>What's interesting about the Cuban petitions (the Casey letter and
>the Campaign for Peace and Democracy petition) is that, unlike most
>petitions, neither is meant to directly petition any government or
>political entity -- the Cuban government, the US government, Latin
>American governments, European governments, or any other relevant
>political power.
Sure they are-- Cuba. The point of most of the signers is to kick Castro in the head that even opponents of the embargo think he is undermining any reasonable support for the regime and that he is playing directly into Bush's hands. And there has been direct responses from the Cuban government to the letters, so they have been very effective on that basis. Hopefully, Cuba will backtrack and release the dissidents-- finding whatever face-saving cover the regime needs to do so and back out of its disasterous policy.
-- Nathan Newman