Harris and Walz on Cuba

Originally posted four years ago

https://cubapeopletopeople.blogspot.com/2020/08/joe-biden-and-kamala-harris-on-cuba.html

What Kamala Harris thinks about Cuba On Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden announced Senator Kamala Harris, the junior senator from California, will be his running mate, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Last year, Sen. Harris responded to a Tampa Bay Times survey asking questions about Florida-specific issues, including Cuba policy. Asked whether she would continue or end the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, Sen. Harris’ staff responded “Senator Harris believes we should end the failed trade embargo and take a smarter approach that empowers Cuban civil society and the Cuban-American community to spur progress and freely determine their own future.” Shortly after the official announcement, a group of Cuban-American Biden supporters, Cubanos con Biden, reacted positively to Sen. Harris’ nomination. They tweeted that reason number 84 out of 90 that Cubans should vote for Democrats in November is because Sen. Harris is the daughter of immigrants and she is an Afro-Caribbean and Asian-American woman who understands the challenges of the immigrant community in the U.S. Democrats in Florida, a critical swing state. Fernand Amandi, a Democratic strategist and pollster from Miami, stated “Kamala Harris has no baggage with Hispanic voters [in Florida].” Sen. Harris was a co-sponsor of the Freedom for Americans to Travel to Cuba Act which would prohibit U.S. citizens from being restricted from traveling to Cuba in 2017 and most recently in 2019 .

-- Center for Democracy in the Americas, U.S, Cuba News Brief

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On Cuba News has reported statements from the Biden campaign reflecting a more aggressive stance against Trump Administration Cuba policies: “In the midst of a global pandemic in which families are suffering deeply on the island and around the world, President Trump is denying Cuban-Americans the right to help their families,” Florida campaign strategic advisor Christian Ulvert said in a statement. The Democrat recalled that Western Union “is the largest remittance service” in Cuba and that its closing “will be painful for Cuban families, especially the oldest and most vulnerable, both on the island and in the United States.” “Trump’s war on family remittances is a cruel distraction from his administration’s failure to promote democracy in Cuba,” said Ulvert, adding that the “presumed support of the president for the Cuban people is nothing more than empty rhetoric.”.... The Democratic candidate for the U.S. vice presidency, Kamala Harris, assured this Tuesday in an interview with EFE that if she and Biden get to the White House they will repeal the restrictions that Trump has imposed on the island, although the end of the blockade will not happen “soon.” She said that the embargo is law and that an act by of Congress is needed to lift it or that the president determines that a democratically elected government is in power in Cuba, adding that they don’t expect any of these things to happen anytime soon. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba-usa/bidens-campaign-criticizes-blocking-of-remittances-to-cubans/ Translated by Walter Lippmann. This is the section on Cuba of a longer EFE interview with Kamala Harris. Includes link to the full interview. Taken from Iroel Sánchez blog, LA PUPILA INSOMNE. Kamala Harris on Cuba: "The embargo is the law." By EFE Posted by La pupila insomne In a written interview with the Spanish press agency Efe, the senator and vice president for the Democratic Party Kamala Harris answered two questions related to Cuba. Q: What would a future government of yours and that of the Democratic candidate Joe Biden do to reverse the policies that Trump has adopted towards Cuba? Would you personally advocate for an end to the blockade? A: The policy of a Biden and Harris Administration towards Cuba would be governed by two principles: First, Americans, especially Cuban-Americans, are the best ambassadors of freedom in Cuba. Second, empowering the Cuban people to determine their own future is vital to America's national security interests. Trump is deporting hundreds of Cubans back to dictatorship and back to a regime crackdown that has only increased under his presidency. There are nearly 10,000 Cubans languishing in tent camps along the Mexican border due to Trump's anti-immigrant agenda. And it is separating Cuban families through restrictions on family visits and remittances. We will backtrack on Trump's failed policies. And as Joe Biden did previously as vice president, he will also demand the release of political prisoners and will make human rights a centerpiece in the diplomatic relationship. The embargo is the law; you need an act of Congress to lift it or you need the president to determine that a democratically elected government is in power in Cuba. We don't expect any of these things to happen anytime soon. Q: From a US foreign policy perspective, what role do you think Spain can play in relations with Cuba and, in general, with Latin America? A: Under a Biden and Harris Administration, the US will work with members of the international community, including Spain, to support the Cuban people, as well as promote Joe Biden's vision of the need to work for a safe hemisphere, middle class and democratic. ( Read full interview ) ******************************** Philip H. Gordon, her National Security Advisor, is the author of the book Losing the Long Game, a forceful criticism of U.S. regime change policies in other nations. Although this 2020 publication focuses on the Middle East region, it contains several historical references to Cuba, in order to illustrate the ineffectiveness and unforeseeable negative consequences both for the affected nations and for the interests of the United States of the regime change policies. In contrast to them, Gordon argues in favor of the application of policies based on diplomacy, negotiation and constructive engagement. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba-usa/kamala-harris-and-united-states-cuba-policy-a-hopeful-light/ ****************************** Letter to the President following his withdrawal as candidate https://cubapeopletopeople.blogspot.com/2024/07/letter-to-president-after-his.html ************************************************* Representative Tim Walz on Cuba Rep. Walz in 2010 voted in favor of a bill passed by the Agriculture Committee to end all Cuba travel restrictions and allow US farmers to sell food to Cuba directly from US banks on credit terms. In 2015 he co-sponsored the Free Trade with Cuba Act, which would have repealed the embargo.   During Obama’s 2016 Cuba visit, Walz affirmed support for opening the Cuban export market. In 2017, Walz urged Trump to reconsider his Cuba policy reversal: “Increased engagement with Cuba by U.S. citizens, companies and the non-governmental sector holds extraordinary promise.”   Walz opposed aspects of Trump’s policy on Cuba,, calling it “shortsighted and misguided.” He focused on opening markets for agricultural trade to benefit both Minnesota farmers and the Cuban people.

