Cannabis News The November Coalition
  Barry McCaffrey Visits Cuba, Nation No Threat
Posted by FoM on March 03, 2002 at 22:41:47 PT
By Vivian Sequera, Associated Press  
Source: Associated Press  

justice A retired U.S. Army general said Sunday he talked for 12 hours with Fidel Castro and encouraged the Cuban president to release 250 political prisoners in this island's jails in an effort to encourage a dialogue with the United States.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, now a university professor visiting the island with the Center for Defense Information, told a news conference that Cuba did not present a military risk to the United States. "They represent zero threat to the United States," he said.

The general said he told Cuban authorities during meetings on Saturday that the United States did not present a military risk to the island, either. He said he also met with Castro's younger brother, Gen. Raul Castro, Cuba's defense minister.

McCaffrey said he supported increased cooperation between the United States and Cuba in the areas of drug interdiction and fighting terrorism.

"I see no evidence at all that the Cubans are in any way facilitating drug trafficking," the former White House drug policy director said. "Indeed, I see good evidence of the opposite. I strongly believe that Cuba is an island of resistance to drug traffic."

Some Cuban exile groups and conservative members of Congress in the past have accused the communist country of involvement in the narcotics trade.

McCaffrey said he also did not believe that Cuba was a terrorism threat to the United States, as some Cuban exile groups insist. "I don't believe they are harboring terrorist organizations," he said.

Cuba remains on the U.S. State Department's terrorism watch list, primarily because of the presence on the island of some Basque separatists, former members of Puerto Rican nationalist groups, and a handful of American fugitives - many of them former Black Panthers - who have lived here for decades.

Both the United States and Cuba must change to help create a dialogue between the nations, said the general.

"It's time to leave the chasm of 1958-59 and move to 2002 - on both sides," said McCaffrey.

The United States should care more about Latin America in general and Cuba in particular, he said, rather than allowing the Cuban-American community to control the political debate over the Caribbean island.

Cuba also should do more to improve communication with the United States, and releasing the political prisoners would be a good start, McCaffrey said. He did not say what Castro's response was, except that he received "an attentive and respectful hearing."

McCaffrey now teaches national security studies at West Point military academy. The Center for Defense Information is an independent military research organization based in Washington.

The trip is among a flood of visits Cuba has seen this year by American groups seeking to learn more about the communist island just 90 miles from U.S. shores. The visitors have included members of Congress, business organizations and representatives of non-profit organizations.

Complete Title: Politics: Barry McCaffrey Visits Cuba, Says Communist Nation Poses No Threat

Source: Associated Press
Author: Vivian Sequera, Associated Press
Published: March 3, 2002
Copyright: 2002 Associated Press

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http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10787.shtml

Bush Urged on Drug Efforts With Cuba
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10749.shtml


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Comment #8 posted by firedog on March 04, 2002 at 22:10:21 PT
Re: E_Johnson's Comment #4
Reminds me of Animal Farm.

At the end there is a meeting between the Capitalist and Communist elites, negotiating the sale of products produced by the other animals in the farm, with all the (animal) workers watching through the window?

Chilling but predictable.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #7 posted by Jose Melendez on March 04, 2002 at 05:13:36 PT:

el toonces
If you can afford it, call 305-745-4FUN and schedule yourself for a tandem jump at Skydive Key West. (Full disclosure: I used to help manage the place)

The buzz from adrenaline, etc. is great, and the view is spectacular from 10,000 feet over Sugarloaf Key, FL (17 miles from Key West)

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #6 posted by el_toonces on March 04, 2002 at 04:36:08 PT:

E-J -- I Agree, He should stay put....
and by stroke of serendipity I just happen to be in Key West today....perhaps I could "bloackade" his return? Any ideas?

SO glad I could get dial-up here as i would have violent withdrawals without my C-News (thanks FoM!).

El

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #5 posted by Jose Melendez on March 04, 2002 at 04:27:09 PT:

10 years for a joint
I have a close friend who was going to take me to Cuba to shoot some underwater video of his treasure diving expeditions. I asked about pot, and he said you get ten years for one joint there. This from the country that produces cigars that can be worth up to $100 in New York.

As far as I'm concerned, there are 300 Taliban prisoners that believed they would be transported to Paradise and have access to many virgins, and now that has just about come true. Think 20-40 years ahead, you might see offspring of those angry men coming from that island. Lets hope they learn something other than terror tactics.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #4 posted by E_Johnson on March 04, 2002 at 03:51:50 PT
Communism and the Drug War
I had a dinner party last night with people in science who had a long history of contact with the Soviet Union, helping Soviet scientists, and they agreed with me that the provisions of the Drug Free Work Place that people have to sign to get government grants are identical to the way that the Soviet Communist Party used the place of employment to make sure that there was no such thing as a private life in Soviet society.

Employers being required to propagandize and inform on the their workers on behalf of the government -- that is classic Soviet Communism.

It's so completely amazing that such an idea came from the minds of Republicans, who at one time used to be against Communism.

I gues this proves that they never understood what they were against. As I always suspected.



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on March 04, 2002 at 02:54:49 PT
Leave him there!
Cuba would be a good place to leave that man.

Not that he would get it of course.

The United States should care more about Latin America in general and Cuba in particular, he said, rather than allowing the Cuban-American community to control the political debate over the Caribbean island.

Hey yeah so the HECK with those darn Cuban-Americans! What the heck are they complaining about anyhow?

How bad can it be to have to leave your own country because a Communist dictatorship has taken away all of your private proprety by force, made you abandon your religious practice and started using propaganda in the school to turn your children against you and teach them to turn you into the government?

So who are those Cuban-Americans anyway, to complain about our good drug-fighting neighbor Fidel?!?!?!



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #2 posted by Harvey Pendrake on March 04, 2002 at 00:44:35 PT
Prediction
"I see no evidence at all that the Cubans are in any way facilitating drug trafficking."

What about the cigars, BARRY?

I can see where this is leading.

Our president, who's all smart and stuff, will be credited with finally ending the tension between the US and Cuba.

I'm going to go smoke a joint to keep myself from puking.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #1 posted by MikeEEEEE on March 03, 2002 at 23:04:22 PT
Playing the little diploRat
McCarefreak is back.

He just won't go away!



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