embargo'

Diario de Cuba

El presidente uruguayo, José Mujica, transmitió el pasado fin de semana a Raúl Castro un mensaje del mandatario de EEUU, Barack Obama, en el que muestra su voluntad de dialogar para resolver, entre otras cuestiones, el embargo comercial a Cuba, informó este jueves un medio uruguayo.

Según una extensa nota que publica el semanario Búsqueda, reconocido por manejar fuentes muy próximas al gobierno, el mensaje de Obama fue transmitido por Mujica a Castro durante un encuentro que sostuvieron el 14 de junio en Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia), al margen de la Cumbre del Grupo de los 77 más China, reporta EFE.

El mensaje de Obama para el dictador cubano era la disposición del Gobierno de EEUU de llegar a "un acuerdo" con La Habana para, entre otras cosas, levantar el embargo comercial que desde hace 54 años su país impone a la Isla, dice el semanario.

Citando fuentes oficiales, Búsqueda relata que Castro "se mostró muy interesado por la propuesta" y el propio Mujica salió del encuentro "bastante optimista".

Según señalaron las mismas fuentes, Mujica encontró a Castro con una posición "favorable" a la distensión entre La Habana y Washington bajo la "condición" de que no haya "imposiciones" del Gobierno de Obama.

El pasado mes de mayo Mujica, un exguerrillero tupamaro de 79 años y uno de los líderes más destacados de la izquierda latinoamericana, realizó una visita oficial a EEUU, donde fue recibido con todos los honores por el presidente Obama y por importantes miembros de su gobierno.

Allí, Obama reconoció a Mujica como un hombre con "una extraordinaria credibilidad en asuntos de democracia y derechos humanos" y como "un líder en estos asuntos en todo el hemisferio".

Fue en dicha reunión, según Búsqueda, cuando Obama le dijo a Mujica que es el momento de llegar a un acuerdo con La Habana, ya que a él le quedan tan solo dos años de mandato antes de que haya un nuevo presidente en la Casa Blanca.

Hace un año, Mujica viajó también a La Habana, donde se reunió con Raúl y Fidel Castro y, además de tratar el proceso de paz en Colombia entre el Gobierno y las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), habló con ellos de la posibilidad de un acercamiento con Washington.

Obama shook Raúl Castro's hand after SIX MONTHS of secret U.S.-Cuba talks, report claims

Confirmed: 'We're in talks' with Cuba on a wide range of issues, said Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes (L), shown with the president on Air Force One

dailymail

By David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor 

The handshake seen 'round the water cooler was no fluke, it turns out.

When President Barack Obama approached the podium at Nelson Mandela's memorial service and made a beeline for a row of foreign leaders – stopping first to shake Cuban dictator Raúl Castro's hand – it came after representatives from the two historically antagonistic nations had already been in talks for six months.

'[B]ehind the scenes,' two Daily Beast national security reporters wrote on Tuesday, 'U.S. and Cuban officials have held midlevel discussions in Havana and Washington on a range of issues, including direct postal service, migration issues, disaster response, and search and rescue at sea.'

During the president's trip back from South Africa, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on Air Force One that 'it's been quite some time since the Presidents of the United States and Cuba were even in the same place.'

But he acknowledged that 'we’re in talks on issues associated with migration that, again, I think allow for there to be greater connectivity particularly among Cuban Americans and Cuba.'

News that the two leaders' deputies have been meeting in secret comes after nearly five years of a foreign policy thaw between the U.S. and the communist island nation, and nearly two decades after Mandela himself suggested that the two countries re-evaluate their icy Caribbean staring match.

The Obama administration has already turned heads by lifting an earlier prohibition on family travel and money transfers to Cuba. But a hostage situation and the iron fist that Castro wields against pro-Democracy activists have largely kept the U.S. at arms' length.

National Security Adviser Susan Rice laid out a case for the softer approach on Dec. 4 during a speech during a Washington, D.C. human right summit.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2522263/Obama-shook-Ra-l-Castros-hand-SIX-MONTHS-secret-U-S-Cuba-talks-report-claims.html#ixzz2nW99fhkl

The White House on the Obama-Castro Handshake

Lord Rothschild

capitolhillcubans

From The White House's Daily Press Briefing with Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest:

Q. What I wanted ask about was the famous handshake with Raul Castro.  And I’m wondering -- we all saw the President exchanged some words with Castro.  I’m wondering what those words were, and did the name Alan Gross, the American political prisoner being held in Cuba, come up?

MR. EARNEST:  It’s my understanding -- I obviously wasn’t there. That's why I’m not sleep deprived today. It’s my understanding, based on people who did talk to the President after his speech, that they didn't have a robust, substantive conversation about policies, but rather exchanged some pleasantries as the President was making his way to the podium. So there was not an opportunity for the President to chronicle his many concerns about human rights abuses on the island of Cuba.

