Fidel Castro to Congressional Black Caucus members: 'How can we help President Obama?'

How's this for hope and change: U.S. officials flying to Cuba, not to interrogate prisoners at Guantanamo Bay but to meet with the Castro brothers in order to ease the 50-year tensions between the two nations.

The aging, ailing, cigar-smoking icon Fidel Castro had three members of Congress visit with him today in Havana, which resulted in the bearded one asking, "How can we help President Obama?"  In an effort to improve the relationship between Cuba and the U.S., Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) and Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.) were the first U.S. officials to meet with the 82-year-old former dictator since his intestinal surgery in July 2006.

Greg Adams of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana confirmed that the three members of the Congressional Black Caucus met with Castro, who handed the communist torch to his brother Raul in early 2007. Cuban state television is expected to release more details of the meeting tonight, Adams said.

Six members of the caucus met with Raul Castro on Monday for more than four hours. That meeting was also a first, as he had not yet met with any U.S. officials since he became the Cuban in charge.

"I'm convinced Raul Castro wants a normal relationship with the United States," Lee said after the meeting with the 77-year-old, the Associated Press reported. "He's serious."

"I think that what really surprised me, but also endeared me to him, was his keen sense of humor, his sense of history and his basic human qualities," Rush said. "I intend to do everything that I can when we get back to the States to make sure that normalization with our relationship with Cuba is given proper consideration both within the House of Representatives and the neighborhoods of America."

According to Lee's official website, the other members of the delegation were Reps. Melvin Watt (D-N.C.), Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio), Michael M. Honda (D-San Jose) and Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach). 

-- Tony Pierce

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Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) speaks during a news conference in Havana today. Cuban President Raul Castro met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus for more than four hours, his first face-to-face discussions with U.S. leaders since he became Cuba's leader last year. Back, from left to right, Reps. Emanuel Cleaver II, Barbara Lee and Marcia L. Fudge. (AP Photo / Javier Galeano)

Comments

[John Berchert]

Of course Fidel loves his BObama--he's a fellow traveler and a fellow Marxist. Now, we have followed the Ziionist's in Israel into full fleged Marxism. It's over my friend.

Maybe I'm depressed after drinking most of the afternoon yet I really do believe its all over for us in the USofA.

Might as well pack it in and move yet where to go?

My condolences to my fellow conserviatives!

[kurtz]

Will the end game here be another member country for the BIG America that they'll make out of North America, the US and Mexico ? Will the Amero come to pass ?

[Kevin Davis]

Wow, more sell-outs from the Democrat side of the House.
Obama is bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia, The Europeans are laughing at us, and now the congressional black caucus wants to sell out to Cuba. What's next. Recind the Treaty of Guadalupe and give back the American southwest to Mexico. Good job liberals. Thanks for ruining this country.

[Peted]

Yes, Fidel, help Obama turn America into a Socialist paradise like your Cuba. We in the U.S. would like antique cars to drive, rationiing of food, electrical appliances, and government mind control. Please hurry and help Obama before Americans wake up from their stupor, realize what is happening to their freedoms, and remove this Marxist from power.

[Kelly in the Berkshires]

I wish that this rapprochement would happen. My mom vacationed in Cuba in the 40s, and loved it more than anyplace she visited. I've always wanted to vist. I hope that these visits will result in a change in US/ Cuba relationships!

[Voice of Reason]

why am I not surprised by this? Castro see a fellow comrade Socialist in Obama of course he wants to help.

[whatasurprise]

The Congressional Black Caucus is an embarrassment. They are simply socialist snake oil salesmen who make a living convincing black people that they couldn't possibly compete successfully in the U.S. without Democrat assistance (never mind that many of them have and will become millionaires off of this racquet).

How shocking that they are drawn to Cuba and the fabulous Castro dictators like moths to a flame. They all share the worldview of Jeremiah Wright but possess a slightly better filter on their mouth. Just good enough to stay on that Congressional gravy train.

