Latin America
Related: About this forumTime to rethink Cuba policy?
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80545.html#.UEK9G9vKAZg.twitterBy SARAH STEPHENS | 8/31/12 6:00 PM EDT
President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia this week announced that negotiations will soon begin between Colombia and its principal enemy, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that could end his countrys bloody, decades-long civil war.
The deal was struck in Havana, with help from Venezuelan, Cuban and Norwegian diplomats. Talks are due to start in Oslo Oct. 5. President Barack Obama, Reuters reported, is aware of the process and is in agreement. After the initial round of negotiations in Norway, Colombias government and the guerillas are to return to Havana, sit at the negotiating table and not leave until a peace pact is signed.
We cant know now what this means for Colombia though we earnestly hope it leads to peace. But one thing we do know is this: Because Cuba made a big contribution to this breakthrough, it undermines arguments by the anti-Cuba hard-liners in Congress. It also poses a direct challenge to Obamas handling of the U.S.-Cuba relations.
When President Ronald Reagan put Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism in 1982, it was a largely political act. It was domestic politics again in the 1990s, when President Bill Clinton kept Cuba listed, as anti-terrorism expert Richard Clarke explained, and the weak rationale for it has waned ever since. MORE AT LINK
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80545.html#ixzz25IC6oFV9
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80545.html#ixzz25IBzKT7p
COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)is anything more than a bid for some positive international P.R. Since their economy is so shitty it's true that they can't support guerilla organizations in Latin America as they once could, so I think they've simply made a virtue of necessity. Having said that I do believe it's long past time that we scrap the outmoded, outdated and ineffective economic blockade of Cuba. It's an embarassment in today's world. However, until we purge a whole bunch of RW'ers from Congress it'll never happen.
flamingdem
(39,314 posts)Can you explain your statement about this being a bid for positive international PR?
Why can't a country that has the trust and respect of many Latin Americans play an important negotiating and leadership role? That doesn't require $$
COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)regime does. They are desperately trying to stay relevant in Latin American politics. That ship already sailed.