The President did not have the opportunity to say to him directly something that he said many times, which is that Alan Gross should be released. So they did not have an opportunity to have a robust exchange of ideas.  Rather, they had an opportunity to exchange pleasantries.

Q. So you said the President has said many times that Alan Gross should be released?

MR. EARNEST:  He’s said it before.  Maybe it’s not many times, but he has said before that Alan Gross should be released.  I think we put out a statement from the President just a couple of days ago on this topic.

Q . And what -- so I understand he’s there, he passed -- I know this was not a prearranged handshake. But obviously, you knew that Castro was going to be up there on that stage.

MR. EARNEST:  That's correct.

Q. Was it discussed beforehand what to do when the two would inevitably come face to face?

MR. EARNEST:  Not to my knowledge.  Not to my knowledge.

Q. And can you -- you’ve seen some of the criticism.  John McCain actually compared this to Neville Chamberlain shaking hands with Hitler.  What’s your response to all that criticism, that people say that the President shouldn’t have given Castro the opportunity to have a handshake with the leader of the United States?

MR. EARNEST:  Well, again, first of all, the President shook hands with everybody who was on the stage, and Mr. Castro was one of those individuals who was on the stage.

The second thing I’d point out is, I think even in the few number of times that I’ve stood at this podium, I’ve been asked about other people who have tried to draw connections between recent political events and the terrible reign of Adolph Hitler.  That is a dangerous and usually unwise thing to do in public.

The third thing I guess I would say is that there used to be a pretty important principle that originated in the Republican Party, I believe, that partisan politics should stop at the water’s edge.  And it’s unfortunate that we did see a number of Republicans yesterday who criticized the President for a handshake at Nelson Mandela’s funeral.  That is I think an important progression in a number of politicians’ views on that topic.

Q. Is there anybody that the President would not -- is there any world leader the President would not shake hands with? If Assad had been on that stage, Kim Jong-un had been on that stage -- I mean, is there -- I’m trying to gauge the principle. He shook hands with everybody on the stage. I mean, is there anybody he wouldn’t?

MR. EARNEST:  That’s a difficult hypothetical to entertain, and I decline to do it at this point.

Platano para sinsonte o Nada más que un apretón de manos

que el castrismo sobrevivio es un hecho, pero la pregunta debiera ser si podra sobrevivir el neocastrismo y alcanzar la fase postcastrista sobre lo cual no tengo absolutamente ninguna

flickrhivemind.net

duda salvo que un cataclismo geologico provoque la desaparicion del pedruzco del caribe. pero eso es peccata minuta y exquisitez akademica.

el asunto cayo-yuma esta como platano para sinsonte y no por el handshake que era protocolar pero que igual el califa pudo haber facilmente esquivado. "casualmente" los organizadores se lo pusieron en el camino y no en el otro extremo. muy felices por cubadebate y la rinconada, el ego de potencia global reconocido: 5 oradores extranjeros [todos por cierto de izquierda] y uno de ellos el sonriente socarron.

no hay lobby cubano-americano que pare el handshake entre los kerry y los brunitos, ni electores, ni versailles, ni nadie; es asunto decidido que se aproxima aceleradamente al punto tangencial que hara superfluo el tema.

por que el general de hojalata tendria que negociar con la oposicion y disidencia "democratica" la mayor parte de los cuales de hecho estan a favor de la normalizacion de las relaciones dicho sea de paso, si estos no movilizan ni al socio de la secundaria y no constituyen una alternativa real al poder?

estan conversando hace rato y lo unico cierto es que cuando se conversa es porque hay intereses compartidos aunque los alan gross y el correo y el banquito sean solo excusas para sentarse a la mesa. the facts are the facts y hasta que no se demuestre lo contrario el handshake no fue casual sino un sondeo para evaluar el efecto y los danos colaterales que tendran los proximos pasos que se evaluan. se que esta en contra de la naturaleza de los hermanos de biran, posiblemente de la "logica", pero una salida del tipo "retiro" del general a mitad de su mandato eliminaria ipso facto todos los pretextos de los escrupulosos que quedan por ahi. igual no hace falta que el asunto va de cualquier manera y ya el sinsonte esta saboreando el platanito maduro.

-------------------------

Cuba Encuentro

Eugenio Yáñez

Un apretón de manos entre dos personas puede ser un gesto puramente cortés, el símbolo del logro de un acuerdo, o como dice Humprey Bogart al final de “Casablanca”, el comienzo de una bella amistad.

Entre esos significados caben infinidad de variantes posibles. Sin embargo, tratándose de juicios entre cubanos, es más probable aferrarse a extremos que buscar eventuales tonos grises para describir la escena que en veinticuatro horas dio la vuelta al mundo y que posiblemente dentro de veinticuatro más no trascienda mucho más allá del Teatro de Operaciones Militares de la Calle Ocho o de las barricadas anticastristas de Hialeah.