[Human Rights]

How came they did not asked about Dr. Oscar Biscet – for years and years rotting in a tiny dirty cell for simply expressing his Christians views in opposition to the dictatorial regime. By the way, Dr. Biscet is black.
http://www.lawtonfoundation.com/

[brooklyn]

This seems concerning, as if the old Dictator who oppressed Cuba for decades believes the Democratic Partisans share his vision.

Do they?
Is the new President someone who embraces collectivism?

It is odd to see these Representatives offer such positive interaction with the brutal Dictator named Castro.

[Mike]

How can communists help the American President?

Well, they could stop being communists.

[Joe]

How can fidel help?

a/ release all political prisoners.
b/ allow private / public libraries to runwithout govt interference onwhat people can READ.
c/ stop perecuting gays.
d/ admit that your vaunted govt health care system is a sham that only benefits you and your family and friends while the rest of cubans suffer.

e/ hold FREE AND REAL ELECTIONS.

[C. Smith]

Maybe the CBC can help the Castro brothers execute policital prisoners next time they visit as a team work exercise.

[Doug]

How can we help President Obama? The better question is how can we help the 12 million Cubans who live under the authoritative rule of the Castro regime? Raul Castro is ~78 years old and has been a willing participant and henchman of the Castro regime since the mid-1950's. You think Raul wants normal relations? Ask yourself why he ordered the death of General Ochoa (his friend). Raul should release political prisoners, allow collective bargaining, legalize peaceful political activity, guarantee freedom of speech, press and religion, etc. Free Cuba and the country will flourish. Allow the Castro cronies to continue their destructive control and the country will continue on its feeble path.

[James Holt]

I'm sure that this humorous, honest, and basic human being has done everything to extend to his(their) own citizens the same "endearing" trust?

Oh right, they haven't. And until such a time that Cuba is free to decide its leaders and to express themselves freely, we should be legitimizing their regime with these visits.... unless these congressman actually support the State-sponsored repression of basic human rights and liberties, as the Castro regime has done for the last 50 years.

Instead of asking how the Cuban gov't might help Obama, perhaps they should come to understand that it is their country in need of help and council, theirs is the country that needs to... "turn the page." ... and then ask our advice on how best to achieve that goal.

[Anon]

Ask yourself. Is Cuba a threat? Is Cuba a neighbor? Ponder, I say talk to everyone, let them dig there own grave. what say you?

[Tom Foolery]

Oh great. That's all we need is some rich Stalinist mass murdering thug and curse on the Carribean nations wants to HELP our glorious leader.

[Jorge Vazquez Garcia]

How about this for hope and change: Cubans are allowed to freely leave and return to their country (Article 13.2 of United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Oh yeah, forgot, the hope and change mentioned in this article is only referring to American tourists and companies.

[Chuck Pennington]

My God that makes me proud to be an American again.

Im so proud that I voted for Change !!!!

[flowers]

This is a wonderful site. I learn more information.

[sanju]

OK

[Mike]

Translated to plain English, what the tyrant in Havana meant is "How can I help myself to a bailout from Obama?". Let's get real and put aside all the left-wing idiocy and realize that Cuba is a completely bankrupt Stalinist communist dictatorship with an anemic economy. Castro's greatest desire is to get US government backed credits which no other country in the world is willing to give him becuase he already owes over $45 Billion to several countries and does not ever intend to repay. NO BAILOUTS FOR THE CASTROS!!!

[Mike]

Did members of the Congressional Black Caucus do their homework before all the lavish praise on Castro to know that the Castro regime is one of the most racist governments in the world? Do they know that the governing elite in Havana has the lowest percentage of black members of any Latin American country?

[Spartacus]

Why do Blacks so hate this country?

[Alice]

Comrade Castro and Comrade Obama will get along just fine as they both have the same agenda and supporters.

