>On Feb 19, 2008, at 6:01 AM, abu hartal wrote:
>
> > Obama has not threatened to invade and occupy a country that votes
> > in the wrong government.
>
>Doing so is part of a president's job description; his personal
>preferences hardly matter. What is this fetish of the individual?
>Certainly there are differences of party, personality, faction, etc.,
>but on the right of the U.S. to tell the rest of the world what to
>do, that's a given.
>
>Doug
This just in:
<http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-cubareax20feb20,0,3084924.story>http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-cubareax20feb20,0,3084924.story
Presidential candidates hail Castro's resignation
McCain, Obama urge the release of political prisoners. Clinton calls for democratic reform in Cuba, which Huckabee says will not be possible until Castro is dead.
By Johanna Neuman Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
10:42 AM PST, February 19, 2008
News of Fidel Castro's resignation drew calls for release of political prisoners today from Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.
Obama, in a statement, said the United States should be ready to normalize relations with Cuba and ease the trade embargo of the last five decades if the Cuban leadership "begins opening Cuba to meaningful democratic change."
The resignation "should mark the end of a dark era in Cuba's history," the Illinois senator said. "The prompt release of all prisoners of conscience wrongly jailed for standing up for the basic freedoms too long denied to the Cuban people would mark an important break with the past. It's time for these heroes to be released."
McCain, also calling for release of prisoners, cautioned that "freedom for the Cuban people is not yet at hand." In a statement, he called for release of all political prisoners, as well as legalization of political parties, labor unions, elections and a free press.
"Cuba's transition to democracy is inevitable; it is a matter of when not if," the Arizona senator said in a statement. "With the resignation of Fidel Castro, the Cuban people have an opportunity to move forward and continue pushing for the moment that they will truly be free. America can and should help hasten the sparking of freedom in Cuba. The Cuban people have waited long enough."
Meanwhile, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, told voters in Ohio that if she were president she would "push Cuba now to join the community of nations and become a democracy." In a statement, the New York senator said that if elected, "I will engage our partners in Latin America and Europe who have a strong stake in seeing a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba, and who want very much for the United States to play a constructive role to that end."
And former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, in a statement issued from Little Rock, cast doubt on any progress in Cuba until Castro passes from the scene.
"Until Fidel Castro is dead there can be no significant movement towards reform in Cuba," Huckabee said. "Raul Castro has proven that he's as much a tyrant and dictator as his brother Fidel. Simply providing more power to another dictator does nothing to promote freedom and democracy to the Cuban people."