Maybe they could bring some health care back with them?
"Obama loosens limits on Cuba; Those with tie to island can travel freely, send money; US telecom companies may offer their services" by Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | April 14, 2009
WASHINGTON - President Obama yesterday loosened travel and financial restrictions on ties to Cuba, a policy shift that advocates say signals the beginning of the end of a decades-long, Cold War-era relationship with the communist nation.
In a series of directives that White House officials said would encourage democracy by directly exposing Cubans to American culture, the president lifted longstanding restrictions on Cuban-Americans, allowing them to visit the island whenever they like and send unlimited amounts of cash to relatives there....
More money out of the US economy, but so what!?
I don't want Cuba -- or anyone -- to be an "enemy" anymore!
"What we had was a relic of the Cold War, and the mentality of the Cold war," said US Representative Bill Delahunt, a Quincy Democrat who is among a team of New England lawmakers fighting for more open relations with Cuba. Instead of bringing about change by cutting off Cuba from the world - much of which already trades with the Caribbean nation - "what we find is that we're isolated," Delahunt said....
USreal often finds itself in that position!
Obama's announcement is expected to satisfy Latin American leaders who have been pushing the United States to relax its sanctions against Cuba. The president is set to attend the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, and the policy change means US-Cuban relations are less likely to dominate the meeting....
Politics or no, I'm happy!
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Francisco Hernandez, president of the Cuban American National Foundation, an exile group that had taken a hard-line stance against the Cuban dictatorship but recently has advocated an easing of some restrictions. "Change is not coming from the top down. It's got to come from the bottom up," he said.
You HEAR THAT, America? YOU are the CHANGE, not Obama!!!!!
The Bush administration aggravated many Cuban-Americans when the White House limited the number of visits Cuban-Americans could make to the island. If a Cuban-American wanted to visit his dying mother on the island, for example, he probably could not return to Cuba for the funeral.
As I suspected, a TRULY HEARTLESS ADMINISTRATION!
Further, Bush redefined "family members" as immediate family only - a decision offensive to some Cuban-Americans who see aunts, uncles, and cousins as close relatives. The new Obama rules expand the definition of family to include second cousins and other extended family members, meaning Cuban-Americans can visit as well as send money and goods to a broader group of relatives.
AmeriKa loves destroying families, don't it?
"What it means for me, somebody with family in Cuba, is if I need to travel on a moment's notice to visit a sick family member, I could go without having to worry that my own government was preventing me from reuniting with my sick family," said Jarrett Barrios, president of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation and a former state senator who has traveled to Cuba numerous times on humanitarian missions....
About time.