Raúl Castro rápidamente quitó temperatura al saludo, respondiendo a un periodista extranjero que fue algo “Normal, somos gente civilizada”. Sin embargo, de inmediato los apologistas de La Habana hablaron de la necesidad de normalizar las relaciones entre ambos países, recomendando como primer paso el canje del contratista norteamericano Alan P Gross por los espías de la Red Avispa, soslayando la verdadera obligación del régimen de normalizar sus relaciones con el pueblo cubano.

Una publicación tan respetada como “The Economist”, de Inglaterra, recordó otro apretón de manos entre Bill Clinton y Fidel Castro, donde no sucedió más nada, y destacó que “el rápido pero muy público” saludo de Obama y Raúl Castro “parecía una señal de acercamiento entre Estados Unidos y Cuba”, pero sin perder la perspectiva señaló que sería mucho más útil y esclarecedor buscar signos en las acciones de ambos gobiernos que en un saludo protocolar, destacando que: “Habría sido francamente grosero” hacia Raúl Castro “evitar el saludo, sobre todo en una ocasión en que Obama pronunció unas emocionadas palabras sobre el espíritu de reconciliación de Mandela”.

Interesante que, al menos durante las primeras horas, no apareciera ningún especialista en lectura de labios que nos permitiera conocer qué fue lo que se dijeron ambos mandatarios en siete segundos (traducción incluida), o que expertos en lenguaje corporal no dieran sus criterios, ya que ambas cosas habrían ayudado a llegar a conclusiones sobre un brevísimo encuentro que muy a la ligera ya algunos califican como “histórico”, y que no fue casual, lo que no existe en política, ni tampoco provocado por alguna de las dos partes o por las dos a la vez.

Sin embargo, más que esos matices, es importante destacar lo que no se puede pasar por alto en el homenaje a Mandela en Sudáfrica, y son las palabras del presidente Obama al dirigirse a los presentes:

“Hay demasiados líderes que aseguran ser solidarios con la lucha por la libertad de Madiba [Mandela], pero no toleran la disidencia en su propio pueblo”.

Palabras que, pronunciadas ante tiranuelos como Raúl Castro y Robert Mugabe, aún sin mencionarlos, tienen mucha más trascendencia, y expresan mucho mejor que un apretón de manos la opinión del presidente de Estados Unidos sobre líderes de quincalla que posan como demócratas, o hasta de propulsores de “cambios”, por permitir en su país algunos oficios medievales por cuenta propia y relajar —nunca eliminar— determinadas coyundas sobre la población, mientras cercenan libertades políticas y derechos humanos y reprimen violentamente a los opositores.

Por eso a los cubanos les sonaron tan huecas las palabras de Raúl Castro en la ceremonia de Johannesburgo, quien citando al Demagogo en Jefe recordó que su hermano había dicho en un momento: «Nelson Mandela no pasará a la historia por los 27 años consecutivos que vivió allí encarcelado sin ceder jamás en sus ideas; pasará porque fue capaz de arrancar de su alma todo el veneno que pudo crear tan injusto castigo; por la generosidad y la sabiduría con que en la hora de la victoria ya incontenible supo dirigir tan brillantemente a su abnegado y heroico pueblo, conociendo que la nueva Sudáfrica no podría jamás construirse sobre cimientos de odio y de venganza».

Generosidad y sabiduría de Mandela que ni Fidel Castro ni su hermano han mostrado durante más de medio siglo de dictadura, incapaces de arrancar de sus almas el veneno que las corroe, y donde los “cimientos de odio y de venganza” han sido la base y fundamento de su política y su hostilidad hacia los cubanos que piensan diferente: desde mítines de repudio o insultos y calumnias sin posibilidad de defensa, pasando por juicios amañados o negar el derecho a exiliados a regresar a su país, cesantear a opositores y familiares para después acusarlos de mercenarios o vagos, hasta imponerles larguísimas condenas de cárcel en condiciones infrahumanas o llevarlos al paredón de fusilamiento.

Quienes quieran dar toda la trascendencia que deseen al apretón de manos en Sudáfrica entre Obama y Raúl Castro están en todo su derecho. Quienes deseen especular a partir de este hecho, o incluso desarrollar teorías de la conspiración, también. Respeto todas esas posiciones.

Sin embargo, yo me quedo con algo que me parece mucho más concreto y real: que el Presidente de Estados Unidos expresó, ante ellos mismos, que en el mundo hay dirigentes que se expresan solidarios con las luchas de Mandela, “pero que no toleran la disidencia de su propio pueblo”.

Raúl Castro podría demostrar que no desea seguir perteneciendo a ese bochornoso grupo. Aunque dudo que sea capaz de hacerlo.

