Obama promises more open policy towards Cuba

Yahoo! News.

MIAMI, 25 (AFP) - US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Saturday promised a more open policy towards Cuba at a packed campaign rally in Miami, the heart of the anti-Castro Cuban exile community.

"Just 90 miles from here there is a country where justice and freedom are out of reach," Obama told the cheering crowd packed into a city auditorium.

"That's why my policy toward Cuba will be guided by one word: Liberty."

Obama heartily criticized US President George W. Bush, who restricted travel to Cuba and money remittances to the island in 2004 with the goal of toppling the communist regime of President Fidel Castro.

The measures angered the estimated 1.5 million Cubans living in the United States, many of who strongly oppose Castro but want to help friends and relatives on the island.

According to the US rules, Cuban-Americans can travel to Cuba only once every three years for only for 14 days. It sets a limit of 100 dollars per months for remittances.

"We've been engaged in a failed policy with Cuba for the last 50 years," said Obama. "And we need to change it."

Obama promised "unrestricted rights" regarding travel and money remittances to the island for Cuban-Americans.

"It can help make their families less dependent on Fidel Castro. That's the way to bring about real change in Cuba," Obama said. "It's time we had a president who realized that."

Obama also said that if elected his government would not move towards normalizing relations with Cuba until there were democratic changes on the island.

Clusters of Cuban-American protesters jeered Obama. One protester waved a sign that read "Obama, Miami doesn't want you."

"You have surrendered to Fidel Castro's policies," another protester screamed through a loudspeaker.

A Florida International University poll in March of 1,000 Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade found that 55 percent backed unrestricted travel to Cuba, the Miami Herald newspaper reported.

Obama sparked a political firestorm last month when he said during a televised debate that he would be willing to meet with the leaders of US foes such as Cuba, Venezuela and Iran.

His main Democratic rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, blasted the pledge as a sign of Obama's inexperience and called his position "irresponsible and frankly naive."'