I'm a long time left-liberal-progressive with a Mexican-American father and ever since I visited the Republic of Cuba in 1991 as a tourist on the sly through the Bahamas I have dreamed of the day when relations, trade, and tourism would be restored. It would mean jobs for Southwest ports and airports, for farm products, and tour agencies. Cubans would benefit from real person-to-person contact with Americans and their impoverishment might begin to reverse. Yes, the Castro regime, hated by the right-wing Cuban-Americans and the GOP would survive, but guess what, so have the Chinese and Vietnamese regimes, countries with which we now have full diplomatic, travel and trade relations.
I believe the opening of full relations would win more Latino votes for future progressive candidates. As a Mexican-American I know that many of my constituency take a softer line on the Cuban Revolution, viewing it through the mirror of our own 1910-1920 Revolution. My father certainly did.
So, I ask all Cossacks to sign my petition on the White House We The People website page, here http://wh.gov/...://wh.gov/XxPU or here http://tinyurl.com/...
As with all petitions on the whitehouse.gov site page, 25,000 signatures on the petition will put in on the President's desk for review. A viral turnout will trigger a formal response from the White House.
Please help me and the Cuban people end this outdated and failed policy which prevents our two nations from restoring our former close relations. This time, it will be as equals!
FDR opened relations with the USSR, Nixon opened ties with PR China, Clinton ended the embargo with Vietnam and now Obama can make history by restoring ties with Cuba!
The petition does make note of the many acts of Congress strengthening the embargo, of the opposition of traditional Cuban-American groups to restoring ties, and of the human rights record of the government of Cuba. So it is a balanced document that I hope will be printed on paper and placed on Obama's desk in the Oval Office for him to act on with all our support.
Let's do this, pass it on, get it out wherever you can, Thank you.
Sven A. Serrano, Shanghai
former Vice-Chair Democrats Abroad, Western Japan
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We petition the President of the United States to
Restore full diplomatic relations with the Republic of Cuba
We petition the President to immediately restore full diplomatic relations
with the Republic of Cuba, with the exchange of ambassadors, without any
preconditions.
We also petition for a lifting of the 60 year old trade embargo and of all
travel restrictions on Americans travelling to the Republic of Cuba, for
business or tourism, taking note of the fact that rescinding many of these
restrictions may require acts of Congress.
We understand the opposition to this action by Cuban-American groups
dedicated to the overthrow of the Castro regime, which we note, has at times
severely restricted the human rights of individual Cubans.
Nevertheless, we ask the President to open full relations and begin a new
chapter in the long history between our two so very close countries. The
time is now.