Obama acknowledges Castro’s willingness to discuss Cuba’s human rights issues

Apr 20, 2009 News

By Tusika Martin in Trinidad

The fact that Raul Castro has said that his government is willing to have discussions with the American administration on issues of human rights and political prisoners, is a sign of progress, President Barack Obama said yesterday.
During a press conference, following the closing of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, the American leader said that his country is going to explore and examine further steps to endorse things that the Cuban Government can do.
“They can release political prisoners, they can reduce charges on remittances,” President Obama told the American media yesterday. He added that this would be an example of cooperation, and would highlight that both governments are working to help Cuban families and to raise standards of living in Cuba.
This, he said, will be a positive sign that the Cuban government is serious about pursuing change.
Speaking at the press briefing hosted at the top of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Port of Spain, the American leader said that he hopes that over time the overwhelming trend of democracy in the hemisphere will occur in Cuba.

The banner that was hoisted yesterday in support for the US to lift the embargo against Cuba

“All the governments participating in the Summit were encouraged by the fact that we had taken some first steps…they wanted us to go further. But I am persuaded it is important to send a signal that issues of political prisoners, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, democracy…that those continue to be important; that they are not something to be brushed aside.”
He noted that what was remarkable about the Fifth Summit of the Americas was the fact that every leader, who participated, was democratically elected and is communicating through democratic channel but Cuba is not there as yet.
“I think that as a starting point, it is important for us not to completely ignore Cuba. The policy we have in place for the past 50 years has not worked the way we wanted it to…the Cuban people are not free and that’s our ‘North Star’ when it comes to our policy in Cuba.’
While the issues with Cuba will not change ‘overnight’, President Obama said yesterday that it is his belief that the steps that America has taken were constructed to send a signal that transformation is expected.
Meanwhile, yesterday ‘Avaaz,’ the world’s largest international online advocacy network, traveled to Port of Spain by sea and hoisted a banner delivering a petition to President Obama from citizens across the Americas calling on him to lift the Cuban embargo.
In spite of tight security and restrictions to public protest, the ‘Avaaz’ team harnessed the support of Trinidadian sailors to make sure the banner was raised and the call for engagement with Cuba was heard.
The petition has received over 48,000 signatures in just 48 hours, and is growing by hundreds of names per hour.