Exiles Want to Expand U.S.-Cuba Relations

[kskiska]

Source: NYT

MIAMI — The leading organization for Cuban exiles here is calling on the White House to expand relations with Cuba’s government, and funnel much more public and private American money to the Cuban people.

A 14-page proposal from the group, the Cuban American National Foundation, lays out what the document calls “a break from the past” that would “chart a new direction for U.S.-Cuba policy.”

It is the basis of a continuing discussion with the Obama administration, White House and foundation officials said, and it amounts to the group’s most significant rejection of a national approach to Cuba that it helped shape and that has been defined by hostility and limited contact with the island.

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The foundation will also probably face opposition from Florida’s four Cuban-American Republican members of Congress — Senator Mel Martinez and Representatives Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. All have historically opposed engagement with Cuba unless the government meets strict conditions. None returned telephone calls or responded to e-mail seeking comment.

Mr. Hernandez, however, said the foundation would not be intimidated by the old guard to which it once belonged.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/us/politics/09cuba.html?hp