[xinunus]

NEXT STOP ON THIS TRAIN:::: CHAVEZ... VIVA LA AMERICA.. WE HAVE BEEN TAKEN OVER BY CLOWNS.

DO ANY OF THESE IDIOTS REMEMBER THE BAY OF PIGS??

DO ANY OF THESE IDIOTS REMEMBER THE 1000's OF INNOCENT CUBANS THAT CASTRO EXECUTED WHEN HE COULD OVER CUBA?

DO ANY OF THESE IDIOTS REMEMBER CASTRO's HENCHMAN CHE EXECUTING ALL THESE INNOCENT PEOPLE?

DO ANY OF THESE IDIOTS REMEMBER CASTRO LYING TO THE CUBAN PEOPLE THAT HE WAS TURNING CUBA INTO A COMMUNIST COUNTRY WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT HE DID?

DO ANY OF THESE IDIOTS REMEMBER THAT CASTRO ALMOST CAUSED WW3?

DO ANY OF THESE IDIOTS BELIEVE THAT CASTRO DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH JFK ASSASSINATION?

THE CLOWNS HAVE TAKEN OVER THE CIRCUS..

WE ARE SLOWLY BECOMING A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY.

OBAMA IS LEVELING THE PLANNING FIELD BY GIVING AWAY EVERYTHING AND THE KITCHEN SINK AND ALL YOU KOOL AID DRINKERS ARE CLUELESS..

ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC.....

[binky]

The new Three Stooges -- JIm Carrey, Sean Penn &...shouldn't bother making the movie now. The 3 would love to be governing in Cuba. Why not join Fidel's cabinet? You'll have to always agree with him, but it sounds like you already do.
"Like an old friend!" It's a good thing Hitler ain't alive today, I mean, he did love children, and there's something good in everybody.
Take it back, they're not the THree Stooges, actually the Three Blind Mice.
Binky

[Chris]

Just another warm fuzzy blogicle about government officials going to a foreign land and being obsequious to a dictator. He has a nice sense of humor? Are you kidding me? How about they go and speak to the people of Cuba, see how bad it is in the streets instead of cozying up to the current oppressor? What happened to reporting these days? The media is supposed to be a political watchdog, not a lapdog.

[History Repeats Itself]

Americans don't realize what they have ...

My great-grandfather was a sugar cane cutter in Cuba in the early 20th century. A sugar cane cutter was/is the literal and figurative lowest rung on the social ladder ... akin to a garbage man here in the US.

By a stroke of good fortune, my GGP benefitted from the huge increase in sugar prices in the 1920s, was able to stake himself, and parlayed it into a fortune. He was one of the richest men in Havana when the Castro revolution hit.

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was confiscated by the government. His ranches and farms, my grandfather's sugar mill, my father's house and all his possessions.

I am but one generation removed from the absolute confiscation of private property by the state.

Inhumane prison sentences, assassinations and "liquidations," the separation of families, capricious abuses of power ... NONE are foreign to my family.

And the Times, with its famous "objectivity," reports Castro as a sympathetic figure, "aging, ailing, cigar-smoking icon" who wants nothing more than "to help President Obama."

Most telling is Mr. Rush, he of that bastion of political purity, Illinois, regaling us with references to Castro's "keen sense of humor, his sense of history and his basic human qualities," and how that "endeared" Castro to him.

Yeah, well Mr. Bush might try to log on to the Internet in Havana and open up, oh, The Wall Street Journal, or heaven forbid, Fox News, and see how "endearing" Castro's henchmen are.

Or, you might ask Mr. Bush why, US Embargo aside, Cubans can't travel freely off the island to ANY part of the world, why they need to "defect" and can't just MOVE AWAY if they want, or why Cubans are forbidden from entering Varadero, or any of the other exclusive oases that are offered only to tourists.

