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Jorge Gonzalez (Winter Haven, FL)

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To put a progressive, honest and trustworthy person in the White House. To work for better relations between the U.S. and Cuba. To fight for the rights of working class people, their issues and goals.

Senate Subcommittee rebuffs Bush’s Cuba policies

By Jorge Gonzalez - Jul 12th, 2008 at 10:27 am EDT

Also listed in: Cuban Americans for Obama

In a clear rebuff to George W. Bush’s inhuman Cuba policies, a subcommittee of the United States Senate passed on Thursday important reforms to our disastrous Cuba policies.

The bill which was approved by the Senate Financial Services and General Government Appropriations subcommittee restores the rights of families to visit relatives in Cuba to pre-2004 levels, allowing a trip once a year rather than once every three years, an unlimited stay rather than a 14-day stay, and a spending limit of $170 per day rather than $50 per day. It also allows visits to aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces and first cousins. It would also permit emergency visits.

It is expected that the final bill will be approved after Bush leaves office, to thwart his veto threats.

On January 20, 2009, we Cuban Americans will say to “W” GOOD BYE, GOOD LUCK, GOOD RIDDANCE!

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Rising Oil and Food prices will affect Cuba

By Jorge Gonzalez - Jul 8th, 2008 at 3:05 pm EDT

Also listed in: Cuban Americans for Obama

HAVANA: Cuban officials warned that rising global oil and food prices will cause "inevitable adjustments and restrictions" for Cuba's economy, reported the International Herald Tribune today.

The government had projected that gross domestic product would expand by 8 percent in 2008, but Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez suggested that might no longer be possible.

Cuba is trying to slash its dependence on imported food, which will cost it nearly US$2 billion this year.

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Cuba willing to hold talks with U.S. on equal footing

By Jorge Gonzalez - Jul 5th, 2008 at 11:25 am EDT

Also listed in: Cuban Americans for Obama | Florida For Obama

HAVANA, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez said Friday that the Cuban government is willing to negotiate with the United States on equal footing without compromising its principles.

Perez made the remarks during the Non-Alliance Movement (NAM) meeting on Margarita island off the northeastern coast of Venezuela.

Answering questions about the prospect for relations between the two countries after the U.S. presidential elections in November, he said it is premature to make any comment on this, but one thing is certain: Cuba's principled positions will remain unchanged.

These include safeguarding Cuba's national independence, building the country free of any foreign interference and opposition to the economic blockade imposed by Washington.

Source: Xinhua

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Bush Harasses Caravan to Cuba

By Jorge Gonzalez - Jul 4th, 2008 at 4:55 am EDT

Also listed in: Cuban Americans for Obama

Friday, July 04, 2008

Mark Nino, a reporter for TV station KVEO in Brownsville, Texas, a border town which is a crossing point into Mexico, has reported that the Bush Administration continues its campaign of harassment and hate against Cuba.

U.S. Border Patrol agents have seized 32 computers which were part of the aid which Pastors for Peace was delivering to Cuba this July as part of their Freindshipment Caravan to the Caribbean island.

The news was also confirmed by an email from the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five to the members of that group.

Folks, it is Bush's thugs which instigated this action. The employees in a subdivision of Bush's Treasury Department which is called the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) gave the order to seize the computers that were destined for Cuba.

The OFAC thugs claim that you need a license to travel to Cuba. The Pastors for Peace Caravan, in a courageous act of civil disobedience, refuse to apply for such a document.

In the past, Border Patrol agents have detained the Caravanistas. After a huge outcry of condemnation from people from around the world, the Caravanistas were released.

Now, the Bush thugs have changed tactics. Caravanistas can complain, but a computer is not able to protest a seizure which is based on the hatred of the Bush administration toward Cuba.

What a way to celebrate the glorious Fourth of July.

Nazi-like HATE is alive and well, and IT RESIDES IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

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Cuba Poll

By Jorge Gonzalez - Jul 2nd, 2008 at 6:18 am EDT

Also listed in: Cuban Americans for Obama | Florida For Obama | Polk for Obama

The South Florida Sun Sentinel is conducting an online unscientific poll about Cuba.

When I voted the results were as follow:

No 71.4% (387 responses)

Yes 27.5% (149 responses)

I don't know 1.1% (6 responses)

* 542 total responses

To go to the poll go to the URL below:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-flrndposada02sbjul02,0,4482137.story

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Travel agencies will sue Florida because of a new anti-Cuba law

By Jorge Gonzalez - Jun 30th, 2008 at 5:31 am EDT

Also listed in: Cuban Americans for Obama

A report by ABC News states that "Sixteen Miami travel agencies specializing in trips to Cuba plan to sue the state today over new regulations of their businesses."

"A state law that goes into effect Tuesday says Florida businesses selling trips to countries on the State Department's list of nations that sponsor terrorism must post a $250,000 bond to stay in operation."

"Travel agents say the measure will drive up operating costs and force some businesses to shut down."

