Give that man a cigar; our president calls on Communists to allow freedom

[Legion Troll]

“Sí se puede,” President Obama told the Cuban people Tuesday in a nationwide address that promised a new beginning and a bright future together.

The speech was like nothing Cubans here have heard in many years.

He called on the government to unleash the “full potential” of Cuban ingenuity and youth by opening its doors to free expression and communication.

Later, Obama met at the U.S. Embassy with 13 of the most prominent political dissidents on the island, including José Daniel Ferrer and Elizardo Sanchez, who favor normalization, and Antonio Rodiles and Berta Soler, who have said the United States has reached out to Cuba but gotten nothing in return.

“In spite of the criticism, and I’ve been one of his critics, it was a very good meeting. Very honest,” said Gullermo Farinas, winner of the Sakharov Prize for human rights.

Obama’s last event in Cuba was an exhibition baseball game between the Cuban national team and the Tampa Bay Rays. The motorcade to the packed Latin America Stadium provided the clearest indications of how enthusiastic Cubans were about the visit. Thousands lined the route, waving and snapping pictures as he passed by.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/obama-to-address-the-cuban-nation-in-historic-havana-visit/2016/03/22/d454c642-ef9c-11e5-a2a3-d4e9697917d1_story.html

[Leonthecat]

Reminiscent of Kennedy in Berlin in 1963.

[Legion Troll]

Reminiscent of Kennedy in Berlin in 1963.

Obama didn't say he was a jelly doughnut.

[Leonthecat]

Obama didn't say he was a jelly doughnut.

Not yet anyway. But he has inspired oppressed people in a communist country and given them reason to hope.

[Legion Troll]

Not yet anyway. But he has inspired oppressed people in a communist country and given them reason to hope.

Of course he inspires them, he's a Muslim Marxist from Kenya, isn't he?

[Leonthecat]

Of course he inspires them, he's a Muslim Marxist from Kenya, isn't he?

Hail OBAMA!

[anatta]

Castro refuses to admit Cuba has political prisoners

In a sometimes awkward public appearance in which Castro fiddled with his headphones and complained about translation problems, the Cuban president unexpectedly fielded questions from US reporters.

"Give me a list of the political prisoners and I will release them immediately," Castro said when challenged about the Communist island's human rights record.

"After this meeting is over, you can give me a list of political prisoners. And if we have those political prisoners, they will all released before the night ends," he said.

Human rights groups immediately shot back with the names of dozens of prisoners being held in Cuba.the detention of dozens of pro-democracy protesters on Sunday and the deployment of a horde of secret police around Old Havana have served as a stark reminder of the regime's iron grip on power

[Leonthecat]

Castro refuses to admit Cuba has political prisoners

In a sometimes awkward public appearance in which Castro fiddled with his headphones and complained about translation problems, the Cuban president unexpectedly fielded questions from US reporters.

"Give me a list of the political prisoners and I will release them immediately," Castro said when challenged about the Communist island's human rights record.

"After this meeting is over, you can give me a list of political prisoners. And if we have those political prisoners, they will all released before the night ends," he said.

Human rights groups immediately shot back with the names of dozens of prisoners being held in Cuba.the detention of dozens of pro-democracy protesters on Sunday and the deployment of a horde of secret police around Old Havana have served as a stark reminder of the regime's iron grip on power

He stonewalls and boldly lies to the press and his people.
Castro must be studying Trump.

[Legion Troll]

Obama’s decision to restore ties with Cuba may have given him a revered spot in the heart of many Cubans.

Crowds lined the roads here to catch a glimpse of the presidential motorcade: en route to a baseball game between U.S. and Cuban teams, thousands spilled into the streets and crowded onto balconies.

The American flag, once a sign of hostility, flew beside the Cuban colors from the antennas of the vintage American automobiles that ferried visitors around the city. An entrepreneur pitched a refrigerator magnet with Obama holding a cigar under his nose.

Cubans cheered his speech. “Who would have thought we’d see this,” said Jesus Magán as he watched. ““I mean, we were trained to fight against the Americans!”

A poll conducted here months after Obama’s December 2014 decision to normalize relations with Cuba found the president more popular than either Fidel Castro or his brother, Raul, who now serves as president.

Eighty percent of the Cubans polled said they had a “very positive” or “somewhat positive” opinion of Obama, while 17 percent had a “very negative” or “somewhat negative” impression.

That was in sharp contrast to the findings for Raul and Fidel Castro, both of whom who had higher negative than positive ratings in the March 2015 poll done by Miami-based Bendixen & Amandi International for Univision, Fusion and the Washington Post.

“The Cuban people see the president as the personification of the catalyst for change that they’re desperate to see take hold in Cuba,” Fernand Amandi, a managing partner at Bendixen, said last week.

Well wishers welcomed Obama with cheers and shouts of “USA, USA” as he arrived in Havana, applauding the first family as it toured the historic part of the city under a downpour. The streets were lined with people taking photos as the motorcade ferried the first family to dinner at a local “paladares” – the private restaurants that administration officials point to as a sign of a changing Cuban economy.

Orlando Laguardia, the self-proclaimed “Poeta de Cuba,” set up shop on a busy Old Havana street, with a copy of a poem he wrote for Obama’s visit.

Though there are issues yet to be resolved in the relationship between the two countries, he wrote in Spanish: “We exclaim with pleasure, Welcome President Obama.”


http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article67721487.html