Barack Obama será visto como un presidente que le dio un apretón de manos a Raúl Castro, y éste como un líder de pacotilla, de esos que “no toleran la disidencia de su propio pueblo”.

5 out of 6 “foreign dignitaries” listed on the official Mandela memorial service are known Marxists

Trevor Loudon's New Zeal Blog 

By: Cliff Kincaid*
Accuracy in Media

If President Obama’s handshake with Cuban dictator Raul Castro is news, Castro’s featured presence at the Nelson Mandela memorial service and what the South African government said about him are equally newsworthy. South Africa was described as “joined at the hip” to Cuba and in its debt for “liberation.”

Yet, this part of the memorial service has been carefully edited out of most of the “mainstream media” coverage of the event.

The service was organized and orchestrated by officers of the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party of South Africa which operates as a front for the South African Communist Party. Baleka Mbete, ANC chairperson, introduced Raul Castro’s speech by saying, “Comrades, we will now get an address from a tiny island—an island of people who liberated us, who fought for our liberation in Cuito Cuanavale—the people of Cuba.”

Cuito Cuanavale refers to the foreign intervention of thousands of Cuban military troops on behalf of communist Angolan government forces in Africa under the guidance of Soviet military officers during 1987 and 1988. This was a critical time when communist forces backed by the Soviet Union, Cuba and China were determined to crush the non-communist pro-freedom movement UNITA (The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola).

As part of his effort to turn the tide against communism in Africa and elsewhere, the “Reagan Doctrine,” President Ronald Reagan strongly supported UNITA and its leader, Jonas Savimbi.

In the end, the communists solidified control of Angola, assassinated Savimbi (shot 15 times, twice to the head and once to the throat), and then took over Namibia and South Africa as the white population—fearing extinction in the face of the onslaught—made deals with the communists.

Mandela, in commemorating the 20th anniversary of the battle in 2008, referred to it as “a turning point for the liberation of our continent and my people.” This helps explain why the Cuban regime is held in such high regard by the South African government. The ANC and SWAPO (the South West Africa People’s Organization) communists in Namibia greatly benefitted from the Cuban imperialistic intervention. Of course, Mandela’s communist movement also enjoyed the support of Libya and the PLO.

After Raul Castro’s speech, during which he highlighted Mandela’s visit to Cuba to meet with and thank Fidel Castro, ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa said, “Thank you President Castro. We thank you for all the support and help that we continue to get from the people of Cuba during our years of struggle, and our countries continue to be joined at the hip in the areas of development…”

AIM noted in our column about current South African President Jacob Zuma that he traveled to Cuba in 2010 to receive the top Communist award from Raul Castro himself. Zuma also told a meeting of young communists in South Africa, “Work begins today in earnest to improve the quality of life of all our people and to build Cuban-style patriotism and internationalism within our ranks.”

Of the 6 “foreign dignitaries” listed on the official Mandela memorial service program as giving a tribute to Mandela, five are known Marxists: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (a former terrorist herself); Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao; Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba; Cuba’s Raul Castro; and of course President Obama. The other speaker was President Pranab Mukherjee of India, described as a “close friend” of Marxists in India who has “remained a friend” of the Communist Party of India during his political career and leadership in the United Progressive Alliance. Indeed, he has been labeled a “communist agent.” The Indian delegation to the memorial service included Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

Earlier in the memorial service, Andrew Mlangeni, identified as a Mandela “family friend,” spoke on Mandela’s behalf. Now considered an “elder statesman” in the ANC, he had studied “military science” and “guerrilla theory” in China. The Stephen Ellis book, External Mission, confirms that Umkhonto we Sizwe, which became the military arm of the ANC, was launched by the South African Communist Party after negotiations with Chinese Communist mass murderer and dictator Mao Tse-tung. The cover of the book, which also reveals that the East German secret police trained the ANC’s security personnel, shows a photograph of Mao Tse-tung meeting with SACP leader Yusuf Dadoo, a Muslim Indian South African communist.

Mandela ran Umkhonto we Sizwe, which carried out violence and terrorism, and he went to prison as a result. He was never a “political prisoner.” He refused to renounce violence in order to be released early. He could have been hanged for his conviction for terrorism.

Although Mandela is being widely praised for his spirit of “forgiveness” and “reconciliation,” the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, was never fully accepted as a legitimate partner and actor in South African politics by Mandela’s ANC. The IFP advocated the abolition of apartheid, or racial segregation, but refused to engage in violence and terrorism against innocent people. It also had an anti-communist orientation.

“The armed struggle, and Inkatha’s refusal to engage it, had driven a wedge between our organizations,” Buthelezi says. “Propaganda against me and Inkatha was rife and there were many attempts on my life.”

