The candidates' positions on Cuba
Posted: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 2:31 PM by Mark Murray
From NBC's Mark Murray
With Cuba in the news today, it's probably as good of a time as any to point out where Obama, Clinton, and McCain stand on that issue. Below is NBC's research...
OBAMA.
Wants to normalize relations -- if Cuba begins moving towards democracy
"If the Cuban leadership begins opening Cuba to meaningful democratic change, the United States must be prepared to begin taking steps to normalize relations and to ease the embargo of the last five decades. The freedom of the Cuban people is a cause that should bring the Americans together." (Statement, 2/19/08)
I would not normalize relations, but those two things, those two shifts in policy would send a signal that we can build on once Castro's out of power. (Brown and Black forum, 12/1/07)
But earlier didn’t qualify such support
Democrat Barack Obama supported the ''normalization of relations with Cuba'' when he was a U.S. Senate candidate in 2003, taking a more liberal position than he has espoused as a presidential candidate. His stance was brought to light this week when the Chicago Sun-Times published his responses to a questionnaire from a left-leaning voting rights group in Illinois. And it comes as supporters of rival Hillary Clinton contend that the Illinois senator's record would make him an easy mark for Republican attacks in a general election campaign.
In 2003, Obama wrote: ``I believe that normalization of relations with Cuba would help the oppressed and poverty-stricken Cuban people while setting the stage for a more democratic government once Castro inevitably leaves the scene.'' (Miami Herald, 12/13/07)
''Sen. Obama believes our current policy is misguided, and that normalization is in the interests of the Cuban people -- the question is how we get there,'' Psaki said in a written statement. 'In August, he laid out two significant policy changes -- unlimited family travel and remittances to the island -- to promote independence from the regime and test the government in Cuba. If the Cuban government reacts with more openness and democracy, Senator Obama was clear in August that he is `prepared to begin taking steps to normalize relations and ease the embargo.''' (Miami Herald, 12/13/07)
Calls for unrestricted travel and remittance rights
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is calling for ''unrestricted rights'' for Cuban Americans to visit and send money to family in Cuba, just days before his first pilgrimage to Little Havana as a presidential candidate.
President Bush clamped down on family travel and remittances to Cuba in an effort to squeeze Fidel Castro. The policy has become a flash point in the Cuban-American community, which traditionally leans toward the GOP.
''Cuban-American connections to family in Cuba are not only a basic right in humanitarian terms, but also our best tool for helping to foster the beginnings of grass-roots democracy on the island,'' Obama wrote in an opinion column published in today's Miami Herald. ``Accordingly, I will grant Cuban Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island.'' (Miami Herald, 8/21/07)
CLINTON.
Doesn’t support normalized relations until Cuba moves towards democracy
The new leadership in Cuba will face a stark choice-continue with the failed policies of the past that have stifled democratic freedoms and stunted economic growth-or take a historic step to bring Cuba into the community of democratic nations. The people of Cuba want to seize this opportunity for real change and so must we. (Statement, 2/19/08)
Well, I think we're going to have that opportunity, because I believe that when Fidel Castro finally does pass on, there will be a tremendous pent-up desire on the part of the Cuban people for freedom and for democracy.
Certainly, if they were to make steps right now to recognize human rights, to release political prisoners, there could be perhaps some reciprocal action taken by the United States.
But until there is some recognition on the part of whoever is in charge of the Cuban government that they have to move toward democracy and freedom for the Cuban people, it will be very difficult for us to change our policy.
But I look forward, as president, to perhaps being there when that opportunity arises. You know, it's tragic that in the last seven years, we've lost ground in Latin America. We've lost it as more and more countries have moved away from democracy, authoritarian, even dictatorial rule. (Brown and Black forum, 12/1/07)
Unlike Obama, does not favor ending travel restrictions
Rival Sen. Hillary Clinton said she would continue the Bush administration's hard-line stance, for the most part. Clinton's campaign said she agrees that exiles should be able to freely send money to their relatives but said she does not favor ''any wholesale, broad changes'' to the travel restrictions until Fidel Castro falls. Clinton did vote with Obama in 2005 -- unsuccessfully -- to ease restrictions on family travel in ``humanitarian cases.'' (Miami Herald, 8/22/08)
MCCAIN.
Has maintained a hard-line position on Cuba
I think that we should make it very clear that once free elections are held, that the political prisoners are released, and human rights organizations are functioning in Cuba, that we will be willing to provide whatever aid and assistance that's necessary. I fear that anything short of that -- that any assistance that came in early of that would serve to prop up a new regime or a Raul or whoever it is that wants to take Castro's place. (Remarks, 2/19/08)
McCain called for continuing sanctions against Cuba until political prisoners are released and other democratic rights restored. He also referred to the "Cuba Program" in Vietnam during the war, in which an interrogator nicknamed Fidel beat 18 American prisoners of war.
"I did not meet him, but I have many friends who met a Cuban who came to Hanoi and tortured my friends," McCain said during an interview on Radio Mambi before he met with the brigade. "So when Cuba is free, we look forward to seeing him again. I have an additional personal interest in freedom for Cuba." (Miami Herald, 3/24/07)
In Florida’s primary, McCain won more than 50% of the Cuban vote
McCain 54%, Giuliani 32%, Romney 9%, Huckabee 4% (Florida 2008 GOP exit poll)
