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Obama Set to Lift Ban on Travel to Cuba
Wall Street Journal ^

Posted on 04/03/2009 2:40:25 PM PDT by Sub-Driver

Obama Set to Lift Ban on Travel to Cuba

By LAURA MECKLER

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama plans to lift a longstanding U.S. ban on family travel and remittances to Cuba, a senior administration official said Friday, in what could be an opening gesture toward more openness with the Castro regime.

The move will fulfill a campaign promise and follows more modest action in Congress this year to loosen travel rules.

The president has authority to loosen these rules on his own, and the move is likely meant as a signal of a new attitude toward both Cuba and other Latin American countries that have pressed the U.S. to alter its policy.

The president does not intend to call for lifting of the trade embargo against Cuba, which would require congressional action, nor is any specific diplomatic outreach contemplated, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Cuba; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government
KEYWORDS: agenda; bho44; bhocuba; castro; commievote; dictators; first100days
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Jimmy Carter II
1 posted on 04/03/2009 2:40:25 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
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To: Sub-Driver

Do we have any canals left to give away too!


2 posted on 04/03/2009 2:41:53 PM PDT by avacado
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To: Sub-Driver

This is a good idea. The travel ban on Cuba is absurd.


3 posted on 04/03/2009 2:43:13 PM PDT by Boiling Pots (The Politicians think we're all stupid, and they're largely correct.)
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To: Boiling Pots

I’m just wondering which lucky American will be the first held for ransom in Cuba.


4 posted on 04/03/2009 2:44:37 PM PDT by Carling ("We've lost two people in my family because you dickheads won't cut trees down," - Warwick Spooner)
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To: Sub-Driver

A new JFK, eh?

Wonder how all those Cubans in Florida will feel about this?


5 posted on 04/03/2009 2:45:05 PM PDT by autumnraine (Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose- Kris Kristoferrson VIVA LA REVOLUTION!)
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To: Boiling Pots

Yeah, I kinda agree, but I don’t like supporting a communist state either.


6 posted on 04/03/2009 2:45:30 PM PDT by autumnraine (Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose- Kris Kristoferrson VIVA LA REVOLUTION!)
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To: Sub-Driver

I have to say that I don’t see how it is that we can:

Travel to Iran.
Travel to Syria
Travel to North Korea

but Cuba is right out.

I don’t know if lifting the ban makes sense or not, but a little consistency would be a welcome thing.


7 posted on 04/03/2009 2:45:38 PM PDT by mountainbunny ((Hey, Kids! It's the new Mitt Romney! Now with fun-to-style action hair! Collect the whole set!)
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To: Sub-Driver
What ban?

If you live in the North: You fly to Toronto, fly directly to Havana, stick $10 (US) in your passport for them not to stamp it and you have no problems.

OR

If you live in the South: Fly to Cancun, they have several ships going to and from Havana every day. Again $10 in the passport is required.

8 posted on 04/03/2009 2:46:25 PM PDT by Mikey_1962 (Obama: The Affirmative Action President)
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To: autumnraine
Yeah, I kinda agree, but I don’t like supporting a communist state either.

Does China ring a bell?
9 posted on 04/03/2009 2:47:11 PM PDT by randomhero97 ("First you want to kill me, now you want to kiss me. Blow!" - Ash)
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To: Sub-Driver

Obama endorses Cuba as a vacation Mecca!


10 posted on 04/03/2009 2:47:41 PM PDT by 2harddrive (...House a TOTAL Loss.....)
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To: autumnraine

Oh, you are supportin’ one, baby, you are supporting one.


11 posted on 04/03/2009 2:48:32 PM PDT by ichabod1 (I am rolling over in my grave and I am not even dead yet (GOP Poet))
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To: Sub-Driver
Photobucket

_________________________________________________________

Che flag sends 'disturbing' message about Obama
Candidate attracts 'people who think mass murderers are romantic revolutionaries'

February 13, 2008
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

The Fox TV affiliate in Houston has captured images of a volunteer in a campaign office for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama working in front of a flag featuring the image of Che Guevara, the South American revolutionary who became Fidel Castro's executioner after the communist takeover in Cuba.

And while the Obama campaign has issued a statement placing a modest distance between the campaign and its "volunteers," the issue of such an image on display in an office operating on behalf of a man hoping to be commander in chief of the world's last remaining superpower is raising alarms.