But the U.S. government under Obama is in complete support of the South African government and provides an estimated $500 million a year in foreign aid to the regime.

The United States ambassador to South Africa, former Democratic Party operative and radical organizer Patrick Gaspard, recently announced that American taxpayers would provide an additional $100,000 in U.S. government funding for the purpose of the “preservation of documents” relating to Mandela. The money was given to the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, the official home of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. This is the same group offering a poster featuring a quotation of Mandela under an image of communist murderer and Castro henchman Che Guevara.

In supporting South Africa, the U.S. is supporting Cuba. Obama’s handshake with Castro only confirms this fact.

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*Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: Obama-Castro Handshake WAS PLANNED

Video aqui >>

Marco Rubio and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Slam Obama For Castro Handshake

miaminewtimes

Fox News predicted that President Obama's handshake with Raul Castro "could rile Cuban-American lawmakers," and Marco Rubio and Ilean Ros-Lehtinen have sure enough delivered.

According to the Hill, Rubio isn't so much angry that the handshake took place, but rather that Obama didn't take the opportunity to lecture Castro.

"If the president was going to shake his hand, he should have asked him about those basic freedoms Mandela was associated with that are denied in Cuba," Rubio said. "It remains clear that Cuba is the same totalitarian state today that it has been for decades. This totalitarian state continues to have close ties to terrorist organizations."

The White House says that the handshake was a brief, unplanned encounter, and was in the peaceful spirit of Nelson Mandala's memorial service.

Obama may not have taken the opportunity to speak to Castro directly, but that may be because he was on his way to give a speech in which he sent a direct message to Castro and his ilk.

"There are too many people who happily embrace Madiba's legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality," he said in his speech. "There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba's struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people."

Rep. Ilean Ros-Lehtinen was less measured in her response. She called it "nauseating."

"Sometimes a handshake is just a handshake, but when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raul Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant," she told Fox News.

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez has noted that the handshake was not shown on Cuban television. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen also seems to forget that a big part of Cuban propaganda is getting Cubans to think that its the imperialist hand of any U.S. President that is actually bloodied. We doubt the Castro regime wants to make more of the handshake then what it was.

Capitol Hill: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on Obama-Raul Castro handshake

Video from Lord Rothschild

Transcript from  Democracy Now!

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to the historic moment Tuesday when President Barack Obama shook hands with Cuban President Raúl Castro as both men participated in the memorial service for anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela in South Africa. The White House said the handshake was unscripted. It marked the first time a U.S. president has shaken hands with a Cuban leader since 2000. In Washington, Republicans expressed outrage over the exchange. During a hearing in the House, Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida sparred with Secretary of State John Kerry, who said it did not represent any change in U.S. policy toward Cuba.

REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN: Mr. Secretary, sometimes a handshake is just a handshake. But when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raúl Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant. Raúl Castro uses that hand to sign the orders to repress and jail democracy advocates. In fact, right now, as we speak, Cuban opposition leaders are being detained, and they’re being beaten while trying to commemorate today, which is International Human Rights Day. They will feel disheartened when they see these photos. Could you please tell the Cuban people living under that repressive regime that a handshake nonwithstanding, the U.S. policy toward the cruel and sadistic Cuban dictatorship has not weakened? Thank you.

SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY: Ladies and gentlemen, today is about honoring Nelson Mandela. And the president is at an international funeral with leaders from all over the world. He didn’t choose who’s there. They’re there to honor Mandela. And we appreciate that people from all over the world and from all different beliefs and walks of life who appreciated Nelson Mandela and/or were friends of his came to honor him. And I think, as the president said—I urge you to go read his speech, or if you didn’t see it or haven’t read it, because the president said in his speech today honoring Nelson Mandela, he said, "We urge leaders to honor Mandela’s struggle for freedom by upholding the basic human rights of their people"—

REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN: And would you say Raúl Castro is upholding their basic human rights?

SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY: No, absolutely not.

Obama Shaking Hands with Raúl Castro Insults Efforts of Cuban Dissidents

breitbart

By Frances Martel 

President Obama's warm greeting to Cuban dictator Raúl Castro at Tuesday's memorial for Nelson Mandela rightfully sparked the ire of those with a passion for human rights. In greeting Castro, Obama discredits the work of dissidents Castro routinely arrests and assaults.

The handshake triggered visceral reactions across the political spectrum. On the left, many heralded it as indicative of the power Nelson Mandela had to bring about peace (despite half a lifetime's embrace of violence). On the right, revulsion: the President of the United States exchanged a peaceful gesture with a brutal mass murder and oppressive tyrant, never once showing that same warmth to the dissidents that peacefully call for change in their country. 