Look folks, wake UP. The very fact that a dictator like Fidel Castro, with the record of violations of human rights that he has in quashing protest, a man who openly rejects capitalism, democracy, human rights, not to speak of, oh, the Bill of Rights, inalienable rights, etc., etc. sees HOPE (ya right) in embracing Barack Obama should tell anyone with a modicum of a clue regarding histor to BEWARE.

Nice of that Hugo Chavez to chime in as well ...

We've redistributed wealth, ousted the head of none other than General Motors, REFUSED the payback of stimulus money from banks who never wanted it and don't need it (because Obama wants to maintain control of power, our tax liability be damned), increased our debt load and skyrocketed government spending beyond any levels ever fathomed in history ... all in less than four months.

As a first-generation American born in the United States, one generation removed from a succesful leftist power grab, all I can say is that Americans should be OUTRAGED at what Obama has already done!

Americans don't know what they have ...

Better find out quick, or it will be too late.

Tell my great-grandfather, my grandfather, my father, me, that I'm being paranoid!

Sheep ... get slaughtered.

[AJay]

These representatives should visit downtown Miami and explain their meeting with the communist murderers.

[Joseph Grima]

What a breath of fresh air to the rest of the world Obama is turning out to be. We have just followed his successfukl trip throughout Europe and have seen first hand his tremendoous vision for peace and prosperity.I was'nt for Obama during the electiion campaign because I felt that ,with Russian militarism on the rise, the US and the rest of the world needed a firm experienced hand to deal with them. Boy, haven't I been converted quick! This man is pure political magic.
Joe Grima
Malta (Europe)

[WhateverDude]

More capitulation to dictatorships who's people live in misery. Perfect.

Just think what we have to look forward to America.

[Iggy]

Horrible......in bed with the Communists....so naive, so stupid, these politicians that have been elected to represent the American people's best interest have just sold their souls and our national safety to Hell. God help America. God help us, cause that's all we can do now is pray and wait 3.5 more years to get Obama and his crew out of our White House. But dear God, what damage is going to be sustained in the meantime. This is the first time I have truly been frightened for my child and her generation. What a mess they're going to have to clean up. Damn my spoiled and indulged generation. What a bunch of fools we are.

[dustin]

As a Republican, I have to say though this was a fringe policy it really defied all logic.

[Becky Chandler]

What is so bad is not that these guys went to Cuba to talk with these Cuban officials--but the way they are fawning over Fidel Castro and his little brother--its the same type of thing that is so revolting about Che Chic.

These guys are homicidal totalitarian thugs who represent and promote a dangerous political and economic ideology which has not only been thoroughly repudiated everywhere but Havana and certain enclaves on American University campuses--and been proven to be an utter failure and just dialectical nonsense--but has resulted in some of the greatest misery the world has ever seen--genocide and the enslavement of millions.

If for pragmatic reasons we want to explore the normalization of relations that is one thing--but this hero worship is revolting.

[John]

You know the US is on the wrong track when a scumbag dictator like Castro wants to help the US. Four years with Barack and the Obamatons pushing the American agenda will undo over 200 years of progress in the greatest country in the world. Shame.

[Marvin Sinclair]

Of course these dummies don't seem to realize that black people in Cuba are treated as inferiors. Yes, racism is alive and well in Socialist/Communist Cuba. Homosexuals are thrown in prison. Political dissidents are thrown in prison. I am sure this crew of Socialist/Democrats from America would like to do the same to our dissidents, known as conservatives.

[Vince in San Jose]

WFT? Aligning with Communist Nations all over the world? Yet another giant step in moving the US towards that path of Socialism and Communism.

This once great nation is screwed. Greed killed Capitolism. Now we're moving in the wrong direction, god help our children; welcome to the third world.

[WriterX]

The Black Caucus is as naive as the Obama administration. Talk with anyone who's fled Cuba and they'll tell you how "kind" the Castro brothers really are.

