Posted on 04/13/2002 1:32:20 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
HAVANA (Reuters) - The imminent visit of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to Cuba underlines the growing desire of the American people for a normalization of ties with Havana, President Fidel Castro's government said on Thursday.
Carter will travel to Cuba for several days in May, the highest-profile U.S. visitor to the communist-run island since its 1959 revolution and the most symbolic visit from abroad since Pope John Paul II in 1998.
"We are very happy that he has accepted President Fidel Castro's invitation to visit our country," Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told a news conference.
"We believe his visit is testimony to the new era of growing sentiment within U.S. society and among the U.S. people in favor of a normalization of relations with Cuba," Perez added, saying that was the will of all but a powerful minority of anti-Castro Cuban Americans and ultra-right politicians.
Although Carter did not dismantle the U.S. embargo on Cuba during his 1977-1981 presidency, he briefly lifted restrictions on American travel to Cuba and also established lower-tier diplomatic missions called Interests Sections in Havana and Washington. Cuba and the United States broke formal ties a few years after Castro and his bearded rebels won the revolution.
While the White House is urging Carter to press Castro on human rights and democracy issues, including the cases of some jailed dissidents, he is a critic of the U.S. sanctions and his visit will bolster the internal American anti-embargo lobby.
No other former or sitting U.S. president has visited Cuba under Castro.
"We consider him an honorable and serious man, an exponent of the sentiments of the best aspects of the U.S. people," Perez added. "We respect him, we do not blame him for the aggressions our nation has suffered" from the United States.
CARTER BOUND TO MEET CASTRO
When he comes to Havana, Carter is sure to meet Castro, who enjoys hosting high-profile guests for lengthy chats into the early hours over rum and cigars at his Revolution Palace.
The former U.S. leader, known for his international missions to monitor elections and push humanitarian causes, will also likely receive a tour of some of Cuba's top health and education establishments to show off the social achievements for which the Castro government is often praised internationally.
Local dissidents, however, who are pressing for reform to Castro's one-party system, which they call "tropical Stalinism," have said they expect to meet Carter too to explain their alternative, non-official view of Cuban society.
They particularly hope Carter will press the case of certain jailed dissidents including Vladimiro Roca and Oscar Elias Biscet, both in jail for anti-government activities.
Cuba calls dissidents U.S. pawns.
Perez said the dates of Carter's visit had not been fixed yet, but Cuban officials were working closely with his staff to prepare the program.
"We want him to have the chance to see our reality and to enter into contact with a country which, even though he didn't visit, neither did he make the focus of hostility," he said.
"Even though he did not change the fundamental elements of the blockade, of the policy he inherited, we viewed him as a serious man, a man with moral values that we respect."
Carter needed a license from the U.S. Treasury Department to visit Cuba because of a U.S. trade embargo that bans normal travel there by Americans.
"We hope his visit is a success and that President Carter returns to the United States with a memory of the sympathy, friendship and hospitality of the Cubans, as well as their sense of independence and dignity," Perez said.
And Warren Christopher, the moron who asked Charging Charlie Beckwith, commander of the ill-fated Iranian rescue operation, if his men could just shoot the weapons out of the kidnappers hands or wound them instead of killing them.
Note to Castro: The U.S. People voted in a landslide to reject this peanut head and endorse the policies of Ronald Reagan.
Additional note: The bombing will start in 5 minutes.
Ah, memories.
I started building when JIMMY was president. I remember double digit iterest rates.
I also was unlucky enough to be living in Georgia while Jimmy was GOV. He was one, no he was THE WORST GOV GA EVER HAD, NO CONTEST! ! !
I survived (Barely) in spite of Jimmy & his failed economic policies.
Jimmy:
Castro Needs some houses built! !! !
Stay and help, maybe, just maybe you will then see why people with brains HATE Castro.
What is so tragic is that Castro also considers Yimi (as his name is pronounced in Latin America) an idiot and is no doubt laughing himself sick as he plays Yimi like an instrument.
God what a dufus. I remember going through Special Forces Training when it was announced that he got trashed on election night. The entire barracks erupted in cheers!
He's right. Yimi is an idiot, a useful idiot.
What a nutty bunch of coconuts.
I'm sure Jimmy's a resourceful fellow. Maybe he could scrounge up an old inner tube and make it all the way back to dry U.S. soil.
"Cuba Says Carter Visit Shows Will of U.S. People"
Yes we hope that he "will" stay in Cuba. The terms of his trip should include a clause that states that in order for him to return to the United States, he must swim back.
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