Lifting Cuban embargo "way down the road" says White House advisor

[Bluebear]

So much for my rhumba lessons.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Talk of ending the United States' 47-year old Cuban trade embargo was premature and won't happen unless Havana alters its policies, President Barack Obama's top economic advisor said on Sunday.

"That is way down the road, and it is going to depend on what Cuba does going forward," White House Director of the National Economic Council Lawrence Summers told NBC's "Meet the Press", when asked under what circumstances Obama would lift the embargo.

"Cuba's known what it needs to do for a very long time, and it is up to them in terms of their policies, their democratization, all the steps they can take," Summers said.

Obama last week relaxed parts of the trade embargo, imposed by Washington following Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. The move drew conciliatory remarks from Cuban President Raul Castro and had raised hopes of rapprochement between the two nations.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE53I1KT20090419

[FrenchieCat]

1. "won't happen unless Havana alters its policies"

If I recall, it is now Mr. Castro's turn to make a change....
since we just did.

So this sounds about right.

[EFerrari]

10. Why do you believe the United States has the right to alter the policies

of sovereign nations?

[jwirr]

2. We can work with big bad China but not little Cuba. I am old enough

to remember that when Castro wanted to overthrow the government of Cuba he asked Eisenhower for help - Ike turned him down and only then did he seek help from the USSR. I thought that was a mistake then and I still do. If we can work with the communist government of one country then why can't we work with another?

[SPedigrees]

7. How China can call itself communistic

is beyond me. No social programs, just a barbaric capitalistic greedy dictatorship as far as I can tell.

[Cali_Democrat]

11. I know....they are far from communist

Not even really socialist. They're pretty much a hyper-capitalist country, very similar to ours except they are an authoritarian dictatorship.

[EFerrari]

3. The double standard is still fully operational.

And Larry Summers is a smarmy @sshole. I'd love to talk to him about political prisoners, human rights and democracy.

[Bluebear]

4. China, si! Cuba, no.

And we have no moral high ground on human rights anymore.

[EFerrari]

5. Saudi Arabia, si! Cuba, no!

Let's plan a meet up in Havana. I don't know how to rumba either. They have some wicked bad music there. :)

[Bluebear]

6. Love it. Vayamos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioWbAwS2afE

[flamingdem]

8. Raul wants the 5 heros imprisoned in the US for spying in return

for releasing dissidents. I agree with him that would be fair but that means the US has to concede that they were tried in a Kangaroo court.

I do like what Obama is doing and hope he can prevail on going forward with Cuba. The USA has been disrespectful and threatening to Cuba for soooo long.

[EFerrari]

9. Obama has made a somewhat good start given that everyone

wants to like him and to help him. He has also made some major mistakes like his statement that Cubans aren't free to worship which raised a global :wtf: from students of Cuba.

Imho, Obama needs to put Larry Summers on some other detail because Summers is an arrogant, tone deaf, poopy head who will do much more harm than good in this area.

[flamingdem]

12. Si, poopy heads will not be appreciated in Cuba

because one the arrogance wears off Americans get to learn that many Latin Americans are extremely advanced in the art of conversation and social interaction, in fact they run circles around us in that area for the most part. So we need someone with elegance and a sense of humor to grease the wheels, someone who won't raise hackles very five minutes.

[EFerrari]

13. We have so many good people who aren't socially impaired.

It would be nice to put one in that position and especially right now when Latin America is pretty much ready to call the whole thing off.