Monday, January 29, 2007
Dailytimes
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US refuses to budge on Cuba policy
WASHINGTON: The United States has refused to budge from its five-decade Cuba policy during Raul Castro’s six months in power, despite world pressure and momentum in Congress for dialogue, experts said.
“Everything is on hold awaiting the death of Fidel and what whatever happens afterward,” said Mark Falcoff, of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank, to justify the unchanging US policy since July 31, when Raul Castro took the reigns from Fidel, who underwent intestinal surgery.
However, a European familiar with the US-Cuban rift said, “The United is awaiting initiatives from the island.
“Here, as well as there, slow-motion change does not favour openness, but the opposite. There is clearly a logjam,” said the European diplomat on condition of anonymity.
As a condition for modifying its policy, the United States demands first the beginnings of a democratic transition in Cuba, where Fidel, 80, has ruled for nearly 50 years and is the only leader most Cubans have ever known. afp
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