Hillary propone reemplazar embargo a Cuba con comercio, visitas y el ejemplo de EE.UU.

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Hillary Clinton , favorita para ocupar la candidatura demócrata a la presidencia de Estados Unidos en los comicios de 2016, dijo en entrevista con el periodista Jorge Ramos, de la cadena Univisión, que quisiera ver que Washington  se mueve hacia una normalización de las relaciones con Cuba.

La exsecretaria de Estado conversó en exclusiva con Univisión sobre el embargo comercial que EEUU impuso a la isla hace más de cinco décadas y que es cuestionado en su libro Hard Choices (Decisiones difíciles), publicado este año.

“En mi libro abogo por eso (levantar el embargo) porque creo que ha sido un fracaso y creo que ha apuntalado a los Castro, porque pueden culpar de todo al embargo”, dijo Clinton.

Indicó que en Cuba no hay libertad de expresión y todavía hay presos políticos, pero que todo eso se le atribuye al embargo.

Sobre los viajes de los estadounidenses a la isla, Clinton señala: “Quisiera ver que nos movemos hacia la normalización de las relaciones, eventualmente, y que por consiguiente más norteamericanos vengan y vayan, eso es algo que hizo el presidente Obama y que yo apoyé durante su primer mandato”.

“Nosotros tenemos nuestro propio prisionero político en Cuba, Alan Gross, un hombre que ha sido echado en la prisión y a quien no le han dado la oportunidad de regresar a su casa con su familia”, añadió, en referencia al subcontratista condenado a 15 años en 2009 por introducir equipos de internet satelital en la isla.

“Me gustaría ver que eso se resuelve y me gustaría ver que nos moviéramos hacia el levantamiento del embargo”, opinó, y abogó por intentar promover los cambios democráticos en Cuba “mediante nuestro ejemplo, mediante el comercio y todo tipo de visitas”.

A la pregunta de si visitaría Cuba, Hillary Clinton respondió entre carcajadas: “Sí, algún día me gustaría ir a Cuba, iría algún día”.

La entrevista completa de Jorge Ramos a Hillary Clinton será transmitida el próximo domingo a las 10:00 am hora de Cuba en el programa Al Punto de Univisión.

Clinton Earns $12 Million Speaking, Writing After Service

Fox Nation

By Lisa Lerer and Lauren Streib, Bloomberg

Hillary Clinton has earned at least $12 million in 16 months since leaving the State Department, a windfall at odds with her party’s call to shrink the gap between the rich and the poor.

Clinton’s income since her resignation as secretary of state in February 2013 is derived mostly from her latest memoir, speeches and paid appearances at corporate retreats, according to an analysis of data compiled by Bloomberg.

At least 12 organizations that previously booked President Bill Clinton -- who has been paid almost $106 million in speaking fees alone since he left the White House -- also hired his wife. Among them: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and the National Association of Realtors.

Is Hillary Clinton Using the Cuban Embargo as Her "Excuse"?

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In her new book "Hard Choices," former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argues that the Cuban embargo is “holding back our broader agenda across Latin America.”

What agenda is "broader" than freedom and democracy in the Western Hemisphere?

Are we to throw out the monumental accomplishment of the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter, signed by 34 out of 35 countries in the Western Hemisphere, which holds "representative democracy" as the backbone of hemispheric relations?

In the interests of some unclear "broader agenda," is the U.S. going to re-open the door to the dictatorships -- whether leftist or rightist -- that once ruled Latin America?

Is U.S. diplomacy not sophisticated, robust and muscular enough to overcome Raul Castro's cohorts (pictured below this weekend), which precisely want the U.S. to "fully integrate" Cuba's dictatorship in the inter-American system, so that they can fully unleash their own authoritarian ambitions?

(See more on this point here).

During a recent hearing of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, CHC Editor Mauricio Claver-Carone, ominously testified regarding Raul Castro and his wanna-be authoritarian cohorts:

"This trend is reversible -- but the leadership of the United States is vital. 

Undoubtedly, the democrats of Latin America need to step up to their own responsibilities, but in the cost-benefit analysis that all political leaders make, they need to be left with no doubt that the benefits of standing up for freedom and democracy in Cuba outweigh the costs. Whether we like it or not, only the United States can tip that balance. 

To be clear, the United States is not the cause of Latin America's problems. To the contrary, it represents the solution. U.S. leadership in the region should be public, unquestionable and unwavering, particularly as regards the shared values of freedom, democracy and security. 

