The Cato Institute’s Ted Galen Carpenter advises “There is little credible evidence that Havana has been involved in promoting terrorist activity at any time during the past two decades…If a government is on the terrorist sponsor list, it ought to be guilty of, well sponsoring terrorism.”
President Obama has announced, much to the displeasure of the war hawks, that Cuba would be removed from the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism. Rand Paul has signed an open letter of support for the president’s action on Cuba.
Debbie and I have, for the last twenty-five years, lived in a strongly Cuban influenced community here on our little island of Key West. The Cuban folk we know all agree that there is a long road ahead in terms of the Cuban government freeing their people from the oppressive yolk that has held the country back for decades. I was just yesterday speaking with a young woman who has been in the states for about a dozen years, but whose mother remains in Cuba. My Key West friend goes back to Cuba often and is the first to explain how bad conditions are. But with, not inconsiderable reservation, she hopes that the Obama initiative can be an initial stepping stone to a brighter future for the Cuban people.
Here in Key West we are only 90 miles from Cuba and a number of our most savvy business owners are already making preparations for a resumption of more normalized relations with Cuba. In that there is no acknowledged reason to currently suspect the Cuban government of terrorist activities it is time for the American people to get behind President Obama and Rand Paul on normalizing relations.
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