For many, especially those that see no issue with a such an approving gesture at a funeral, it is difficult to understand the greater meaning of accepting Castro as an equal. This is especially true without looking at Castro's opposition--that is, at the people whose plight President Obama willfully ignores and whose oppression he embraces as he embraces their oppressor. To that end, below are five of profiles of dissidents on the island with whom President Obama should interact and whose missions he should bolster--political activists seeking to liberate their country from oppression.

1. Guillermo Fariñas

Often denominated "Cuba's Mandela," Guillermo Fariñas does not share the history of early violence or support of oppressive dictatorships abroad with the late South African leader. Fariñas, a Sakharov Prize winner, made his name through his 24 hunger strikes in jail, where few of his supporters expected to see him live. Live he did, and he visited the United States and met President Obama while here. He demanded one thing of the President: "don't negotiate with Cuba."

Fariñas returned to the island after his voyage abroad and was arrested and beaten by state police again shortly thereafter.

2. Jorge Luis Garcia Pérez (Antúnez)

Antúnez is perhaps the second highest-profile Cuban dissident on the island after Fariñas. He rose to prominence in 2007 after serving 17 years in Castro's political gulags for spreading "enemy propaganda." He is a great admirer of American civil rights leaders, and his wife founded the Rosa Parks Movement in Cuba.

Antúnez has been significantly more critical of President Obama than Fariñas, telling the Heritage Foundation that he was alarmed by the fact that "the government of Mr. Barack Obama has exercised a political agenda of approach and relaxation with the regime of Havana." He did not receive an audience with the President on his visit to the United States this autumn but did meet Cuban-American senators Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez, as well as Florida Senator/honorary Cuban Bill Nelson.

3. The Ladies in White

Also Sakharov Prize winners, the Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) are a coalition of mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters of Cuban political prisoners. Led by Berta Solér since the death of widely recognized dissident leader Laura Pollán, the group highlights the struggles of women left behind to fare in the socialist dystopia while their husbands toil in jail for thoughtcrimes. 

Solér and the Ladies visited the United States recently as well, only to be told by President Obama that he could see "changes" in the Cuban government that they apparently had missed.

4. Gorki Águila

Unlike any other dissidents on this list, Gorki Águila is not exactly a political figure. He is the lead singer of a punk rock group dedicated to fighting communism with profane anti-establishment lyrics. Porno Para Ricardo (the name meaning "censored pleasure for the individual") boasts songs with titles like "El Comandante," "I Don't Like Politics (But Politics Likes Me)," and "How To Fuck Over A Communist." Needless to say, Águila is perennially the victim of police beatings and arrests for his outrageous music, the kind of antics that would make him a beloved star in the States.

Will A Handshake Lead To Better U.S.-Cuba Relations?

By Krishnadev Calamur

 AP

In everyday life, a handshake is rather ordinary. But when President Obama shook hands Tuesday with Cuban leader Raul Castro at a memorial service for the late South African President Nelson Mandela, this was how it was described:

-- "a simple gesture that signaled possible thawing between the leaders of the two Cold War foes"

-- "an unprecedented gesture"

-- "perhaps a deliberate seizing of the moment to edge forward the prospect of a thaw in relations ... after more than half a century of hostility"

-- "a symbolic gesture that came after decades of estranged U.S.-Cuba relations"

Despite Tuesday's handshake, Obama told mourners in Johannesburg that "too many who claim solidarity with Madiba's [Mandela's tribe name] struggle for freedom ... do not tolerate dissent from their own people." It was an apparent reference to Castro and leaders of other nondemocratic nations gathered at the service.

More at KCUR >>

Cuban-American lawmakers dismayed over Obama handshake with 'thug' Castro

Fox News

Cuban-American lawmakers voiced disappointment Tuesday over President Obama shaking the hand of Raul Castro during the memorial service for Nelson Mandela, calling it a "propaganda coup" for the Cuban government. 

"It is nauseating," Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., who fled Cuba with her family when she was a child, told Fox News. 

Speaking later at a hearing with Secretary of State John Kerry, the congresswoman held up photos of the handshake and said political dissidents would be "disheartened" by them. 

"Sometimes a handshake is just a handshake, but when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raul Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant," she said. 

Distrust of the Castro government runs deep in the Cuban-American community, particularly in Florida where many refugees still live. 

Obama's brief encounter with Castro, though -- unlike the historic phone call earlier this year between Obama and Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani -- was described as spontaneous. 

An administration official said "this wasn't a pre-planned encounter," adding: "Above all else, today is about honoring Nelson Mandela, and that was the president's singular focus at the memorial service." 

At the hearing on Tuesday, Kerry said Obama "didn't choose who's" at the Mandela ceremony. Asked by Ros-Lehtinen if Castro is upholding basic human rights, Kerry answered: "No. Absolutely not." 

Obama shook Castro's hand as he made his way down a line of dignitaries, including South African President Jacob Zuma and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, on his way to deliver an address honoring the late South African leader. 