Our democratic allies in the region should know and anticipate the benefits derived from embracing and promoting democratic practices. Likewise, autocrats should know and anticipate the consequences of undemocratic practices and illegal acts."

Undoubtedly, U.S. diplomats are up to this task. They are the best in the world.

If they didn't under Secretary Clinton's tenure, then the poor leadership falls upon her.

But it's unbecoming to instead use the Cuban embargo as her "excuse."

Hillary Clinton and money

A Closer Look at Hillary Clinton's Cuba Revelation

Capitol Hill Cubans

In her new book, "Hard Choices," former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reveals how late in her term (2012) she advised President Obama to reconsider the Cuban embargo.

Of course, the whole premise is somewhat silly as only Congress can lift the embargo.  Moreover, Hillary knows this, as it was her husband who signed into law the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act ("LIBERTAD Act"), which codified the embargo.

However, what media reports have overlooked is that Hillary pressed President Obama pursuant to being lobbied by her old friends and supporters, Alfy Fanjul and Paul Cejas.

Fanjul and Cejas traveled to Cuba with the Brookings Institution in April 2012. During the trip, they purposefully shunned courageous democracy activists, so as to not offend their "hosts." However, they met with plenty of Castro regime officials.

As The Washington Post reported, "after returning from his first trip (April 2012), Fanjul met with his good friend, then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, to express his changing views on Cuba."

Those views obviously had nothing to do with the democracy activists Fanjul and Cejas ignored, but plenty to do with the business they discussed with Castro regime officials -- positioning themselves like "Cuban-American Barbarians at the Gate."

Thus, Hillary's efforts to sway President Obama late in her term, on behalf of Fanjul and Cejas (and against the wishes of Cuba's courageous democracy leaders), should not have come as a surprise. 

Moreover, let's not forget her husband's record, as relates to Cuba policy.

Here's a look back:

In 1993, President Clinton intervened at the last minute to impede federal prosecutors from indicting General Raul Castro as head of a major cocaine smuggling conspiracy.

In 1994, President Clinton succumbed to Castro's migratory blackmail and green-lighted secret talks with senior regime officials in Toronto, Canada.

In 1995, President Clinton adopted the infamous "wet-foot, dry-foot policy," whereby preventing Cubans from reaching a U.S. beach became a perverted sport. (Why was it acceptable for President Clinton to label Cubans as "wet-feet"? Shouldn't it be just as insulting as calling Mexicans "wet-backs"?)

In 1996, President Clinton refused to tighten sanctions against the Castro regime. As a consequence for the murder of three Americans and a permanent resident in international airspace -- the shoot-down of the "Brothers to the Rescue" planes by Cuban MIGs -- Clinton was compelled to sign the LIBERTAD Act as the least aggressive of the responses he was presented. Nonetheless, he waived the main section tightening sanctions. As such, the LIBERTAD Act codified the embargo and authorized funding for democracy programs, but did not tighten sanctions.

In 1998-1999, President Clinton eased travel sanctions towards Cuba and created the insulting "people-to-people" travel category, whereby NGOs hosted by the Castro regime lead salsa, baseball and cigar tours of the island, while frequenting the Cuban military's 4 and 5-star tourism facilities.

In 2000, Clinton contemplated lifting tourism travel restrictions towards Cuba, which at the time was Castro's main source of income. Cuba charter companies even hired the President's brother, Roger Clinton, to lobby him. In anticipation, Congress preemptively codified the travel ban to prevent any further Presidential expansion of travel.

In 2000, President Clinton supported the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSREEA), which authorized the sale of agricultural and medical products to Cuba. Due to Congressional intervention, a caveat was included that these sales must be cash-only. Since then, over $4 billion in agricultural products have been sold to Cuba -- all to Castro's food monopoly, Alimport. Not one penny has been transacted with regular Cubans.

In 2000, President Clinton sent armed U.S. Marshals into the Little Havana home of Elian Gonzalez's family, in order to forcefully return him to Cuba. Rather than having an impartial family judge decide what was in the best interests of the small boy, whose mother died for his freedom, Elian's fate was decided by President Clinton.  Today, Elian is a young Communist militant, paraded during propaganda outings, while hailing Fidel Castro as "his God."

As Cuban democracy leader, former prisoner of conscience and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, wrote this week, President Clinton missed a historic opportunity to pressure the end of the Castro regime in the 1990s, amid the profound crisis it faced from the end of its Soviet benefactor.

