martes, 14 de abril de 2015

After historic Cuba meeting, Obama faces challenge of delivering

After historic Cuba meeting, Obama faces challenge of delivering
By Angela Greiling Keane, Raymond Colitt and Toluse Olorunnipa
Bloomberg News
Published: April 13, 2015

PANAMA CITY (Tribune News Service) — President Barack Obama, back in
Washington after a historic meeting Saturday with Cuban President Raul
Castro, now faces the difficult work of tearing down bureaucratic
barriers built up over five decades.

First on the agenda will be determining whether to remove Cuba from a
list of state sponsors of terrorism, after the State Department sent its
recommendation to the White House last week. Obama also promised to work
toward reopening embassies and convincing Congress to peel back
sanctions against the Communist island first put in place during
President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration.

"We'll continue to work toward re-establishing diplomatic relations,
reopening embassies in Havana and Washington, and encouraging greater
contacts and commerce and exchanges between our citizens," Obama said
Saturday during a news conference at the Summit of the Americas in Panama.

The meeting by Obama and Castro won praise from leaders across the
political spectrum in Latin America, who said the U.S. president was
ending a final vestige of the Cold War. Yet U.S. moves last month to
sanction Venezuelan officials for human-rights abuses, in which the
country was called a threat to national security, undermined some of
that support.

"The tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela make it difficult to create
the climate of dialogue and depolarization of policies that is needed in
our region," Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina Sanchez said in
comments echoed by the leaders of Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina, among
others.

With no major policy announcements marking the most extensive
interaction between the U.S. and Cuban presidents in more than 50 years,
both Obama and Castro cautioned that future changes — even removing Cuba
from the U.S. list of terrorism sponsors — may come slowly.

"We are willing to discuss everything, but we need to be patient — very
patient," Castro, 83, said Saturday through a translator, while seated
next to Obama. "Some things we will agree on; others we will disagree."

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, which lasted about an hour, a
White House aide said Obama will make a decision in the near future on
Cuba's designation as a sponsor of terrorism, which has been place since
1982.

Castro, who said Saturday that Cuba should never have been placed on the
list, said several sticking points remain between the countries — some
of which won't be resolved.

"But when I say that I agreed with everything the president just said, I
include that we agree to disagree," Castro said.

Obama will make a decision on the terrorism designation in the near
future, then he will notify Congress, which would have 45 days to
respond, according to a senior administration official at the meeting.

Obama could try to extract concessions from Castro on human rights in
exchange for delisting Cuba, said Chris Sabatini, a Latin America
specialist who teaches international affairs at New York's Columbia
University.

"Raul needs Cuba to be taken off the state sponsors of terrorism list,"
Sabatini said. "It's a national humiliation."

Speaking at his first Summit of the Americas since they began in 1994,
Castro called Obama an "honest man" and joked that, as Cuba's leader, he
should get to speak six times longer than anyone else since the nation
has been blocked from that many gatherings. Obama, he said, can't be
blamed for policies against Cuba put in place by 10 previous presidents.
He went on to recount 200 years of Cuban history, including repeated
"interferences" by successive U.S. governments.

Obama, saying he wasn't interested in fighting battles that started
"before I was born," urged the assembled leaders to get past ideological
differences and focus on the future.

"I'm optimistic that we will continue to make progress and this can and
will be a turning point" not only with Cuba but across the region, Obama
said.

Several sticking points remain as the governments work to set up
embassies and fully restore diplomatic relations. Castro has called for
the U.S. to return the military base at Guantanamo and end the
half-century trade embargo against Cuba, which was imposed by Congress
and must be rescinded by lawmakers. The two countries are also at odds
over how many embassy staff will be allowed to be stationed in Havana
and how freely they'll be able to travel within the country.

With assistance from Michael McDonald in Panama City.

Source: After historic Cuba meeting, Obama faces challenge of delivering
- U.S. - Stripes -
http://www.stripes.com/news/us/after-historic-cuba-meeting-obama-faces-challenge-of-delivering-1.339791

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