Source: http://www.wwsb.com/Global/story.asp?S=8576684

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Bill Richardson: Obama coul win Cuban-American vote

By Jorge Gonzalez - Jun 29th, 2008 at 5:26 pm EDT

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson says Palm Beach County is an important gateway for Dems. looking to win Florida in the November elections. Richardson said at the county's Democratic Party dinner held at the Palm Beach County Convention Center on Saturday, "Where Florida goes, goes America and where Palm Beach County goes, so goes Florida."

Richardson, who is on the short list to be the running mate to the Democratic nominee Barack Obama, said the party needs to focus on the state, especially on Cuban Americans.

He said that Obama could win the coveted Cuban-American vote in Florida, claiming that Obama's goal of lifting the 45-year old embargo while working toward democracy in Cuba, including the release of political prisoners, is important to Florida's Cubans.

The reason he endorsed Obama was because he can work across party lines and bring unity to the country, said Richardson. He stated, "I think there's something special about him. He can, more than anybody, bring people together. And that's what we need in this country. I think he's the only one that can do it."

Published: Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:59:39
Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=61885&sectionid=3510203

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Cuba has issues list for U.S.

By Jorge Gonzalez - Jun 27th, 2008 at 7:11 pm EDT

Also listed in: Cuban Americans for Obama

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080627/OPINIONS/806270304/1006/OPINIONS

DeWayne Wickham • June 27, 2008

Havana -- Josefina Vidal follows the American presidential campaign with great interest but no delusions.
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Vidal is a point person in the Cuban government's effort to blunt the Bush administration's attempt to topple the Castro regime. Like many others here, she's intrigued by the possibility Barack Obama might become the next U.S. president.

She's intrigued by Obama's willingness to meet with America's enemies without preconditions (though, his advisers said, not without some diplomatic advance work). But she worries that even an Obama victory in November would not bring meaningful improvement in U.S.-Cuba relations.

After nearly a half century of saber rattling, an economic embargo and diplomatic sniping, Vidal, the Foreign Ministry's director of North American Affairs, said it's time for the two sides in this long-running Cold War drama to normalize relations.

But if the next administration expects Cuba to make major concessions in return for improved relations, she said, that won't happen.

"If the American government continues to insist that Cuba has to make dramatic change to its economic and political system, that's a nonstarter," she told me in an interview. "The same way we won't discuss the American way of government, ours is not open for discussion."

When I asked what Cuba is prepared to discuss with the next occupant of the White House, Vidal provided an unofficial list of issues.
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Immigration is No. 1. Cuban officials want an end to American immigration policy that encourages Cubans to defect.

Vidal said that "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, which allows Cubans who reach U.S. soil to stay, fuels a smuggling network operating out of Miami that charges $10,000 to $25,000 per person.

Cuban officials note that a bilateral agreement already permits 20,000 Cubans to legally migrate to the United States each year.

Another issue Cuba wants to resolve is control of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, a military facility the United States has operated on Cuban soil for more than a century.

"This is a portion of the Cuba territory that at some time has to be given back to Cuba," Vidal told me.

Cuba also wants to talk about terrorism, she said -- not the terrorism of Osama bin Laden, but the terrorism of Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada, two Cuban exiles the Castro regime believes were behind anti-Castro terrorist attacks.

President George H.W. Bush pardoned Bosch in 1990. The current Bush administration has been indifferent to significant evidence that Bosch and Posada had a hand in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that took the lives of 76 people.

Vidal said her government also wants to have formal talks with the next administration about interdiction of drug traffickers.

"I think this is an issue where we can cooperate, because two-thirds of the drugs produced in South America cross the Caribbean," she said.

She said formal contacts also could bring greater cooperation in dealing with natural disasters by producing a hurricane warning system that will help countries through the region.

Of course, the American side will have its own list.

Somewhere near the top will be the return of people who fled criminal prosecution in the United States and found refuge in Cuba.

At this point, how these issues might be resolved is less important than whether Cuba and the U.S. can end their diplomatic impasse of more than 50 years.

Obama's willingness to talk to Cuba -- and other countries the U.S. doesn't agree with on important issues -- isn't politically naive. It's enlightened -- and a sign the world will be a much better place if he makes it to the White House.

Write Wickham at DeWayneWickham@aol.com.

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Are we Fired Up and Ready to Go for Obama?

By Jorge Gonzalez - Jun 27th, 2008 at 9:27 am EDT

Also listed in: Cuban Americans for Obama | Polk for Obama

Obama Family: The last seven and a half years of the Bush administration have been an unmitigated disaster. A war in Iraq that was based on lies. The trampling of our constitution by the president. An economy that is tanking. $4.00 gas for Americans. Huge tax cuts for the super rich. A failed Cuba policy that caters to right wingers in Miami. Obama will change all of that. Do not despair. Hope is in the horizon. We have to work hard to put our man in the Oval Office, and then we can celebrate and have a big party all across our great nation. Let us restore honesty and integrity to the White House. Let us work hard to put Barack Obama there.

OBAMA 08!

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