Instead, he did the opposite.

Today, amid a similar crisis resulting from the downward spiral of Castro's Venezuelan benefactor, Hillary seeks to make the same mistake.

Not surprised.

Marco Rubio cuestiona a Hillary Clinton por 'intentar ayudar al régimen de Castro'

Diario de Cuba

El senador cubanoamericano Marco Rubio (R-FL) cuestionó este viernes a la exsecretaria de Estado Hillary Clinton por haber sugerido al presidente Barack Obama que cancelara o flexibilizara al embargo a Cuba.

"Ahora vemos hasta dónde llegó la secretaria Clinton para minar a los defensores de la democracia en Cuba al intentar ayudar a que el régimen de Castro se hiciera con más dólares con los que continuar su represión", dijo Rubio, según el diario El País.

El senador aseguró que la administración de Obama "no tiene una agenda coherente para América Latina".

"Los desastres que vemos actualmente en la política exterior del presidente Obama son los frutos de las semillas que plantó Hillary Clinton cuando era secretaria de Estado", afirmó.

La exsecretaria de Estado Hillary Rodham Clinton asegura en un nuevo libro que exhortó al presidente Barack Obama a levantar o relajar el embargo contra Cuba porque ya no es conveniente para Estados Unidos ni fomentaba el cambio en la Isla.

En extractos del libro Hard Choices, obtenidos por la agencia AP antes de su publicación la próxima semana, Clinton considera que el embargo le ha dado a Fidel y Raúl Castro una excusa para no poner en marcha reformas democráticas.

Añade que la oposición de algunos elementos del Congreso a la normalización de relaciones ha dañado tanto al pueblo estadounidense como al cubano.

"Desde 1960, Estados Unidos había mantenido un embargo contra la Isla con la esperanza de sacar a Castro del poder, pero solo logró darle alguien a quien culpar por los problemas económicos de Cuba", dice.

Trey Gowdy Demands Answers On Benghazi

Dan Adams

Top 5 Consequences of Putin's 'Crimea Reset'

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By Joel B. Pollak 

"We are entering into our renewed relationship with our eyes open," said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton five years ago, before presenting Russia's foreign minister with the infamous bright red "reset" button.

Russia has pushed the "reset" button all right, resetting history and geography to take the Crimea back, while the U.S. and the European Union do virtually nothing. The White House announced Monday morning that President Barack Obama had imposed a set of sanctions on the Russian arms industry and senior Russian officials, but no one close to Russian President Vladimir Putin himself, according to the UK Telegraph.

The weakness of the west in facing the Russian seizure of the Crimea is likely to have a significant geopolitical effect, both in the short term and long term. Here are five of the most likely consequences of the :Crimea reset":

1. China advances claims over territory and airspace. An aggressively nationalist China was already moving to broaden its air defenses and its claims to the Senkaku Islands, despite U.S. plans to "pivot" from the Middle East to the western Pacific. It will now be even more assertive, knowing there are few consequences.

2. Al Qaeda steps up its attempts to create an Islamic caliphate. The Obama administration, having dispatched Osama bin Laden, has left Al Qaeda to expand across Africa and the Middle East. Those hoping to establish an Islamic state in the ruins of Syria and Iraq will be encouraged by the failure of the west to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine, because the artificial borders of the Middle East seem even more vulnerable now.

3. Israel plans for completely unilateral action on Iran. It is clearer than ever before that the Obama administration has no ability to enforce its own "red lines" and no will to risk armed conflict. Israel will likely set aside the task of obtaining U.S. approval for a pre-emptive strike on Iran and will make independent plans--perhaps in coordination with Saudi Arabia, which has likewise learned that Obama is not to be trusted.

4. Europe gets serious about fracking. As my colleague James Delingpole of Breitbart London observes, one of the positive side-effects of the Crimea crisis is that the EU has realized that energy independence is vital to its security. It will start to reject pseudo-scientific "green" arguments in favor of oil and gas development.

5. Russia continues to challenge U.S. allies and create crisis. The Crimea crisis is hardly over, and may reach other parts of Ukraine, as well as NATO allies in Eastern Europe, as Putin tries the same trick again. He is also expanding Russian influence into Latin America. He will only stop when the U.S. stops retreating from any possible confrontation, and commits military resources to stopping his advance. That point is still very far away.

