Telesur.png End Cuba Blockade to 'Consolidate' US Power, Says Obama Telesur, Venezuela, 12 January 2016 Ending the blockade on Cuba will "consolidate" U.S. leadership in Latin America, Obama said in his State of the Union address. In order to "consolidate" U.S. hegemony on the hemisphere, President Barack Obama called for the lifting of the blockade on Cuba at his final State of the Union address Tuesday, because the "Cold War is over." "Fifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote democracy, setting us back in Latin America. That's why we restored diplomatic relations, opened the door to travel and commerce, and positioned ourselves to improve the lives of the Cuban people. You want to consolidate our leadership and credibility in the hemisphere? Recognize that the Cold War is over. Lift the embargo," he told Congress in Washington, D.C. Obama's comments follow a familiar trajectory. Earlier in January, news broke of Washington spending a potential US$30 million on so-called "democracy development" programs in the Caribbean country. Over the years, the U.S. government-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have come under-fire for meddling in the internal affairs of other countries, including Cuba. Obama also branded the Guantanamo Bay prison facility "expensive, ... unnecessary and. a recruitment brochure for our enemies," but offered no date as to when it might be closed. From: <http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/End-Cuba-Blockade-to-Consolidate-US-P ower-Says-Obama-20160112-0037.html> http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/End-Cuba-Blockade-to-Consolidate-US-Po wer-Says-Obama-20160112-0037.html -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
