In Brazil today President Castro, little brother of Fidel Castro, has said that he is willing to send political prisoners and their families to the US in exchange for the "Cuban Five". The Cuban five are currently imprisoned in the US for espionage and attempted murder.
Castro has stated that he do "gesture for gesture" as a show of goodwill to the president elect Barack Obama and hopefully spur talks about ending the embargo. This comes on the heals of the other 32 South American and Caribbean nations having urged the US, last Tuesday, to end the embargo against Cuba.
We will have to wait and see if this pans out for Castro. If it does it would mean a major image boost in Cuba for his regime that has done their best to portray the "Cuban Five" as the "Five Heroes".
Nobody knows how this will play out on either side. Will Cuba hold their end of the proposed deal? Will the US cave and make the trade? This could be a chance to help the US rebuild their international reputation that has suffered worldwide in the last few years. International pressure has been mounting in the last few months for the US to lift the embargo, since both the UN and the EU have both voted to oppose it.
In my opinion, nothing will come of this, both sides are too entrenched in their self-righteousness to make a move and both sides have to deal with tremendous opposition pressure from within. I think this was just another volley in an ongoing war of words between the two nations.
For more information please visit Reuters.
Muchacho Enfermo
2 comments:
Why should the US, bargain with Cuba. Raul is nothing more, then, more of the same and he was part of apparatus that killed thousands of Cubans and stole all businesses, including American own companies as well as others from other parts of the world. How about giving back what they stole?
I think that this shouldn't b e about businesses that were stolen. This should be about two things:
1) Human lives
2) PR
let me explain
1) Human lives: the political prisoners that Raul was proposing to release and send to the US along with their families... These are people that have been trying to change Cuba from the inside, these are people that should be dear to your cause. If for nothing else they deserve the US's consideration on this.
2) PR: The us badly needs a boost of image abroad and this could be it.
Then again, what do I know. I just want those people out of jail in Cuba, even if it means the release of the "Five heroes".
Post a Comment