Meet The Women in Hillary Clinton's Inner Circle

TIME

 

O'Reilly: How the news covered the Benghazi cover up

Hillary Fundraises for Terry McAuliffe--in Beverly Hills

Soros and Hillary Take on America

By Matthew Vadum

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Radical anti-American billionaire George Soros is going all-in for Hillary Clinton’s yet to be officially declared run for the presidency in 2016.

And because Soros’s wealthy leftist friends often follow his lead, a tsunami of early money may be poised to swamp the former U.S. secretary of state’s zygotic campaign.

Soros is lending his name to the “Ready for Hillary” super PAC, giving $25,000 to snag a co-chair post on the organization’s National Finance Committee. Soros’s political director Michael Vachon confirmed Soros’s involvement with the super PAC.

“George Soros is delighted to join more than one million Americans in supporting Ready for Hillary,” Vachon said. “His support for Ready for Hillary is an extension of his long held belief in the power of grassroots organizing.” (Soros also gave $2,300 to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.)

After pledging for the umpteenth time to abandon electoral politics, Soros keeps allowing himself to be pulled back in. A currency speculator and convicted inside-trader, Soros is a practiced hand-wringer who frequently tells gullible reporters he is getting out of electoral politics altogether. This is his mantra between elections even though he never actually follows through on the threat.

Keep reading on FrontPage Magazine >>

SHORT QUIZ on Communism

Six trivia questions to see how much history you know. Be honest, it's kinda fun and revealing. If you don't know the answer make your best guess. Answer all the questions (no cheating) before looking at the answers.

 

Who said it?

 

1) "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

A. Karl Marx

B. Adolph Hitler
C. Joseph Stalin
D. None of the above

2) "It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few...... And to replace it with shared responsibility ,,,,,for shared prosperity."

A. Lenin
B. Mussolini
C. Idi Amin
D. None of the Above

3) "(We) ......can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people."

A. Nikita Khrushev
B. Josef Goebbels
C. Boris Yeltsin
D. None of the above

4) "We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own ... in order to create this common ground."

A. Mao Tse Dung
B. Hugo Chavez
C. Kim Jong Il
D. None of the above

5) "I certainly think the free-market has failed."

A. Karl Marx
B. Lenin
C. Molotov
D. None of the above

6) "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched."

A. Pinochet
B. Milosevic
C. Saddam Hussein
D. None of the above

 

Scroll down for answers

Answers:

(1) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/29/2004

(2) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 5/29/2007

(3) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007

(4) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007

(5) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007

(6) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 9/2/2005

Wanna know something scary? She may be the next socialist president if you don't forward this to everyone that you know.

Hillary Clinton makes big money giving paid speeches

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O'Reilly: Another day, another scandal

CBS: State Dept. Covered Up Investigations into Sexual Misconduct

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White House releases additional documents related to Benghazi response

 

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Benghazi: If Only Charles Ramsey Were Secretary of State, Not Hillary Clinton

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Is This The Reasion Why The White House Will Not Release The Benghazi Emails?

War News Updates

Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Jones told Libya's president one day after the Benghazi attack that Islamic terrorists had killed the U.S. Ambassador and reduced the compound to a burnt-out shell

Secret Email Reveals Top Official Told Libya's U.S. Abmassador That Terrorists Were Behind Benghazi Attack - Four Days BEFORE U.S. Ambassador To UN Said It Was A Spontaneous Attack -- Daily Mail

Sept. 11: Terrorists attack the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya
Sept. 12: State Dept. Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs tells Libya's President that Ansar al-Sharia was responsible
Sept. 13: CIA writes candid talking points for members of Congress
Sept. 15: White House deputies edit the talking points, removing all references to Islamic terrorism
Sept. 16: UN Ambassador Susan Rice, in five television interviews, blames the attack on a spontaneous mob angered by an anti-Islam YouTube video

A top State Department appointee told Libya's ambassador to the United States one day after the military-style assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that the terror group Ansar al-Shariah was responsible.

But four days later, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations said on television that it was the product of a spontaneous protest.

During a fiery and emotional congressional hearing on the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Rep. Trey Gowdy read aloud from an email dated Sept. 12, 2012 to senior State Department officers, from Elizabeth Jones, the acting Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.