[John Glad]

Castro gave up cigar-smoking years ago, according to what I've read. Drop the cliches and report the facts,

[XKarenX]

"I'm convinced Raul Castro wants a normal relationship with the United States," Lee said -snip- Yes,but does he want a normal relationship with his own fellow citizens? Free the political prisoners forced to live in 4x6 cells with a bucket. Having a neighborhood lending library, (or being a punk rocker) can put you in one of those. Our media has really let the Cuban people down by glamorizing Fidel and the man who had a picture window installed so he could watch the executions from his office - Che...

[doug]

Why not both obama and castro are commies.

[Dutchman]

Odd that the same person, along with Chi Guavara, who is responible for the murder of tens of thousands of Cubans is all of a sudden ready to talk to a U.S. President after cussing and threatening the U.S. for over 50 yrs. At the same time holding his own people in poverty and slavery and denying them simple human rights, now he wants OUR Acceptence. I wonder what our esteamed congress people promised him in return. Also odd that a Communist leader, one the said the U.S. MUST fail, is wanting to now help us, U.S., succeed.
I also noticed that ALL of the congress people are Democrats and are the same Democrats that have lied to us, U.S., many times in the past...Yeah Odd.

[Tom]

I love this idea. Let's let any Cubans who want to leave for the United States do so and all the Castro lovers of the US go there. That would end any antipathy for all concerned.

[Flores de la Hoz]

Now that the Castro brothers are at the end of their murderous lives, it is time to begin taking baby steps with Cuba (e.g., family remittances and reunions) in exchange for freedom of all political dissidents. Cuba is the brains and workhorse of the LatAm left and therefore the LatAm left's Achilles heel. It behooves us to begin to sow the seeds for a peaceful transition to a post Castro Cuba.

But we should never forget that Castro has an IQ in the 160s and is a hard line commie. We are dealing with a master chess player who has made mince meat of the best Ivy League minds for 50 years and fooled the world media before. It is premature to give Cuba FREE US GUARANTEED credit (i.e., lifting the embargo) and thereby an economic lifeline to the Castro brothers while they remain committed to helping Chavez, Ortega, Correa and Morales spread communism disguised as socialism in LatAm.

Cuba's newly discovered offshore oil and gas deposits provide an opportunity for a second baby step, they can be developed with minimal environmental impact by entering joint ventures with US energy giants like Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Conoco Phillips. It is in Cuba's strategic interest to be independent of Venezuela's Chavez for energy.

However, we should not do anything impulsive, just baby steps (JVs in biotech, pharmaceuticals, mining, tourism) so we don't get fool again. Our intermediate goal should be to create a Nordic democratic socialist system in Cuba. The post Castro leadership knows we can make Cuba the Switzerland of LatAm within a decade if they work with us. Cuba with its enormous numbers of doctors and health care workers could easily absorb 2M retiring baby-boomer while saving the US a fortune in medical costs. But all these rewards requires Cuba to adopt property rights, transparency and rule of law within a democratic system.

[Pom Pom Girl]

Kennedy must be spinning in his grave at these congressmen providing aid and comfort to our enemy.

[William]

Running around with leftest dictators and giving 900 million dollars to Hamas is not the Hope and Change I voted for. We might need Cubas help after this Congress spends us into debt and China owns us. The more time passes since the election, the more I start to feel uneasy inside. As much as I hate to say it, it seems the last time we had a balanced budget and things were fine was when Clinton was in office and we had a Republican Congress. And I dont mean Bush Republicans but riscal conservative Republicans. I helped vote in this Congress two years before Bush left and they have not been what i hoped for at all.

[Seven]

Since when does the CBC have the legal authority to visit Havana?

This is Treason!

[Mike S.]

I fear for our country, the blessed U.S.A.

[David]

In my opinion these congressmen should not be allowed to re-enter the United States. This meeting amounts to a an act of treason. Note only Democrats participate in this kind of nonsense.

[Homer Biden]

Birds of a feather flock together...