In the speech in Johannesburg, Obama praised Mandela as the "last great liberator of the 20th century." 

"He changed laws, but he also changed hearts," Obama said. 

Ros-Lehtinen said afterward that Castro should have listened to Obama's message about how some leaders praise Mandela without respecting human rights. "I think that was a message to Raul Castro," she said, calling him a "thug." 

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also released a statement saying: "If the president was going to shake his hand, he should have asked him about those basic freedoms Mandela was associated with that are denied in Cuba." 

The handshake came amid a memorial service that lauded Mandela's spirit of reconciliation. It's unclear whether more will come of the gesture, as efforts by the Obama administration to thaw relations between Cuba and the U.S. have been slow-going. 

The U.S. government in 2011 eased the embargo on the island by allowing some Americans to travel there. But the U.S. freeze on Cuba, dating back to when Fidel Castro took power, largely has remained in place - and Cuba's human rights record, particularly its intolerance of political dissent, continues to draw the scorn of rights groups and western governments.

Should President Obama Have Stopped to Shake Hands With Cuba's Raul Castro?

Fox News Insider

President Obama stopped to shake hands with Cuban President Raul Castro today at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. Some are calling into question the handshake given the long history of distrust between the U.S. and Cuban governments.

Radio talk show host Michael Graham acknowledged that it’s the president’s job to deal with unpleasant people. However, he said, “I would say unless he’s going to talk about Alan Gross, the American who has been held there for four years, […] that would be something to chat about.

Fox News contributor Jehmu Greene countered, “It wasn’t a conversation; it wasn’t a diplomatic meeting. It was a handshake.”

On a day spent remembering a man who brought people together, Greene said we should ask ourselves, “What would Nelson Mandela do? […] We can’t also forget that there are so many families who have been separated by 90 miles of water.”

Bill Hemmer interjected, “There are a lot of those families who would tell you it’s the Castros who separated them.”

“It’s not that Cubans and Americans can’t get along,” Greene responded. “Our leadership has failed on this on both sides of the aisle. So if we can start with a handshake as a step in the right direction to maybe bring these families back together, I think that that’s a good thing.”

What do you think of the handshake?

 

Palabras de Obama a los opresores durante funeral de Mandela

Joel García

Obama shakes hands with Cuba’s Castro at Mandela service

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

worldnews

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Cuban President Raul Castro.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

Briefly laying aside differences hardened over decades, President Barack Obama on Tuesday shook the hand of the president of Cuba at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela.

The handshake appeared to be the first between American and Cuban presidents since 2000, when Bill Clinton and Fidel Castro greeted each other at a United Nations luncheon in New York, and only the second in history.

Tuesday, it was Fidel Castro’s brother, Raul, named president of Cuba in 2008, who shook Obama’s hand. The moment came just before Obama delivered a eulogy for Mandela in a Johannesburg soccer stadium.

Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters

Minutes later, Obama offered implicit criticism of governments like Cuba's when in his speech he said too many people embrace Mandela's legacy of racial reconciliation but passionately resist economic and other reforms. 

"There are too many who claim solidarity with Madiba's struggle for freedom but do not tolerate dissent from their own people," Obama said, referring to Mandela by his clan name. 

On his way to the rostrum, Obama also shook the hand of Robert Mugabe, the strongman ruler of Zimbabwe, and hugged Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil, who has stridently opposed spying by the National Security Agency and criticized the U.S. government.

Leaders of almost 100 countries turned out for the service for Mandela, who died last week at age 95.

Former President Jimmy Carter, who was also in Johannesburg for the Mandela service, shook hands with Fidel Castro on a visit to Cuba in 2002, long after Carter’s presidency. That trip was the first by a sitting or former American president to Cuba since Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Obama stirred controversy with a handshake in the past. In 2009, the president shook hands with the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez  — who called the United States "the biggest menace to our planet," among other criticism — at the Summit of the Americas.

Will Diplomatic Relations With Cuba Be Obama’s Legacy?

By Chris Simmons

Obama Thaws U.S.-Cuba Relations

Administration has quietly employed new diplomacy to try to end Cold War standoff

DeWayne Wickham, USA TODAY

While, understandably, a lot of news media attention in recent days has focused on the U.S.-led talks to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, the Obama administration appears to be laying the groundwork for another diplomatic breakthrough.

In little noticed speeches given last month, President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry cryptically acknowledged the need for a new approach to Cuba, a country the U.S. has -- literally and figuratively -- waged war with for over a half-century.

Rejecting the "notion that the same policies that we put in place in 1961" would still be effective "in the age of the Internet and Google and world travel," Obama told a Miami audience that the U.S. has to be "creative" and "thoughtful" in its efforts to bring change to Cuba. Ten days later, in an address to the Organization of American States, Kerry said of U.S. relations with Cuba: "We have to continue to update our policies."

