GOP Visitors Support Easing Cuba Sanctions

HAVANA (AP) - Two Republican lawmakers promised Thursday to try to ease U.S. restrictions against Cuba, saying tourism and trade can do more to undermine Fidel Castro's hold on the country than current U.S. policy.

Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona said he will attempt to get Congress to eliminate funding for enforcement of the U.S. travel ban against Cuba, allowing more Americans to travel to the communist island.

``I don't think that the for the next four years we can maintain this policy,'' Flake told a group of international journalists.

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``We need to do what we did in Eastern Europe'' by putting more Americans in contact with Cubans, said Herger. ``Change will not come from the policies we've had in the past.''

Tourists get out and among the Cuban people, Flake said. ``They tip, they purchase, they have a corrosive effect on the regime.''

more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4890681,00.html

The South Florida republicans need Castro to stay in power so they can keep the Cuban American population in line.

Bush has managed to piss off 70% of his supporters this week. What's a couple of thousand Cubans gonna hurt?

:kick: