Yoani Sanchez meets with Florida elected officials in Washington D.C.
Dissident's visit warms Washington's Cuba Cold War
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A visit to the Congress on Tuesday by Cuba's best-known dissident may have slightly narrowed one of Washington's long-standing political gaps - the angry dispute over the U.S. embargo against the Communist government in Havana.
Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez met on Tuesday with both Democratic and Republican members of Congress, including some of the staunchest Cuban-American supporters of the 53-year-old economic embargo against her country.
In the past, some hard-liners have been reluctant to voice strong support for Cuban dissidents who want major changes in U.S. policy, including ending the ban on most trade between the United States and the Caribbean island nation.
Sanchez was first invited to Capitol Hill by two Florida Democrats, Senator Bill Nelson and Representative Joe Garcia, a Cuban-American who promotes President Barack Obama's easing of restrictions on Cuba and backs expanded U.S. travel to the island.
But she also met with prominent Cuban-American Republicans who strongly support the continuation of the tough restrictions, including Florida Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart.
Sanchez says the embargo is an excuse for the Cuban government to blame the country's economic problems on the United States, rather than its own policies. But embargo supporters say any easing would provide hundreds of millions of dollars to prop up the island's government.
'UNITY IN THE CAUSE'
"There has not been a change in attitude or position about dissidents who advocate for freedom and democracy in Cuba," said Ros-Lehtinen, one of the top Republicans on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee. "Our goals remain the same and there is unity in the cause. We disagree on how to reach that goal and it has been that way and will continue."
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"Sanchez says the embargo is an excuse for the Cuban government to blame the country's economic problems on the United States, rather than its own policies."
Sigh...
Castro blamed all of Cuba's woes prior to the "revolution" on the country's business ties to the US, and since the revolution, he's blamed all of Cuba's economic problems on the lack of business ties between the US and Cuba.
How can someone as allegedly intelligent as Sanchez continue to miss that point?
The fact that this isn't her message makes her suspect in my eyes.
Precisely, Luis. Her embargo "logic" is so weak that either she's feeble-minded (which I doubt) or she knows being anti-embargo is a crucial pillar of her acceptance by the foreign elements who've made her a celebrity (there's no celebrity without people to celebrate you). A totalitarian system like Castro, Inc. will ALWAYS come up with an excuse for absolutely anything. Look at the UMAP business, for instance: "Oh, Fidel was SO busy with other stuff that he didn't really know what was going on in those concentration camps." I mean, give me a break. I can't believe she doesn't know better.