And it appears the Obama administration has done just that. It is quietly employing a "new think" diplomacy in an effort to end this nation's Cold War standoff with Cuba.

In January, Cuba ended a decades-old requirement that its citizens needed to obtain a government-issued exit permit before they could travel abroad. In July, the Obama administration increased from six months to five years the duration of visas granted to Cuban visitors to the U.S. These new visas allow Cubans to travel back and forth between the two countries, which haven't had formal diplomatic ties since 1961.

Also this year, talks between the U.S. and Cuba to restore normal mail service have resumed. The talks were halted in 2009 after Cuba arrested Alan Gross, a State Department contractor who was caught trying to set up an underground communications network. In August, Cuba allowed U.S. doctors to visit Gross, whose health is said to be failing, for the first time. That concession came just a few months after a U.S. judge agreed to let a convicted Cuban spy, Rene Gonzalez, serve the remaining three years of his probation in Cuba.

More at cubaconfidential >>

Exteniente coronel cubano envía carta a Obama

Cuba Encuentro

havanaluanda.wordpress.com

Al presidente de Estados Unidos de América.
Sr Barack Obama.

Carta abierta del exTte Coronel Ing. Máximo Omar Ruiz Matoses
FFAA de Cuba.

Respetable Presidente:

Si esta carta es abierta, es por la sencilla razón de que mi deseo ferviente es que algo le llegue aunque sea de soslayo.

El motivo en cuestión, álgido por cierto, es el siguiente:

Deseo pedirle que dedique algún minuto extraviado de su precioso tiempo para ver porque a ningún militar cubano que haya abrazado el camino de la democracia a sabiendas que podía ser fusilado y que por tal paso cumplieron largos años de prisión en las condiciones mas onerosas posibles por el solo hecho de haber servido en las Fuerzas Armadas cubanas, se les ha brindado refugio político en EEUU, como debiera ser. Se alega por vuestro funcionarios que fueron militantes del PCC, cosa cierta pues ningún oficial llega a serlo si no detenta este carnet, pero no se tiene en cuenta el paso radical dado por todos los que han estado en las prisiones castristas de decirle un NO al tirano que medra nuestras tierras.

Lamentablemente este sacrificio no ha prendado con una respuesta rápida como hubiésemos querido pero si, y no le quepa la menor duda que en las conciencias de muchos de nuestros oficiales si se han sembrado muchas interrogantes.¡Ese ha sido nuestro primer grano de arena en la lucha por emancipar a Cuba de la tiranía actual!

Mas sin embargo debe Usted tener conocimiento del Coronel cubano, militante del PCC, funcionario de Cárceles y Prisiones de Cuba y de su esposa, también militante y oficial de la misma entidad, que, después de haber cometido múltiples violaciones contra los derechos humanos y haberse retirado con todas las de la ley del servicio activo descansaban tranquilamente en vuestra tierra como dos “angelitos”.

Y que decir Sr. Presidente de la hija de Raúl Castro que visita a los EEUU cuando le viene en ganas, o la nieta de estos detestables fósiles que aún carga sobre sus hombros, cual verdaderos parásitos el noble pueblo cubano y que son militantes del PCC y a lo que van, todos, es a subvertir, como quiera que usted lo mire, el orden interno de vuestro país.

Establezco esta comparación porque es muy clara y porque a raíz de haber solicitado mi esposa, la Dra. María Josefa Cabezas, que está en Cuba, una visa de entrada a su gran país a visitar al hermano expreso político que hace mas de 30 años allá vive quizás antes de morir y que bajo ningún concepto se hubiese “quedado” pues tenemos una pequeña aún en Cuba, médico por cierto también le fue denegada. ¡Qué culpa tiene esta mujer de ser mi esposa!

Debe usted saber señor Presidente, que, cuando salí de prisión quise recorrer el mismo camino de mis anteriores compañeros de armas denegados y en mi caso, después de cumplir una larga condena de 20 años también fue así. Como se me cerraron todos los caminos en Cuba para trabajar y sostener a mi familia, tuve que salir para España, ya viejo y con traumas producidos por la injusta prisión, gracias al tremendo gesto de solidaridad de el Reino de España, claro, con la consiguiente separación de la familia, quizás por la mala interpretación que han hecho algunos de vuestros funcionarios de inmigración y del HSD.

Le pongo en conocimiento de estos hechos porque dudo mucho que usted sea partícipe de tan nefasta política y que quizás pueda ser enmendada y solicito se le conceda visa de entrada a vuestro país a mi esposa.

Disculpe el atrevimiento y pido disculpas si en algo he faltado.

Respetuosamente:
Máximo Omar Ruiz Matoses.
Ex Tte Coronel Ing. FAR de Cuba.