Cuba-United States – Something Is Moving
Cuba-United States – Something Is Moving
By Ignacio Ramonet
In this column, Ignacio Ramonet, director of Le Monde Diplomatique in Spanish, analyses U.S.-Cuba relations.
PARIS, Jul 7 2014 (IPS) - In ‘Hard Choices’, her new book about her experiences as Secretary of State during U.S. President Barack Obama’s first term (2008-2012), Hillary Clinton writes something of prime importance about Cuba – she says that late in her term in office she urged Obama to reconsider the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
“It wasn’t achieving its goals, and it was holding back our broader agenda across Latin America.”
For the first time a U.S. presidential hopeful has publicly stated that the blockade imposed by Washington on the Caribbean island – for over fifty years! – is “not achieving its goals”.
In other words, the embargo has not subdued this small country in spite of the amount of unjust suffering it has caused for its population.
The essence of Hillary Clinton’s declaration is two-fold: first, it breaks the taboo on saying out loud what everyone in Washington has known for some time: that the blockade is useless.
And second, and more importantly, her statement comes at the moment when her campaign is being launched for the Democratic Party nomination to the White House; that is, she is not afraid that her affirmation – in opposition to all of Washington policies towards Cuba over the past half century – could be a handicap in the electoral battle she faces up until the elections of November 8, 2016.
More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/07/cuba-united-states-something-is-moving/
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