CUBA: Jimmy Carter arrives on 3-day visit
Former President Jimmy Carter is on a three-day visit to Cuba amid speculation he may try to win the release of a 61-year-old American convicted by a Cuban court of activities aimed at undermining the Communist-led government.
Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, arrived in Havana on Monday with his wife Rosalynn. He is expected to meet with President Raul Castro and other Cuban officials. His visit is attracting a bit of local news coverage, including by Granma, the official Communist Party newspaper, which mentioned Carter's "genuine interest" in improving ties between the U.S. and Cuba, and by the Havana-based news agency Prensa Latina, which recalled that it was the Carter administration that first eased restrictions on travel to Cuba by Americans (both links in Spanish).
Alan Gross, a USAID contractor who says he was providing Internet equipment to Cubans, was sentenced this month to 15 years in prison, in a case that has further strained relations between Havana and Washington, especially on the issue of human rights. Over the last few months, the Cuban government has released all of the dissidents arrested in a 2003 crackdown.
Carter, on his second trip to Cuba, is the only U.S. president, sitting or otherwise, to have visited the island since the 1959 revolution.
— Tracy Wilkinson in Mexico City
Photo: Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez greets former President Jimmy Carter at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana. Credit: Jorge Luis Gonzalez / Granma.
Dave Simpleton, when were the Palestinians declared our enemies? I doubt if you could tell the difference between a communist and a corn cob. Try google or wikipedia for a bit of information.
Posted by: Jorge2 | April 15, 2011 at 06:41 PM
Actually GMK he has done more damage to our Country than any other president not named FDR or OBAMA.
Posted by: ELADAVE | March 30, 2011 at 05:19 PM
Hey GMK...Prez Carter is awesome as a humanitarian. Respect.
Posted by: Tamale | March 29, 2011 at 06:31 PM
Prez. Carter is one of most honest man alive today.
Posted by: Joe | March 29, 2011 at 04:07 PM
I hope Jimmy Carter stays there because thats where his heart is and I want him to be among his friends .
Posted by: Rich05 | March 29, 2011 at 04:02 PM
Wow.. Mr. Carter is wearing a guayabera shirt too, no less. I think history will much more kind to Pres. Carter than we have been. He's still serving his country at age 87! He has done more to help people than any ex president has done ever!
Posted by: GMK | March 28, 2011 at 05:55 PM
Who authorizes this closet communist to visit our enemies in Palestine and Cuba? Is there any doubt that America elected the "wrong" president in 1977!
Posted by: Dave Templeton | March 28, 2011 at 04:10 PM
Let's hope he stays there!
Posted by: Carrieann | March 28, 2011 at 04:05 PM
As long as Castro hates Jews, Carter will be his best buddy. Hugo, the Haiti guy, Khadaffi, Ahmadinejad, Farrakhan, Obama...
Posted by: JoeS | March 28, 2011 at 04:02 PM
I don't agree with everything he says and does, but I have to say that Mr. Carter is one of the most moral ex-Presidents that ever was, and I admire how he sticks to his convictions.
We could use a few more politicians like him.
Posted by: surfdogh2o | March 28, 2011 at 03:54 PM