Saturday, August 23, 2008

Relations with Cuba?

In 2000, McCain felt there was room for negotiations and normalization of relations with Cuba, a position he had held for at least six years:
The Miami Herald reported in 1999 that McCain was the only Republican candidate who believed “there could be room for negotiation on the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.” In 2000, McCain told CNN, “I’m not in favor of sticking my finger in the eye of Fidel Castro. In fact, I would favor a road map towards normalization of relations such as we presented to the Vietnamese and led to a normalization of relations between our two countries.”
Going back further, to 1994, McCain opposed cutting off remittances because it punished people “whose misfortune it is to live in tyranny.”
Even though Cuba has actually become more free during the transition of power to Raul Castro, McCain now strongly objects to Obama's position of engaging with Cuba in order to move them towards democracy, and takes a different stand than he did in the last election:
McCain said that despite the transfer of power from Fidel to Raul Castro, "he doesn't support any immediate change in the U.S. embargo of Cuba unless the nation releases political prisoners, holds free elections and allows human rights organizations to operate in Cuba."
That would be a strikingly difference stance that the Vietnam tactics that McCain had earlier suggested.

A huge collection of McCain's varied and contradictory positions on Cuba can be found here.

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