Obama calls for adjustments to Cuba travel ban

[El Presidente]

BY BETH REINHARD

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Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is calling for ''unrestricted rights'' for Cuban Americans to visit and send money to family in Cuba, just days before his first pilgrimage to Little Havana as a presidential candidate.

President Bush clamped down on family travel and remittances to Cuba in an effort to squeeze dictator Fidel Castro. The policy has become a flash point in the Cuban-American community, which traditionally leans toward the GOP.

''Cuban-American connections to family in Cuba are not only a basic right in humanitarian terms, but also our best tool for helping to foster the beginnings of grassroots democracy on the island,'' Obama wrote in an opinion column published in Tuesday's Miami Herald. ``Accordingly, I will grant Cuban Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island.''

Obama is expected to repeat his message Saturday at Miami-Dade County Auditorium, a site laden with nostalgia for Cuban exiles. It was there that President Ronald Reagan declared ``Cuba sí, Castro no'' during a landmark, anti-communist speech in 1983 that emboldened a Cuban-American community then hovering on the political fringes.

About 1,100 tickets have been sold so far to Obama's speech, with the proceeds going to the Miami-Dade Democratic Party. The $30 entry fee is a fraction of the $2,300 donation typical of presidential fundraisers.

''This speech has so much symbolism and value, coming in the heart of the Cuban-American community,'' said the local party's chairman, Joe Garcia, who previously worked as executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation. ``Sen. Obama has come to the conclusion that the majority of Cuban Americans have come to, which is that more travel is good for freedom and good for democracy.''

A Florida International University poll in March of 1,000 Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade found that 55 percent support free travel to Cuba. But some exile groups argue that easing the restrictions would be a mistake.

''We regret that Sen. Obama has been so ill-advised as to assume that lifting sanctions against Cuba's dictatorial regime will bring about change,'' read a statement issued by the non-partisan Cuban Liberty Council. ``It is sad that he does not apply the same principles used to bring about change in South Africa where blacks were victims of the same apartheid as Cubans on the island.''

Obama's stance puts him at odds with Republican presidential field and could open the door for his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, to continue a foreign policy spat that began during a televised debate last month.

In response to a question delivered via YouTube video, Obama said then that he would be willing to meet with the leaders of hostile countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and Iran. Clinton countered that she would not, as president, be used for propaganda and later called Obama's position ``irresponsible and frankly naive.''

The backbiting reflected what is becoming the overriding themes of their campaigns, with Clinton portraying herself as the most prepared candidate and Obama presenting himself as the best candidate for change.

In 2004, the Bush administration restricted Cuban-Americans to visiting their relatives on the island once every three years and capped remittances at $100 per month. Democratic efforts to reverse the policy have been unsuccessful, though Clinton and Obama voted in 2005 to facilitate family travel to Cuba in humanitarian circumstances.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, a lesser-known Democratic contender, is co-sponsoring an even broader bill allowing any American citizen to visit Cuba. ''We must open the flood gates,'' Dodd said recently.

Dario Moreno, a Florida International University political science professor, said Obama's position could cost him some Hispanic votes.

''He's appealing to the most progressive element of his party, and I think what he's underestimating is the large number of Hispanics in Miami-Dade that he could alienate himself from,'' Moreno said. ``But I don't think there will be a widespread reaction. I think the community has matured.''

[ccsmoker]

I will belive it when I see it.