Obama Makes More Concessions to Castro

I am stealing this video from Gateway Pundit. It's of Cuba in the 1930s before the Castro regime destroyed it. It's eight minutes well spent! What a lovely place it was!


Reuters is reporting this morning, "The United States and Cuba have agreed to resume direct talks on migration, last held in 2003, and open discussions on establishing direct mail service between the two countries, a U.S. official said on Sunday.Cuba presented a diplomatic note to U.S. officials on Saturday agreeing to a U.S. request made last week to resume the migration talks, which President George W. Bush suspended."

George W. Bush defended his position on Cuba when he was in Canada at an appearance with Bill Clinton on Friday. Asked about Obama's Cuban policy changes, Bush said, "Holding that embargo in place is important," he said. By easing it, "you're propping up a regime who puts people in prison based upon their political views. So my view is, if they empty out the prisons and give people a voice, then we change our strategy with Cuba — but not until then."

I'm not sure what Obama thinks he's going to gain by his recent moves on Cuban policy. Everything he's done so far will only serve to help the Castro regime. It's hard to argue with Bush's point on leverage, and the Castro regime has made no moves to release any political prisoners. In fact, in April Fidel Castro said that Obama misinterpreted any signs that Raul may have given as to releasing prisoners or cutting taxes on dollars that people send to Cuban relatives.

It seems that Obama is making all the concessions here and it's the people of Cuba who get to suffer. It's time to ask for something in return from the Castro regime before giving in to their tyranny any further.

Update: The NYT adds this: "Cuba also agreed to cooperate with the United States on counterterrorism, drug interdiction and disaster relief efforts" but no word on the political prisoners who continue to be held or the continual squeezing of the Cuban people.

And Bablu Blog is not impressed: "Who knows -maybe this new round of talks will magically turn all refugees trying to escape the totalitarian regime into migrants and will have the US Coast Guard patrolling the Cuban coastline to prevent any would-be escapes from the island concentration camp?"

(Photo: The Real Cuba)