Spain’s foreign minister says the release of political prisoners by Cuba will lead to a thaw in U.S. relations with the Communist-run island, including the lifting of the decades-old embargo.
Miguel Angel Moratinos told Parliament on Wednesday the release of prisoners would lead to an improvement in EU policy toward Cuba “and it will have political consequences in U.S. relations with Cuba, (such as) the lifting of the embargo.”
I dont think Moratinos had planned to make this statement at all, or, at least, so soon after the first prisoner “releases.” What probably forced him to show his cards is the fact that the statements from first wave of Cuban prisoners in Madrid put him and his cohorts between a rock and a hard place.
See, these newly “freed” Cuban were supposed be so thankful for their release from the gulags that they were supposed to kneel to the Spanish government – like good Cubans to the Spanish, historically – and ask the EU to rethink their Cuba policy. This, in turn, could be used by the three amigos – the Catholic Church, Spain and the regime – to point to when lobbying for a change to US/Cuba policy.
I can’t wait to read the Cuba experts spin on this.
And of course, you know why the Spaniards are so desperate for the US to lift the embargo and travel ban?
Answer: Since they own so many hotels in Cuba that are barely half filled at best, they are losing money. Their greedy and exploitative hoteliers are hoping that by lifting the embargo/travel ban, hundreds of thousands of Americans will fill their hotels and save their floundering investments in Cuba.
Regarding the Cuba experts. Val, don’t expect the Cuba experts to even acknowledge this. They skirt the issues and lie by omission. I’ll give you an example from a recent letter from “Cuba expert” extraordinaire, Wayne Smith:
Here are two excerpts from Smith’s letter. Notice how he mentions the 70 dissidents who asked for the lifting of the travel ban, but not the 500 who asked for it to remain. And below that, notice how he claims that the 52 “released” dissidents were “released” because of the dialog with the Church and Spain as if Tamayos’ death, Farina’s hunger strike and the Ladies in White confrontations had nothing to do with it.
>>And we now have that letter from more than 70 Cuban dissidents, including some of the more prominent ones, calling on the United States Congress to lift travel controls so that Americans can travel freely to Cuba. They believe that will help bring about change. I’ll go with them rather than Mr. Cason.
Mr. Cason also mentions the 52 prisoners the Cuban government now says it will release and urges that the United States not lift travel controls until all political prisoners have been freed. But I would note that that will not help in any way to bring about their freedom. The 52 are being freed because the Spanish government and the Catholic Church entered into a dialogue with the Cuban government to bring that about. If they had followed the American pattern of refusing to engage, there would be no prisoner release at all. <<
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/opinion/lweb13cuba.html?scp=2&sq=Wayne%20Smith&st=cse
Would an “I told you so” be in order?
Get ready for the 5 spies to be exchanged.
What’s even worse. Moratinos didn’t even refer to the “embargo” he used the same term the Castros use: “bloqueo”
Here is what he said: “Sí, levantaremos la Posición Común de la UE y tendrá consecuencias políticas en las relaciones de EEUU con Cuba, (como el) levantamiento del bloqueo”, dijo Moratinos en el parlamento.
Que gallego mas HP
Moratinos is indeed a shameless SOB, but as I keep saying, he’s only a tool for the Zapatero government (like that SOB Alarcon is for Castro, Inc.). Any Spaniard who’s OK with Moratinos, especially regarding Cuba policy, is beneath contempt, and that’s the ultimate problem: Spanish voters.
Get ready for the 5 spies to be exchanged.
You know Obama is just itching to release the “Cuban 5” … and get another Nobel peace prize for it.