Clark hints he would explore Cuba ties

[PSU84]

The Miami Herald December 3, 2003

Clark hints he would explore Cuba ties
Though not calling for an end to the embargo, Democratic hopeful Wesley Clark says the U.S. should ‘help the Cuban people.’

By Peter Wallsten

As his leading rivals for president hone positions on Cuba policy that appease South Florida's powerful exile bloc, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark is gaining notice for a divergent approach: a willingness to discuss easing the decades-long trade embargo against the island and its dictator.

Clark stops short of saying he would lift sanctions, but his nuanced responses to reporters, exile leaders and even a questioner at a nationally televised debate last month in Boston leave little doubt that a Clark administration could well do more than any other in 40 years to build ties with Fidel Castro's government.

''In general embargoes normally, usually, they don't work, and they certainly haven't worked in the case of Cuba as far as ending the Castro regime,'' Clark told reporters Monday during a visit to South Florida. ``We don't want to give a gift to Fidel Castro. But we do want to help the Cuban people achieve the same rights as everybody else in this hemisphere.''

Clark, the former supreme allied commander of NATO who led the Kosovo war and former chief of the U.S. Southern Command overseeing military operations in the Caribbean and Latin America, also frequently compares the situation in Cuba with communism in Eastern Europe -- arguing that engagement, rather than isolation, paved the way for democracy.

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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7402949.htm

[jmaier]

1. Good

This policy shift is long overdue. If Clinton had the stones to do this in the early 90's I suspect you'd have had some more democratic political movement in Cuba by now. And, it won't hurt to come out for this in Miami. Floridians of Cuban descent are going heavily republican no matter who the democrats run.

[ebw]

2. Ditto

Its about time this corpse was buried. Inefective policy, flouted by little old ladies from Maine, among others.

[sabbat hunter]

3. cuba

while i admire general clark for coming out and saying he will 'explore ties to cuba' im afraid it will lose him votes, particularly in south florida, with its strong cuban american population.

a great number are rabidly anti castro and oppose any thought of talks/ties/trade with cuba while he is in charge.

peace
david