Thursday, March 24, 2011

Obama: Cuba has made prisoner "gestures"

From a Herald story on an exclusive interview with President Obama:

“We have expanded remittances, we expanded travel, we have sent a strong signal to the Cuban people,” Obama said. “The Cuban government made some gestures about releasing political prisoners and starting some market-based economies with small business opportunities. (But) we haven’t seen as much follow-through as we would like.”

Obama said that Cuban authorities must take some “meaningful actions,” but was not specific when I asked what would be the minimum measures Cuba should take to improve bilateral ties.

Obama did not mention the case of Alan Gross, the U.S. contractor who was sentenced to 15 years in prison this month for taking telephone equipment to Cuba, but other U.S. officials have asked for his immediate release in recent days.

Of all the descriptions of Mr. Gross’ activities and his trial, “15 years in prison for taking telephone equipment to Cuba” takes the cake.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

not surprising coming from who wrote it. He really hasn't been right about much -- as we all still wait for Castros final hour -- since 1993!

As for Obama, what a disappointment, but again not a big surprise. The goalposts move once again