The Democratic candidate to the American Presidency, Barack Obama, promised in a speech this Friday in Miami, capital of Cuban exiles, that if he wins the White House he shall promote a political alliance with Latin America and shall have a “new strategy with Cuba”.
Obama’s strong regional wager searched to permeate the deep aspects of the important southeast Florida Latino vote that, until now, has given him elusive results and to reach support in this influential Cuban community traditionally associated with the Republicans.
The senator from Illinois, who is considered almost the sure winner of the Democratic nomination over his rival Hillary Clinton, sketched his probable policy towards Cuba and Latin America at a lunch with the Cuban American Foundation, the oldest and most representative organization of the Cuban exiles.
Obama promised to immediately lift the restrictions of family trips and money remittances for Cuban Americans, a claim that the Miami Cubans support by wide majority.
“It is time to leave behind rhetoric that does not produce results. It is the hour for a new strategy” with Cuba, he said while criticizing the embargo policies towards the communist island by the George W. Bush Administration which lasted since 2004.
“It is time to permit the Cuban Americans to see their mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters. It is time to permit the Cuban American money to diminish the dependence of their families on the Castro regime,” signaled Obama.
He reiterated that he shall intend to advance relation normalization with Cuba if certain steps in that country are taken. He was shown to be open to dialogue with the President of Cuba, Raul Castro, if certain conditions are met that already, he insisted, shall impel a foreign policy of “direct diplomacy with friends and enemies”.
“I am going to maintain an economic embargo on Cuba that permits us to give the regime a clear option. By taking clear steps towards democracy, beginning with the freeing of political prisoners, we shall take steps to normalize relations”, he said.
In south Florida, especially in Miami and its surroundings, the community of Cuban origin is the majority–comprising 40% of the Latinos–and although it is traditionally considered Republican–it backed John McCain in the Republican primaries in this state–it hasn’t responded electorally in a block as it has in past years.
In this sense, Obama and his speech of “change” aim at a new generation of Cuban exiles that seem tired of the status quo policy with Cuba.
“This is the moment for a new alliance with the Americas after eight years of failed policy” from the George Bush government, encouraged Obama referring to his eventual policy with Latin America.
He considered that the United States should recognize that its secure and prosperous future is connected to the future of the Americas.
“My policy towards the Americas will be guided by a simple principle: what is good for the people of the Americas is good for the United States,” he said.
He advanced that if he is President he shall support “the Colombian struggle against FARC completely” and blamed the American government for a policy in the region the permits the closeness of Hugo Chavez’s Venezuelan government with Iran.
“This is the result of Bush in Latin America, which John McCain has accepted,” he indicated.
The Democratic candidate needs to desperately gain ground among the Latino vote in Florida, which, in the primaries in the east and other states, mostly demonstrate an inclination towards Hillary Clinton and John McCain.
The Latino vote has its own weight in Florida with 20% of the population of Hispanic origin of which nearly 15% are American citizens conditioned to participate in the election.
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