This wasn't accidental. Numerous media are reporting the Vatican and the Pope were heavily, heavily involved with Obama to give the Cuban tyrants what is essentially "amnesty."
Posted on 12/17/2014 1:32:39 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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The conclusion of an agreement to normalize diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba has the White House treading cautiously, especially after bipartisan condemnation from Cuban-American Senators Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez. The latter, who chaired the Foreign Relations Committee until yesterday, accused Barack Obama of “vindicat[ing] the brutal behavior of the Cuban government” and of “set[ting] an extremely dangerous precedent.” Menendez is of course a Democrat and ostensibly an ally of the White House on foreign policy.
In anticipation, at least one official in the Obama administration has decided it’s better to share the credit, and preferably with someone whose popularity is much greater than Barack Obama’s. Hence, Charlie Spiering reports that the White House credits Pope Francis for brokering the deal:
“Pope Francis personally issued an appeal thorough a letter that he sent to President Obama and to President Raul Castro, calling on them to resolve the case of Alan Gross and the cases of the three Cubans who have been imprisoned here in the United States and also encouraging the United States and Cuba to pursue a closer relationship,” the official noted.
The Vatican also hosted the United States and Cuban delegations to discuss the political exchange of prisoners and “improving their relationship” going forward.
In March, President Obama spoke about Cuba with Pope Francis during his visit to the Vatican and has continued to work with the Vatican during the process.
According to an administration official, Pope Francis was “aware” that Obama was considering a change in the policy against Cuba and reached out to the president. The official noted that the personal appeal was a “very rare” occurrence with the administration which lent “greater momentum” to the negotiations.
The Financial Times has a more nuanced explanation:
The potential rapprochement between the US and Cuba, which included a telephone call between President Barack Obama and Raúl Castro on Tuesday evening, was brokered with the help of Canada and of Pope Francis.
The letter from Francis “kicked” negotiations “into a higher gear,” The Hill’s Justin Sink reports, but the majority of the diplomatic work took place in Canada, which already has normal relations with Cuba. Francis’ letter took the part of the prisoners involved in both countries, urging both leaders to find a way to free them and resolve their differences.
Buzzfeed also notes the Canadian connection, but reports that their source in the White House wants to stress Francis’ role:
The letter “gave us greater impetus and momentum for us to move forward,” the administration official said. The Vatican was the only government that participated in the negotiations between the U.S. and Cuba. Vatican officials were “in those meetings,” the official said.
Most of the negotiations took place in Canada starting in the spring, the administration said, but the final deal was hashed out at the Vatican, facilitated by Francis, who an administration official noted was “the first pope to be chosen from Latin America.”
Francis helped drive the deal, raising it repeatedly with Obama when the two men met at the Vatican in March.
“Cuba was a topic of discussion that got as much attention as anything else the two of them discussed,” the official said. The Vatican “welcomed the news” that the two countries were talking, the administration official said.
Politically, this is a smart move. Francis’ popularity is at a zenith around the world. In a CBS poll from March of this year, after the anniversary of his election to the papacy, Francis got a 46/3 favorability rating. That’s not a typo — it’s a +43 rating, with 50% undecided or hadn’t heard of him. Among US Catholics, it’s 68/1, or at least it was then. Obama desperately needs to have that kind of popularity rub off on his foreign policy, or at least buffer it from the kind of blowback the policy will get from both Democrats and Republicans in the Cuban-American community.
For the pontiff, this deal will testify to his influence and that of the Catholic Church. It’s also a signal that Francis will not hesitate to intervene in what had been his backyard. The first Pope from the Americas has resolved a half-century dispute among the Americas, and done so with what will be seen abroad as a relatively even-handed approach. Francis’ reputation and significance as a diplomat will grow with this episode — and so will Stephen Harper’s, for that matter.
Is this a smart move for the US as well? The economic war on Russia and Iran via the oil glut produced by OPEC has claimed a collateral hit on Venezuela, which until the Chavistas killed the golden-egg-laying goose kept Havana afloat. Nicolas Maduro is no help to Cuba and the Castros, and that means they need to find another patron in the region with an economy that can replace Venezuela’s. If Cuba begins to turn toward the US, that does give us some influence on the trajectory of Cuban policy, certainly more than we’ve demonstrated over the last 50 years. The Castros won’t live forever, and this does give the US an opportunity to influence the next generation.
Of course, that whole argument relies on the assumption that the US has a deft foreign-policy team at the helm to achieve those objectives. Right now, it looks more like the jayvees. Perhaps the next administration will be able to use this opening for real change in Cuba.
This Pope in particular and the Jesuit order in general have been huge disappointments. This Pope hides behind the phony “who am I to judge” pose. Yet when he makes decisions or policy it is inevitably wrong.
Such incredible weakness all around.
Obama and Raúl Castro thank pope for breakthrough in US-Cuba relations.
Pope Francis, before visiting The Holy Land boasted to be himself the “Che” of the Palestinian people.
A Marxist leaning Pope blessed the Marxist American president embrace of Castro's genocide communist regime condemning the Cuban enslaved people to eternal damnation. On the deal Castro liberated an American illegally imprisoned in Cuba in exchange for the freedom of three Cuban spies serving prison terms in U.S. and the normalization of relations with a country that occupied for decades a top position in the list of the State Department ‘s terrorist countries.
