Lula salutes Obama, asks him to lift Cuba embargo

[Judi Lynn]

Lula salutes Obama, asks him to lift Cuba embargo
Posted : Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:54:32 GMT
Author : DPA

Brasilia - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday described Democratic candidate Barack Obama's victory as an "extraordinary event" and asked the US president-elect to lift the decades-old embargo on communist Cuba. Lula said Obama's historic rise underlined the democratic aspects of US society. "It could only happen in a democratic regime in which society expresses itself."

The Brazilian president also expressed a desire for the next US president to end the US-imposed embargo on Cuba. "We await the end of the blockade on Cuba, because there is no explanation for that blockade."

Lula, however, also cautioned that there is "a very big difference between winning an election and governing a country like the United States ... Let us wait until he is inaugurated to see what happens."

He urged Obama to have "a stronger and bolder relationship with Latin America and Africa," and said that Obama could seal "a peace agreement with the Middle East, where a deal has been sought for decades and decades and has not been achieved."

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/240283,lula-salutes-obama-asks-him-to-lift-cuba-embargo.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Brazil's Lula: Obama Victory A Demonstration Of Democracy

Brazil's Lula: Obama Victory A Demonstration Of Democracy

BRASILIA -(Dow Jones)- The election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the U.S. Tuesday represented a healthy demonstration of democracy in action, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday.

Commenting to reporters on the results of U.S. polling, Lula called the victory an "extraordinary feat."
"It represents above all, a recognition of democracy," he said. "Those who doubted that a black man could be elected president of the U.S. now know that it's possible."

Lula said he hoped that an Obama administration would help strengthen U.S. relations with Latin America, South America, Brazil and Africa. Further, Lula said he hoped an Obama government would make headway in advancing peace talks in the Middle East."Decades of effort have passed there without success," he noted.

Lula said he believed that Brazil and the U.S. would continue to strengthen ties during the new administration and welcomed increased U.S. investment locally.

The Brazilian president also expressed a desire that the U.S. consider dropping a decades-long trade embargo against Cuba. "During the 1960s and 1970s you had the cold war and the U.S. had a position against guerrilla activities in Latin America," he explained. "Now democracy has become consolidated in Latin America and I hope the blockade against Cuba can be lifted because there's no explanation for its continuation."

http://www.international.na">~~~~ link ~~~~

[Billy Burnett]

2. President Lula, there is an explanation for the US-imposed embargo.

The corrupt kleptocracy that is the US government, and the segment of undereducated wingnut citizens that support it.


Does anyone here think that the US sponsored Cuba Transition Plan will be removed from the shelf of US options?


Cuba has good reason to be wary of any US moves, because the disaster capitalists work well with Dem presidencies also.

I'm sorry to say these things, but after looking over the list of congressional neocon repukes who were reelected, as well as the entrenched anti Cuba Dems, I don't hold a lot of hope for real positive changes in US/Cuba relations. Sure, Cuban-Americans will probably have their travel and remittance restrictions reduced to pre Bush* levels, and I'm sure the Congressional financial assistance to "pro democracy" groups in Cuba will increase to appease the intransigent criminal enterprises in Miami that skim most of that money into their own coffers. Aside from those things, I see little change in store. :(

I hope I'm wrong.