Even Obama supporters have been forced into corners because of the issue, with one likening the Texas state Republican Party to Guevara, to whom have been attributed hundreds of executions of anti-Castro leaders.

Under the heading "Barack Guevara," Investor's Business Daily raised some of the more pointed questions, to which the campaign responded only with a statement: "The office featured in this video is funded by volunteers of the Barack Obama Campaign and is not an official headquarters for his campaign. ..."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56293

_________________________________________________________

"This is a guy [Bill Ayers] who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English..."

_________________________________________________________


12 posted on 04/03/2009 2:48:32 PM PDT by ETL (ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: Sub-Driver

The Cuban embargo hasn’t overthrown the Cuban government despite being almost fifty years old. I suspect that it might be time to try something new. Let’s end the embargo and give our neighbors a taste of the riches of capitalism. In short order, then, I suspect we’ll be hearing “Adios, Fidel! Adios, Ramon!”


13 posted on 04/03/2009 2:48:54 PM PDT by bagman
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To: Sub-Driver
Jimmy Carter II

Where have you been Sub?

Under the ice caps since before the start of the campaigns for TOTUS '08?

14 posted on 04/03/2009 2:50:26 PM PDT by EGPWS (Trust in God, Question everyone else)
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To: Boiling Pots

I see where you’re coming from. In some respects, the travel ban is a little dated.

I think if the Cuban people start seeing American tourists wandering around, they’re gonna start saying “Hey, why the hell can’t we have what they have?!”

Obviously, there are many Cubans who know that life is better across the Straitsof Florida. That’s why so many have tried that dangerous crossing. But it may be different now that the Cuban people will start being exposed to American money and goods.

Of course, there’s always the definite possibility that Castro (or his sucessor) will try to keep the majority of Cubans from seeing how well we have it. US tourists may be restricted to Cancun-style resorts where there’s no intereaction with real Cuban people. The Cuban govt makes all the money and their people end up - as usual - with nothing.


15 posted on 04/03/2009 2:50:26 PM PDT by MplsSteve
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To: 2harddrive
Obama endorses Cuba as a vacation Mecca!

Free tickets funded by the government.

16 posted on 04/03/2009 2:51:53 PM PDT by EGPWS (Trust in God, Question everyone else)
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To: Sub-Driver

Reds helping Reds.


17 posted on 04/03/2009 2:52:19 PM PDT by popdonnelly (The greatest crimes in history have been perpetrated by governments. You've been warned.)
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To: Sub-Driver

Good, it was a farce anyway. Every hollywood actor that wished to flew down and hobnobbed with Castro, lifting the ban means nothing.


18 posted on 04/03/2009 2:52:23 PM PDT by ScreamingFist (Annihilation - The result of underestimating your enemies. NRA)
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To: Sub-Driver; All
Russian nuclear bombers in Cuba?
July 23, 2008

The media has been abuzz today at the prospect of Russian nuclear bombers being stationed in Cuba if the US goes ahead with plans for missile defense bases in Eastern Europe.

The story has riled the US enough that a US general has been wheeled out to tell the world’s press that any Russian attempt to build another nuclear base in Cuba would cross US “red line”.

The story broke earlier this week, when Russian newspaper Izvestia quoted an un-named source from within the Russian military. He told the Russian daily:

“While they are deploying the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, our strategic bombers will already be landing in Cuba.”

The quote hasn’t been independently confirmed, but the Russian Defense Ministry added fuel to the fire when they refused to comment on the story.

The prospect of Russian nuclear forces being stationed in Cuba - which is, after all, only 90 miles from the US coast - would bring back some rather unpleasant memories for the US of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, where the Soviet Union under Nikita Kruschev launched an audacious and foolhardy bid to station nuclear missiles on the Caribbean island.

http://www.siberianlight.net/2008/07/23/russian-nuclear-bombers-cuba/
____________________________________

Russia's Medvedev hails "comrade" Obama
Associated Foreign Press (AFP) ^ | April 2, 2009 | Anna Smolchenko

Posted on Friday, April 03, 2009 8:10:15 AM EDT by ETL:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2221410/posts

19 posted on 04/03/2009 2:52:42 PM PDT by ETL (ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: Sub-Driver

Gee, what a wonderful “progressive” Obama is. After all those years of Americans clamoring to go to Castro’s Cuba.

The only people who went there are Castro sympathizers.


20 posted on 04/03/2009 2:54:09 PM PDT by popdonnelly (The greatest crimes in history have been perpetrated by governments. You've been warned.)
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