Letter to the President After His Withdrawal as Candidate

 

Sent to the White House, cc to Vice President

 

Dear Mr. President,

Thank you for the courage to make an extremely hard decision that will benefit our country, the world and the campaign to save us from Donald Trump.

Thank you also for your endorsement of Vice President Harris as the nominee of the Democratic Party.  I will do everything I can to support her election.

 You and I are the same age so I empathize with the existential difficulty of your choice.

 Your final months in office offer historic opportunities to deal freely with seemingly intractable international problems.  You can strengthen even more your legacy and clear the decks for President Harris to address the real challenges of our time.

 From my viewpoint three priorities are:

 1)  Enhancing the process that will help Ireland become a post-colonized united country.

 2)  Freezing all military aid to Israel until there is peace in Gaza.

 3)  Real reconciliation and full normalization with Cuba. 

 Most immediately that means ending its listing as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, restoring travel (cruises, hotels, independent people to people, performances), resuspending Title III of Helms-Burton and respecting the value of Cuban medical teams to countries in need.

 That can lead quickly to closing the Guantanamo prison and returning the territory in accord with US principles on unequal treaties and bases in foreign countries. 

 A bigger but not impossible lift is employing executive authority to end the universally condemned embargo. 

While establishing preconditions is counterproductive to sovereign sensibilities and plays into the hands of Cuban hardliners, I would expect that progressive changes in US policy will be reflected in due course in Havana by prisoner releases, economic reforms and even political liberalization.

Please also consider meeting the Pope in Cuba for the beatification of Father Felix Varela, advocate of the immigrant Irish in New York.    tinyurl.com/VarelaUS

With regard,

John McAuliff

Fund for Reconciliation and Development

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What Kamala Harris Thinks About Cuba

https://cubapeopletopeople.blogspot.com/2024/07/kamala-harris-on-cuba.html