[Marxism] BBC: Cuba dissidents back Obama pledge

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Cuba dissidents back Obama pledge 
By Michael Voss 
BBC News, Havana  

A group of Cuban dissidents has backed a call by the US presidential
hopeful, Barack Obama, for direct talks with the new Cuban President,
Raul Castro.

The organisation, Women in White, is made up of female relatives of
Cuban political prisoners.

In an open letter to Mr Obama they wrote of their hope that his
policies may help free their husbands and sons.

Mr Obama told Cuban exiles in Miami on Friday that America needed to
talk to its enemies as well as its friends.

Mr Obama also said that - if elected in November - he would lift
President George Bush's restrictions on family travel and remittances
to Cuba but maintain the US trade embargo.

Applauded

The position of both Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton and
Republican hopeful John McCain is that any change in policy would
only benefit Cuba's communist leaders.

The founder of Women in White, Miriam Leiva, and her recently freed
dissident husband, Oscar Chepe, also wrote an open letter to Barak
Obama.

They applauded his offer to allow Cuban Americans to freely visit
relatives here.

They also wrote that a more creative policy could help the transition
towards democracy and that the current confrontation is used by the
authorities in Havana to justify their repression.

The Cuban government denies that there are any political prisoners on
the island, calling them all mercenaries in the pay of the United
States.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7418941.stm

Published: 2008/05/25 01:08:43 GMT

 BBC MMVIII


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un ParaÃso bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================

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