McCain vows to continue Cuba’s isolation, slams Obama
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Sen. John McCain on Tuesday laid out his plans for strengthening democracy and U.S. influence in Latin America, Carol J. Willams writes.
Speaking in Miami, McCain vowed to extend free-trade pacts throughout the region and to continue isolating Cuba until the communist-ruled island frees political prisoners and allows multiparty elections.
‘The promises to uphold a hard line against the regime of Fidel and Raul Castro earned the presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee cheers from the mostly Cuban American crowd at a town hall meeting in southwest Miami.’
McCain laid into Democratic rival Barack Obama, according to the Miami Herald:
‘’He also wants to sit down unconditionally for a presidential meeting with Raúl Castro,’’ said McCain, drawing boos from the hundreds of Cuban American leaders and Republican activists in the audience. ‘These steps would send the worst possible signal to Cuba’s dictators -- there is no need to undertake fundamental reforms, they can simply wait for a unilateral change in U.S. policy. I believe we should give hope to the Cuban people, not to the Castro regime.’’
The Miami Herald this morning also has an article about Fundación Rescate Juridico, which is in a busy Hialeah strip mall near Westland Mall. The Cuban government has linked the office to U.S. payments to dissidents on the island.
‘Its precise location, 4225 W. 16th Ave., Second Floor, turns out to be the office of Santiago Alvarez -- a developer who is the chief South Florida benefactor of Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles. Repeated knocks on the door Tuesday went unanswered. ‘The same address is listed in the Florida incorporation records for Caribe Dive & Research Foundation which owned the shrimping boat Santrina that the U.S. and Cuban governments allege was used by Alvarez and other exiles to smuggle Posada into the United States in March 2005.’ -- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City