The Cuban regime tried to obliterate New York and Washington with a nuclear attack during the October Missile Crisis of 1962. “In November 1962, the Castro brothers’ and Che Guevara’s agents had targeted Macy’s, Gimbels, Bloomingdales, and Manhattan’s Grand Central Station with a dozen incendiary devices and 500 kilos of TNT. The Holocaust was set for detonation the following week, on the day after Thanksgiving.” (Humberto Fontova)
Castro has been a strong ally of Islamic terrorism. Cuba continues to serve as a base for coordination and mutual support among transnational terrorist organizations. At Tehran University he stated to the thunderous applause of students and faculty, "The imperialist king will finally fall,” (AFP, May 10, 2001). Immediately afterward the Iranian Press Service proudly proclaimed that "Iran and Cuba reached the conclusion that together they can tear down the United States.” (IPS, May 10, 2001).
According to World renown and highly respected American investigative journalist and author, Claire Sterling, : “All of the world’s emerging terrorist bands in the 1970’s were indebted to the Cubans and their Russian patrons for that honeycomb of camps around Havana. None could have started without rudimentary training, and those who didn’t train in Cuba were trained by others who did.” (“The Terror Network, The Secret War on International Terrorism.”)
As reported by Sterling, “Castro was training the advance guards of the coming European fright decade – Palestinians, Italians, Germans, French, Spanish Basques – and forming guerrilla nuclei in practically every Western hemisphere state south of the American border. As far back as 1962, Castro’s camps were taking in 1,500 Latin American guerrillas a year. . ‘Any revolutionary movement anywhere in the world can count on Cuba’s unconditional support,’ declared Castro at the 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana”. It was then and there that the international terrorism network was consolidated under Castro’s leadership.”
It is suicidal turning a blind eye to Castro, a deadly enemy at 90 miles south of Key West that does not hide his hatred for U.S.
After the restoration of diplomatic relations comes the end of the embargo.
To complete Obama’s betrayal of the American people, with the normalization of relations comes the opening to Cuba of the American and International bank credits that will sustain the Cuban regimen passing to the American taxpayers the same heavy burden that helped to bankrupt the Soviet Union.
When The FBI Tracked Terror-Suspects—Literally!
Humberto Fontova | May 10, 2013
http://townhall.com/columnists/humbertofontova/2013/05/10/when-the-fbi-tracked-terrorsuspectsliterally-n1592705
Just have to keep remembering that he is a man elected by other men, all sinners and flawed.
As Emperor of America, Obama has decided to perpetrate more evil, not only by supporting the blood-thirsty Castro brothers, but also by throwing Pope Francis under the bus in order to deflect criticism from Cuban-Americans for doing so.
“Every Catholic that I know, including myself, are completely mystified by this Pope and not in a good way.
Just have to keep remembering that he is a man elected by other men, all sinners and flawed.”
It seems Pope Francis is really giving the doctrine of Papal Infallibility a TEST!
“weakness??”
This is a plan of EVIL- Cuba is still fighting
ALL FREE countries WORLD WIDE!!
From Africa to South America- to indo China
they are 10 times worse than North Korea!
Murdering thugs! everywhere!- that is why we did NOT
have “normal “ relations with this country
THE POPE? - look at Santeria- a cultish/satanic religion
which is PROMOTED by the Cuban govt. to displace
Catholic,protestant and Evangelical Christian religion’s- — The Castro clan- PURE EVIL why would any
Sane person deal with thugs in cuba?- unless you are a
MARXIST!
I stopped being “mystified” by this Pope many months ago. This guy is a disaster for Catholicism and now for all Americans with this Cuba garbage.
There have been good Popes and bad Popes. In my lifetime we have had good Popes from Pius XII through Benedict XVI. This is what Catholics get when their Cardinals elect a Jesuit as Pope, especially one from a county that has been dysfunctional for over 100 years.
So we give release three actual spys/moles with American citizen blood on their hands (some were involved in passing info back to Cuba so they could shoot down a US private aircraft over international waters which was simply seerching for Cuban refugees).
Not surprised by this treacherous, traitorous administration.
They gave up the absolute worst Gitmo terrorists for a AWOL American who sought the Taliban enemy out, and faced absolutley no real cosequences over it...so of course they would continue in that mold. I expect more of the same by this Administration over the next two years.
So we give release three actual spys/moles with American citizen blood on their hands (some were involved in passing info back to Cuba so they could shoot down a US private aircraft over international waters which was simply seerching for Cuban refugees).
Not surprised by this treacherous, traitorous administration.
They gave up the absolute worst Gitmo terrorists for a AWOL American who sought the Taliban enemy out, and faced absolutley no real cosequences over it...so of course they would continue in that mold. I expect more of the same by this Administration over the next two years.
This wasn't accidental. Numerous media are reporting the Vatican and the Pope were heavily, heavily involved with Obama to give the Cuban tyrants what is essentially "amnesty."
Obama’s Democratic Headquarters in TX had Che Gueverra shirts available during the 2008 elections, so there was never any doubt who this buzz head considered his hero.
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