2016 Democratic Party
Platform
In Cuba, we will build on President Obama’s historic opening
and end the travel ban and embargo. We will also stand by the Cuban people and
support their ability to decide their own future and to enjoy the same human
rights and freedoms that people everywhere deserve.
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https://www.demconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Democratic-Party-Platform-7.21.16-no-lines.pdf
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2016 Republican Party Platform
We want to welcome the people of Cuba back into our hemispheric
family — after their corrupt rulers are forced from power and brought to
account for their crimes against humanity. We stand with the Women in White and
all the victims of the loathsome regime that clings to power in Havana. We do
not say this lightly: They have been betrayed by those who are currently in
control of U.S. foreign policy. The current Administration’s “opening to Cuba”
was a shameful accommodation to the demands of its tyrants. It will only
strengthen their military dictatorship. We call on the Congress to uphold
current U.S. law which sets conditions for the lifting of sanctions on the
island: Legalization of political parties, an independent media, and free and
fair internationally-supervised elections. We call for a dedicated platform for
the transmission of Radio and TV Martí and for the promotion of internet access
and circumvention technology as tools to strength Cuba’s pro-democracy
movement. We support the work of the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba
and affirm the principles of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, recognizing the
rights of Cubans fleeing Communism.
P 50
The GOP platform section on Cuba is reflective of a GOP faction stuck in the Cold War. Whoever voted against a proposal to remove the anti-Cuba language was either sympathetic to Rubio or Cruz, or were veterans of the Romney campaign, because Trump refused to bash Obama's rapprochement as appeasement (by the same toke. The Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba was created by George Bush to prevent a transfer of power from Fidel Castro to Raul Castro, but it didn't achieve the goal of a democratic transition after Fidel Castro left power or died. It's interesting that the 2012 party platform mentioned Castro dynasty, but the 2016 platform does not mention Castro by name, or Raul Castro's successor Miguel Diaz-Canel.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that the GOP platform plank did not directly address limits on travel or agricultural sales, the two most prominent legislative issues at this point.
ReplyDeleteI was also surprised by its defense of the Cuban Adjustment Act which ironically is contributing to erosion of Republican support in Miami by encouraging economic immigrants who favor normal relations.