There should be no compromise in Cuba!
The communist scum-bags who have run the island into the Caribbean, who have stolen from the Cuban people, who have murdered hundreds if not thousands, have not compromised. They want socialism, let them have it; for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
F*ck those assassins and thieves. Have the politicians in the United States lost all shame? TGO
Refer to story below. Source: The Miami Herald
July 18, 2017
Jeff Flake sees an opening in Cuba.
The Republican senator from Arizona, a longtime critic of U.S. trade and travel restrictions on the island, is hopeful that the Trump administration is willing to compromise when it comes to writing out the rules that will comprise Trump’s Cuba policy directive announced in Miami last month.
“This is an area where Marco Rubio and I agree on,” Flake said. “We’ve had broad disagreements with policy on Cuba, but we want to make sure that American travel serves a purpose and that it empowers entrepreneurs. I think what we’ve all recognized no matter where we are on the policy is that over the past couple of years a lot more Cubans have enjoyed a lot more freedom because of American travel.”
Flake was on hand for an announcement on Tuesday by Engage Cuba and the Center of Democracy in the Americas outlining a number of policy recommendations as the White House figures out the nuts and bolts of the Cuba policy announced in June.
Their recommendations include allowing individual people-to-people travel, lifting restrictions on remittances and lifting limitations on bank transactions for Cubans who open U.S. bank accounts.
“Ever since the speech by President Trump we’ve seen a lot of cancellations in our reservations by American travelers. The Americans are scared to come to Cuba,” said Julio Alvarez, co-founder of a restoration garage for classic American automobiles in Havana. “It’s affecting my ability to come to the U.S. to get parts for my cars. I’m not allowed to have a bank account here. This affects my business greatly.”
Diaz-Balart and Rubio worked closely with the Trump administration to draft the new policy directive that rolled back portions of Barack Obama’s policies in Cuba. The Republican pair argued that additional restrictions on business and tourism will stymie cash flow to the Cuban government and pressure communist leaders to let the private sector grow.
“It is my hope that in five to 10 years — or less — Cuba will look very different, and people will point to this as the moment that kind of triggered those changes,” Rubio said in June after the policy directive was released.
Flake said that he and Rubio met with Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the State Department since the policy directive was announced and that the conversations between the two senators with different philosophies toward the island has been productive.
“We have a policy directive, but it has to be written into regs,” Flake said. “That takes time and that’s extremely important.”
Flake also introduced legislation earlier this year that would eliminate travel restrictions to Cuba for American citizens, and he garnered 54 other co-sponsors, including Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, for his bill. Flake said Tuesday that a bill lifting the embargo would get close to 70 votes in the Senate, but that Republican leadership likely won’t put the measure up for a floor vote.
“We’re going to be looking for vehicles,” Flake said, adding that anti-embargo senators could add the provision into government funding bills in the coming months. “It’s going to be difficult to motivate them to put it on the floor but to the extent it could be attached to anything, even if it’s a vote that won’t move the policy, it will show people where the Senate is.”
Flake said 70 votes on any piece of legislation related to Cuba, even if symbolic, would send a strong message to Trump.
Williams said the only reason Republican leaders in Congress haven’t moved forward on the issue is because a small minority of members are very vocal in rolling back some of Obama’s policies.
“The policy should reflect the will of Congress and the American people,” Williams said, adding that 75 percent of the American people want to end the embargo. “We can get 70 votes in the Senate and yet we can’t get a vote. That’s crazy to people.”