Read more >>

Boehner calls for release of Benghazi emails as pressure grows on administration

Fox News

Pressure on the Obama administration to release more information about the Benghazi attack grew Thursday, as House Speaker John Boehner demanded officials turn over emails pertaining to the controversial "talking points" and another top Republican appealed for more whistle-blowers to come forward.
On the heels of a dramatic hearing where three whistle-blowers testified, Fox News has learned that former Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday, on the Hill for a meeting with House Republicans, also told lawmakers: "I think Hillary (Clinton) should be subpoenaed if necessary."
The comments and developments signal that Republicans will continue to press for answers on the deadly Sept. 11 attack. Despite arguments from Democrats that the hearing was not nearly as shocking as Republicans made it out to be, GOP lawmakers said it raised troubling questions that need to be investigated.
"The truth shouldn't be hidden from the American people behind a White House firewall," Boehner said Thursday. "Four Americans lost their lives in this terrorist attack. Congress will continue to investigate this issue, using all of the resources at our disposal."
Boehner specifically urged the Obama administration to make public a set of internal emails that some lawmakers had been able to review but not keep.
One of the emails apparently showed a top State Department official saying a group affiliated with Islamic terrorists was responsible for the strike. Separate emails, though, allegedly depict the White House and State Department pressing lower-level officials to remove references to terrorism in talking points about the attacks.
Based on those talking points, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice would go on five Sunday talk shows shortly after the attacks to claim they were triggered by protests over an anti-Islam film. Top officials would later claim the flawed assessment was based on the best intelligence at the time, but the testimony from whistle-blowers Wednesday indicated that those on the ground knew the attack was terrorism.
"The YouTube video was a non-event in Libya," Greg Hicks, deputy chief of mission in Libya, testified Wednesday.
After the hearing, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa said he will continue to seek whistle-blowers to "come forward."
"Candidly, as quickly as possible, we simply want to have the whistleblowers that are still out there, in fact witnesses that are still out there to come forward, tell us their story. We will get it out and we will close up this investigation," he told Fox News.
Issa, R-Calif., is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which held the hearing.
The wide-ranging and dramatic testimony Wednesday raised several fresh questions about the attack. Witnesses questioned why security had not been tightened in Benghazi in the months leading up to the assault and why U.S. military assets did not respond sooner that night, with one alleging a military team was not given permission to fly from Tripoli to Benghazi the next morning.
Further, they raised serious concerns about the administration's initial decision to describe the attack as a protest gone awry despite evidence on the ground to the contrary.
In startling testimony, Hicks also claimed the State Department retaliated against him after he raised questions about that decision. He claimed that Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Jones delivered a "blistering critique" of his management style after he criticized Rice's initial claim that the attack was tied to anger over an anti-Islam film. He also claimed that he was counseled to avoid personally discussing the attack with Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz and was "effectively demoted" to a desk officer in the end.
Issa, in a written statement after Wednesday's hearing, called the alleged retaliation and intimidation "perhaps most troubling."
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., top Democrat on the committee, vowed to protect the whistle-blowers while criticizing his Republican colleagues for allegedly trying to politicize the tragedy. He claimed afterward that the testimony only served to undercut Republican allegations.
"What should have been a bipartisan investigation involving our national security was another sorry example of Republicans promising explosive new facts but delivering only a press spectacle," he said in a statement.
The committee may move to hear testimony next from at least one leader of the State Department's internal review of the Benghazi attack. Though the leaders, former Joints Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and former Ambassador Thomas Pickering, apparently declined to testify, Pickering told MSNBC on Wednesday that he is willing to speak.
Issa spokesman Frederick Hill on Thursday noted the "change of heart" -- but also said neither Pickering nor the administration has contacted the committee about possible testimony.
Several claims from Wednesday's hearing could open up new lines of inquiry on the attack and its aftermath. Among them, Hicks claimed that Rice's faulty claims about the nature of the attack hurt the FBI investigation.
Hicks argued that Rice's comments so insulted the Libyan president -- since they contradicted his Sept. 16 claims that the attack was premeditated -- that it slowed the FBI's investigation.
"President Magariaf was insulted in front of his own people, in front of the world. His credibility was reduced," Hicks said, adding that the president was apparently "still steamed" two weeks later.
This bad blood, he claimed, contributed to the FBI team being stuck in Tripoli for about 17-18 days.
"I definitely believe that it negatively affected our ability to get the FBI team quickly to Benghazi," he said, adding that the U.S. could not even get the Libyans to secure the crime scene during that time.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/09/issa-seeks-more-whistle-blowers-after-dramatic-benghazi-hearing/#ixzz2Sp6u0oH4